Slow Flight

I was pleasantly surprised to discover upon my arrival at the club that the CFI had a nasty cold and I'd be flying with I2. The walk around seems to get easier and easier as you settle into a routine, but I can't help but wonder every time if I might have missed something. I've made a mental note that at some point I'm going to ask an instructor to do another walk around with me or at least observe me doing one so they can point out any intricacies I may be missing.

We started with a review of Slow Flight. Transport Canada defines slow flight as "that range of airspeeds between the maximum endurance speed for a particular aircraft and the point just above its stalling speed for the existing flight conditions". The purpose of learning slow speed is so that I can learn how to recognize the symptoms, maintain safe control of the aircraft, understand possible consequences when in slow flight, and how to properly recover with a minimum loss of altitude.

Before we put the aircraft into slow flight, we must always do some safety checks. I've seen many different types of acronyms used for this safety check, but this is what they are teaching at my school: HASEL...

Height: Are we high enough to perform this manoeuvre? The recommended altitude for recovery is 2000 AGL. I made a mental note that 2000 AGL would roughly be 6000 MSL (more on that later).

Area: Is the area appropriate for what we are doing? Towers, built up city areas, high traffic areas such as airways, or a control zone would be examples of inappropriate area.

Secure: We need to fasten our seatbelts, make sure the baggage is stowed, and anything else in the cockpit that might fly around during the area is secured.

Engine: We will need our engine to perform when we call on it. We'll check our gauges first: EGT, Cylinder Heat, Fuel Pressure, Fuel Quantity, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, and electrics. Since we'll be pulling back the RPM's we will turn on the electric fuel pump and richen the mixture (The DA20C1 is fuel injected so no carb heat to pull).

Lookout: We need to make sure we look around for any traffic. We can do a series of 90 degree turns or a 180 degree turn. The purpose is to have both pilots looking above, behind, below, and in front for traffic.

On the way back downstairs she started asking me the things I knew she would...
What aircraft are we in today? Fox India Fox Alpha
How much fuel on board? 16 Gallons
Oil? 5 quarts
What's our gross weight? 1652 lbs.
Did you check the log book? Yes.
How much time is left on the engine? ummm about 30 hours to a 200 inspection.
Any deferred maintenance items? None but....

.. I noticed when doing the pre flight that the fuel gauge didn't agree with the fuel I measured. In fact I powered down the master and fired it up again to see if it changed. Then I measured the fuel a total of three times just to make sure I wasn't crazy.

[Sidebar] Now... the irony here is that the night before I was chatting with my friend "IFR" and he was telling me about a story about an aircraft accident where the pilot was taking a few friends on a trip and when he ran inside to grab something from the FBO one of his buddies did him a favor by filling the tanks up for him - but of course did not mention this to his friend. Needless to say - they were well beyond their weight limitations and things didn't turn out very well. My first comment to "IFR" was to ask why he didn't notice the fuel gauge during any of the checklists, I mean you check the engine gauges and fuel on almost every checklist you do. His response was simply that the tanks are calibrated at "empty" and this is the only time you should actually trust the gauge. This is why you should always measure your fuel. [/Sidebar]

Remembering the conversation from the night before I asked I2 about it and she did in fact tell me that they are calibrated to read properly when FULL and EMPTY (contrary to "IFR"). She told me not to worry about it and we headed for the apron.

Having completed the brief we head out to C-FIFA and jump in the cockpit. This is the first time I've ever had my kneeboard and headset (mentioned in my last post) with me. The headset fits on my head just fine but I notice that the microphone cover has disappeared. Oh well. When I first plug it in, the audio in is totally crackled. I think back to my brother telling me he used to bash it with his knee all the time and it might need a solder job - great! After some wiggling it seems to be working fine so I decide we will just go with it. At this point I realize I have no clue how this kneeboard is suppose to fit on my knee while still allowing me to access the yoke and throttle (it's tight in the Eclipse). So I just stow it next to me. I run through the checklists quicker and more confident than the last time, and finally manage to get the engine started without any problems (they are so testy!).

At this point I start setting up the Com radios - my way. When I mention to I2 that I want to set it up the way I like it she seemed happy that I had at least thought about it. I picked up Info Bravo, jotted down the runway, winds, altimeter, and continued with the pre taxi checklist. When we got to "Engine Gauges" we both immediately noticed the fuel gauge was showing only 1/4 tank. "How much fuel did you say we had on board?". Ummmm "18 Gallons, but the fuel gauge was showing 1/2 tank when I did the pre flight". She thought about it for a moment and then said - "stop the engine let's check it again". I2 hopped out and gave the tanks a measurement herself - 18 gallons. Satisfied, she hopped back in and we continued with a warm start checklist.

The radio calls are getting better and better as I almost know what to expect from the response. My taxiing still needs a lot of work but I know I'm finding it easier and easier to operate on the ground. The takeoff roll was again absolutely brutal but we managed to keep the required heading until we were turned on course. I did a horrible job hitting my climb speeds and I was completely pissed off at myself for this. Established in the climb and on course we did some navigational review. After entering the practice area we did a quick review on endurance and then started with slow flight.

I had a tough time getting the aircraft into slow flight. It seems I'm quite tentative about that nose up attitude still, but after a lot of tinkering, and a demonstration from I2 I was able to consistently but us into slow flight at will with the correct attitude and speed so that we stayed above stall but didn't lost altitude. There was a lot of rudder required on this particular day and I was able to see just how the rudders could keep those wings from dropping to one side or the other. The ailerons on the hand were quite useless! At the end of the Slow Flight portion she demonstrated a power off and power on stall to demonstrate how the aircraft felt going into the stall. I will admit I was freaked out a bit during the power off stall. I kept wondering if we were going to fall backwards!

At one point during our HASEL check she asked me how high we had to be. At least 2000AGL and that would 6000MSL here. Bzzzzt! The ground below us in this area was at 5000MSL so we needed at least 7000MSL to make minimums. Note to self - the ground below you is NOT always the same altitude above sea level as the airport - duh!

On the way back I realized how great the headset was. The voice was very clear and i felt as if it picked up all of my speaking at a normal voice but none of the ambient noises coming from my body. We entered a right downwind for runway 25 and once we had the power set the approach was pretty good. As we came over the threshold I again heard an instructor say "Nose Down". At what I thought was a good height I pulled back on the stick gently to break the descent and held it there. Next thing I knew we had slammed onto the runway - on all three gear. Probably not a good thing. I taxied off and went through the checklists again.

When we finally called ground for taxi we were told to hold our position for traffic opposite direction. Coming straight for us in a 20 foot hover taxi was a helicopter. Obviously a student pilot based on the voice transmitting. My first thought was that if they messed up we were toast. The copter made a nice turn to my left and continued down taxiway C when ground gave us "A to the club".

During the taxi back I mentioned that there were some really weird vibrations coming from the engine at low RPMs. I2 agreed and after some tooling around she agreed. She said she'd head in and talk to maintenance while I tied FIFA down. I couldn't help but wonder if it was my landing that damaged the aircraft. During the debrief I2 said it had nothing to do with the landing, but FIFA was scratched for the next flight. As I left the club I saw them towing her into the hangar.

A few good lessons learned. My kneeboard needs to be better organized. Always measure your fuel. I need to concentrate during the takeoff on keeping us on the centerline. I need to be aware of my speeds in the climbout. I need to conquer my fear of nose up attitude. I need to keep the nose down over threshold. I need to pull the nose up when landing. The next few flights are heading into some serious stuff and I need to make sure I'm on the ball. I also learned that I2 certainly IS a great instructor. The ground brief and the queuing in the cockpit are perfect for me.

6.3 Hours and counting...