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…