Sometimes you simply need to put things back to their proper priority. These past few months it has been family and career. Both of these once again have shoved the flight training to the back burner. Aside from this - the weather has been brutal out here.
My wife definitely has noticed the fact that I had stopped flying and was actually the one who suggested I book some flying time on a weekend so that I don't "lose my touch". Apparently she is starting to come around to how important this actually is to me. In fact she did tell me recently that she would be happy to be my first passenger when I complete the license. In the past she had told me outright that she would never fly in a little plane with me. How's that for a curve ball? I think it has something to do with the amount of time I've spent studying and reading. Nice.
While I haven't been in the air these past few months - I have been spending a bunch of time doing something constructive towards gaining knowledge and the goal of getting my license. First, I renewed my online ground school subscription. My plan is to spend 8 hours a week focused on this, which is close to the amount of time I would spend if I were in ground school. Second, I purchased a copy of Rod Machado's private pilot handbook. An actual copy of the book and an MP3 version. I haven't really cracked the book open yet aside from a cursory look but I'm about 75% through the entire audio. I have really enjoyed listening to it while "waiting" to do anything (I have it on my blackberry) and especially while exercising. I've listened to the weather section twice now and my eyes are still rolling to the back of my head due to information overload. While there certainly are some sections of Rod's book that aren't applicable to me (FARs and airspace class specifically) I've found his style to be exactly what I need. Even the cheezie jokes make my smile. I'm such an aviation nerd now.
They told me that the flight would be "back to basics" - out to the practice area for steep turns, slow flight, and stalls. I5 was very happy to see me and wondered where I had disappeared to. He said that if I nailed things we'd be back where we left off. I didn't have a problem with that at all. He actually seemed somewhat "excited" about flying with me again - more on that later.
Even climbing into the aircraft felt sort of weird. The checklist was the first smell of familiarity for me. Got her started up and made my ground call while still taxiing on the club ramp, so there wasn't any transition. There was a bit of a traffic jam during the taxi out and while I5 kept quiet during it I was constantly saying aloud what I thought ground was doing and who was who. After we passed that I5 said that he had forgotten about my situational awareness thing.
Anyhow - the safety brief went as if I had flown a day ago, before I knew it we were rolling down the runway and taking to the sky. No jerky movements, uncertainty, or tentative action on the right rudder. Swap the frequency, flaps up, pump off, 75 knots and we're on our way.
We had a sweet tailwind and cruised into the practice area. The terrain there causes a lot more mech turbulence so we climbed up to 9000' where it was nice and smooth. He had me do a couple of basic stuff on the way up to 9000 - a few level offs - some climbing turns, etc. All went well. Then he asked if I wanted him to demonstrate a steep turn - I said nope, let's do it. We did 4 of them. My first was my worst and still managed to pass flight test standards.
From there we moved into slow flight. It certainly wasn't as good as the last time I had flown, but once I got through the entry it was obvious that I had no issues. We did two quick stalls on the way back and I demonstrated a sweet forward slip while paralleling a road. He had me at a certain speed in the descent (we were headed from 8500 to 6000) and mid way had me exit the slip and re-enter with reversed inputs.
The flight back was great - I kept the speed up for some separation from a Skyhawk behind me and when I was cleared down to 5k I told I5 that I won't adjust the power and will keep the speed up. This was a lot of fun. Our indicated speed was 145. I can't remember the ground speed, but I do recall I5 letting out a yahoo ;).
The circuit was moderately busy and I had a bit of a brain fart. For some reason got a bit discombobulated (spell check revealed this to be an actual word - go figure) and thought I was on base for landing runway 16 when I was actually on downwind for 25. No clue why that happened. Tower cleared me to land on the base and after he reported winds 12G18 I immediately told I5 that we'd make the approach for 63 knots. By either some serious concentration or the luck of the Irish (which I'm not) - I managed to shoot my most stable approach to date. I was bang on 63 for the entire approach, barely a power change required, and was trimmed nicely. I put it right down on the center line and held things together even with a weird gust that brought the left wing up. Weird, weird, weird. I can't explain it to be honest, but I'm concerned that perhaps I think I'm better at landing than I actually am. Would be great to get some serious minute critique from someone on this one day.
During the debrief was when I5 gave me a real compliment. He said he had forgotten how focused and prepared I am. Not understanding what he meant, I started talking about all of the things where I thought I was rusty. This is when he mentioned that during the flight we just had, my first in 3 months - I had executed better than all of the students he had been with that week, many of whom were flying multiple times/week at points in their training more advanced. Wow. I was blown away.
It felt great. The airplane felt like home. It was great to be back in the skies too. There was a super high ceiling, but it was blue sky over the mountains which in the cold (-5C) were clear, white with snow, and spectacular (at some point I put two and two together, realizing that the forecast was for 12C tomorrow with high winds, I then recognized the high overcast layer that arched over the mountains was the start of a "Chinook". Lucky I was down before the winds picked up).
Ya baby, I'm back.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Under The Hood
The days are quickly getting shorter up here at 51° 05' North. In fact today the sun set 3:46 earlier than the previous day. What this means to the flightnewbie is that the days of flying the 7pm flight slot will soon be coming to an end. Officially you need to be on the ground (without a night rating or in my case operating on a student pilot permit) by the end of civil twilight. The flying club says you have to be back on the ground 30 minutes BEFORE the end of civil twilight, which is essentially (to make things easier) at sunset.
The sun is currently setting at about 820pm. This means if I managed to fire up the engine at precisely 7pm, I could get 1.4 hours of flight time - which is usually just enough for a short workout solo. Speaking about this with I5 (yes, him and I are going steady now in terms of student/instructor) he told me to just "show up" as early as 6pm and be ready to go. If the airplane is there I can just take it earlier. If we fly dual - then nothing to worry about since he is the PIC.
Meanwhile back at the ranch... I completely forgot about September traffic. This is when after 2+ months of lovely summer driving, all of a sudden every one is back on the road. No more people on vacation, kids back in school, school bus craziness, double transit bus, and yes - essentially absolute mayhem. I left my office at 5pm and didn't make the usual 40 minute drive to the airport (from downtown) until 630pm. Luckily I had a relaxing drive and spent some time visualizing the precautionary approaches I'd be flying, solo, in a new area 35nm to the north of the airport. Earlier in the morning when I had a chance to breathe at the office around 830am I realized that I had forgot to change the booking that night from a dual to a solo flight. After calling and changing to the solo flight I wondered if I was "shafting" I5. He was a pretty popular instructor so hopefully he'd pick up the booking.
After wandering into the club to check the sign out sheet (could not remember what aircraft I had, and to be honest I just check when I come in now since they swap so often) I noticed that the booking before me extended their time right up to mine. A quick look on the ramp, in the hangar, and a scan around the pattern confirmed my fear - no plane there for me. So much for leaving early - I'd be lucky if I fired up the engines by 720 leaving me with barely enough time to get a worthy flight in.
Just at that moment, I5 strolled in from another flight. He had not picked up another dual flight for that slot, and given that I could solo anytime, but due to the looking sunset it would be all rushed tonight - I decided to take advantage of the situation.
Me: "How about picking up the dual with me again tonight?"
I5: "Well, did you get your solo in yet? We can't do the diversions until you complete that"
Me: "I was thinking some instrument time, since it's hazy out, FFC is late, you are available, and the sun will set in 100 minutes".
I5: "Hmmm.. you still have 2.3 hours available instrument time in the sim"
Me: "If I want instrument time in the sim I can do it at home - I want to fly with the hood"
I5: "Sounds like a blast. Do you mind if I eat dinner first?"
Me: "We don't have any time restrictions since you are the PIC and I'm under the hood anyhow."
I5: "See you in 30 minutes".
I dashed back to my car, changed out of my fancy "corporate casual" and into my comfy shorts, light hiking boots, and a dry fit shirt (it was 29C here). Then I spent the remaining 15 minutes re-reading the instrument section in my training manual and reviewed my notes from our instrument brief back in June. After completing the airworthiness check, the weight and balance, and filling out the sign out sheet I was ready to rock just as I5 came back down.
He pulled out "The Hood" and asked me try it on. I realized for the first time that I actually had no clue what "The Hood" actually was. For some reason (who can explain these things) I had always envisioned "The Hood" being some sort of contraption that went from your shoulders over your head and then attached to the top of the panel. I always imagined it hard to breathe. I also imagined it being black as night.
You can imagine my shock when he pulled out this tiny "visor like" thing that angled down towards the ground. After trying it on I immediately did my best imitation of those guys on the Death Star from Star Wars IV: A New Hope (the 1977 version) who commenced the firing sequence when they destroy Alderaan - or whatever planet it was that they destroyed. After much laughter from everyone within earshot we set out for good old FFC.
I5 made the initial ground call and asked for a southbound departure to Longview at 6.5. The farthest south I had ever been aside from a 2nm final was Bragg Creek which is about 15nm SSW. The specialty take off of the day (every takeoff and landing is a specialty one now) was the short field obstacle. It was performed well from start to finish. It amazes me sometimes how something that seemed so complicated before now becomes second nature. I only hope that I continue to review all details in my mind so that I don't start cutting corners or forgetting things. Tower essentially cleared us en route and 6.5 in his takeoff clearance (man he was in a good mood) and before I knew it we were climbing through 6000 (2000AGL) on a 160 heading when I5 asked if I was ready. He took control while I adjusted the hood over my headset (my ball cap had to be dumped into the cargo area as they don't interact well with a hood).
Once I was set we chatted for a bit while he configured us for straight and level. I was then asked to stay level at 6500 on a heading of 160. It was obvious from this moment on that this flight was going to be intense. We stayed on that heading for what seemed like forever while I adjusted to the hood, worked on my T-Scan and tried to relax. I found that I was easily fixated on a specific instrument and was reluctant to check the instruments outside of the T, and even less reluctant to double check things like my switches, mixture, circuits, and engine.
My first valuable lesson of the day: You must use all the instrumentation available to you to confirm what is happening. Airspeed and Heading are a good indication of pitch and roll.
I did OK, I made adjustments when required and managed to stay +/-50ft and within 5-10 degrees most of the time. Then three new factors were introduced. First my eyes started to "blur" up a bit. I think I was forgetting to blink. Perhaps I was more tired than I thought I was. Second we started to encounter some bumps. Not anything that we would normally be concerned about but it was a few bumps and it seemed 1000 times worse under the hood. Third - I5 started to ask me to do more than just fly straight and level.
First it was a climb on this heading to 7500. Then it was a descent on this heading back to 6500. 7.5 degrees on the climb, just below the horizon on the descent. The climb was fairly simple but certainly not as easy as without the hood. In the descent the aircraft felt "heavy" and accelerated quickly when the nose was just a few degrees below the horizon.
Second valuable lesson of the day: You need to anticipate the yaw when transitioning between cruise and full/idle power.
Then we started turns. These were the most challenging for me. Starting my scan from the Turn Coordinator made it tough for me to keep the attitude in the right place. If I focused on the attitude I would have a shallow or steep turn. If I focused on the TC I'd put my nose up or down. If I looked at the airspeed I'd be all over the place. It was during the turns that I first started to experience the inner ear issues that everyone talks about. After making a 90 degree turn to the right, when rolling out of the turn my brain told me that I was transitioning from straight and level to a left bank. Bad Brain! Bad! Luckily it passed quickly. From here we moved into climbing/descending turns. It was still a lot of fun, but it was still extremely intense.
Third valuable lesson of the day: Trim reduces pilot workload - A LOT!
At this point I5 had me take off the hood and gave me a chance to look around. It was pretty sweet in the foothills down here.. honestly in the middle of nowhere. This is when the fun really started. I5 wanted to do a test. He asked me to set the "clock" in the plane (which he apparently doesn't really know how to use, but it is a standard chronometer) as a stopwatch. As instructed, once I had the aircraft straight and level (180 heading at 9000 feet) I started the clock and shut my eyes. The airplane "felt" as if it was flying straight and level. We had a few bumps and I just tried to stay loose on the controls. At some point I noticed that the engine sounded a bit different and felt as if I was tilted to the right. Then I wrote it off as my bad brain again and held the stick steady. The engine started to sound worse so I mad an adjustment to the left but that didn't feel right so I went back to the right. Then the engine sound was racing, so I figured I was headed down. I pulled back gently on the stick and immediately felt the G-Forces at work. I relaxed my grip and again banked left a bit but after it didn't feel right banked right again. The G-Forces were crushing me into my seat when I5 said "My control - now open your eyes". We were on a 090 heading at 6800 feet. In an 80 degree spiral dive doing 140 knots. Apparently I had done a 270 degree turn, lost 2200 feet, and twice started a recovery from the right bank I had been in only to go back to the right at a steeper angle. All this in 1:22 !!
Fourth valuable lesson of the day: Trust your instruments, not your brain.
It was starting to get dark out so we headed back. I flew under the hood the entire way back. I5 did all the radio work and called the headings, altitudes, and speeds for me. I just flew. There were a number of turns, altitudes, and speed calls and I knew we were now in the pattern. Finally the tower cleared us to land and I5 said "I have control, take off the hood". The sight before me was unbelievable. We were lined up perfectly on a short final, but it was dark and the runway lights were welcoming home. I5 asked if I wanted to land and I said "without the hood - yes!" and my wish was granted. The only specialty landing done here was that it was at night. Under the watchful eye of my instructor I greased my first night landing. I'll honestly say it was my best landing to date. No winds, right down the center line smooth as glass at a low speed with minimal float time. I'm fairly certain I had a huge cheeser on my face during the entire taxi back to the club.
Fifth valuable lesson of the day: Flying at night is cool, landing at night is unfreaking believable. Well, the real lesson is that getting a night rating would not only be cool, it would also be a nice thing to have in your back pocket in the event you got stuck in the air as the sun went down.
And there it was. My first "true" flight under instruments. Well - as true as it gets (or you want it to get) while working on your PPL. While I apparently did very well (I logged 1.0 instrument time), I will admit that it wasn't as good as I had hoped, or thought it would be. It was far more intense than I expected and the concentration and discipline required was far more than I ever expected. Of course I know that like everything else it will get a bit easier over time - provided I review the concepts again and practice for perfection.
Final valuable lesson of the day: Flying under instruments is a true skill. I have a lot more respect for everyone out there with their IFR tickets now.
In case you are wondering - I've completely lost track of the time I've logged in the aircraft. It's all listed in my Pilot Training Record (PTR) which "lives" at the club right now. I checked it out during my flying week extravaganza and based on "shady math" I believe I am currently sitting at:
Solo : 11.9
Dual : 32.2
-------------------
Total : 44.1 (1.7 dual instrument)
Whoever says that a license can actually be obtained in 40 hours is trying to sell you something.
The sun is currently setting at about 820pm. This means if I managed to fire up the engine at precisely 7pm, I could get 1.4 hours of flight time - which is usually just enough for a short workout solo. Speaking about this with I5 (yes, him and I are going steady now in terms of student/instructor) he told me to just "show up" as early as 6pm and be ready to go. If the airplane is there I can just take it earlier. If we fly dual - then nothing to worry about since he is the PIC.
Meanwhile back at the ranch... I completely forgot about September traffic. This is when after 2+ months of lovely summer driving, all of a sudden every one is back on the road. No more people on vacation, kids back in school, school bus craziness, double transit bus, and yes - essentially absolute mayhem. I left my office at 5pm and didn't make the usual 40 minute drive to the airport (from downtown) until 630pm. Luckily I had a relaxing drive and spent some time visualizing the precautionary approaches I'd be flying, solo, in a new area 35nm to the north of the airport. Earlier in the morning when I had a chance to breathe at the office around 830am I realized that I had forgot to change the booking that night from a dual to a solo flight. After calling and changing to the solo flight I wondered if I was "shafting" I5. He was a pretty popular instructor so hopefully he'd pick up the booking.
After wandering into the club to check the sign out sheet (could not remember what aircraft I had, and to be honest I just check when I come in now since they swap so often) I noticed that the booking before me extended their time right up to mine. A quick look on the ramp, in the hangar, and a scan around the pattern confirmed my fear - no plane there for me. So much for leaving early - I'd be lucky if I fired up the engines by 720 leaving me with barely enough time to get a worthy flight in.
Just at that moment, I5 strolled in from another flight. He had not picked up another dual flight for that slot, and given that I could solo anytime, but due to the looking sunset it would be all rushed tonight - I decided to take advantage of the situation.
Me: "How about picking up the dual with me again tonight?"
I5: "Well, did you get your solo in yet? We can't do the diversions until you complete that"
Me: "I was thinking some instrument time, since it's hazy out, FFC is late, you are available, and the sun will set in 100 minutes".
I5: "Hmmm.. you still have 2.3 hours available instrument time in the sim"
Me: "If I want instrument time in the sim I can do it at home - I want to fly with the hood"
I5: "Sounds like a blast. Do you mind if I eat dinner first?"
Me: "We don't have any time restrictions since you are the PIC and I'm under the hood anyhow."
I5: "See you in 30 minutes".
I dashed back to my car, changed out of my fancy "corporate casual" and into my comfy shorts, light hiking boots, and a dry fit shirt (it was 29C here). Then I spent the remaining 15 minutes re-reading the instrument section in my training manual and reviewed my notes from our instrument brief back in June. After completing the airworthiness check, the weight and balance, and filling out the sign out sheet I was ready to rock just as I5 came back down.
He pulled out "The Hood" and asked me try it on. I realized for the first time that I actually had no clue what "The Hood" actually was. For some reason (who can explain these things) I had always envisioned "The Hood" being some sort of contraption that went from your shoulders over your head and then attached to the top of the panel. I always imagined it hard to breathe. I also imagined it being black as night.
You can imagine my shock when he pulled out this tiny "visor like" thing that angled down towards the ground. After trying it on I immediately did my best imitation of those guys on the Death Star from Star Wars IV: A New Hope (the 1977 version) who commenced the firing sequence when they destroy Alderaan - or whatever planet it was that they destroyed. After much laughter from everyone within earshot we set out for good old FFC.
I5 made the initial ground call and asked for a southbound departure to Longview at 6.5. The farthest south I had ever been aside from a 2nm final was Bragg Creek which is about 15nm SSW. The specialty take off of the day (every takeoff and landing is a specialty one now) was the short field obstacle. It was performed well from start to finish. It amazes me sometimes how something that seemed so complicated before now becomes second nature. I only hope that I continue to review all details in my mind so that I don't start cutting corners or forgetting things. Tower essentially cleared us en route and 6.5 in his takeoff clearance (man he was in a good mood) and before I knew it we were climbing through 6000 (2000AGL) on a 160 heading when I5 asked if I was ready. He took control while I adjusted the hood over my headset (my ball cap had to be dumped into the cargo area as they don't interact well with a hood).
Once I was set we chatted for a bit while he configured us for straight and level. I was then asked to stay level at 6500 on a heading of 160. It was obvious from this moment on that this flight was going to be intense. We stayed on that heading for what seemed like forever while I adjusted to the hood, worked on my T-Scan and tried to relax. I found that I was easily fixated on a specific instrument and was reluctant to check the instruments outside of the T, and even less reluctant to double check things like my switches, mixture, circuits, and engine.
My first valuable lesson of the day: You must use all the instrumentation available to you to confirm what is happening. Airspeed and Heading are a good indication of pitch and roll.
I did OK, I made adjustments when required and managed to stay +/-50ft and within 5-10 degrees most of the time. Then three new factors were introduced. First my eyes started to "blur" up a bit. I think I was forgetting to blink. Perhaps I was more tired than I thought I was. Second we started to encounter some bumps. Not anything that we would normally be concerned about but it was a few bumps and it seemed 1000 times worse under the hood. Third - I5 started to ask me to do more than just fly straight and level.
First it was a climb on this heading to 7500. Then it was a descent on this heading back to 6500. 7.5 degrees on the climb, just below the horizon on the descent. The climb was fairly simple but certainly not as easy as without the hood. In the descent the aircraft felt "heavy" and accelerated quickly when the nose was just a few degrees below the horizon.
Second valuable lesson of the day: You need to anticipate the yaw when transitioning between cruise and full/idle power.
Then we started turns. These were the most challenging for me. Starting my scan from the Turn Coordinator made it tough for me to keep the attitude in the right place. If I focused on the attitude I would have a shallow or steep turn. If I focused on the TC I'd put my nose up or down. If I looked at the airspeed I'd be all over the place. It was during the turns that I first started to experience the inner ear issues that everyone talks about. After making a 90 degree turn to the right, when rolling out of the turn my brain told me that I was transitioning from straight and level to a left bank. Bad Brain! Bad! Luckily it passed quickly. From here we moved into climbing/descending turns. It was still a lot of fun, but it was still extremely intense.
Third valuable lesson of the day: Trim reduces pilot workload - A LOT!
At this point I5 had me take off the hood and gave me a chance to look around. It was pretty sweet in the foothills down here.. honestly in the middle of nowhere. This is when the fun really started. I5 wanted to do a test. He asked me to set the "clock" in the plane (which he apparently doesn't really know how to use, but it is a standard chronometer) as a stopwatch. As instructed, once I had the aircraft straight and level (180 heading at 9000 feet) I started the clock and shut my eyes. The airplane "felt" as if it was flying straight and level. We had a few bumps and I just tried to stay loose on the controls. At some point I noticed that the engine sounded a bit different and felt as if I was tilted to the right. Then I wrote it off as my bad brain again and held the stick steady. The engine started to sound worse so I mad an adjustment to the left but that didn't feel right so I went back to the right. Then the engine sound was racing, so I figured I was headed down. I pulled back gently on the stick and immediately felt the G-Forces at work. I relaxed my grip and again banked left a bit but after it didn't feel right banked right again. The G-Forces were crushing me into my seat when I5 said "My control - now open your eyes". We were on a 090 heading at 6800 feet. In an 80 degree spiral dive doing 140 knots. Apparently I had done a 270 degree turn, lost 2200 feet, and twice started a recovery from the right bank I had been in only to go back to the right at a steeper angle. All this in 1:22 !!
Fourth valuable lesson of the day: Trust your instruments, not your brain.
It was starting to get dark out so we headed back. I flew under the hood the entire way back. I5 did all the radio work and called the headings, altitudes, and speeds for me. I just flew. There were a number of turns, altitudes, and speed calls and I knew we were now in the pattern. Finally the tower cleared us to land and I5 said "I have control, take off the hood". The sight before me was unbelievable. We were lined up perfectly on a short final, but it was dark and the runway lights were welcoming home. I5 asked if I wanted to land and I said "without the hood - yes!" and my wish was granted. The only specialty landing done here was that it was at night. Under the watchful eye of my instructor I greased my first night landing. I'll honestly say it was my best landing to date. No winds, right down the center line smooth as glass at a low speed with minimal float time. I'm fairly certain I had a huge cheeser on my face during the entire taxi back to the club.
Fifth valuable lesson of the day: Flying at night is cool, landing at night is unfreaking believable. Well, the real lesson is that getting a night rating would not only be cool, it would also be a nice thing to have in your back pocket in the event you got stuck in the air as the sun went down.
And there it was. My first "true" flight under instruments. Well - as true as it gets (or you want it to get) while working on your PPL. While I apparently did very well (I logged 1.0 instrument time), I will admit that it wasn't as good as I had hoped, or thought it would be. It was far more intense than I expected and the concentration and discipline required was far more than I ever expected. Of course I know that like everything else it will get a bit easier over time - provided I review the concepts again and practice for perfection.
Final valuable lesson of the day: Flying under instruments is a true skill. I have a lot more respect for everyone out there with their IFR tickets now.
In case you are wondering - I've completely lost track of the time I've logged in the aircraft. It's all listed in my Pilot Training Record (PTR) which "lives" at the club right now. I checked it out during my flying week extravaganza and based on "shady math" I believe I am currently sitting at:
Solo : 11.9
Dual : 32.2
-------------------
Total : 44.1 (1.7 dual instrument)
Whoever says that a license can actually be obtained in 40 hours is trying to sell you something.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Cremona II: The Return
On 08/22 I flew 1.2 solo up near the Morley area for some forced approaches. Went very well but I still feel as if I am crowding the field. The last two procedures I would have actually made the first third of the field. Somewhat satisfied I headed back knowing that my next "free solo" would include some time to work on this again.
Today however, we did a lovely dual flight to another new area. North of the airport the terrain flattens out to farmland. This is a great place to work on precautionary landings. Everything was smooth on the flight and we climbed out with a few turns to avoid the hangliding area (CYA228) which was active north of the field. I5 explained the lay of the land in this neighborhood, described some good and bad radio techniques for traffic advisories, and finally we did some map reading. We also reviewed what to do in case I became disoriented and wasn't sure how to head "home".
Following this we moved on to the actual task at hand - precautionary landings. I had done my homework and reviewed it over and over and over in my mind during the drive:
Perform a "circuit" (at least a downwind) to inspect the field (the high pass).
Get down to 500AGL (300 on the test and r/w) on a normal base for the low pass. The trick is to be nicely configured and trimmed with t/o flaps at 500AGL and 70 knots.
On the downwind we inspect the field again this time adding a timing element where we say each "second" on the downwind represents 100 feet.
Reaching the "end" of the downwind we perform an overshoot back to 1000AGL and declare if the field is long enough.
If we continue with the approach we make our radio call on the downwind (a PAN call), perform our pre landing checks, and go with a passenger safety briefing.
The rest is flown "normally" except of course we are landing in a field. At about 300AGL we perform the overshoot.
Was I great? No. Did I know my procedures? Yes. Did I know what performance issues I needed to work on in order to pass this portion of the flight test? Yes. Well actually I5 told me I would have passed, but there were some marks I would have been docked for which could easily have been avoided with some mental concentration.
On the way back we were given a "straight in" from north of Cochrane Lake. We tuned the YBW VOR and at this point I5 became intrigued that I understood how to use a VOR Receiver, and could determine my location relative to the VOR based on the radial and from/to flags. He then asked me if I could follow the Localiser Back Course all the way in and seemed amused that I was able to do this without must trouble.
The sunlight had really faded by the time we were on final. I guess these 7pm flights will soon be coming to an end - for 2009 at least.
Aside from the excitement of flying "somewhere else" and getting sign off to fly up there by myself, I also learned some interesting facts about the difference between GPS distances and DME distances that I had never considered before. Interesting little devices.
I'm booked for another flight next Tuesday but I told I5 that our should be to fly solo on that date and we will fly "diversions" (the last lesson prior to the first cross country) mid month.
Today however, we did a lovely dual flight to another new area. North of the airport the terrain flattens out to farmland. This is a great place to work on precautionary landings. Everything was smooth on the flight and we climbed out with a few turns to avoid the hangliding area (CYA228) which was active north of the field. I5 explained the lay of the land in this neighborhood, described some good and bad radio techniques for traffic advisories, and finally we did some map reading. We also reviewed what to do in case I became disoriented and wasn't sure how to head "home".
Following this we moved on to the actual task at hand - precautionary landings. I had done my homework and reviewed it over and over and over in my mind during the drive:
Perform a "circuit" (at least a downwind) to inspect the field (the high pass).
Get down to 500AGL (300 on the test and r/w) on a normal base for the low pass. The trick is to be nicely configured and trimmed with t/o flaps at 500AGL and 70 knots.
On the downwind we inspect the field again this time adding a timing element where we say each "second" on the downwind represents 100 feet.
Reaching the "end" of the downwind we perform an overshoot back to 1000AGL and declare if the field is long enough.
If we continue with the approach we make our radio call on the downwind (a PAN call), perform our pre landing checks, and go with a passenger safety briefing.
The rest is flown "normally" except of course we are landing in a field. At about 300AGL we perform the overshoot.
Was I great? No. Did I know my procedures? Yes. Did I know what performance issues I needed to work on in order to pass this portion of the flight test? Yes. Well actually I5 told me I would have passed, but there were some marks I would have been docked for which could easily have been avoided with some mental concentration.
On the way back we were given a "straight in" from north of Cochrane Lake. We tuned the YBW VOR and at this point I5 became intrigued that I understood how to use a VOR Receiver, and could determine my location relative to the VOR based on the radial and from/to flags. He then asked me if I could follow the Localiser Back Course all the way in and seemed amused that I was able to do this without must trouble.
The sunlight had really faded by the time we were on final. I guess these 7pm flights will soon be coming to an end - for 2009 at least.
Aside from the excitement of flying "somewhere else" and getting sign off to fly up there by myself, I also learned some interesting facts about the difference between GPS distances and DME distances that I had never considered before. Interesting little devices.
I'm booked for another flight next Tuesday but I told I5 that our should be to fly solo on that date and we will fly "diversions" (the last lesson prior to the first cross country) mid month.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Situational Awareness
[EDIT: Ya, so I'm a bit lazy and have about 5 blog entries prior to this which have not yet been completed. Since I finished the editing of this piece months ago - I decided to just publish it and move ahead]
Situational Awareness - as in "do you actually know where you are and where you are headed"?
This morning at 8AM I flew out to the practice area for forced approaches. It was the first time I actually felt "really" comfortable being out there. The forced approaches went "OK" but I think that I still need another session solo just doing them again. There were a lot of delays on departure (really busy) so I didn't have as much time as I would have liked - perhaps another 30 minutes out there would have been better.
Anyhow - things got super bumpy back in the circuit and no problems back to the club. I pulled up to the pumps and hopped out leaving all of my stuff in the aircraft. Inside I asked the rampee to fill her up for me and that I'd be back out in about 20 minutes. I signed the aircraft back in, filled out the logs, pulled a new weight and balance and signed the aircraft out. Then I5 comes out and starts asking me the usual - when he asks "what's our fuel at" I tell him "full tanks". He says "huh? what's our gross weight?". When I tell him he says - ummm notice the line below that says Spins not authorized above XXXX Lbs! - we were overweight (I had no idea we were doing spins). So I had to swap planes, do a full walk around and redo everything else. To top it off I5 wanted a short brief for the flight. We were going to do slow flight with full flap, power on stalls with all flap settings and turns, and fully developed spins.
I asked right before we started up if we had enough time to complete the dual flight and he said probably not unless you are really in the zone. We got out there, picked a zone and since it was quiet we went into slow flight for the transit to our practice area zone. Went great ;) Lots of turns, climbs, and descents. Then we went on to the spins. We climbed up to 9000 and talked about spins again and the recovery. He told me that this would be a fully developed spin and I told him we did them last time I spun but he said "my spins are a bit tighter than most". He put the airplane into a spin and said "your control" I immediately called "spinning left, power..." when he cut me off and said "wait - let it develop", and develop it did! I don't know how many times we spun before he said "recover". Throttle idle, full right rudder, stick down to break the stall and ease back up in the stick to level out (then it requires forward stick to stop it from climbing like a banshee) then slowly push the power back to cruise. We did 4 in total and they were pretty intense. On the way back we did full power stalls with full slap and let me tell you it isn't easy to stall the diamond like this. The stalls with turns were a bit more exciting to be honest - when that high wing stalls it really drops like a rock.
I also experienced something else for the first time - a guy who didn't know what the heck he was doing. It was obvious when he checked in on the practice area frequency with his callsign saying he was "entering the practice area" (from where?) and would be working 6500 feet and below (working where?). When he was asked both those questions his responses were not even remotely appropriate. On the way back out 45 mins later the call was made that we were southbound down the ghost river headed for the lake and the village to leave the practice area at 7500 descending 6. A few mins later he checks in saying he's 5 miles northwest of the dam at 6000. Umm - that's where I am. I check again that I'm 5 miles north of the dam at 6500 descending 6 and if he's sure that's where he is. "Yep he says". I look out my window for him and spot someone over the water and think to myself "Jesus - this guy is west southwest of the dam and he looks like he's at 65-7500". Just then a different aircraft checks in at that location leaving the practice area (another idiot, the procedure is 6000 feet leaving and he was at 7k+) and that is when I spot the first idiot at our 9-10 headed right for us. F****R is at about 5500 (we're at 6) and he's headed west - he's STILL to the east/south east of the dam. He had no clue where he was and he obviously doesn't see us and looks like he's climbing. Quick turn to the right for a diverging course and called "India Fox Alpha level 6000 over the dam turning for the village, traffic just east of the dam headed westbound please say intentions". Nothing. I kept my eye on him and the bugger stayed on course and climbed right through my altitude behind us. It was probably 2-3 more minutes before I got over the village and went back to the tower to check in - that guy never called on 22.75 or the tower freq while I was there. I was hoping to get the tail number to find out where they were flying out of. Honestly though - that was a dangerous situation (not to mention the moron in front of us). Every other time (as in all 5 times) I've been in the practice area people have been very good about where they are and what they are doing. It isn't really all that hard is it ;)
On the way back there was traffic ahead and behind us same route so a lot of speed management was required. We also had traffic that crossed us above and below - pretty cool stuff. I executed what I would say was my finest soft field landing to date and headed back to the field.
I treated I5 to lunch during which time we talked about the next few flights. As it turns out he had already briefed and flown "advanced" forced approaches with me, so I was good for a solo. With this in mind I booked another solo for tomorrow to work on the advanced forced approaches until they are where exactly I want them to be.
So - it has been 7 flights in 7 days and tomorrow will make it 8 flights in 8 days (four of them solo). I
I'm pretty excited but also pretty wiped. Those spins can really knock a guy out.
Situational Awareness - as in "do you actually know where you are and where you are headed"?
This morning at 8AM I flew out to the practice area for forced approaches. It was the first time I actually felt "really" comfortable being out there. The forced approaches went "OK" but I think that I still need another session solo just doing them again. There were a lot of delays on departure (really busy) so I didn't have as much time as I would have liked - perhaps another 30 minutes out there would have been better.
Anyhow - things got super bumpy back in the circuit and no problems back to the club. I pulled up to the pumps and hopped out leaving all of my stuff in the aircraft. Inside I asked the rampee to fill her up for me and that I'd be back out in about 20 minutes. I signed the aircraft back in, filled out the logs, pulled a new weight and balance and signed the aircraft out. Then I5 comes out and starts asking me the usual - when he asks "what's our fuel at" I tell him "full tanks". He says "huh? what's our gross weight?". When I tell him he says - ummm notice the line below that says Spins not authorized above XXXX Lbs! - we were overweight (I had no idea we were doing spins). So I had to swap planes, do a full walk around and redo everything else. To top it off I5 wanted a short brief for the flight. We were going to do slow flight with full flap, power on stalls with all flap settings and turns, and fully developed spins.
I asked right before we started up if we had enough time to complete the dual flight and he said probably not unless you are really in the zone. We got out there, picked a zone and since it was quiet we went into slow flight for the transit to our practice area zone. Went great ;) Lots of turns, climbs, and descents. Then we went on to the spins. We climbed up to 9000 and talked about spins again and the recovery. He told me that this would be a fully developed spin and I told him we did them last time I spun but he said "my spins are a bit tighter than most". He put the airplane into a spin and said "your control" I immediately called "spinning left, power..." when he cut me off and said "wait - let it develop", and develop it did! I don't know how many times we spun before he said "recover". Throttle idle, full right rudder, stick down to break the stall and ease back up in the stick to level out (then it requires forward stick to stop it from climbing like a banshee) then slowly push the power back to cruise. We did 4 in total and they were pretty intense. On the way back we did full power stalls with full slap and let me tell you it isn't easy to stall the diamond like this. The stalls with turns were a bit more exciting to be honest - when that high wing stalls it really drops like a rock.
I also experienced something else for the first time - a guy who didn't know what the heck he was doing. It was obvious when he checked in on the practice area frequency with his callsign saying he was "entering the practice area" (from where?) and would be working 6500 feet and below (working where?). When he was asked both those questions his responses were not even remotely appropriate. On the way back out 45 mins later the call was made that we were southbound down the ghost river headed for the lake and the village to leave the practice area at 7500 descending 6. A few mins later he checks in saying he's 5 miles northwest of the dam at 6000. Umm - that's where I am. I check again that I'm 5 miles north of the dam at 6500 descending 6 and if he's sure that's where he is. "Yep he says". I look out my window for him and spot someone over the water and think to myself "Jesus - this guy is west southwest of the dam and he looks like he's at 65-7500". Just then a different aircraft checks in at that location leaving the practice area (another idiot, the procedure is 6000 feet leaving and he was at 7k+) and that is when I spot the first idiot at our 9-10 headed right for us. F****R is at about 5500 (we're at 6) and he's headed west - he's STILL to the east/south east of the dam. He had no clue where he was and he obviously doesn't see us and looks like he's climbing. Quick turn to the right for a diverging course and called "India Fox Alpha level 6000 over the dam turning for the village, traffic just east of the dam headed westbound please say intentions". Nothing. I kept my eye on him and the bugger stayed on course and climbed right through my altitude behind us. It was probably 2-3 more minutes before I got over the village and went back to the tower to check in - that guy never called on 22.75 or the tower freq while I was there. I was hoping to get the tail number to find out where they were flying out of. Honestly though - that was a dangerous situation (not to mention the moron in front of us). Every other time (as in all 5 times) I've been in the practice area people have been very good about where they are and what they are doing. It isn't really all that hard is it ;)
On the way back there was traffic ahead and behind us same route so a lot of speed management was required. We also had traffic that crossed us above and below - pretty cool stuff. I executed what I would say was my finest soft field landing to date and headed back to the field.
I treated I5 to lunch during which time we talked about the next few flights. As it turns out he had already briefed and flown "advanced" forced approaches with me, so I was good for a solo. With this in mind I booked another solo for tomorrow to work on the advanced forced approaches until they are where exactly I want them to be.
So - it has been 7 flights in 7 days and tomorrow will make it 8 flights in 8 days (four of them solo). I
I'm pretty excited but also pretty wiped. Those spins can really knock a guy out.
Photo Ops
I took advantage of a day off work and booked two flights today with a nice break in between to allow myself to learn and rest.
Both flights were out to the practice area where I focused heavily on stalls, slow flight, and forced approaches. Having flown so much now in the past few weeks I was starting to really get the hang of the minute adjustments required for some exercises.
Slow flight saw the largest improvement in performance. I was able to enter and exit it quickly and with authority. Straight and level, turns, climbs, descents, and turning climbs/descents all mixed with different flap settings went great.
I focused on Forced approaches for the flight later that day and hit a different area of the practice region. While they were much improved over the last time I did them, I made a number of mental notes that need to be addressed. The largest is my judgement of distance. I have absolutely no problem getting trimmed out for glide speed, picking a suitable landing area, a key point, or even knowing which way to turn. My problem is that I absolutely crowd the field. The result is that I would need to make a steeper than desired turn back for the field which isn't something you want to be doing in this scenario. I end up way too high, regardless of how forward of a slip I can do (lol). All I keep thinking about is that I'm supposed to be able to show make the first 1/3 of the field.
There remains some work to be done here - but I think all it is going to take is some more practice!
The best part of these flights (aside from flying for "real" again) is that they are the first time I ventured to take a camera on board with me. During the transition to and from the area I took the time to take photos - but soon after was far too busy to even REMEMBER that I had a camera with me. When I got home I immediately ripped the photos off of the memory card and uploaded them. Not too shabby for a novice.
Note to self: taking a video without having the audio hooked up to the comms panel will give people a good indication of how lout it is in a single engine aircraft without any ear protection!
Both flights were out to the practice area where I focused heavily on stalls, slow flight, and forced approaches. Having flown so much now in the past few weeks I was starting to really get the hang of the minute adjustments required for some exercises.
Slow flight saw the largest improvement in performance. I was able to enter and exit it quickly and with authority. Straight and level, turns, climbs, descents, and turning climbs/descents all mixed with different flap settings went great.
I focused on Forced approaches for the flight later that day and hit a different area of the practice region. While they were much improved over the last time I did them, I made a number of mental notes that need to be addressed. The largest is my judgement of distance. I have absolutely no problem getting trimmed out for glide speed, picking a suitable landing area, a key point, or even knowing which way to turn. My problem is that I absolutely crowd the field. The result is that I would need to make a steeper than desired turn back for the field which isn't something you want to be doing in this scenario. I end up way too high, regardless of how forward of a slip I can do (lol). All I keep thinking about is that I'm supposed to be able to show make the first 1/3 of the field.
There remains some work to be done here - but I think all it is going to take is some more practice!
The best part of these flights (aside from flying for "real" again) is that they are the first time I ventured to take a camera on board with me. During the transition to and from the area I took the time to take photos - but soon after was far too busy to even REMEMBER that I had a camera with me. When I got home I immediately ripped the photos off of the memory card and uploaded them. Not too shabby for a novice.
Note to self: taking a video without having the audio hooked up to the comms panel will give people a good indication of how lout it is in a single engine aircraft without any ear protection!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Flying for "real"
A truly magical flight.
My first solo flight away from the airport. There was something very special about this flight for me. I didn't feel rushed at all, was extremely calm but never "relaxed". Always double and triple checking everything. There wasn't an instructor to my right who could take over in case something went wrong, and there wasn't a tower controller watching out for anyone else.
It was all up to me.
Knowing that there was potential for many things to go wrong, I invested a few hours reviewing how the GPS in the aircraft worked in case I needed it to raise my situational awareness. As it turns out I spent a fair amount of time on the ground playing with it (confirming what I had read) and while in the air it was nice to have the confidence that I understood how to interact with it.
It was especially useful for cross referencing where I was in the practice area. Between the lines I had drawn on the map, what I saw out the window, and what was drawn on the GPS moving map I was confident (somewhat) that I was where I thought I was.
Aside from the experience of navigating between the airport and practice area, confirming where I was in the practice area, and communicating with others out there - I focused on steep turns for this flight. It seemed as if I was doing them for nearly an hour. It is truly amazing how many factors are involved in completing a perfect 360 degree steep turn. My big lesson of the day was that I'm better at turning right then I am left.
I can still remember how I pumped my fist in the air as I headed home in the car afterwards. This was flying for "real".
My first solo flight away from the airport. There was something very special about this flight for me. I didn't feel rushed at all, was extremely calm but never "relaxed". Always double and triple checking everything. There wasn't an instructor to my right who could take over in case something went wrong, and there wasn't a tower controller watching out for anyone else.
It was all up to me.
Knowing that there was potential for many things to go wrong, I invested a few hours reviewing how the GPS in the aircraft worked in case I needed it to raise my situational awareness. As it turns out I spent a fair amount of time on the ground playing with it (confirming what I had read) and while in the air it was nice to have the confidence that I understood how to interact with it.
It was especially useful for cross referencing where I was in the practice area. Between the lines I had drawn on the map, what I saw out the window, and what was drawn on the GPS moving map I was confident (somewhat) that I was where I thought I was.
Aside from the experience of navigating between the airport and practice area, confirming where I was in the practice area, and communicating with others out there - I focused on steep turns for this flight. It seemed as if I was doing them for nearly an hour. It is truly amazing how many factors are involved in completing a perfect 360 degree steep turn. My big lesson of the day was that I'm better at turning right then I am left.
I can still remember how I pumped my fist in the air as I headed home in the car afterwards. This was flying for "real".
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
NORDO
With my family out of town for the next week I plan to take advantage and fly like there's no tomorrow. Hopefully the weather gods will be more kind than last year when I got 20% of my bookings in when the left town.
After completing a briefing about the procedures to and from the practice area I decided to take care of two bookings in one since I had all day. The routes to and from the practice area had changed since my last flight out there and to be honest this made me happy. No more struggling with those impossible power lines. The new "routes" make a lot more sense and provide much better traffic separation laterally between the airport and the practice area - and also the entry/exit points of the practice area itself.
It felt great to finally leave the circuit. My first level off check, flying straight and level, and even doing a fuel lean seemed exciting.
Once we got out to the are we did a number of exercises which included a lot of slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and spiral dives. We then moved into Forced approaches, more slow flight, more stalls, and finally topped it off by simulating NORDO on the way back to the airport.
Since this was a double session we were in the air doing this stuff for a long time. Not only was I exhausted and thirsty, I also was starting to feel not so good a lot. If there was anything that I learned today - it was that the checks we do to make sure we are "safe" for flying are important. I can completely see how an exhausted pilot could make a number of errors.
At the same time - I realize that I really need to focus on the precision required to execute exercises within the proper envelope. Slow flight needs a lot of work. The NORDO portion of the flight was awesome. I really loved it ;)
After completing a briefing about the procedures to and from the practice area I decided to take care of two bookings in one since I had all day. The routes to and from the practice area had changed since my last flight out there and to be honest this made me happy. No more struggling with those impossible power lines. The new "routes" make a lot more sense and provide much better traffic separation laterally between the airport and the practice area - and also the entry/exit points of the practice area itself.
It felt great to finally leave the circuit. My first level off check, flying straight and level, and even doing a fuel lean seemed exciting.
Once we got out to the are we did a number of exercises which included a lot of slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and spiral dives. We then moved into Forced approaches, more slow flight, more stalls, and finally topped it off by simulating NORDO on the way back to the airport.
Since this was a double session we were in the air doing this stuff for a long time. Not only was I exhausted and thirsty, I also was starting to feel not so good a lot. If there was anything that I learned today - it was that the checks we do to make sure we are "safe" for flying are important. I can completely see how an exhausted pilot could make a number of errors.
At the same time - I realize that I really need to focus on the precision required to execute exercises within the proper envelope. Slow flight needs a lot of work. The NORDO portion of the flight was awesome. I really loved it ;)
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Complete Circuit
The aviation gods finally agreed to let me fly again.
Yesterday I5 and I did the soft field dual and it went great. There were however many mental lapses which I'll need to work on. Again I'll chalk them up to a combination of experience and currency. It truly is amazing how much better you are if you fly more often.
Today was the solo portion of the soft field and again my performance was quite weak. I stayed up for over 90 minutes in the air trying to correct a horrible job of landing that I was doing. I was fighting the crosswinds the entire way in. It wasn't so much the crosswind as it was the fact that the winds were inconsistent in direction and speed. I did a number of touch and gos to see if I could figure it out but it was no help. To make matters worse my left creep had come back again. This was the problem I had for the longest time where during the takeoff roll of a touch and go (or the go rather) I would make a beeline for the grass on the left.
The flight was extremely frustrating for me. I went home extremely disappointed with my performance.
Yesterday I5 and I did the soft field dual and it went great. There were however many mental lapses which I'll need to work on. Again I'll chalk them up to a combination of experience and currency. It truly is amazing how much better you are if you fly more often.
Today was the solo portion of the soft field and again my performance was quite weak. I stayed up for over 90 minutes in the air trying to correct a horrible job of landing that I was doing. I was fighting the crosswinds the entire way in. It wasn't so much the crosswind as it was the fact that the winds were inconsistent in direction and speed. I did a number of touch and gos to see if I could figure it out but it was no help. To make matters worse my left creep had come back again. This was the problem I had for the longest time where during the takeoff roll of a touch and go (or the go rather) I would make a beeline for the grass on the left.
The flight was extremely frustrating for me. I went home extremely disappointed with my performance.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Personal Minimums
It's been a frustrating month. I've had more cancellations then Castlegar (CYCG aka "Cancelgar") sees in an average December. If it wasn't the winds it was the rain. If it wasn't the rain it was the ceiling. If it wasn't the ceiling it was the aircraft. If it wasn't the aircraft it was something on my end that didn't work - usually a relative visiting.. from my wife's side of the family ;)
I5 and I had already gone through multiple briefings, requests about flying instrument time in the sim (no thanks), and today we were actually going to fly.
After the runup was complete I went through the standard safety briefing and moved on to our planned soft field takeoff and landings. When I was done I5 started to speak about the cells that were moving around the field and said that it was important to set personal minimums while on the ground - preferably not even while in the aircraft.
I didn't require any explanation. I had recently read a number of articles and threads about personal minimums in terms of weather, currency, and health. The concepts are quite simple - you need to be realistic about what you are and what you are not capable of handling. These minimums are not static and are in fact a constantly moving target. Just as the weather changes all the time, so does the way you feel, the amount of sleep you have, and the amount of time you last handled a specific scenario (landing on a short field in a cross wind at high altitude at night with your significant other in the aircraft - ok that's probably taking it too far, but I make my point).
I5 talked about what we would do if we encountered rain (lower RPM's and then decide if we should land) and what would happen if we spotted lightning (land). Once I understood we held short and soon were cleared for takeoff.
I kept the stick back all the way as we took the runway, careful not to hit the brakes or lose momentum as we turned the corner. I brought the throttle to full and called the engine power ok, oil ok, and airspeed alive. It felt pretty weird having the stick all the way back like this. The concept was to get the nose wheel slightly off the ground and let the aircraft just "take off" in the ground effect -then stay in it until reaching the target speed.
Unfortunately for me - the procedure calls for slightly decreased back pressure as the nose wheel starts to come off the ground. I kept it all the way back and that image I had of "cowling just below the far end of the runway" turned into "pretend you are a space shuttle trying to takeoff". I5 of course pushed the stick back forward and kept it there until he sensed me realizing the issue and holding it with the correct pressure at the correct angle. We took to the air slightly above our stall speed and I continued to push the stick forward in ground effect until we reached 68 and zoomed off.
(Again - ground effect is soooo cool).
On the downwind we talked about what went wrong on the takeoff and what I would do on the next one. I wrote it off as a complete brain fart but it also has been nearly 4 weeks since my last flight - perhaps I was rusty. Soon after I called on the downwind for the touch and go we spotted a flash of lightning at our 3 O'Clock. I5 asked "did you see that?" to which I replied with "yep, let's stick with the plan". I5 keyed the mike and said "Actually tower, we'll make it a full stop". I did a soft field landing and kept it on the roll until tower needed us to get off. During the remainder of the downwind we heard 4-5 other's change their minds for the full stop and eventually the tower started telling people about lightning.
On the way back to the club, the one thing I was really wondering was why I5 didn't say something more like "Actually tower, we'll make it a full stop BECAUSE WE SPOTTED LIGHTNING TO THE EAST SOUTH EAST". I'm sure they saw it themselves - but I'd assume that telling them something like that would be a great example of good airmanship. When I relayed this to I5 he did tell me that it was a good plan and got an amused look on his face.
The bad: Didn't really get to fly. Pooched the soft field departure.
The good: Learned a valuable lesson about personal minimums. Also didn't have to pay for the airtime of the aircraft since it was so small.
I5 and I had already gone through multiple briefings, requests about flying instrument time in the sim (no thanks), and today we were actually going to fly.
After the runup was complete I went through the standard safety briefing and moved on to our planned soft field takeoff and landings. When I was done I5 started to speak about the cells that were moving around the field and said that it was important to set personal minimums while on the ground - preferably not even while in the aircraft.
I didn't require any explanation. I had recently read a number of articles and threads about personal minimums in terms of weather, currency, and health. The concepts are quite simple - you need to be realistic about what you are and what you are not capable of handling. These minimums are not static and are in fact a constantly moving target. Just as the weather changes all the time, so does the way you feel, the amount of sleep you have, and the amount of time you last handled a specific scenario (landing on a short field in a cross wind at high altitude at night with your significant other in the aircraft - ok that's probably taking it too far, but I make my point).
I5 talked about what we would do if we encountered rain (lower RPM's and then decide if we should land) and what would happen if we spotted lightning (land). Once I understood we held short and soon were cleared for takeoff.
I kept the stick back all the way as we took the runway, careful not to hit the brakes or lose momentum as we turned the corner. I brought the throttle to full and called the engine power ok, oil ok, and airspeed alive. It felt pretty weird having the stick all the way back like this. The concept was to get the nose wheel slightly off the ground and let the aircraft just "take off" in the ground effect -then stay in it until reaching the target speed.
Unfortunately for me - the procedure calls for slightly decreased back pressure as the nose wheel starts to come off the ground. I kept it all the way back and that image I had of "cowling just below the far end of the runway" turned into "pretend you are a space shuttle trying to takeoff". I5 of course pushed the stick back forward and kept it there until he sensed me realizing the issue and holding it with the correct pressure at the correct angle. We took to the air slightly above our stall speed and I continued to push the stick forward in ground effect until we reached 68 and zoomed off.
(Again - ground effect is soooo cool).
On the downwind we talked about what went wrong on the takeoff and what I would do on the next one. I wrote it off as a complete brain fart but it also has been nearly 4 weeks since my last flight - perhaps I was rusty. Soon after I called on the downwind for the touch and go we spotted a flash of lightning at our 3 O'Clock. I5 asked "did you see that?" to which I replied with "yep, let's stick with the plan". I5 keyed the mike and said "Actually tower, we'll make it a full stop". I did a soft field landing and kept it on the roll until tower needed us to get off. During the remainder of the downwind we heard 4-5 other's change their minds for the full stop and eventually the tower started telling people about lightning.
On the way back to the club, the one thing I was really wondering was why I5 didn't say something more like "Actually tower, we'll make it a full stop BECAUSE WE SPOTTED LIGHTNING TO THE EAST SOUTH EAST". I'm sure they saw it themselves - but I'd assume that telling them something like that would be a great example of good airmanship. When I relayed this to I5 he did tell me that it was a good plan and got an amused look on his face.
The bad: Didn't really get to fly. Pooched the soft field departure.
The good: Learned a valuable lesson about personal minimums. Also didn't have to pay for the airtime of the aircraft since it was so small.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The Simulator
The weather did not want to cooperate today so we took a seat in the club's simulator. I need to log 5 hours worth of instrument time for my license.
I5 was telling me that you could log up to 3 of those 5 hours in the simulator and the other two were done under the hood in the air. Apparently most people do it this way to save money.
I'll make this short and sweet. The briefing about the instrument scan methods was great. I learned a lot from I5 that wasn't obvious from the FTM and FTGU. In the sim I essentially flew runway heading in a climb. Flew straight and level, did some turns, then combined climbs, descents, and turns.
Overall it was quite boring and somewhat useless for me. I've been flying in simulators since SubLogic's FS on my Apple ][+ (well actually it was an apple clone called Unitron, but man we had an 80 column card!). Not that it actually amounts to a hill of beans since 95% of those sim hours were spent doing things I will probably never do. However I just didn't feel that I got much out of the simulator. I even have a newer version of X-Plane (they use v8 and I have v9) and my home yoke and pedals work better than the one at the club.
If there was one good thing (aside from the brief) to come out of this - it was the structure of having a specific set of tasks and goals for an instrument flight.
In any event, my mind was made up by the time I left the club - I'd make sure the other 4.3 hours I spent on instruments happened in the real thing, regardless of the extra few hundred it would cost me. If I ever got caught in a bad scenario - the experience from the sitting in the cockpit under the hood would most likely be more valuable than sitting in the simulator.
I5 was telling me that you could log up to 3 of those 5 hours in the simulator and the other two were done under the hood in the air. Apparently most people do it this way to save money.
I'll make this short and sweet. The briefing about the instrument scan methods was great. I learned a lot from I5 that wasn't obvious from the FTM and FTGU. In the sim I essentially flew runway heading in a climb. Flew straight and level, did some turns, then combined climbs, descents, and turns.
Overall it was quite boring and somewhat useless for me. I've been flying in simulators since SubLogic's FS on my Apple ][+ (well actually it was an apple clone called Unitron, but man we had an 80 column card!). Not that it actually amounts to a hill of beans since 95% of those sim hours were spent doing things I will probably never do. However I just didn't feel that I got much out of the simulator. I even have a newer version of X-Plane (they use v8 and I have v9) and my home yoke and pedals work better than the one at the club.
If there was one good thing (aside from the brief) to come out of this - it was the structure of having a specific set of tasks and goals for an instrument flight.
In any event, my mind was made up by the time I left the club - I'd make sure the other 4.3 hours I spent on instruments happened in the real thing, regardless of the extra few hundred it would cost me. If I ever got caught in a bad scenario - the experience from the sitting in the cockpit under the hood would most likely be more valuable than sitting in the simulator.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Ground Effect is Cool
With my addiction to flying in full swing, I took a lovely Friday afternoon off and decided to book back to back flights with the hope I could complete both the dual and solo portions of short field takeoff and landings.
As usual, the winds and weather got worse as the day wore on (remind why in the world I stopped flying at 8am?) and by the time I got out there I5 told me the winds and turbulence were pretty bad. He did in the end leave it up to me and I did my usual "let's see how things go".
The sequence to remember was as follows:
I5 demonstrated the first takeoff. Being in the ground effect was extremely cool and everything else appeared to make sense. The summer bumps had definitely made an appearance and we experienced some intense (for me) up/down drafts which made it interesting to control until we reached the downwind.
The approach was much of the same but the landing was extremely different due to the hard application of the brakes while keeping the weight off of the nose. I was able to execute the takeoffs in ground effect pretty well but it took me a few times before I was able to effectively perform the short landing to his satisfaction. We then repeated the entire procedure with a simulated 50 foot obstacle on either end of the runway. It still amazes me how poor the forward visibility is at Vx.
Although it was rather bumpy, I5 gave me the green light to complete the solo portion of the lesson as long as I took a break. I took about 45 minutes to relax and drain/add fluids as per my body’s POH before performing a complete walk around.
Spent another 90 minutes doing the same thing by myself. The only problem was that the circuit was full and there appeared to be a "higher than normal" rate of arrival and departures. I gained some great experience during that 90 minutes including:
While I didn't get to do as many stop and go's as I had hoped, I can say those that I did perform were far better than any I did during the dual portion. I had the hang of this ground effect thing.
As usual, the winds and weather got worse as the day wore on (remind why in the world I stopped flying at 8am?) and by the time I got out there I5 told me the winds and turbulence were pretty bad. He did in the end leave it up to me and I did my usual "let's see how things go".
The sequence to remember was as follows:
- Making the call while holding short, tell ATC you need a “short delay”.
- Taxi as far back on the runway as possible (maximize available takeoff distance)
- Line up, stand on the brakes and apply full power
- Confirm engine power is as expected
- Confirm no issues with engine gauges
- Release Brakes
- Rotate and lift off at precise speeds
- Push nose forward and remain in ground effect until reaching desired speed
- Climb out as usual
I5 demonstrated the first takeoff. Being in the ground effect was extremely cool and everything else appeared to make sense. The summer bumps had definitely made an appearance and we experienced some intense (for me) up/down drafts which made it interesting to control until we reached the downwind.
The approach was much of the same but the landing was extremely different due to the hard application of the brakes while keeping the weight off of the nose. I was able to execute the takeoffs in ground effect pretty well but it took me a few times before I was able to effectively perform the short landing to his satisfaction. We then repeated the entire procedure with a simulated 50 foot obstacle on either end of the runway. It still amazes me how poor the forward visibility is at Vx.
Although it was rather bumpy, I5 gave me the green light to complete the solo portion of the lesson as long as I took a break. I took about 45 minutes to relax and drain/add fluids as per my body’s POH before performing a complete walk around.
Spent another 90 minutes doing the same thing by myself. The only problem was that the circuit was full and there appeared to be a "higher than normal" rate of arrival and departures. I gained some great experience during that 90 minutes including:
- A right 360 on downwind
- A runway change while on base
- A call to extend my downwind while I was already on base
- A right circuit (when we were flying left circuits)
- Many "new" types of traffic in the circuit including multiple twins, a sweet sweet Piper Malibu, and a Cessna Citation.
- A guy behind me who's response to "extend your downwind", "reduce to minimum approach speed", and "make a right 360 for spacing" was "Unable" in all cases
While I didn't get to do as many stop and go's as I had hoped, I can say those that I did perform were far better than any I did during the dual portion. I had the hang of this ground effect thing.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Short and Soft
No, this isn't a condition which can be cured by products sold by GlavMed - this is the portion of my training where we learn how to takeoff and land (with and without obstacles) at fields with short runways, or soft field conditions (slush, snow, mud, grass, etc).
During a few cross country flights with some friends back in April I was able to experience both a short and soft field takeoff/landing so I had a basic understanding of what it felt like and what we were supposed to do.
Since the weather wasn't our friend this evening, I5 and I decided to spend the entire session doing a lengthy ground brief to cover both of these. Not extremely exciting, but at least something to think about. We took a short break when someone came into the club hoping to get some fuel. Since I5 was the only one at the club this late we went out to help him with the fuel. I was happy to say that this was indeed the pilot of the infamous Skymaster (see last week's entry) and I had an opportunity to inspect her inside and out. This thing is even more odd up close than it was in the air! I went home afterwards and spent a considerable amount of time reading and watching videos of everything I could regarding short and soft fields.
The club's syllabus requires me to complete this section of training in four flights - a set of dual/solo pairs for each of short field and soft field landings.
I can hardly wait to knock these off!
During a few cross country flights with some friends back in April I was able to experience both a short and soft field takeoff/landing so I had a basic understanding of what it felt like and what we were supposed to do.
Since the weather wasn't our friend this evening, I5 and I decided to spend the entire session doing a lengthy ground brief to cover both of these. Not extremely exciting, but at least something to think about. We took a short break when someone came into the club hoping to get some fuel. Since I5 was the only one at the club this late we went out to help him with the fuel. I was happy to say that this was indeed the pilot of the infamous Skymaster (see last week's entry) and I had an opportunity to inspect her inside and out. This thing is even more odd up close than it was in the air! I went home afterwards and spent a considerable amount of time reading and watching videos of everything I could regarding short and soft fields.
The club's syllabus requires me to complete this section of training in four flights - a set of dual/solo pairs for each of short field and soft field landings.
I can hardly wait to knock these off!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Skymaster
I was still on a high from the previous flight and spent most of the day in a foul mood as thunderstorms rolled in outside my office window all day long. My wife had called at about 6PM asking if my flight had been cancelled but naturally I told her that just like my baseball team, we wouldn’t be able to call it until we arrived at the field.Things cleared up just as I arrived at the field. In fact it was a beautiful clear evening with mostly blue skies. My aircraft had been fuelled up and was waiting on the ramp for me. After a quick checkout I took to the skies off of runway 25. The circuit filled up over the next 90 minutes and I had the opportunity to see a variety of aircraft circling with me. For the last 40 minutes or so I had the weirdest looking aircraft behind me. Each time he keyed his mike and called in as Skymaster ABC, I let out a big of a giggle as I pictured some superhero behind the controls. Each time I turned to a new circuit leg in front of him I couldn’t help but to look back. This thing had a prop at the front and at the back to go with its dual vertical stabilizers. Mind blowing for a newbie like me!
I was really on the ball all night and was additionally having a ball. My power settings were good, my circuits were good, my approaches were good, and the landings were good. I felt as if I had enough time on each approach to double and triple check everything. It seemed as if everything was truly coming together. I was even able to seamlessly handle an unanticipated runway change that was communicated to me on the go. Very cool stuff. I think I like this flying thing.
When I arrived back at the club they were completely shut down so I had to fill out the paperwork in the little dispatch office. This made me feel especially important. It was odd not to have some instructors back at the club greet me as I arrived.
The final lessons of the day were that some people have no idea what they are doing with respect to knots - illustrated by the scenario I faced getting the tie downs on the plane. The other lesson was that without someone demonstrating to you how the control locks are put in place, it can be a long and frustrating process. Note to self: move the rudder pedals all the way forward.
With the initial solo portion of my circuit training complete, I will not move on to the next phase of training - short and soft field landings before moving back to the practice area.
26.4 hours and counting...
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Now *THIS* is a solo!
The real learning continues with my first actual solo flight from start to finish. I'll admit now that I felt extra super cool as I walked out to the ramp to check the aircraft out. After a quick chat with the Chief instructor about a few things I hopped into the diamond and went through the checklists. I made sure that I really took my time going over everything especially during the run-up.
Before I knew it I was cleared for takeoff. It was just as I lifted off that I first noticed "the noise". WTF is that? It didn't sound like anything mechanical, but it certainly didn't sound right. I scanned all of the engine gauges, the circuit breakers, my main gauges, my controls - everything looked perfect. FFC was performing exactly as expected, but still the noise was there. I decided to hold off on the flaps and pump going off until I turned crosswind and as I did the noise stopped. "OK, perhaps it was the fuel pump" was my first thought. As I straightened out on the crosswind the noise came back again. I tried flipping the pump on and off and double checked the gauges again but everything looked good. It was at this moment I first thought to myself "Am I really having an issue with an aircraft on my first solo?"I looked back at the field to determine what my options might be if I had to perform an emergency landing and then started considering options that weren’t on the field.
During the turn to downwind the noise again stopped and of course restarted as I rolled out straight. "No need to panic, just keep troubleshooting and considering options" I told myself. I ripped off my headset in an effort to better locate the noise. I bent over and put my head in different positions to figure out where the source of the noise was. Engine gauges look OK. Throttle, mixture, alternate air, cabin heat, fuel cut-off all where they need to be. The window is closed on my side; the window is closed on the other...wait a minute! The window IS closed on the other side but there’s this little tiny window inside of it that appears to be open!! I reached across to the window (no simple feat for a man of my stature) and pulled the little window closed, pushed the lock tab in and bingo - the noise ended. I immediately let out a simultaneous sigh of relief and a chuckle at myself. "What a wonderful blog entry this will make!"
The remainder of the flight was an absolute dream. I spent a lot of time messing around with power settings to produce the perfect rate of descent on the base and final - or at least to improve on my 800fpm descent I was hitting most of the time. I focused on sticking to the centerline for the entire approach phase and I’m happy to say most of the landings were pretty smooth.
I did have one other brain fart worth noting because it was a good learning experience. I was so focused on getting my power settings correct that at one point while on base I heard the aircraft behind my call "downwind for the touch and go" when I realized that I had neglected to make that call myself. After tower told them they were #2 following a diamond I keyed my mike and simply said "Tower, FFC on right base for the touch and go, sorry about the early turn". Luckily the rest of my situational awareness was intact so I knew there wasn’t anyone else in front of me or on a straight in. Phew!
Securing the aircraft I was extremely satisfied with the flight. I realized at that point I had spent over 90 minutes in the air. My final lesson for the day was that the tow bar for the diamond was a complete POS and it was nearly impossible to steer it back into the correct parking spot.
24.8 hours and counting...
Before I knew it I was cleared for takeoff. It was just as I lifted off that I first noticed "the noise". WTF is that? It didn't sound like anything mechanical, but it certainly didn't sound right. I scanned all of the engine gauges, the circuit breakers, my main gauges, my controls - everything looked perfect. FFC was performing exactly as expected, but still the noise was there. I decided to hold off on the flaps and pump going off until I turned crosswind and as I did the noise stopped. "OK, perhaps it was the fuel pump" was my first thought. As I straightened out on the crosswind the noise came back again. I tried flipping the pump on and off and double checked the gauges again but everything looked good. It was at this moment I first thought to myself "Am I really having an issue with an aircraft on my first solo?"I looked back at the field to determine what my options might be if I had to perform an emergency landing and then started considering options that weren’t on the field.
During the turn to downwind the noise again stopped and of course restarted as I rolled out straight. "No need to panic, just keep troubleshooting and considering options" I told myself. I ripped off my headset in an effort to better locate the noise. I bent over and put my head in different positions to figure out where the source of the noise was. Engine gauges look OK. Throttle, mixture, alternate air, cabin heat, fuel cut-off all where they need to be. The window is closed on my side; the window is closed on the other...wait a minute! The window IS closed on the other side but there’s this little tiny window inside of it that appears to be open!! I reached across to the window (no simple feat for a man of my stature) and pulled the little window closed, pushed the lock tab in and bingo - the noise ended. I immediately let out a simultaneous sigh of relief and a chuckle at myself. "What a wonderful blog entry this will make!"
The remainder of the flight was an absolute dream. I spent a lot of time messing around with power settings to produce the perfect rate of descent on the base and final - or at least to improve on my 800fpm descent I was hitting most of the time. I focused on sticking to the centerline for the entire approach phase and I’m happy to say most of the landings were pretty smooth.
I did have one other brain fart worth noting because it was a good learning experience. I was so focused on getting my power settings correct that at one point while on base I heard the aircraft behind my call "downwind for the touch and go" when I realized that I had neglected to make that call myself. After tower told them they were #2 following a diamond I keyed my mike and simply said "Tower, FFC on right base for the touch and go, sorry about the early turn". Luckily the rest of my situational awareness was intact so I knew there wasn’t anyone else in front of me or on a straight in. Phew!
Securing the aircraft I was extremely satisfied with the flight. I realized at that point I had spent over 90 minutes in the air. My final lesson for the day was that the tow bar for the diamond was a complete POS and it was nearly impossible to steer it back into the correct parking spot.
24.8 hours and counting...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Post Solo Check Ride
All I could think about since the last flight was the fact that the solo was over too quickly. I was dying to get back in the air for some practice on my own. Before I could do this I was required to complete my post solo check ride.
The winds didn't look good most of the day so I was starting to consider that this flight wasn't going to happen. I left work early to stop off for a visit with my wife and 2 year old son, while the 5 year old was taking a golf lesson. The lesson lasted a little longer than usual and my wife had that "you better not desert me to go flying" look on her face so I followed the family home. Once at home I sprang into action giving the boys a bath, brushing teeth, combing hair, getting them dressed, and reading them stories. I knew I was going to be late. Just as I was about to head out the door the older boy was calling me for another story. I immediately felt guilty about leaving so instead headed back upstairs for one more bedtime story.
Finally satisfied I said good night and ran out the door, driving as fast as I legally could to the airport. I arrived 15 minutes late and still hadn't started the walk around. I was reminded by I5 that I should have everything ready to go at the START of the lesson and that now we might not be able to get a flight in since he had to fly a charter in the morning and couldn't legally work past 9.
I made sure I didn't rush anything lest I overlook something that resulted in a problem for me later on. Finally in the aircraft we fired her up, then things took another bad turn. OK, I'll admit this now - I'm a small guy, vertically speaking. The Diamond doesn't have seats that move and instead you move the rudder pedals forward or back. To make things even worse the seats are at a bit of a recline - you can't move the seats at all. I5 noticed a few flights back that I was constantly grabbing onto the dashboard to pull myself up for a better view. The next flight he suggested that I fly with a pillow. At first I was thinking "not a chance" but he convinced me to try it. A tiny pillow tucked into the small of my back allowed me to sit more upright and I instantly noticed the difference. My reach was improved and the visibility was at least 100 times better. OK, so now you all know it - I fly with a pillow (why do I feel like this is the same as a 3 year old with blocks on the pedals of his tricycle?).
Anyhow... there is a huge bin in the little room on the way out of the club to the ramp. Inside it has an entire suite of "pillows". Most of them remnants from couches long since retired and with little to no cushion actually left in them. They all seemed to be gone this day so I just grabbed one and headed for plane. Turns out that this one pushed me so far forward it was actually uncomfortable for me. I realize this until we were already starting our taxi on the ramp and mentioned it to I5. After a quick conversation we shut down the aircraft and he jumped out to grab me a tiny one. When he returned I asked if we had time for the flight to which he said "absolutely".
I felt in command of everything during the safety briefing. The takeoff from runway 25 went great. In fact everything went well. Before I knew it I was touching down in a slight crosswind, holding the centerline, and taking to the skies again. During the climbout we didn't speak as tower gave us a runway change. Now we were set up for runway 16 and again a happy approach and landing. As I turned downwind I asked him if he had any commentary and after asking if I felt good to go solo he called tower and asked for a full stop to drop off the instructor.
This time I wasn't nearly as nervous as he left the cockpit. I fired her up taxied back to runway 16 and flew for 7 touch and go's and a full stop. I'd like to say that I really enjoyed it but the truth is that I was concentrating deeply. I wouldn't say I was miles ahead of the airplane but I certainly wasn't behind. I diddled a lot with the power settings trying to get the right approach angle but never seemed to really get it. Either I was super high or super low. On the other hand I did manage to correct them all. Although it was improved - I have to fix this "diving for the runway" problem I have. It's really tough to get a good flare going when you are barreling in. Most of the landings did end up very well in the end.
After the flight I5 told me I was now signed off for solo circuits. I again enjoyed signing my name in the journey log as PIC for the second flight. Now that I have a taste for flying alone I'm REALLY aching to get out there again. The next flight will be all by myself from start to finish. I booked it right then and there for an evening flight 48 hours later.
23.1 hours and counting...
The winds didn't look good most of the day so I was starting to consider that this flight wasn't going to happen. I left work early to stop off for a visit with my wife and 2 year old son, while the 5 year old was taking a golf lesson. The lesson lasted a little longer than usual and my wife had that "you better not desert me to go flying" look on her face so I followed the family home. Once at home I sprang into action giving the boys a bath, brushing teeth, combing hair, getting them dressed, and reading them stories. I knew I was going to be late. Just as I was about to head out the door the older boy was calling me for another story. I immediately felt guilty about leaving so instead headed back upstairs for one more bedtime story.
Finally satisfied I said good night and ran out the door, driving as fast as I legally could to the airport. I arrived 15 minutes late and still hadn't started the walk around. I was reminded by I5 that I should have everything ready to go at the START of the lesson and that now we might not be able to get a flight in since he had to fly a charter in the morning and couldn't legally work past 9.
I made sure I didn't rush anything lest I overlook something that resulted in a problem for me later on. Finally in the aircraft we fired her up, then things took another bad turn. OK, I'll admit this now - I'm a small guy, vertically speaking. The Diamond doesn't have seats that move and instead you move the rudder pedals forward or back. To make things even worse the seats are at a bit of a recline - you can't move the seats at all. I5 noticed a few flights back that I was constantly grabbing onto the dashboard to pull myself up for a better view. The next flight he suggested that I fly with a pillow. At first I was thinking "not a chance" but he convinced me to try it. A tiny pillow tucked into the small of my back allowed me to sit more upright and I instantly noticed the difference. My reach was improved and the visibility was at least 100 times better. OK, so now you all know it - I fly with a pillow (why do I feel like this is the same as a 3 year old with blocks on the pedals of his tricycle?).
Anyhow... there is a huge bin in the little room on the way out of the club to the ramp. Inside it has an entire suite of "pillows". Most of them remnants from couches long since retired and with little to no cushion actually left in them. They all seemed to be gone this day so I just grabbed one and headed for plane. Turns out that this one pushed me so far forward it was actually uncomfortable for me. I realize this until we were already starting our taxi on the ramp and mentioned it to I5. After a quick conversation we shut down the aircraft and he jumped out to grab me a tiny one. When he returned I asked if we had time for the flight to which he said "absolutely".
I felt in command of everything during the safety briefing. The takeoff from runway 25 went great. In fact everything went well. Before I knew it I was touching down in a slight crosswind, holding the centerline, and taking to the skies again. During the climbout we didn't speak as tower gave us a runway change. Now we were set up for runway 16 and again a happy approach and landing. As I turned downwind I asked him if he had any commentary and after asking if I felt good to go solo he called tower and asked for a full stop to drop off the instructor.
This time I wasn't nearly as nervous as he left the cockpit. I fired her up taxied back to runway 16 and flew for 7 touch and go's and a full stop. I'd like to say that I really enjoyed it but the truth is that I was concentrating deeply. I wouldn't say I was miles ahead of the airplane but I certainly wasn't behind. I diddled a lot with the power settings trying to get the right approach angle but never seemed to really get it. Either I was super high or super low. On the other hand I did manage to correct them all. Although it was improved - I have to fix this "diving for the runway" problem I have. It's really tough to get a good flare going when you are barreling in. Most of the landings did end up very well in the end.
After the flight I5 told me I was now signed off for solo circuits. I again enjoyed signing my name in the journey log as PIC for the second flight. Now that I have a taste for flying alone I'm REALLY aching to get out there again. The next flight will be all by myself from start to finish. I booked it right then and there for an evening flight 48 hours later.
23.1 hours and counting...
Thursday, June 4, 2009
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
With the amount of daylight peaking at this time of year, I've managed to make a number of bookings in the evenings at 7 PM. My intention has always been to either work late and go directly to the airport, or go home a bit early, get the kids ready for bed and then head out. On this particular day it was the latter and as a result I was rushed and showed up nearly 20 minutes late. It had been a long day of family and work for me, and on the way there I wondered if I was 100% in the zone for a day when I potentially really needed to be there.
The winds had been swirling around much of the day and when I showed up there was a definite crosswind. I was fully prepared for I5 to tell me I was too late or that the winds weren't right, but instead he asked me if I thought the solo would happen today. After a few seconds of thinking I simply responded that there were three variables at work here - the weather, his perception of my ability, and my performance. I only had control over one of them and would do my best.
We departed to the north today for left traffic and I felt great during the first circuit. I pooched my power control on the base and ended up being pretty high on the base. Without waiting for any prompting I went full right rudder, left aileron and put us into a forward slip which soon transitioned to a slipping turn. I had to hold it almost to the threshold and did a gradual transition into some sort of a sideslip for the crosswind which was blowing from my left. I held the centerline with a combination of rudder and aileron, put it down smoothly and held the nosewheel off, calmly put the flaps up, stood on the right rudder while I went full power and we took to the skies again.
During the climbout I asked I5 for some feedback and he simply said "that was a great slip and an excellent crosswind landing. You held the centerline. It was well done". The second circuit was much better on the power control and again we got down on the centerline. It was then that I realized I5 didn't plan on saying anything at all unless he needed to - and this was a good thing. On the downwind he asked me if I felt ready to solo to which I replied "yep". He called the tower this time and told them we were for a full stop, would drop off the instructor and "I'm going to send this student solo". After landing he took control of the aircraft and taxied to the tower apron where he shut everything down and popped the canopy open.
He pulled out a sheet of paper from his clipboard and handed it to me. It was my student permit signed and dated. He simply said "I've sent dozens of students solo and you are definitely ready. Do you feel ready?". This time I wasn't as confident and said "I guess so". As he hopped out he told me to fly a single circuit for a full stop, taxi back to the club, and good luck. With that he closed the canopy and smiled.
This was it. The moment I had been waiting for...
I popped open the window and realized I was nervous. I took a swig of the bottled water I had taken aboard, pulled out my checklist and started going through it. The engine fired up nicely and I5 who was standing on the grass gave me a thumbs up which I returned and I called ground.
"Ground, Diamond 20 Charlie, fox.. um no charlie golf foxtrot foxtrot charlie on the apron for taxi and we have information November."
"Foxtrot Foxtrot Charlie it's information Oscar now - winds ........ and did you want the circuit?"
Yes, can you believe that after all of my training with nearly flawless radio work, my initial call for my solo was a complete disaster. I realized then that I REALLY needed to bear down and focus. Time to make sure these guys new who they were dealing with
"We're for the circuit and it's our first solo, please pass that on to tower"
By some magic, things all fell into place from that point on. My taxi all the way back to 34 was perhaps the best taxi on the centerline I had ever done. The days of taxiing like a 19 year old leaving a frat party at 430 am were behind me. I took my time during the runup making sure I didn't miss anything on the checklist. Two things I noticed during the runup were:
1) I actually understood every check I was doing, what I was looking for during them, and why I was doing them. All of the book work was paying off.
2) I was happy to have the checklists. They seemed familiar and really calmed me down.
I spent a lot of time going through the safety briefing. Exactly where my go/no go point was, what I would do in case we had to abort, what I would if we had an engine problem after takeoff, and where I wanted to be at every point in the circuit. Finally satisfied, I pulled ahead to the hold short line and called the tower: "Fox Fox Charlie holding short runway 34". Tower asked me to hold short for landing traffic. Then a moment later told me there would be two more landing before he could get me out. I welcomed the extra time and told him "we're not in a rush".
This was a great thing. I had some time to relish the moment. I thought about how significant this moment was in my flight training, and my life. I thought about all of the times I dreamed about flying by myself. I thought about the countless hours I spent at home on my simulator flying heavy complex aircraft, then smaller commuter props, and then finally figured out that I loved to hand fly a tiny little "flib" more than anything else. Then it finally came - I thought about my dad. It was a year and two days since he had passed away - prompting me to finally get off my behind and start the flight training which I know I was "meant to take". I didn't get emotional - I simply looked up to the skies and said "I know you are up there watching and I know how proud you are of me for this moment". I am not a religious guy and I'm generally not a believer in ghosts and all that hocus pocus - but from that moment on I truly felt as if I had him in there with me.
The moment was broken by a skyhawk crossing over the threshold and tower asked me to line up and wait. I booted it out onto the runway and lined her up. A few seconds later the skyhawk cleared the runway and I was cleared for takeoff and left circuit. I pushed the throttle ahead smoothly, stayed on that rudder, called the airspeed alive, kept an eye on the engine instruments, started my rotation and "slipped the surly bonds of earth". It was an absolute rush and I let out a huge yahoo that any cowboy from rural Alberta would be proud of.
There was a twin departing IFR behind me and I suppose for some reason tower thought it would be appropriate to ask me to turn crosswind early. As he keyed his mic for the transmission I was just coming up on 400 AGL but still replied "no problem". I brought up the flaps and switched off the pump as I made the crosswind turn. The aircraft still managed to reach circuit altitude just as I turned downwind and I made sure I pulled the power all the way back.
Downwind checks - engine temp good, fuel pressure and quantity good, oil pressure and temps good, alternator and battery good, mixture full, fuel open, master on, turn fuel pump on, mags both. "Tower, Fox Fox Charlie downwind for a full stop."
I did what I had been trained to do the rest of the way in - talking myself through it the entire time. It wasn't until I turned final that I remembered again I was on my first solo. What if I lost an engine now? Would I make the runway - yeesh - let's just focus again.
I kept adjusting the power to keep the numbers centered in the windscreen. 60 knots, compensate for the crosswind - number, airspeed, windsock... numbers, airspeed, windsock... numbers, airspeed windsock.. reduce power and a bit of nose to bleed speed, power off, stay on the centerline, wing down into the wind, bleed of the speed, in the ground effect, hold the position.. hold it hold it hold it hold it - still floating... and then the magic happened - left wheel slightly touched down but I held the nose off - right wheel touched down, and then rather than dropping the wheel I continued to hold it off until it came down nicely. I put on the brakes - pulled off on the taxiway just as tower said "Ground on 121.8, nice work".
I thanked ground on the way in and asked him pass it on to tower. As I parked the diamond on the ramp, I5 and another made their way out to congratulate me. They took a few photos of me in the aircraft, then a few of me standing next to the registration numbers. Then they dumped a 5 gallon pail of water over my head!! As I walked back into the club soaked from head to toe I received many congratulations from everyone in there.
I5 asked how it went and all I could of were two things:
1) I lived.
2) It was too short.
The best part at this point was filling out the journey log with only my name as PIC and being able to sign the book with my initials and license number.
A huge milestone in my journey has been reached and I'm glad that it is now behind me so that I can get back to focusing on flying rather than focusing on the solo. It was only a taste for what was to come, but like a young adult tasting champagne for the first time, or better yet - a one year old eating cake and icing for their first time on their birthday - I liked it.
I liked it a lot!
21.7 hours and counting...
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Flight Bag: Part 2
The aviation gods were probably sitting back, pointing there fingers at me and giggling. Everything was set for a flight on Saturday afternoon and the stars seemed aligned. Reality came crashing back when I received an automated email on Friday afternoon from the flight school cancelling my flight with the reason simply being "Equipment Failure".
Don't get me wrong, this is a great reason for the flight to get cancelled. According to the online booking system the aircraft was out of commission for an undetermined length of time, or as they appear to say in this world "UFN". I5 was available most of the day and since it was a Saturday there was an opportunity to simply book him and another aircraft. Alas - it was not to be. The remaining two DA20's were booked solid all day. Knowing that things change on a regular basis, I put in a "standby" request for I5 and ANY aircraft (DA20C1's) between 1230 and 630 PM. I checked on a regular basis including this morning at 6AM when my kids ran into the room to wake me up (gotta love early sunrises).
Somehow, somewhere between 6AM and 8AM, the bookings all changed. To make a long story short, there were a bunch of jumbles that happened, and of course the "standby" requests either didn't work or were completely ignored. I5 was available at one time but no aircraft was, and conversely an aircraft was available at a time when I5 wasn't. I was too frustrated to call in and ask them WTF the deal was with the standby requests and decided it simply wasn't going to be my day to fly.
I had to come into the office to complete some work but decided to treat myself on the way. I stopped at a local "camping" or "outdoor recreation lifestyle" type of store. Knowing full well that I'm soon going to be flying alone and embarking on some cross country action - it's time to put together a true flight bag.
As a starting point I purchased the following:
Small Mag Lite with extra AA batteries.
Leatherman "Wave" multi-tool
Small First Aid Kit (yes there is one on board all aircraft)
Personal survival kit (lots of cool stuff)
Small shoulder bag
Larger shoulder bag
The small shoulder bag is the key. It holds my David Clark headset perfectly in its large pouch. In other various compartments I was able to fit the leatherman, first aid kit, survival kit, and my kneeboard. There was ample room to fit my E6B, a protractor, ruler, pens, pencils, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, some sticky pads, two highlight pens, two extra maps, my spare glasses (I wear contacts), my wallet, my crackberry, a fuel tester, my documentation, and two energy bars.
It's truly amazing how much you can fit in a tiny bag - and there is lots of room to spare. With the headset out I could easily fit an additional few litres of water in the bag. I plan on weighing it prior to my next flight but it will surely accompany to the aircraft for future flights.
The larger shoulder bag (replacing one I had been using which I constantly swap with work stuff including my laptop) had ample room to fit my POH, two large training books (From the ground up and the FTM), my notebook where I write stuff down during briefings, and my binder where I keep various checklists, school regulations, aviation related receipts, and all other documentation.
I've been following an interesting thread here about what various people carry in their flight bags, starting with a bush pilot suggestion that the most important item you could carry is "A roll of duct tape". I would love to hear more suggestions from people with any personal experiences.
Next potential solo is Thursday afternoon.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Walk Around
I was fairly certain that the solo wasn't going to happen today. The winds had been 45 degrees off the runway over 10 knots since the morning and by the time I showed up at the airport the windsock was fully extended even without the gusts.
I5 confirmed this when he showed up and we went through the "solo checklist" to make sure all of my documentation was in order. As it turns out I don't have to wait for transport canada to send any paperwork back, the chief instructor at the school has the authority to issue me a student pilot permit based on meeting the criteria. I filled out some MORE paperwork and we decided to spend some time reviewing the quiz I was required to write prior to the solo as per the flight school's procedures.
Although I passed with flying colors - it took a good half hour to complete since we discussed many of the answers which were in my opinion the types that led the student to an answer they were looking for, yet had too many variables missing which needed to be part of the final answer.
For example:
During your landing you float more than normal and notice that you are already half way down the runway. What do you do?
It's obvious they are looking for the steps in the overshoot procedure (Full Throttle, Up attitude, takeoff flaps, and climb out at best rate (Vy 68). However the first thing that came into my mind was "make a decision based on the runway remaining if I could continue with a safe landing". It doesn't say anything about the runway so it could have easily been 12,000 feet long which would have allowed me to float for another 1000 feet, do a touch and go, and then land again (tongue in cheek).
Once we completed that the winds were at the level of insanity (30 knot gusts) so we mutually agreed that flying wasn't going to happen. I5 asked if there was anything else and since he had told me had nothing booked for a few hours I asked if he would go out and do a long walk around with me.
I hadn't done a walk around with an instructor since my first or second flight. After watching the attention to detail some of my friends had done during a group flight in New Jersey back in March, I realized that I didn't feel 100% confident doing my walk around. Naturally I5 obliged and we spent a full half hour walking around the aircraft - going into minute details that I had never learned or considered.
Finally satisfied I noticed a Diamond Star (DA40? 4 seater Diamond) had parked at the ramp and we decided to check it out. Very fancy G1000's in this bird. I was impressed. I5 seemed interested in my love for airplanes and asked if I wanted to check out a few others on the field he had access to. I followed him across the airport to a hangar where we spent some time sitting in a Cessna 310 chatting about aviation. Following that we checked out a Skylane in the same hangar with some fancy engine upgrades which I didn't really understand that had some affect on the aircraft at higher altitudes (can you tell I've been struggling at the engine section of ground school?).
After over an hour in this hangar we departed to another where we spent some time in a Piper Navajo Chieftain with the Panther conversion. This was a HUGE airplane. I could barely reach the horizontal stabilizer from the ground (granted I'm only 5'4"). The coolest part of this craft was the vortex generators just behind the leading edge of the wings. I5 explained how they work and for the first time, all of the reading I've been doing about the theory of flight somehow clicked in the gears of my brain. I actually understood (on a limited basis) what he was talking about.
We booked a few more sessions for the potential solo including one this coming Saturday and I departed the airport. One would imagine I'd be down since I was unable to take to the skies solo but this was not the case.
The solo will have to wait for another day.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Crosswinds, Emergencies, and Paperwork
I was checking the forecast and live winds since the previous evening - just hoping for a crosswind scenario. Unfortunately the winds had been light and down the pipe all morning. Perhaps this wasn't the day to complete the crosswind sign off - or was it.
It had been 5 weeks since my last flight and I made the most of any free time I had since then reviewing emergency procedures and plowing through as much ground school material as possible. Many of my friends with FAA licenses were a bit taken aback by the requirement to know the emergency procedures for your aircraft by heart prior to solo. I reviewed my printed copy of the emergency procedures from the Diamond POH but still found myself fumbling through them upon each review. Finally I decided that I needed to create my own checklist, with the hope that writing the information out would help commit it to memory. I spent hours creating a two page checklist on a spreadsheet and meticulously formatting it so that it fit on a single 8.5 x 11 sheet (back to back) that I could laminate. My final review the night before was still somewhat lacking - perhaps the adage about writing it down wasn't true after all.
I5 asked if I wanted to fly today or just do emergency procedures. Obviously my preference was to do both and as luck would have it, he didn't have a booking after me and didn't mind sticking around to do the procedures after we flew. The aircraft was back early so I had all the paperwork filled out - we made a dash for the aircraft considering how busy the circuit had been all day.
With "spring" arriving to southern Alberta - so was the risk of forest fires. This meant the return of the fire fighting aircraft that fly out of the airport, and compared to my tiny Diamond - they looked big.. actually HUGE. I had so much attention focused on one coming down the taxiway behind us that I hardly noticed the windsock at about 8-10 knots 45 degrees from the runway heading - crosswinds could be in the cards for this flight!
It was obvious that the checklist work had paid off when I nailed the takeoff briefing. I will also admit that the in depth review of the procedures coupled with the reading I had done on engine and electrical systems of the aircraft resulted in the normal checklist (engine start, taxi, run up, takeoff) making a whole lot more sense.
It was also obvious that I had not flown in 5 weeks. It was bumpy and gusty with winds blowing us from the side, above, and below - however my mental errors had nothing to do with that. First problem was a poor ground track on departure, followed by poor ground track on downwind. My altitude was consistently dropping close to 100 feet below circuit altitude and resulted in a whole lot of throttle work on my end. This compounded into horrible speed management on the downwind leaving us fast and super high on base. Knowing that I usually want to be 750 feet on the half base, carrying a lot of speed and with the winds behind me increasing our ground speed, I was in a bad situation. Once I finally cut the throttle and got the takeoff flaps out I had to go with major attitude to drop below the white arc. As soon as I got flaps all the way down I went into the slip and transitioned to a slipping turn (or is it a turning slip?).
This is when I5 was not impressed. We were in slip, about half way through the turn, super high, super fast, and I decided with the slip I should be able to put the nose down and turn steeper. Before I knew it we were at about a 35-40 angle of bank and the airspeed had climbed out of the white arc. After pointing his displeasure out to me I corrected the speed and took a breath. I concentrated on getting us back to center line, holding 60 knots, correcting the descent angle while holding the forward slip. I transitioned to a gentler side slip and the landing was miraculously on the center line and smooth. Someone once said that a great landing starts 10 miles out and they weren't kidding. This was a lot of work!
The rest of the spins were uneventful. I managed to improve on ground track, altitude, speeds, and approach planning somewhat, but still was consistently performing steeper turns than I should have. The combination of slips (side and forward) and landings were all well done. On one of the roll outs we actually had a bit of a tail wind and we actually were lifted up off the ground before we hit our rotation speed. Identifying this I simply nudged the nose forward and let us accelerate while in ground effect before climbing out at the proper speeds. Another thing that was in my opinion purely the result of watching, asking, reading, and listening to other people.
After the flight we sat on the couches upstairs and went through the procedures. Rather than having me spew out them out line by line he would present a scenario without making it obvious which of the emergencies we were facing. I found this very interesting, since smoke pouring out of your panel and filling the cockpit doesn't result in a big red hologram yelling "You have an electrical fire - execute section 3.3.8 of the emergency procedures!". Needless to say, our review lasted 45 minutes and went very well.
I5 then asked me to bring in my passport, radio license, and medical as soon as possible. We filled out some paperwork, I signed some stuff in my PTR, and he showed me the front page where emergency procedures and crosswinds had now been signed off.
Once I get this paperwork in the flight school will send it off to Transport Canada who issues a student pilot certificate. Time to process is usually just a few days (I dropped off the paperwork the next morning).
Afterwards we discussed how the how the solo flight would work and what happens after the solo including sign out permissions. Not sure if the paperwork would be completed before my next booking he asked if I wanted to scrub it - of course I said "not a change" as I'd be happy to do another flight with him prior to the solo if I "had to", especially in light of the areas requiring improvement.
At the conclusion of that conversation, I5 pulled out the PTR again to fill in something else in the front section before showing me (it went something like this):
"I [Certified Instructor Name] certify that [Student Pilot Name] meets the minimum requirements for a student pilot license"
20.6 Hours and counting...
Friday, April 17, 2009
Touchdown Point
I can remember a few years back when I first started seriously day dreaming about working on my private license that the school I fly out of had a flight training FAQ. One of the questions was simply "How long does it take to get the PPL" and obviously the answer tried to address that question as well as possible. The subject of pace talked about how retention starts to drop off quickly after a few days and as a result of not flying on a regular basis you might find yourself reviewing what you did last time for 25% longer than someone who had just flown the day before.
My pace has for the most part been slow. Just look at the dates on the blog entries to see how slow! Every now and then I get a good block of time wide open and take as much advantage of it as possible. This flight was to be my 4th in 10 days, and I had flown just 16 hours earlier. This accelerated pace made all the difference in the world.
Another beautiful morning for flying. Today I was again paired with I5, and I'm happy to say at this point that I5 has landed himself the role of my primary flight instructor. I suppose everyone has to stop playing the field and settle down some time ;)
The first few circuits were extremely precise, the landings were pretty much down the middle, and there was a massive improvement in staying on center line during the roll. I5 wanted to nail me down to a better approach angle and started by asking me if I knew where I had been flaring, how long I had been floating, and where my touchdown points were. I was unable to answer any of them. We started talking about the different runway markings and what they meant.
While on approach, I5 told me that on average I float "x" feet, and thus based on that float - where would I need to start to flare in order to touch down on a certain bar. With that in mind he told me "OK, land there" and I continued the approach. I flared exactly where I needed to and found myself going much faster than anticipated - thus the float looked like it would be long. I made some adjustments and put the aircraft down - HARD, right on the intended landing spot.
In the crosswind I5 told me that I landed exactly where we were intended to, however I would have failed my exam. He went into more detail, probably due to my puzzled look. As it turns out, the exercise isn't about actually landing on the intended spot, it's about PLANNING the approach and flare so that you have the best opportunity to actually land there. There are many factors involved in landing an aircraft, as a pilot you have control over many of them, and others you can only react to appropriately.
Armed with this tidbit of knowledge we continued to select landing spots that were closer and closer to the threshold. Each of them required a lot more planning during the circuit. RPMs back on the downwind, flaps down before the base, precise airspeed and angles on final, and carbon copy flare heights. The results were astounding. We nailed each of the landing spots almost on the dime. The approach angles became much shallower and I no longer found myself "diving" for the runway. The angles were also fairly consistent the entire approach.
For our final two we flared over "the dirt" and landed smack on the numbers. Amazing what some planning and analysis of past results can do for future results.
Everything in the circuit was comfortable, the workload seemed far reduced from the previous flights, I was close to the centerline when I landed, and I managed to stay close to it as we slowed and then accelerated again for the next time.
I5 mentioned that one of the largest things he has noticed is that when I slow down and take my time, I have more time to think about things, and thus relax - resulting in far better performance.
After the lesson I5 reviews my PTR and notes that we need to get some crosswind work in soon and I should show up next time ready for the emergency procedures review. Here in Canada we are required to know the emergency procedures for our aircraft by memory.
The lesson ends with I5 telling me he's of the opinion that it is time for me to solo.
(gulp)
19.7 Hours and counting...
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Balloon
After a short business trip to that hot steamy chunk of concrete commonly known as Houston, I was ready for back to back flights. I5 was back in the saddle with me this time and I was excited.
The focus for today was to review the engine out procedures done during the last flight and to "just fly circuits" so we could identify any kinks that needed to be worked out. It was obvious during the first circuit what I needed to work on:
1) Nailing my speeds on the climb out, including the climbing turn.
2) Reducing drift caused by the winds resulting in a poor ground track.
3) Better power reduction and planning on approach to get rid of my steep angles
4) Keeping the aircraft on the center line during landing roll out and especially on the takeoff.
During our 8-10 touch and go's, the landings were all pretty good and I will admit that my confidence level is increasing. My speeds, ground track, and procedures were improving with each iteration and I'm starting to feel a lot less rushed. We did tackle better power reduction and planning for the approach, but I still don't seem able to get rid of my steep descent angle. I am able to manage it by slipping but I5 still wants a shallower approach angle.
I absolutely suck at keeping the aircraft on the center line. My roll outs aren't great and once I add power it looks even worse. I5 must have been saying his prayers a few times as I aimed us for the grass on the left side of the runway (if he was I couldn't tell). We continually spoke about what went well and what didn't during each circuit and came to the conclusion that I needed to take my time on the roll and concentrate.
Prior to this flight, I had an opportunity to chat with a friend who has been acting as sort of a "mentor" during my flight training. When I explained my drunken sailor rolls down the runway he brought up the fact that whatever control pressures you exert need to be constantly adjusted. In other words "what worked 10 seconds ago isn't necessarily going to work now". This was good advice, but for some reason I was still unable to make steady improvements during this flight.
I mentioned earlier that everything else improved with each circuit. I definitely feel more comfortable looking at what I need to on the panel without taking my attention away from what is happening outside the window. The downwind checks and approach checks are happening almost naturally now as are the flaps/pump up/off after we reach a safe altitude (usually 400' AGL). However, I did have two major brain farts during the flight. As we turned final with takeoff flaps, I moved toward the lever and called "flaps down to landing" and subsequently put the flaps up to clean. I5 caught it and immediately moved them back to landing. A few circuits later I made a similar mistake when on departure I called "Flaps Up" and flipped them from takeoff to landing. Again, I5 caught it and made the required adjustment. He wrote it off as a mental error that I should have caught myself. The silver lining is the fact that I always call my flaps out loud, though I'm not sure how that is going to help me when the right seat is empty!
During one of our downwinds he asked me if we had discussed the balloon yet. I told him that we had reviewed it during a circuit ground brief back in October, but nothing since then. I mentioned briefly that I had started a discussion about this with some "friends" recently - simply because I was curious. I know that I am lucky to have some great resources for aviation related questions, and I tried to take as much advantage of that as I could. I sent an email to three friends: a private pilot with his IFR rating, a CFI teaching at Embry Riddle, and a commercial pilot flying for one of the US majors. The responses I received were all similar and contained slight nuances that when all put together really helped me understand. One friend (the private pilot) went so far as to put the discussion a blog entry titled "Landing Tips: Floating and Ballooning".
During our base leg I5 told me we were going to do some balloon work. After I flared he would pull back on the stick and put us into a balloon. He said he would then recover for us, but then reconsidered and asked me if I wanted to attempt to recover. Armed with the knowledge from the discussions I had with my friends, I indicated I wanted to do it. Established in the flare, I5 pulled back on the stick and we went into the balloon. I added a small amount of power, put the nose down a bit on the horizon, went back into a flare, cut the power, and landed.
We continued doing this 4-5 times and each time the adjustment was a bit smoother, even going so far as not to cut the power which was causing us to have a less than stellar landing due to vertical speed.
After the lesson I5 told me that the next day we could either do an oral review of the entire set of emergency procedures (including electrical, fire, etc) or if we had some crosswinds we could fly. I told him that I had a lot to do this evening and with the NHL playoffs starting - there was a good chance I wouldn't properly review. We decided that we would probably go with flying in the circuit to work on the remaining issues I had and perhaps take advantage of crosswinds.
18.5 Hours and counting...
The focus for today was to review the engine out procedures done during the last flight and to "just fly circuits" so we could identify any kinks that needed to be worked out. It was obvious during the first circuit what I needed to work on:
1) Nailing my speeds on the climb out, including the climbing turn.
2) Reducing drift caused by the winds resulting in a poor ground track.
3) Better power reduction and planning on approach to get rid of my steep angles
4) Keeping the aircraft on the center line during landing roll out and especially on the takeoff.
During our 8-10 touch and go's, the landings were all pretty good and I will admit that my confidence level is increasing. My speeds, ground track, and procedures were improving with each iteration and I'm starting to feel a lot less rushed. We did tackle better power reduction and planning for the approach, but I still don't seem able to get rid of my steep descent angle. I am able to manage it by slipping but I5 still wants a shallower approach angle.
I absolutely suck at keeping the aircraft on the center line. My roll outs aren't great and once I add power it looks even worse. I5 must have been saying his prayers a few times as I aimed us for the grass on the left side of the runway (if he was I couldn't tell). We continually spoke about what went well and what didn't during each circuit and came to the conclusion that I needed to take my time on the roll and concentrate.
Prior to this flight, I had an opportunity to chat with a friend who has been acting as sort of a "mentor" during my flight training. When I explained my drunken sailor rolls down the runway he brought up the fact that whatever control pressures you exert need to be constantly adjusted. In other words "what worked 10 seconds ago isn't necessarily going to work now". This was good advice, but for some reason I was still unable to make steady improvements during this flight.
I mentioned earlier that everything else improved with each circuit. I definitely feel more comfortable looking at what I need to on the panel without taking my attention away from what is happening outside the window. The downwind checks and approach checks are happening almost naturally now as are the flaps/pump up/off after we reach a safe altitude (usually 400' AGL). However, I did have two major brain farts during the flight. As we turned final with takeoff flaps, I moved toward the lever and called "flaps down to landing" and subsequently put the flaps up to clean. I5 caught it and immediately moved them back to landing. A few circuits later I made a similar mistake when on departure I called "Flaps Up" and flipped them from takeoff to landing. Again, I5 caught it and made the required adjustment. He wrote it off as a mental error that I should have caught myself. The silver lining is the fact that I always call my flaps out loud, though I'm not sure how that is going to help me when the right seat is empty!
During one of our downwinds he asked me if we had discussed the balloon yet. I told him that we had reviewed it during a circuit ground brief back in October, but nothing since then. I mentioned briefly that I had started a discussion about this with some "friends" recently - simply because I was curious. I know that I am lucky to have some great resources for aviation related questions, and I tried to take as much advantage of that as I could. I sent an email to three friends: a private pilot with his IFR rating, a CFI teaching at Embry Riddle, and a commercial pilot flying for one of the US majors. The responses I received were all similar and contained slight nuances that when all put together really helped me understand. One friend (the private pilot) went so far as to put the discussion a blog entry titled "Landing Tips: Floating and Ballooning".
During our base leg I5 told me we were going to do some balloon work. After I flared he would pull back on the stick and put us into a balloon. He said he would then recover for us, but then reconsidered and asked me if I wanted to attempt to recover. Armed with the knowledge from the discussions I had with my friends, I indicated I wanted to do it. Established in the flare, I5 pulled back on the stick and we went into the balloon. I added a small amount of power, put the nose down a bit on the horizon, went back into a flare, cut the power, and landed.
We continued doing this 4-5 times and each time the adjustment was a bit smoother, even going so far as not to cut the power which was causing us to have a less than stellar landing due to vertical speed.
After the lesson I5 told me that the next day we could either do an oral review of the entire set of emergency procedures (including electrical, fire, etc) or if we had some crosswinds we could fly. I told him that I had a lot to do this evening and with the NHL playoffs starting - there was a good chance I wouldn't properly review. We decided that we would probably go with flying in the circuit to work on the remaining issues I had and perhaps take advantage of crosswinds.
18.5 Hours and counting...
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