On 08/22 I flew 1.2 solo up near the Morley area for some forced approaches. Went very well but I still feel as if I am crowding the field. The last two procedures I would have actually made the first third of the field. Somewhat satisfied I headed back knowing that my next "free solo" would include some time to work on this again.
Today however, we did a lovely dual flight to another new area. North of the airport the terrain flattens out to farmland. This is a great place to work on precautionary landings. Everything was smooth on the flight and we climbed out with a few turns to avoid the hangliding area (CYA228) which was active north of the field. I5 explained the lay of the land in this neighborhood, described some good and bad radio techniques for traffic advisories, and finally we did some map reading. We also reviewed what to do in case I became disoriented and wasn't sure how to head "home".
Following this we moved on to the actual task at hand - precautionary landings. I had done my homework and reviewed it over and over and over in my mind during the drive:
Perform a "circuit" (at least a downwind) to inspect the field (the high pass).
Get down to 500AGL (300 on the test and r/w) on a normal base for the low pass. The trick is to be nicely configured and trimmed with t/o flaps at 500AGL and 70 knots.
On the downwind we inspect the field again this time adding a timing element where we say each "second" on the downwind represents 100 feet.
Reaching the "end" of the downwind we perform an overshoot back to 1000AGL and declare if the field is long enough.
If we continue with the approach we make our radio call on the downwind (a PAN call), perform our pre landing checks, and go with a passenger safety briefing.
The rest is flown "normally" except of course we are landing in a field. At about 300AGL we perform the overshoot.
Was I great? No. Did I know my procedures? Yes. Did I know what performance issues I needed to work on in order to pass this portion of the flight test? Yes. Well actually I5 told me I would have passed, but there were some marks I would have been docked for which could easily have been avoided with some mental concentration.
On the way back we were given a "straight in" from north of Cochrane Lake. We tuned the YBW VOR and at this point I5 became intrigued that I understood how to use a VOR Receiver, and could determine my location relative to the VOR based on the radial and from/to flags. He then asked me if I could follow the Localiser Back Course all the way in and seemed amused that I was able to do this without must trouble.
The sunlight had really faded by the time we were on final. I guess these 7pm flights will soon be coming to an end - for 2009 at least.
Aside from the excitement of flying "somewhere else" and getting sign off to fly up there by myself, I also learned some interesting facts about the difference between GPS distances and DME distances that I had never considered before. Interesting little devices.
I'm booked for another flight next Tuesday but I told I5 that our should be to fly solo on that date and we will fly "diversions" (the last lesson prior to the first cross country) mid month.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Situational Awareness
[EDIT: Ya, so I'm a bit lazy and have about 5 blog entries prior to this which have not yet been completed. Since I finished the editing of this piece months ago - I decided to just publish it and move ahead]
Situational Awareness - as in "do you actually know where you are and where you are headed"?
This morning at 8AM I flew out to the practice area for forced approaches. It was the first time I actually felt "really" comfortable being out there. The forced approaches went "OK" but I think that I still need another session solo just doing them again. There were a lot of delays on departure (really busy) so I didn't have as much time as I would have liked - perhaps another 30 minutes out there would have been better.
Anyhow - things got super bumpy back in the circuit and no problems back to the club. I pulled up to the pumps and hopped out leaving all of my stuff in the aircraft. Inside I asked the rampee to fill her up for me and that I'd be back out in about 20 minutes. I signed the aircraft back in, filled out the logs, pulled a new weight and balance and signed the aircraft out. Then I5 comes out and starts asking me the usual - when he asks "what's our fuel at" I tell him "full tanks". He says "huh? what's our gross weight?". When I tell him he says - ummm notice the line below that says Spins not authorized above XXXX Lbs! - we were overweight (I had no idea we were doing spins). So I had to swap planes, do a full walk around and redo everything else. To top it off I5 wanted a short brief for the flight. We were going to do slow flight with full flap, power on stalls with all flap settings and turns, and fully developed spins.
I asked right before we started up if we had enough time to complete the dual flight and he said probably not unless you are really in the zone. We got out there, picked a zone and since it was quiet we went into slow flight for the transit to our practice area zone. Went great ;) Lots of turns, climbs, and descents. Then we went on to the spins. We climbed up to 9000 and talked about spins again and the recovery. He told me that this would be a fully developed spin and I told him we did them last time I spun but he said "my spins are a bit tighter than most". He put the airplane into a spin and said "your control" I immediately called "spinning left, power..." when he cut me off and said "wait - let it develop", and develop it did! I don't know how many times we spun before he said "recover". Throttle idle, full right rudder, stick down to break the stall and ease back up in the stick to level out (then it requires forward stick to stop it from climbing like a banshee) then slowly push the power back to cruise. We did 4 in total and they were pretty intense. On the way back we did full power stalls with full slap and let me tell you it isn't easy to stall the diamond like this. The stalls with turns were a bit more exciting to be honest - when that high wing stalls it really drops like a rock.
I also experienced something else for the first time - a guy who didn't know what the heck he was doing. It was obvious when he checked in on the practice area frequency with his callsign saying he was "entering the practice area" (from where?) and would be working 6500 feet and below (working where?). When he was asked both those questions his responses were not even remotely appropriate. On the way back out 45 mins later the call was made that we were southbound down the ghost river headed for the lake and the village to leave the practice area at 7500 descending 6. A few mins later he checks in saying he's 5 miles northwest of the dam at 6000. Umm - that's where I am. I check again that I'm 5 miles north of the dam at 6500 descending 6 and if he's sure that's where he is. "Yep he says". I look out my window for him and spot someone over the water and think to myself "Jesus - this guy is west southwest of the dam and he looks like he's at 65-7500". Just then a different aircraft checks in at that location leaving the practice area (another idiot, the procedure is 6000 feet leaving and he was at 7k+) and that is when I spot the first idiot at our 9-10 headed right for us. F****R is at about 5500 (we're at 6) and he's headed west - he's STILL to the east/south east of the dam. He had no clue where he was and he obviously doesn't see us and looks like he's climbing. Quick turn to the right for a diverging course and called "India Fox Alpha level 6000 over the dam turning for the village, traffic just east of the dam headed westbound please say intentions". Nothing. I kept my eye on him and the bugger stayed on course and climbed right through my altitude behind us. It was probably 2-3 more minutes before I got over the village and went back to the tower to check in - that guy never called on 22.75 or the tower freq while I was there. I was hoping to get the tail number to find out where they were flying out of. Honestly though - that was a dangerous situation (not to mention the moron in front of us). Every other time (as in all 5 times) I've been in the practice area people have been very good about where they are and what they are doing. It isn't really all that hard is it ;)
On the way back there was traffic ahead and behind us same route so a lot of speed management was required. We also had traffic that crossed us above and below - pretty cool stuff. I executed what I would say was my finest soft field landing to date and headed back to the field.
I treated I5 to lunch during which time we talked about the next few flights. As it turns out he had already briefed and flown "advanced" forced approaches with me, so I was good for a solo. With this in mind I booked another solo for tomorrow to work on the advanced forced approaches until they are where exactly I want them to be.
So - it has been 7 flights in 7 days and tomorrow will make it 8 flights in 8 days (four of them solo). I
I'm pretty excited but also pretty wiped. Those spins can really knock a guy out.
Situational Awareness - as in "do you actually know where you are and where you are headed"?
This morning at 8AM I flew out to the practice area for forced approaches. It was the first time I actually felt "really" comfortable being out there. The forced approaches went "OK" but I think that I still need another session solo just doing them again. There were a lot of delays on departure (really busy) so I didn't have as much time as I would have liked - perhaps another 30 minutes out there would have been better.
Anyhow - things got super bumpy back in the circuit and no problems back to the club. I pulled up to the pumps and hopped out leaving all of my stuff in the aircraft. Inside I asked the rampee to fill her up for me and that I'd be back out in about 20 minutes. I signed the aircraft back in, filled out the logs, pulled a new weight and balance and signed the aircraft out. Then I5 comes out and starts asking me the usual - when he asks "what's our fuel at" I tell him "full tanks". He says "huh? what's our gross weight?". When I tell him he says - ummm notice the line below that says Spins not authorized above XXXX Lbs! - we were overweight (I had no idea we were doing spins). So I had to swap planes, do a full walk around and redo everything else. To top it off I5 wanted a short brief for the flight. We were going to do slow flight with full flap, power on stalls with all flap settings and turns, and fully developed spins.
I asked right before we started up if we had enough time to complete the dual flight and he said probably not unless you are really in the zone. We got out there, picked a zone and since it was quiet we went into slow flight for the transit to our practice area zone. Went great ;) Lots of turns, climbs, and descents. Then we went on to the spins. We climbed up to 9000 and talked about spins again and the recovery. He told me that this would be a fully developed spin and I told him we did them last time I spun but he said "my spins are a bit tighter than most". He put the airplane into a spin and said "your control" I immediately called "spinning left, power..." when he cut me off and said "wait - let it develop", and develop it did! I don't know how many times we spun before he said "recover". Throttle idle, full right rudder, stick down to break the stall and ease back up in the stick to level out (then it requires forward stick to stop it from climbing like a banshee) then slowly push the power back to cruise. We did 4 in total and they were pretty intense. On the way back we did full power stalls with full slap and let me tell you it isn't easy to stall the diamond like this. The stalls with turns were a bit more exciting to be honest - when that high wing stalls it really drops like a rock.
I also experienced something else for the first time - a guy who didn't know what the heck he was doing. It was obvious when he checked in on the practice area frequency with his callsign saying he was "entering the practice area" (from where?) and would be working 6500 feet and below (working where?). When he was asked both those questions his responses were not even remotely appropriate. On the way back out 45 mins later the call was made that we were southbound down the ghost river headed for the lake and the village to leave the practice area at 7500 descending 6. A few mins later he checks in saying he's 5 miles northwest of the dam at 6000. Umm - that's where I am. I check again that I'm 5 miles north of the dam at 6500 descending 6 and if he's sure that's where he is. "Yep he says". I look out my window for him and spot someone over the water and think to myself "Jesus - this guy is west southwest of the dam and he looks like he's at 65-7500". Just then a different aircraft checks in at that location leaving the practice area (another idiot, the procedure is 6000 feet leaving and he was at 7k+) and that is when I spot the first idiot at our 9-10 headed right for us. F****R is at about 5500 (we're at 6) and he's headed west - he's STILL to the east/south east of the dam. He had no clue where he was and he obviously doesn't see us and looks like he's climbing. Quick turn to the right for a diverging course and called "India Fox Alpha level 6000 over the dam turning for the village, traffic just east of the dam headed westbound please say intentions". Nothing. I kept my eye on him and the bugger stayed on course and climbed right through my altitude behind us. It was probably 2-3 more minutes before I got over the village and went back to the tower to check in - that guy never called on 22.75 or the tower freq while I was there. I was hoping to get the tail number to find out where they were flying out of. Honestly though - that was a dangerous situation (not to mention the moron in front of us). Every other time (as in all 5 times) I've been in the practice area people have been very good about where they are and what they are doing. It isn't really all that hard is it ;)
On the way back there was traffic ahead and behind us same route so a lot of speed management was required. We also had traffic that crossed us above and below - pretty cool stuff. I executed what I would say was my finest soft field landing to date and headed back to the field.
I treated I5 to lunch during which time we talked about the next few flights. As it turns out he had already briefed and flown "advanced" forced approaches with me, so I was good for a solo. With this in mind I booked another solo for tomorrow to work on the advanced forced approaches until they are where exactly I want them to be.
So - it has been 7 flights in 7 days and tomorrow will make it 8 flights in 8 days (four of them solo). I
I'm pretty excited but also pretty wiped. Those spins can really knock a guy out.
Photo Ops
I took advantage of a day off work and booked two flights today with a nice break in between to allow myself to learn and rest.
Both flights were out to the practice area where I focused heavily on stalls, slow flight, and forced approaches. Having flown so much now in the past few weeks I was starting to really get the hang of the minute adjustments required for some exercises.
Slow flight saw the largest improvement in performance. I was able to enter and exit it quickly and with authority. Straight and level, turns, climbs, descents, and turning climbs/descents all mixed with different flap settings went great.
I focused on Forced approaches for the flight later that day and hit a different area of the practice region. While they were much improved over the last time I did them, I made a number of mental notes that need to be addressed. The largest is my judgement of distance. I have absolutely no problem getting trimmed out for glide speed, picking a suitable landing area, a key point, or even knowing which way to turn. My problem is that I absolutely crowd the field. The result is that I would need to make a steeper than desired turn back for the field which isn't something you want to be doing in this scenario. I end up way too high, regardless of how forward of a slip I can do (lol). All I keep thinking about is that I'm supposed to be able to show make the first 1/3 of the field.
There remains some work to be done here - but I think all it is going to take is some more practice!
The best part of these flights (aside from flying for "real" again) is that they are the first time I ventured to take a camera on board with me. During the transition to and from the area I took the time to take photos - but soon after was far too busy to even REMEMBER that I had a camera with me. When I got home I immediately ripped the photos off of the memory card and uploaded them. Not too shabby for a novice.
Note to self: taking a video without having the audio hooked up to the comms panel will give people a good indication of how lout it is in a single engine aircraft without any ear protection!
Both flights were out to the practice area where I focused heavily on stalls, slow flight, and forced approaches. Having flown so much now in the past few weeks I was starting to really get the hang of the minute adjustments required for some exercises.
Slow flight saw the largest improvement in performance. I was able to enter and exit it quickly and with authority. Straight and level, turns, climbs, descents, and turning climbs/descents all mixed with different flap settings went great.
I focused on Forced approaches for the flight later that day and hit a different area of the practice region. While they were much improved over the last time I did them, I made a number of mental notes that need to be addressed. The largest is my judgement of distance. I have absolutely no problem getting trimmed out for glide speed, picking a suitable landing area, a key point, or even knowing which way to turn. My problem is that I absolutely crowd the field. The result is that I would need to make a steeper than desired turn back for the field which isn't something you want to be doing in this scenario. I end up way too high, regardless of how forward of a slip I can do (lol). All I keep thinking about is that I'm supposed to be able to show make the first 1/3 of the field.
There remains some work to be done here - but I think all it is going to take is some more practice!
The best part of these flights (aside from flying for "real" again) is that they are the first time I ventured to take a camera on board with me. During the transition to and from the area I took the time to take photos - but soon after was far too busy to even REMEMBER that I had a camera with me. When I got home I immediately ripped the photos off of the memory card and uploaded them. Not too shabby for a novice.
Note to self: taking a video without having the audio hooked up to the comms panel will give people a good indication of how lout it is in a single engine aircraft without any ear protection!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Flying for "real"
A truly magical flight.
My first solo flight away from the airport. There was something very special about this flight for me. I didn't feel rushed at all, was extremely calm but never "relaxed". Always double and triple checking everything. There wasn't an instructor to my right who could take over in case something went wrong, and there wasn't a tower controller watching out for anyone else.
It was all up to me.
Knowing that there was potential for many things to go wrong, I invested a few hours reviewing how the GPS in the aircraft worked in case I needed it to raise my situational awareness. As it turns out I spent a fair amount of time on the ground playing with it (confirming what I had read) and while in the air it was nice to have the confidence that I understood how to interact with it.
It was especially useful for cross referencing where I was in the practice area. Between the lines I had drawn on the map, what I saw out the window, and what was drawn on the GPS moving map I was confident (somewhat) that I was where I thought I was.
Aside from the experience of navigating between the airport and practice area, confirming where I was in the practice area, and communicating with others out there - I focused on steep turns for this flight. It seemed as if I was doing them for nearly an hour. It is truly amazing how many factors are involved in completing a perfect 360 degree steep turn. My big lesson of the day was that I'm better at turning right then I am left.
I can still remember how I pumped my fist in the air as I headed home in the car afterwards. This was flying for "real".
My first solo flight away from the airport. There was something very special about this flight for me. I didn't feel rushed at all, was extremely calm but never "relaxed". Always double and triple checking everything. There wasn't an instructor to my right who could take over in case something went wrong, and there wasn't a tower controller watching out for anyone else.
It was all up to me.
Knowing that there was potential for many things to go wrong, I invested a few hours reviewing how the GPS in the aircraft worked in case I needed it to raise my situational awareness. As it turns out I spent a fair amount of time on the ground playing with it (confirming what I had read) and while in the air it was nice to have the confidence that I understood how to interact with it.
It was especially useful for cross referencing where I was in the practice area. Between the lines I had drawn on the map, what I saw out the window, and what was drawn on the GPS moving map I was confident (somewhat) that I was where I thought I was.
Aside from the experience of navigating between the airport and practice area, confirming where I was in the practice area, and communicating with others out there - I focused on steep turns for this flight. It seemed as if I was doing them for nearly an hour. It is truly amazing how many factors are involved in completing a perfect 360 degree steep turn. My big lesson of the day was that I'm better at turning right then I am left.
I can still remember how I pumped my fist in the air as I headed home in the car afterwards. This was flying for "real".
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
NORDO
With my family out of town for the next week I plan to take advantage and fly like there's no tomorrow. Hopefully the weather gods will be more kind than last year when I got 20% of my bookings in when the left town.
After completing a briefing about the procedures to and from the practice area I decided to take care of two bookings in one since I had all day. The routes to and from the practice area had changed since my last flight out there and to be honest this made me happy. No more struggling with those impossible power lines. The new "routes" make a lot more sense and provide much better traffic separation laterally between the airport and the practice area - and also the entry/exit points of the practice area itself.
It felt great to finally leave the circuit. My first level off check, flying straight and level, and even doing a fuel lean seemed exciting.
Once we got out to the are we did a number of exercises which included a lot of slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and spiral dives. We then moved into Forced approaches, more slow flight, more stalls, and finally topped it off by simulating NORDO on the way back to the airport.
Since this was a double session we were in the air doing this stuff for a long time. Not only was I exhausted and thirsty, I also was starting to feel not so good a lot. If there was anything that I learned today - it was that the checks we do to make sure we are "safe" for flying are important. I can completely see how an exhausted pilot could make a number of errors.
At the same time - I realize that I really need to focus on the precision required to execute exercises within the proper envelope. Slow flight needs a lot of work. The NORDO portion of the flight was awesome. I really loved it ;)
After completing a briefing about the procedures to and from the practice area I decided to take care of two bookings in one since I had all day. The routes to and from the practice area had changed since my last flight out there and to be honest this made me happy. No more struggling with those impossible power lines. The new "routes" make a lot more sense and provide much better traffic separation laterally between the airport and the practice area - and also the entry/exit points of the practice area itself.
It felt great to finally leave the circuit. My first level off check, flying straight and level, and even doing a fuel lean seemed exciting.
Once we got out to the are we did a number of exercises which included a lot of slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and spiral dives. We then moved into Forced approaches, more slow flight, more stalls, and finally topped it off by simulating NORDO on the way back to the airport.
Since this was a double session we were in the air doing this stuff for a long time. Not only was I exhausted and thirsty, I also was starting to feel not so good a lot. If there was anything that I learned today - it was that the checks we do to make sure we are "safe" for flying are important. I can completely see how an exhausted pilot could make a number of errors.
At the same time - I realize that I really need to focus on the precision required to execute exercises within the proper envelope. Slow flight needs a lot of work. The NORDO portion of the flight was awesome. I really loved it ;)
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Complete Circuit
The aviation gods finally agreed to let me fly again.
Yesterday I5 and I did the soft field dual and it went great. There were however many mental lapses which I'll need to work on. Again I'll chalk them up to a combination of experience and currency. It truly is amazing how much better you are if you fly more often.
Today was the solo portion of the soft field and again my performance was quite weak. I stayed up for over 90 minutes in the air trying to correct a horrible job of landing that I was doing. I was fighting the crosswinds the entire way in. It wasn't so much the crosswind as it was the fact that the winds were inconsistent in direction and speed. I did a number of touch and gos to see if I could figure it out but it was no help. To make matters worse my left creep had come back again. This was the problem I had for the longest time where during the takeoff roll of a touch and go (or the go rather) I would make a beeline for the grass on the left.
The flight was extremely frustrating for me. I went home extremely disappointed with my performance.
Yesterday I5 and I did the soft field dual and it went great. There were however many mental lapses which I'll need to work on. Again I'll chalk them up to a combination of experience and currency. It truly is amazing how much better you are if you fly more often.
Today was the solo portion of the soft field and again my performance was quite weak. I stayed up for over 90 minutes in the air trying to correct a horrible job of landing that I was doing. I was fighting the crosswinds the entire way in. It wasn't so much the crosswind as it was the fact that the winds were inconsistent in direction and speed. I did a number of touch and gos to see if I could figure it out but it was no help. To make matters worse my left creep had come back again. This was the problem I had for the longest time where during the takeoff roll of a touch and go (or the go rather) I would make a beeline for the grass on the left.
The flight was extremely frustrating for me. I went home extremely disappointed with my performance.
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