Lean-a-phobia

"Hello, my name is The Flight Newbie, and I'm a Lean-a-phobic".

They always say that the first step is to admit you have a problem. Well I admit it, I have a problem. It all started back when I was.. well it all started many weeks ago while in my initial 10 hours of flying. That must have been a long time ago because I'm already in my second 10 hours of flying....

Honestly though, I suffer from a fear of leaning my mixture. I've conquered many of my other fears already in my training - fear of feeling ill, fear of unusual attitudes (though they weren't actually unusual, just to me), fear of I99, and certainly a fear of spins. This is more a fear that I will completely mess up leaning my mixture and wind up with an engine that is no longer running.

Like most people, I was quite tentative at first with the mixture controls. After a few flights I started to move them with more confidence and authority. Then it happened. One day while flying with I2 we had landed the aircraft and pulled on to the taxiway. One of the items on the After landing checklist is to lean the mixture. I pulled the lever back with confidence while watching the Tach for the "Rise before the fall" and it happened... I simply killed the engine. I2 looked a little annoyed and started the engine back up. No big deal. Well since that day I've had a fear that ANYTIME I lean the mixture I will cause the engine to shut down completely.

Why am I telling you this? Mostly because I realize that I forgot to include this in my last flight. I5 was adamant that I kept setting the mixture to lean and rich during our exercises. Watching me lean one time he had a curious look on his face when I said "OK that's leaned out now" to which he said something along the lines of "What exactly are you doing there with the mixture?". It was then that I told him of my lean-a-phobia. In fact I think that it was only at that moment that I realized I actually had the problem.

I5 had a great solution. First he explained to me the difference between leaning the mixture in the air vs. leaning the mixture on the ground. While on the ground the engine is idling. In the air we're probably pushing 2200-2500 RPM. There is a large difference in how the engine reacts to fuel starvation. To prove this point he made me pull the mixture lever back slowly until I was told to stop. I thought for sure he planned on failing the engine and showing me how simple it is to start - we were doing forced approaches after all! However this was not his intention.

After moving the mixture back fairly far I noted the rise and fall in the RPM. I stopped to look at him and he immediately said "I didn't say stop, keep pulling it back slowly". I was amazed how far back that lever got to the bottom before he asked me to stop. "See - engine still running fine, and did you notice how rough it sounds?". We continued that 4-5 more times before I finally felt confident in leaning.

On the way back to the field he asked me to lean a few times and I did it without hesitation. Problem solved! I'm happy that I was able to conquer the fear but even happier that I was able to identify that I had the problem thanks to the instructor. He did a great job of helping me conquer the fear IMMEDIATELY. It was almost as if the purpose of the entire flight lesson had changed from his perspective. If he doesn't get snagged up by an airline, he's going to make a fine instructor.