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:

• 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

The grande finale being him asking the tower to have me go around as I was in the flare for the stop and go because he had crept up too close to me (yes he was BEHIND ME). Anticipating the stop and go wouldn't work I was able to make it a very short touch and go when asked to "keep it on the roll" by tower.

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.