Following a few months of horrible weather with little of the breaks we are used to seeing here in Calgary, we had a day where it wasn't cold, windy, or snowing. The sun was shining and the skies were blue. It was a great day to fly.
Apparently I was not the only person who thought this - the airport was super busy. Determined not to be frazzled in the circuit again, I spent a lot of time reviewing how I planned to fly the aircraft during each of the phases. I went over it in my head dozens of times and even made mock radio calls to the tower. I was as ready as I had ever been for a flight.
We were #5 for the runway when we called ground and I asked I5 if we could try for the intersection departure again. This time ATC denied the request and told us to taxi full length. During the runup we were treated to a great view of a WWII vintage US Navy aircraft. I have no idea what it as, but it was super cool with one of those circular engines. Pretty cool stuff.
I5 asked if I wanted him to demonstrate the first spin and I asked if I could do the first one myself. He complied and the tone was set for the rest of the flight. The circuit was busy and the radio was non stop. I hit all of my speeds, altitudes, checkpoints, and radio calls. Before I knew it we were on final for runway 34.
I5 told me about a "triangle" he used when on final to keep his focus on what was important. Look at the numbers to make sure they weren't moving, look at the windsock to verify the winds, look at the airspeed to make sure it was where you wanted it. Numbers, Windsock, Airspeed. Numbers, Windsock, Airspeed. Numbers, Windsock, Airspeed. This really helped me produce a stable approach.
On the go I noticed how much time was available to reconfigure for takeoff, how quickly we reached rotation speed, and how much right rudder was required to compensate (same old story for me).
As we climbed out, I5 asked me if I enjoyed that. I told him it was awesome and he suggested that I relax my grip on the stick. I had the death grip going.. for the rest of the flight I tried to remind my self to use my fingers as much as possible for corrections.
We practiced extended downwinds, upwinds, crosswinds, different approach speeds, configurations, touchdown points, and even an overshoot (planned). Due to the amount of traffic in the circuit we were actually treated to most of this by the tower who was doing his best to keep everything and everyone in order. I experienced people turning when they weren't supposed to, people joining the circuit straight in, from the left, from the right, and even a downwind "flip flop" where we were turned base same time as the skyhawk ahead of us (making us #1). There was also a nice mix of aircraft up there aside from the standard Eclipse and Skyhawks. Spotted a Seneca and a Malibu at one point which for one reason or another was very exciting.
Flying the circuit was great. It was far more exciting than hitting the practice area. I especially enjoyed listening to what was happening on the frequency and visualizing all of it. I had little trouble keeping my situational awareness where it needed to be and was aware of everyone else in the pattern at all times. I owe thanks for this to my flight simming time, specifically on the Vatsim network. I can not for the life of me imagine what that would have been like for me if I had never learned virtual situational awareness and radio etiquette.
When we landed I5 noted the awareness and I tried explaining to him again how valuable a LiveATC feed would be for post evaluation of training flights. It's been over 6 months since the club told me they were going to set it up. Perhaps it's time for me to start pushing them for it again.
The end tally was 8 touch and go's, an overshoot (go around for my American friends), and a full stop. Except for one, the landings were all good. I don't know if I5 was yanking my chain, but he did tell me that I land like someone with 300-400 hours under their belt. I managed to tell him I have about 6000 on my simulator. I honestly think that having the opportunity to land 9 times in just over an hour was probably what did it. I have a much better understanding ground effect, how to hold off the aircraft in the flare, and how to keep that nose wheel light.
There is still a lot of material to cover before I complete my circuit training, but this was a major milestone for me. I can't wait to hit the skies again!
15.7 Hours and counting...
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Back in the Saddle
It's been a long time since my last flight. My commitments at home and work coupled with a nastier than usual winter and the short periods of light have made it hard to find time to fly.
Rather than sit around idle, I spent a lot of time focusing on the ground school material I've been taking online. I ripped the audio from a number of lessons into an MP3 format and have been listening to them in the car during the commute to downtown and back. I still made less progress than I had hoped and realize that it is going to take a considerable amount of self discipline to complete the content by July as I had initially hoped.
My wife tried to pull a fast one on me by booking a flight as a birthday present (bless her soul). The secret didn't last more than 20 seconds as I received an instant notification of the booking on my crackberry as soon as it was entered in the computer. After realizing she had booked me another intro flight in a C172 with an instructor I had never heard of, I quickly swapped it to a full training flight in the Eclipse with I5.
When I showed up for the flight I immediately told I5 that I was unsure where we would be picking things up since it had been close to 3 months since my harrowing flight in those gusty October winds. He told me we were headed to the practice area for a refresher flight and to be honest this was just fine with me.
I did spend some time the night before reviewing all of my notes and going through the checklists again for some familiarization. The walk around felt foreign and seemed to take forever. After it was complete I pulled out the checklist to see if I had done everything correctly and in the proper order. Turns out I completely missed the fuel inspection and had to go back to drain fuel from the tank and engine!
While waiting for I5 back in the club I saw a notice that the routes to and from the practice area had changed, I spent some time reviewing them and realized that they were using visual reference points that no longer included the power lines. I was happy to see this as we all know by now that I've always had trouble following them. Highways, Gas Plants, a Town, Rivers, Lakes, and a Dam were much easier to spot in my opinion.
When we called for Taxi we were assigned runway 34 and I noted we looked to be about #4 for the runway. I5 told me to ask for a departure from an intersection which was approved. On the way there I mentioned to I5 that I felt the check list went EXTREMELY slow. I was a bit shocked when he said he felt it was actually done in perfect time. Perhaps I'm too hard on myself sometimes? After a single departure we were cleared for takeoff from the intersection. We followed some traffic on departure which I easily spotted (isn't it always a trip when you see other traffic?) and we headed for the practice area.
I was pleased with how smooth everything went from the start to end of the flight. I had no trouble staying ahead of the aircraft. Straight and level, checklists, navigation, and radio work weren't a problem en route. Once arriving in the area we practiced slow flight, steep turns, power on/off stalls, and descending turns. They all went much better than I hoped they would. I realized how comfortable I felt in the aircraft from the moment he asked me to put the aircraft into slow flight and I was able to do it without much trouble.
On the way back everything was smooth as butter including a nice approach and touchdown. I5 told me that I was ready to continue with the circuit. I enjoyed flying with him (again) so much that I booked a flight for a few days later with him.
It was great to be back in the saddle.
14.4 Hours and counting...
Rather than sit around idle, I spent a lot of time focusing on the ground school material I've been taking online. I ripped the audio from a number of lessons into an MP3 format and have been listening to them in the car during the commute to downtown and back. I still made less progress than I had hoped and realize that it is going to take a considerable amount of self discipline to complete the content by July as I had initially hoped.
My wife tried to pull a fast one on me by booking a flight as a birthday present (bless her soul). The secret didn't last more than 20 seconds as I received an instant notification of the booking on my crackberry as soon as it was entered in the computer. After realizing she had booked me another intro flight in a C172 with an instructor I had never heard of, I quickly swapped it to a full training flight in the Eclipse with I5.
When I showed up for the flight I immediately told I5 that I was unsure where we would be picking things up since it had been close to 3 months since my harrowing flight in those gusty October winds. He told me we were headed to the practice area for a refresher flight and to be honest this was just fine with me.
I did spend some time the night before reviewing all of my notes and going through the checklists again for some familiarization. The walk around felt foreign and seemed to take forever. After it was complete I pulled out the checklist to see if I had done everything correctly and in the proper order. Turns out I completely missed the fuel inspection and had to go back to drain fuel from the tank and engine!
While waiting for I5 back in the club I saw a notice that the routes to and from the practice area had changed, I spent some time reviewing them and realized that they were using visual reference points that no longer included the power lines. I was happy to see this as we all know by now that I've always had trouble following them. Highways, Gas Plants, a Town, Rivers, Lakes, and a Dam were much easier to spot in my opinion.
When we called for Taxi we were assigned runway 34 and I noted we looked to be about #4 for the runway. I5 told me to ask for a departure from an intersection which was approved. On the way there I mentioned to I5 that I felt the check list went EXTREMELY slow. I was a bit shocked when he said he felt it was actually done in perfect time. Perhaps I'm too hard on myself sometimes? After a single departure we were cleared for takeoff from the intersection. We followed some traffic on departure which I easily spotted (isn't it always a trip when you see other traffic?) and we headed for the practice area.
I was pleased with how smooth everything went from the start to end of the flight. I had no trouble staying ahead of the aircraft. Straight and level, checklists, navigation, and radio work weren't a problem en route. Once arriving in the area we practiced slow flight, steep turns, power on/off stalls, and descending turns. They all went much better than I hoped they would. I realized how comfortable I felt in the aircraft from the moment he asked me to put the aircraft into slow flight and I was able to do it without much trouble.
On the way back everything was smooth as butter including a nice approach and touchdown. I5 told me that I was ready to continue with the circuit. I enjoyed flying with him (again) so much that I booked a flight for a few days later with him.
It was great to be back in the saddle.
14.4 Hours and counting...
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