A Chance For Redemption

I consider myself an easy going guy (though my wife would probably differ). I offer my friendship to other people very easily and take it away as a result of serious "infractions". I am well versed in the process of both giving and accepting an apology. Yes - I am a very forgiving person.

With that in mind, as my flying date with I1 approached - I was seriously considering canceling. I had already rebooked another lesson with I1 a few weeks in advance, but was unable to find anything schedule wise that would allow me to flip flop with another instructor and still get the aircraft I wanted, at the time I wanted, on the day I wanted. Even last night I was close to making a change and then realized that it would be a real shaft to I1 if I canceled 10 hours before our lesson. So - I made the decision to provide I1 with an opportunity for redemption.

I was a bit slow at getting in gear this morning, so I arrived at the club only 20 minutes prior to my flight. Luckily I had done a full weather briefing while eating breakfast and jotted down some notes in my notepad. This would be my first time doing the aircraft inspection without the full checklist. I only jotted down the process for checking the items that require me to be "in" the cockpit. By the time I completed the inspection, journey log review, and weight/balance it was already time to start. I1 asked me to grab my FTM and POH and head up for a briefing.

We had a discussion about Range and Endurance. I'll admit that I wasn't entirely happy with the methods used to get the point across, nor the fact that I1 wasn't able to locate the Range charts for the DA20 C1 in the POH. As we headed out to C-FIFA I was wondering if I had made a large mistake...

The plan today was to let me take care of everything. We were heading out to the practice area to do some experimentation with determining best range and endurance for the aircraft. The checklists went quicker this morning though I totally messed up the engine start and had to get I1 to help me out. Here she did a great job of explaining some of the intricacies of getting the engine going. Cockpit organization was an issue again for me - I really need to get a knee board and wear some sort of a shirt where I can easily stow my pencil. I did manage to remember to bring gum and fold my map properly.

Holding short I made my initial call to ground. Ground came back with "CFIFA, taxi to runway 16 via Alpha, Cross runway 7/25, Altimeter 3024 squawk 1072". I replied with a full readback and started to dial in the code when ground called back in a perturbed voice: "Charlie Foxtrot India Foxtrot Alpha - you cut me off in mid sentence there. Wait until I'm done!" and proceeded to give me the same information followed by some wind information. After waiting about 5 seconds to ensure he was done I replied with a simple "India Fox Alpha". I1 looked over at me and I was ready to hear her give me a piece of her mind when she simply said "I thought he was done too!". We both confirmed that I had waited a full 2 seconds after the transponder code before replying. Go figure!

Even with the windsock completely dead I managed to taxi like a blind and drunk crack addict. We ran through our runup checklist without any issues and headed for the runway. It appears that everyone (the instructors) have a different preference for how to set up the radios and I1 was no different. My problem is that I need to memorize the frequencies for CYBW and then set it up MY way the next time I fly. I know from my simming that I like to work from Com1 to standby, then flip to Com2 and standby. Everyone has their own method right! She asked me to do the takeoff brief and she'd complete it with the emergency briefing. "Rotate at 55, climb out at 65 with t/o flaps, retract at 300 AGL and pitch for 75 knots. When we get on course we'll find the powerlines and proceed as per the south/north route. I'll handle the radio work". I1 had no problem with that.

We took the runway and gunned the engine. I had a much better understanding of the amount of right rudder that would be required to keep us on the centerline. Though we certainly were not on the centerline - we weren't zig zagging all over the place like the last few takeoffs. I made sure to keep my hand on the throttle and kept glancing inside at the engine gauges, reaching 55 knots I gently rotated and we took to the sky. Did the usual climb out at Vy with T/O and then clean flaps and turned on course. I1 reminded me to switch frequencies and to check in with outer tower. I managed to make the change without mucking up my beautiful profile. After being radar identified we turned on course and climbed to our cruise altitude.

The South Ghost Route to the practice area is quite simple. You follow some power lines while remembering to keep them on your right, until you reach the dam where the power lines converge with more power lines which form the "North Ghost Route". Once our nose got down a bit I was able to clearly see the lake and its Dam, however I could not see the powerlines. I1 kept pointing them out to me, I flew a bit further south so that I could look out the right window, but unless they were cutting through a swath of trees, I could not see them to save my life. I found this very annoying but kept looking for them. After a few minutes I realized that I had not even been thinking about my power setting, altitude, or speeds - I was simply controlling it without even the slightest thought - almost like driving (not quite). By the time we made it to the dam I still could not see those damned lines.

The practice area was busy. Really busy. It took 3-4 calls by us and 5-6 calls by others in the area until we had a "section" to work in. Although I1 tried a few times to explain to me what area we had as "ours", I simply could not picture it in my brain the way I usually do for maps and this sort of thing. Something about working between Second and Third Ridge. They all look like ridges to me! Once established in our area we did a few quick turns, climbs, descents, and combination of the above. I1 seemed satisfied and then asked me if I remembered what we had discussed regarding Range and Endurance.

We started with Endurance. From straight and level at 2400 RPM we noted our indicated airspeed and started bleeding off the RPM's at intervals of 100. The expected result was that each reduction would require some more nose up attitude, and a loss of ~5 knots indicated. Once we got down below 1800 I had a tough time keeping the nose up for the altitude. Around 1600 it was impossible to keep the altitude. The nose up attitude is still something I'm trying to get used to, to make things more difficult - the annoying stall "horn" started going off. We slowly pushed the RPM's back up until we were able to maintain altitude. At this point, we had reached the "Endurance" settings for the present (based on altitude, pressure, temperature, our weight, winds, etc.). This would be a configuration used if we wanted maximum fuel conservation. I assume this would be used in the event we had to hold for some reason. Then we transitioned back to full power and did the entire thing over again using 200 RPM intervals to speed it up.

Next we moved onto Range. The idea here is to have maximum fuel conservation while maintaining a useful airspeed. The process was similar to endurance except that we were looking at how each interval of reduced RPMs affected our airspeed. As expected, most of the changes of 100RPM resulted in about 5 knots of airspeed. At some point when we reduced the RPM we lost closer to 9 knots of airspeed. Somewhere in there was our maximum range setting. Again we repeated everything.

Finally, I1 demonstrated "slow flight". This was similar to endurance, except when we hit the elbow on the curve where we could not maintain altitude, she increased the nose up attitude and the power setting. Eventually we were in a VERY high nose up attitude with higher power settings, but that damned stall horn was still going off. She demonstrated how "useless" ailerons were in this scenario. After getting used to the attitude I realized that I was looking for a button that turned that horn off, sort of like how you cancel a GPWS in heavy metal.

On our way back she spent a lot more time trying to show me where the power lines were. At times I was able to see them due to the sun reflecting off of them, but for the most part I simply could not see them. Perhaps it would be easier for me if they were off my left wing rather than my right? Who knows.

Tower had us enter a right base for runway 16. We scrambled through the checklists as we turned final and got us into a nice stable approach at 60 knots. As we came over the threshold I again wanted to put my nose up somewhat because I felt as if we would be flying right into the ground. I had us a few degrees pointed right of centerline and added some rudder to straighten us down, then I thought to myself - OK bring the nose up but not too much of a flare - it felt as if we fell onto the runway. We landed on all three gear! Yes, it was quite the slam to me - she mentioned it was a bit hard and that I needed my nose up a bit more. We exited the runway, completed the checks and headed back to the club.

During the debrief I1 told me that my takeoff roll needs to be on centerline but takeoff was excellent - hitting all the speeds. Flight control was excellent, radio work was probably better than some people who already have their license, approach was very stable, and the landing was actually great for someone on their third try. She mentioned that she didn't do anything at all on the landing. We talked again about the issue with ground and she said it wasn't an issue and that I handled it well by simply responding without malice on the frequency. Need to work on the taxiing and she gave a few pointers about how sometimes adding power helps you turn better. I wasn't sure what she was talking about to be honest.

All in all I'd have to say that I1 did a nice job in the air. Her cues were good, she let me do most of the work, and didn't appear to be freaking out about anything. She seemed much calmer in the air then on the ground. I did ask her at one point during the en route portion of the flight "how" she got into flying, trying to break the ice while at the same time gain more insight - she simply responded with something a la "It's a really cheesy story so I don't really tell people about it". I left it at that.

As a side note - I've hit 5.0 hours on the Hobbs now. I have no clue if they track air time or Hobbs time for my pilot training record. This doesn't include the .8 I had from the discovery flight. Hard to believe I'm already at 5.0 hours. That's actually 12.5% of the minimum requirements for a license as per Transport Canada.

Next flight is in a week with the CFI in C-GFFC. I need to review Slow Flight for that lesson. I'm looking forward to showing CFI how much I've improved since that first flight.

So would I fly with I1 again? We will probably only see this happen if someone else bumps me and I need to get the flight in. Her ground persona isn't what I'm looking for and I think she lacks some experience in "teaching" in terms of how she explains things to people and how she responds to questions. Perhaps that first impression will forever leave a mark. I'll simply move on and work with other people because even if I'm completely 1000% out to lunch on my analysis of her, this is MY flight training - and I need to feel comfortable with the people I train with.

I1 has redeemed herself somewhat, but not enough for me to put my training in her hands. This is too important for me to pull punches.