The Pilot’s Lounge and a Flight Lesson

John HurlbutFlying, Home Improvement2 Comments

I’m super stoked for how today went! I got to sleep in until almost 9AM!! Teri and I got up and we had some errands to run in our effort to turn our bonus room into a home theater/swanky pilot’s lounge.  First up was a trip to the Old Cannery to see if we could find a TV Stand for the new TV that will be going in the room.  Success! We found one that will fit the new TV perfectly, as well as the front main speakers, center channel speaker and all the AV gear.  

The TV will be a Samsung UN65H7150 65″.  I’m going to wire the room for 7.1 surround sound. I’m going with Definitive Technology ProCinema 600 for the Sub, center channel, surround, and surround back speakers.  A pair of Definitive Technology ProMonitor 100’s will provide the front main sound.  Finally to drive everything, I’ll pick up a Denon AVR-X1100W.  I’m sure an AppleTV and TiVo Mini will follow behind that.

We then headed to McClendon’s to pick up paint for the walls and ceiling, as well as some Kilz Primer/sealer for the sub floor.  We picked a couple of colors from Benjamin Moore, Chelsea Gray for the walls and Rockport Gray for the ceiling.  We’re also doing a really cool patterned gray carpet on the floor.  With the two home theater chairs we got from Selden’s at their sidewalk sale in black leather, the room should be plenty swanky!! Also want to do some crown molding around the ceiling with a rope light behind it to give some ambiance during movie night! 

After that it was off to Bed Bath & Beyond for window treatments.  We picked out a cool steel blue curtain and nice oil rubbed bronze curtain rod.  Not only will the room be swanky, but it’ll have some Seahawks colors as well! 

The problem with our bonus room now is that it was never designed as any one space.  It was part workout room, part storage room, part TV room, and part office and Cal Ripken Jr. shrine.  (Cal was my favorite baseball player, so I have jerseys, pennants, balls, cards, photos, bobble heads, etc.)  Neither Teri or I ever wanted to actually spend time in there.  Not to mention our old cats used it for a litter box.  So I’ll get the old carpet out this week, get it painted, and get new carpet and chairs in the following week.  Early next month, we’ll complete the home theater, and start adding the pilot theme to it.  I can’t wait to see this completed!! It going to be almost as cool as Shed Majal!!

After all the running around we spent some time cleaning out the room.  We got most of it done!  I’ve just got a couple more piles to get through and then I can tear out the carpet & get the floors sealed and get the room painted.  Pretty soon it was time for me to get ready for my flight lesson.  I took a shower and changed into my new white t-shirt!  (See my previous post for why that’s important) 

I got to the airport early and found out the plane I had reserved had “ignition problems” I.e. Someone took the keys home, so I had to move over to N84823 the other Cessna 172 they have in their fleet.  I’ve only flown that plane once, during my first cross-country to Hoquiam.  No biggie, I went out, checked the fuel and oil and came back in to do my weight & balance calculations and check the weather.  The AWOS is still out at Thun, so it takes a little more time than usual to prep.  I headed out and did my pre-flight and we were ready to go! 

I will say, my takeoff was my best yet!  We headed out to the NE practice area just NE of Lake Tapps.  We did slow flight, power off and power on stalls, steep turns, S Turns, Turns around a point, Chandels, some time under the hood, emergency procedures, continuous rate climbs and descents, basically everything in my training up to this point, we covered with few exceptions.  This was lesson 8, my pre-solo review. 

We headed back to Thun, and my setup for the pattern was excellent I think.  My altitude still tends to be about 100′ high on my downwind leg, but I’m learning to catch that.  My base turn was a little late, and I was a little fast.  I need to practice more on how to bleed off some speed more quickly.  I was a little high on final, but some extra flappage fixed that.  My landing was pretty darn good me thinks!  After we taxied off the runway my instructor asked me if I had another one in me, and I replied “Yes I do” so we taxied back for takeoff again.  I accidentally left my window open as we were bombing down the runway, so my instructor briefly took the yoke while I closed my window. Doh!  Another good takeoff.

Turning crosswind I over banked so I had some catiwompus maneuvering to do turning onto downwind, still 100′ high! gotta fix that.  My base and final legs I setup for better and I got the overjoyed happy dance from my instructor when we touched down again.  If it wasn’t my best landing to date, it was awfully close!  My instructor told me that solo is in my VERY immediate future if I keep flying that well.  I guess I’d better get that new whit T-Shirt washed before Tuesday then!  Even though I’ve only flown N84823 twice now it does seem easier to control.  I remember my instructor doing the happy dance landing at Hoquiam too.  So I’ve switched 4 of my next 5 lessons to this plane.  This may become my new training airplane.

Teri and I grabbed a bite at Bob’s Burger & Brew after that, and headed home.  One of the best days I’ve had in a LONG time!  I love doing home improvement projects, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE flying!!  Today was a great day! Can’t wait until Tuesday afternoon!!

2 Comments on “The Pilot’s Lounge and a Flight Lesson”

  1. Cool. If we were still selling to the cannery that coulda been built by us. Lol. Whos your sales guy? Come see me if you need any pieces custom built, im sure youd get a better deal than the 175% markup youre paying. 🙂

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