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.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
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.
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