By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

Well - the thing that I have been dreading for over two years, now, has finally happened! Here it is the deadline for February's Around the Patch, and the pack of newsletters which just arrived have no articles telling of exciting flying adventures that I can steal to fill this column. Some clubs are beginning to plan for the coming year, and their events have been entered into the USUA calendar, but it seems that no one has been doing, or at least no one is reporting, much interesting flying at this time of the year.

In a case like this, I should fall back on my own interesting flying experiences to write about. But, I haven't been doing any flying either since my own personal temperature minimum of 50 degrees has not been met lately. I did promise myself, back in September or so, that when the weather grounded me, I would spend the time studying for the Sport Pilot written exam. My boss had loaned me his copy of Jeppesen's "Private Pilot Manual" which I started reading. A very well written and illustrated book, by the way. I even took it one step further, and started reading into a tape recorder, with the idea that I could listen to the tapes on my way to work, instead of the morning talk shows. This worked quite well for a while until I realized that just memorizing stuff didn't "stick".

My experience was, that after about a week after learning that "when turning north from east or west, the compass leads the turn and when turning south from east or west, it lags" (or is it the other way around), I had forgotten what I had memorized. Anyway, memorizing this fact (and many others) just to pass a written test, wouldn't make a better pilot anyway, because, while flying, I could just look at the compass and see if it was leading or lagging the turn. The only reason I would have to remember this fact would be to answer a test question while sitting on the ground. Having passed the Private Pilots Knowledge Exam many years previously, I realized that if I couldn't retain this fact long enough to pass the test, I'd never be able to retain all the more complex items involved in plotting a course to pass the test (magnetic variation, true north, magnetic north, wind speed and direction, add or subtract, you know). My own personally developed flight log has these formulae printed on the bottom of the form, so I don't have to rely on, what may prove to be, a faulty memory. But I was sure they wouldn't let me take a copy of my flight log into the test with me.

Discouraged, I stayed away from reading about flying for a couple of weeks. During this period, I discovered that the USUA store has a copy of the "Sport Pilot Knowledge Test Preparation Guide" for sale for only $17.95 (just a bit more than five gallons of gas these days). I ordered one, and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived to discover that it was just what the doctor ordered! A well organized, concise book oriented, not toward teaching me to fly, but toward helping me pass the Sport Pilot written exam. It contained no extraneous information, but did contain all the info required to answer the test questions with enough of an explanation that it could be understood rather than just memorized. Since it contained ALL of the questions in the current FAA Sport Pilot test bank, if I could answer all of these questions correctly, I should be able to pass the test. (A note to the interested here - The FAA adds questions periodically, so if you're are studying for a test, make sure you have the latest available test prep guide, or you may run into some surprises when you sit for your test). A couple of hours a day, for a couple of days, and I was completely through the book and SURPRISE!! they weren't interested in which way the compass turns when you turn north from east. A lot of the other 'memory i tems' I had been dreading (temperature lapse rate with altitude increase, etc.) were also missing from the info you would need to answer the FAA questions. Hooray!!

Then I discovered a web site www.preparetotest.com which permits you to actually take a Sport Pilot Knowledge Exam just as you would at the test center. It is flexible in that you can chose to take a complete test, a 10 or 20 question practice test, or a test of all the questions in a specific subject area, etc, and it keeps track of your test scores so you can chart your progress, or lack thereof. It looked like a good study aid, so I signed up for a 14 day subscription. (The site sells this service by subscription - $2.50 for seven days, $4.95 for fourteen days, $7.95 for thirty days and $11.95 for sixty days) It was money well spent. Not only did it familiarize me with the FAA questions, but it gave me good practice in using a computer to take the test. I spent about an hour a day for the fourteen days, taking the test in various forms, and finished up with taking the maximum number of questions in each subject area, to ensure that I had been exposed to each and every test question that could be asked on the exam.

It was "now or never time" and I called to schedule a test at the Harrisburg (PA) Jet Center at Capital City Airport. After I located the testing site (it wasn't located at the Jet Center FBO building) everything went as smooth as silk. The folks were friendly and helpful, the test area comfortable and well arranged, and the questions provided no surprises. I finished the forty question exam in about 20 minutes and walked out with the first hurdle behind me. Now all I have to do is study for the oral and find an examiner who is willing to go flying with me at the controls, and I should be legal to take a passenger with me in my newly engined Aeronca 65LA. Life is good!

Before I close for this month I need to pass on an invitation from Flying Club 1 to attend the annual Ultralight Safety Seminar to be held at the Museum at Richmond (VA) International Airport on March 11, 2006. This event is composed of safety related presentations by the FAA, the State Aviation Department, USUA, Club 6, and frequently by the Air Force and the Navy. Registration is scheduled for 0830, with the first speaker beginning at 0900. Not only a valuable learning experience, it is a great time to get together with fellow Ultralight Pilots, and an opportunity to visit a great Aviation Museum.

I'll close with a look into the Albuquerque Ultralight Association's Mechanic's Tool Box:

ELECTRIC DRILL - Normally used for spinning rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but also works well for drilling mounting holes just above a fuel line.

and its cousin -

DRILL PRESS - A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your drink across the room, splattering it against that freshly painted aircraft part you were drying.

One disclaimer before I sign off - I have no financial interest in either Jeppesen, the USUA Store, or the preparetotest web site, and have provided only my own, unbiased, but totally personal, opinion of these products.

Y'all stay safe now and remember a GOOD preflight before you start flying again this year. (Varmints like to hole up in airplanes over the winter)