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...

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...

Engine Failures!

Three hours before my scheduled flight my phone was flashing “CFC” and I was fairly certain this wouldn’t be a great call. I6 was on the line and was telling me that there were reports of turbulence in the circuits and the winds were steadily gusting to 22 knots, 30 degrees off the runway. He was of the opinion that I would be fighting the bumps the entire time and probably wouldn’t get much out of the flight. I did mention that I only lived 15 minutes from the field and everything could change in the next few hours. He insisted that the flight was off and if things cleared up he’d call me.

After hanging up the phone I sat there and considered the scenario. My family was out of town and this was a great opportunity for me to get some flight time in. I was headed to Houston the next day and wouldn’t have a chance to hop back in a plane for close to a week. I thought about his comments that I wouldn’t gain much valuable experience and it would probably be a waste of my money. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that even $200 spent for an hour getting my brains beat out in the pattern where I couldn’t gain any new signoffs in my PTR (Pilot Training Record) was still money well spent and experience well gained. I remembered quickly back to a conversation I had with a friend about why my “hours” were logged as engine time running rather than air time. His response was that every minute you are sitting in the aircraft with that engine running – you were gaining some sort of experience.

I picked up the phone and called the club to ask for I6 but he was “unavailable”. I left my name and number with a request for him to call me. Over the next hour I watched the live winds out at the airport and they had died back to about 6-10 knots, 10 degrees on either side of the runway. As we neared 45 minutes from the scheduled time I once again said “sometimes you just have to say what the heck”, stuffed my kneeboard and headset into a flight bag, and headed for the airport.

I6 was a bit shocked to see me. After a 5 minute discussion and a trip outside to look at the windsock he relented and said, “OK, one of the seniors will be down in a few moments and we will ask her how the circuit it”. She said it was a bit bumpy but would be worth taking a flight to see how things were. I6 asked me to do the inspection while he changed back into his fancy flight gear (he was about to leave for the day).

The plan for today was to review engine failures in the circuit. We did a quick review regarding the procedures for both a failure before takeoff, after takeoff, and while in the circuit. I’ll admit that I’ve spent the past 4-5 days reviewing these out of the POH and even made myself a private checklist – but none of it seemed to stick. No matter how many times I wrote it out, read it, or even recited it aloud (my wife loved that) I couldn’t commit it to memory. For some reason – just sitting there and talking to him about it – a little light bulb went on inside my head.

Checklists went great, engine started nicely, my headset transmit cord is still SNAFU (need to fix that), and we had an opportunity for a good chat during the long taxi out to runway 25. I asked I6 if I could do a mock takeoff briefing to see if things actually made sense to me. I started by talking about what we would actually be doing “down the centerline, rotate at 55, climb at 68, flaps up at 400 and speed 75, crosswind at 500agl unless otherwise told by tower, and then downwind on the 45”. Then I followed it up with other important information: “If we have engine trouble before takeoff I’ll cut the throttle, apply the brakes, bring up the flaps, pull the mixture, turn off the ignition (magnetos), and then finally shut off the master”. I’m not really sure how I remembered that – perhaps all of the reviewing actually paid off.

We took off and flew a normal circuit. It was pretty bumpy on the cross and down winds but not enough to make things impossible. Approach was stable and landing fairly good. This time I remembered to bring the flaps back to takeoff before advancing the power for the go. I6 asked the tower if they would approve simulated engine loss on departure, which was approved. At about 400 AGL he cut the power and said “ok power loss – now what?” Again the briefing kicked in – my first goal was to pitch for 58 knots with the flaps at takeoff. Following that I said aloud (but didn’t actually do any of it) “Mixture idle, fuel shutoff closed, ignition off, flaps as required, master off when landing assured”. I must admit that I was shocked at how much forward pressure was required at takeoff attitude to get the aircraft back to 58 knots. I had been holding it pretty well while I read out my procedures when I6 said “that’s great, but where are you planning to land?” While concentrating on the airspeed and procedure I had obviously missed... well I missed the obvious – where in the world was I going to land. Suddenly the training from my forced approach started to come back to me. I gave a quick glance ahead of us and declared “this isn’t so good”. We had tree lines, power lines, and some nasty terrain. Judging the way things were moving on my windscreen, there weren’t any good options. I told I6 I would try to put her down in the field at our 10 O’clock and turned for it. Somewhat satisfied he called for the overshoot which for the first time felt somewhat natural.

On the downwind we were approved for another engine out procedure. Abeam the numbers he pulled the numbers and asked what I planned to do. I went right back into procedure mode again “pitch for best clean glide of 73, throttle idle, mixture idle, fuel cut-off closed, ignition off, and I’ll keep the master on to operate flaps and radios, until landing is assured”. Again I missed some obvious steps. First of all, I was still on a downwind. I6 told me that while I’m doing this I should be turning back for the field to make sure we can safely glide to a landing. As I turned for the field he asked me if I thought we would make it. It looked like it wouldn’t be a problem based on our distance and altitude, not to mention the fact that the diamond has a glide ratio of 11:1. “Yes, we should be just fine, this thing glides well and we have lots of time” This is when I6 informed me that if I had some time, I might want to try and determine what the problem is and correct it before shutting everything down. I remembered now from the POH we were supposed to go “throttle full, mixture rich, alternate air on, fuel cut-off open, ignition both, fuel pump on”. Even with the “late” turn back to the field and flaps full we were too high. When asked what my options were I said “slip would be best”.

We had to hold the slip all the way down to the runway and this is when another interesting thing happened. Now first let’s consider the slip. You are banked one way, yawing the other resulting in a straight track over the ground while practically moving “sideways” (well maybe 45 degrees). The aircraft is making a freaky noise and you feel like you are literally dropping to the ground. Even after doing this multiple times it still feels and looks quite weird (and super cool at the same time). When I came out of the slip I suppose that the sensation of dropping so quickly while getting closer to the runway made me fall back to my old habit of gently pulling back on the stick to slow the descent. Moving into this flare too early caused us to float much higher than I would have liked and in the end we had a nice hard landing. We were so far down the runway that I was a bit hesitant once we were stable to raise the flaps and apply full power. I6 stepped in and said “I’ll help you out a bit here” as he raised the flaps. I jumped back into action and advanced the throttle and we took off.

This cycle repeated 4-5 times. We’d takeoff and I6 would cut the power. I’d pitch for 58, look for someone to land and start going through the emergency procedures. Each time we did it my performance was calmer, quicker, and execution improved. Once we got down closer to the earth he would call for the overshoot and we would rejoin the circuit. Next he would pull the power on downwind and I’d pitch for 78, turn for the field, run through procedures for restarting, and then finally go through the shutdown phase of the procedures.

Each time we were SUPER high and I had to slip to get down to the runway. This again resulted in my freakish early flare and a horrible landing. On one of them I simply said to I6 “I’m going around” and advanced the throttles. I6 seemed pleased that I was making a decision that I didn’t like the way things looked and would try again.

The lesson ended after we asked tower for a runway change. CYBW is not your standard traffic pattern as they operate to the west of the north/south runway (16/34) and north of the east/west runway (07/25). This ends up causing a nice “mish mash” of left and/or right traffic patterns depending on winds. We had been operating right traffic for runway 25 and were just in the overshoot/right crosswind after a simulated engine failure on takeoff when tower gave us “left turn approved to join downwind for runway 34”. This required me to make a climbing 180+ degree turn to the left to join the downwind. We barely had reached the circuit altitude of 5000 MSL when we were already abeam the numbers. Naturally, I6 pulled the power again. I am starting to get the feeling I should be prepared for this at any moment from here on. I thought about how high I had been and the fact that we had a 10 knot wind that would be acting as a tailwind on base and told I6 “We’re high, close to the runway, and I’ll have a nice tailwind on base so I’m not going to turn back for the runway just yet”. My plan was to get the approach slightly higher than normal so that I could come in without a forced slip. While I’d like to tell you that my plan worked out perfectly – it simply didn’t. My judgement of distance on the downwind wasn’t great and the wind affected my ground track which I had not corrected. The base turn with the tail wind was extremely short and before I knew it - I had turned final and was way too high. We slipped all the way down to the runway (after I miraculously remembered to dip my wing into the crosswind for the slip) and I constantly told myself “nose down, nose down, nose down”. This improved the flare but not by the delta I was hoping for. I held it off the runway, applied some extra rudder away, aileron towards, and landed. My rollout probably had the people in the tower in tears as I was all over the place. On the way in I remembered to say thanks to the controllers again and they appeared to appreciate it. One of these days I need to go upstairs and pay them a visit.

On the way home I had many thoughts to ponder. I was pleased that I had checkmarks next to “Engine Failure in Circuit” and “Runway Change” but was a bit concerned about a few things. First of all the landings were god awful. I need to focus on transitioning from the approach to landing phase and this must include being able to transition from a forward slip to landing. I think that this is going to take experience and not much else.

Second of all, I need to do a better job of judging from any point in the circuit where I will touch down if I turned back for the runway. The instructors are telling me often about this or that landmark but I’m really trying to judge it with my eyes so that when I’m landing somewhere else (when the landmarks aren’t available) I can still figure things out.

Last but not least I need to correct my horrible track on the ground. My taxiing has improved immensely (and I pay a lot of attention to the taxi phases) but on the runway during my takeoff, touch and go, and landing rolls – I am not what I would call “in complete control of the aircraft”. Any CFI’s out there who have some advice for me – I’m all ears!

There is one last thing to think about with respect to losing power after takeoff. Each time I take a lesson, the briefing for that scenario is to “fly straight ahead and look for somewhere to land”. Yet during my recent flights out in New Jersey I noted that in three takeoff briefings (two different pilots) the scenario was similar except it continued with something along the lines of “if we reach 800 feet (AGL) we will attempt to turn back for the runway to land”. One of the pilots went so far as to mention that based on the winds he would make a right turn to minimize the drift from the winds (which actually was what geared me up to think about that and mention it during the last engine failure mentioned above). So my question is “Is it actually safe to turn back for the runway and under what conditions should you do so?” I don’t know if this is a Canadian vs. American flight training thing or just a consideration that there is a difference between losing an engine on takeoff vs. losing one at 800 AGL where you would certainly be in the crosswind if not already turning on the downwind.

I have no idea who reads this blog – but if we have any opinions out there I’d be happy to hear them. Hopefully we can get both the Canadian and American perspectives.

I’ve got back to back flights coming up in a few days after a short business trip to Houston. Between now and then I need to memorize the emergency procedures for just about everything that could go wrong in an aircraft. Hopefully I can pick it up quickly.

17.3 Hours and counting…

Overshoot!

I’m at the point in my training now where we are slowly knocking off specific procedures that I must execute in order to achieve my solo endorsement. Aside from the medical, air regulations, and radio exams you must prove efficiency in the following areas prior to receiving your solo endorsement:

- Stall
- Spin
- Spiral
- Engine Failure in Circuit
- Overshoot
- Crosswind
- Runway Change
- Communication Failure
- Emergency Procedures

To date I’ve received signatures next to Stall, Spin, Spiral, and Overshoot. This leaves engine failure, crosswind, runway change, comm. Failure, and emergency procedures.

When I arrived for the walk around, I5 told me that we might have an opportunity for some crosswind work. During the brief we reviewed the overshoot and talked about runway changes and communications failures. Unfortunately the winds had shifted so today would not be my crosswind day.

CGMTZ was nearly full of fuel and was also nice and warm, so starting the engine was simpler than I ever remembered. We taxied out, completed the run-up, takeoff checklist, after a short wait for 2 aircraft on final (with loads of room to get us out) we were off for the circuit. The winds were out of the south today so we were using runway 16 which requires a right hand pattern. This was different than previous flights but the adjustment was simple. The nice thing about flying circuits off of this runway is the visual cues available for the pattern. The highway is a nice place to turn crosswind, the downwind lines up with a bog, and the base should be just inside of the river. Armed with that information from I5, I opted to judge it myself because I know that these cues won’t always be available to me.

While on the downwind, I5 told me that I should be focus on accurate speeds, headings, altitudes, power settings, and especially speeds on final. He wanted me to show him a number of stabilized approaches from various scenarios and wanted me to nail that approach speed at 60 knots. He also mentioned that at any point, I should be prepared for him to call “Overshoot” and react appropriately.

When I called tower downwind abeam for the touch and go he re-keyed his mike and told tower we wanted a “low and over”. I suppose the overshoot wasn’t going to be shocking after all. As we neared the threshold he called for the overshoot, I put the throttle to the firewall, attitude to the horizon, and went to takeoff flap. The aircraft held Vy (68) without much adjustment from me (much to my amazement).

The next approach was extremely stable again and as I cut the power over the threshold I planned to focus on a gentle flare. It wasn’t as gentle as I had hoped, but the landing went very well. I quickly hopped on the rudder, raised the flaps, powered up, and we were back in the sky. One thing I noticed was that I didn’t have to remind myself to keep the nose down as we crossed over the threshold. Perhaps I eradicated that natural tendency to pull up a bit when landing. Check that one off too please!

This time we had traffic in the pattern on a LEFT circuit. Tower wanted to cut us in front of him and asked “MTZ, advise if you can turn base in next 2 seconds”, I didn’t hesitate and responded with “turning base, MTZ” to which I got a “thank you”. Now we were pretty close to the field and I immediately started to pull the power all the way back. I5 gently stopped me and said “Hold your altitude and power for now”. About half way through the base he pulled the power all the way back and said “OK – now what?” We were higher than usual and still carrying a lot of speed. I put the first notch of flaps out and pushed the stick forward a bit telling I5 that I wanted to lose some altitude quickly, turn final and then slow down, go to landing flaps and probably a forward slip. He told me to slip “NOW”. I entered a forward slip. The feeling and noise created by the slip is still astounding. Probably would freak out passengers without warning – but I love it. I5 kept telling me something about watching my ground track but I’m not sure I was really listening. Then I started loosening up on the rudder so I could turn final when he said “stay in the slip and adjust your ailerons so you can turn final – a slipping turn”. It was much easier to do than I had expected (or remembered) and a lot of fun. We rolled out nicely, I put the flaps out and adjusted attitude for 60 knots. I was extremely pleased with myself and went to pull the power at the threshold when I5 calmly said “Overshoot!”

I’ll admit it. I was not prepared for the overshoot at all. Perhaps he had this planned all along, but he certainly fooled me! Apparently the execution was just fine. The next circuit had us turning an early crosswind which left us with little time to level off, call the tower, perform level off checks, transition to base, and perform landing checks. The approach was a wonderful 60 knot deal and we touched down nice and gentle. I went for the rudder and this is where I made a mistake! I started to advance the throttles without retracting back to takeoff flaps. I5 caught it and corrected it quickly. The shock to my system resulted in a pretty nasty ground pattern for us as the acceleration, deceleration, and acceleration left me way behind the aircraft.

Once in the air I5 and I chatted about it and that is when I noticed that I had not remembered to turn my fuel pump back on for the previous approach. Looks like I landed and took off without it. I5 told me not to worry about the flap or fuel pump mishaps because I hadn’t done it before but I made a mental note to do much better on those procedures by practicing them in my mind.

We asked tower if they could give us a runway change, but unfortunately they were unable due to a trio of helicopters operating down on runway 25. We instead asked if we could simulate communications failure to which they said “yes”. Right away – I5 said, “OK you have lost your communications, what will you check first?” This is another item which certainly will need to be memorized.

On the right frequency?
Headsets plugged in?
Avionics on?
Radio selector set correctly?
Alternator still working?
Can you transmit?

After going through these we agreed that we had indeed suffered a loss of communications. Next I reached for the transponder. I5 stopped me "no no no". We don’t type 7600 in unless we are REALLY suffering a communications failure. Good thing to know, I would have actually done it (thus I am the flight newbie!). We spent considerable effort searching for traffic, especially joining from opposite base or straight in. Satisfied, we turned base and configured for normal landing. On final he told me that in addition to the “Airspeed, Wind Sock, Numbers” triangle he taught me last time, I should add “Tower”. Looking for the tower (where is that confounded tower?) it was clear as day. A steady green light pointed towards me. I rocked my wings back and forth in acknowledgement which was an absolute hoot, and I headed in for landing.

After taxiing off the runway and completing the checklist we noted that ground was now signalling us with the green light to taxi. I moved my control surfaces, flashed my lights, and we taxied on in. During the taxi in I swapped to the ground frequency which puzzled I5 a bit. I keyed my microphone and told ground “Thanks for the light signals, please pass on our thanks to the tower guy as well” to which they responded “our pleasure”. I5 noted that he didn’t recall a student ever considering calling ATC to say thanks in the past and that they really appreciated that sort of thing. He also noted that I always say “Good morning” to ATC when I check in and thanks to the initial response. I guess all of that time on the Vatsim network has taught me the importance of being polite, respectful, and professional on the frequency. A friend noted that students often don’t add “the human touch” when learning.

When all said and done, a short but effective flight. We crossed Communication failure off our list and I got some good practice at non standard circuits. My homework for my next flight will be to review engine failures, emergency procedures, and make sure I know the sequences for level off, landing, and touch and go to the point of habit.

I fly again in 5 days, and then back to back flights (Thursday evening, Friday morning) 4 days later. I want to make sure I have all of the material covered between now and then. Looking ahead on my syllabus; there is a lot of fun stuff coming up in the near future once we get back out of the circuit – primarily cross country flights and short/soft field landing/takeoffs. I’m not in any rush however to get out of the circuit because the action is non stop and you really have to be on your toes.

16.5 Hours and Counting…