To attain your commercial pilots license CPL you must have a specified number of hours flying time completed which includes cross country solo flights and dual instruction time. The hours depend on the type of course you are attending i.e. integrated (150hrs) or modular (200hrs).
The hours building is the one time in the course where you can take a break from all the study and just enjoy flying. At the beginning of the hours building you will be stressed out with trying to navigate your way to different airport runways and communicating with different ATCs however after a couple of weeks it will all be second nature to you.

Week  44 Started December 21st

Finally got the call from PTC to say I would be traveling to Florida for hours building 18th December. I hadn't much notice and was by then resigned to the fact I would be home for Christmas but decided to sacrifice Christmas and go with their plans. Since it was such short notice I hadn't time to get a VISA from the embassy but was informed by PTC it was not necessary for hours building. However I would have to come home after hours building at my own expense to get a new VISA before the CPL (commercial License) started. The target for finishing hours building (111.2 hrs) was 25th January after which I would travel home for the VISA and be back in Florida 1st week in February for the start of the CPL..

My wife accompanied me to Florida as she was on Christmas holidays. We stayed in a hotel called Tides Waterfront Melbourne Florida. It would be our home until 7th January when she would return to Ireland and I would return to the student accommodation on Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) campus. The FIT campus was much the same as the accommodation we had in Vero Beach while doing the private license (PPL). We srrived in Melbourne Thursday 18th Dec but I didn't get flying until the following Monday as there was some paperwork to be completed. We were the first PTC students to enrol with FIT. The first few flights were with an instructor going over the same manoeuvres we learned during the PPL course. Then we did a few cross country flights again with an instructor. I found it difficult to get back into flying since it was 6 months since I was last in an aircraft. I found the radio work and landings particularly difficult.


Week  45 Started December 28th


After a couple of cross country flights with my instructor he deemed me ready to go solo and start my hours building. I didn't feel I was ready but who am I to argue. I went to Sanford, Fort Myers, Pompano, Naples and Datona. To be honest I made plenty of errors along the way. I was still finding the radio work tough and sometimes I felt disorientated when approaching airports which made finding the active runway difficult. A flight plan has to be completed prior to a cross country. This entails picking points along the route and calculating headings, distances, wind corrections, time and fuel used between the checkpoints. It also involves obtaining the airport and flight following frequencies for the trip as well as the airport diagrams. A well planned cross country trip will lessen the work load along the way.


Week 46 Started January 5th


This week I went to St Augustine, Sanford, Naples, La Belle, Key West and Naples. Starting to get the hang of the radios at last. I use flight following for all my cross country flights for 2 reasons. 1 for safety and 2 for radio practice. Flight following is where you contact a departure frequency on the ground (clearance delivery) or after take off and they issue instructions throughout your flight maintaining separation and giving general advice along the route. They then hand you over to the tower of your destination airport. Key West was a real challenge. It took 7.2 hours in total and there was weather along the way which I had to deal with. Key west is a group of Islands at the very southern tip of Florida. It is a very scenic part of the world and I'd love to have stayed for a night or two but unfortunately I'm under a timeline and budget. On the way home I landed in Palm Beach International PBI for refuelling. It is a busy class C airport so it was great experience. I landed parallel with a 737 !


Week 47 Started January 12th


Monday the weather was pretty bad with wind and cloud so didn't fly. Tuesday was much the same but I decided to go ahead with the flight. I went to Sebastian to practice my landings. There was a stiff cross wind to deal with but it was good experience.
Wednesday I went to Savannah (SAV) which is in the state of Georgia. This was a 7 hour return trip which took a while to plan. I went via Jacksonville (JAX) for refuelling. Both are International Class C airports so it was great experience.
Thursday I went to Sarrasota in the morning and  Daytona in the evening (night flight).
Friday was again very windy. I went to Sarrasota in the morning and landed back in Melbourne on runway 5 with winds coming from 350 at 17 gusting 26 knots. It was one of my toughest landings. It went OK but I definitely wouldn't be doing it again in a hurry as I was close to the limits of the aircraft.
Saturday I went on the long trip back to Savannah and Sunday I went to Key West also for the second time. By the end of the week I was absolutely wrecked. 7 hours flying a day definitely takes its toll.


Week 48 Started January 19th

Woke up Monday morning to more strong winds. I was happy in one sense as I needed a break. I had planned to fly to Naples but ended up abandoning the trip after 30 minutes flying as the clouds were making it impossible to maintain VFR minimums. I ended up doing practice manoeuvres and landings for 1.9 hours. I am now coming near the end of hours building. I have 99 hours completed out of 111.2. The last 10 hours are carried out in a glass cockpit aircraft so I have only 2 more hours in the Piper VFR cadet warrior. I did the hours building over a short period as I am under pressure to finish the course as quickly as possible. It would probably have been more enjoyable had I spread it out over 2 months. Having said that I did enjoy it very much and I got to see most of Florida along the way. Sometimes you have to take a step back and realise how lucky you are to be in a position to sit in a plane every day and head of to where ever you please. It really gives you an opportunity to see what it is like to act as pilot every day. I'm not sure what it is like in Europe but in Florida pilots are very well looked after in airports when refuelling, There are comfortable pilot lounges, TVs, canteens and complimentary use of cars.
Wednesday and Thursday I did a dual with my instructor in the new glass cockpit warrior 3. These aircraft look the same as the VFR cadet on the outside but inside they are very impressive. All the instruments are on two screens. On the first screen you have two GPS units and auto pilot that can either follow a GPS route or a VOR dial. The 2nd screen shows the engine components and also gives radar separation from other aircraft which is an extra feeling of security.

 

Week 50 Started January 26th

Heading back to Ireland for the week to renew my Visa.