There are many factors that can affect your confidence level.
The inspection was complete, paperwork was filed, a review of my plans with I5 was behind me, the aircraft was on the ramp, and the solo flight had been signed out - but for some reason I kept coming up with reasons to head back into the club from outside. First I forgot something, then I needed a drink, then I needed a bathroom, then a quick question - what in the world was happening to me? I climbed into the aircraft to sit down and think about it. Was I feeling well enough to fly? Did I know how I planned on practicing precautionary landings? Did I know the procedures to get out and back from the area I was going to conduct the exercise? Did I get enough sleep last night? The answer to all was yes and after a few moments of reflection I figured my self doubt was merely due to the fact it has been close to 140 days since the last time I took the skies on my own - with no one else to lean on. Having resolved myself to the fact that it was indeed "all up to me", I made the decision that I had the skill and training required to face the task and was only facing some butterflies. The final call was "Go".
Today I was headed north up highway 22 between Cochrane and Cremona, AB. Lots of nice flat terrain and fields where I could work the exercise. Remembering that I had some trouble identifying landmarks last flight I spent time reviewing the charts in detail and about an hour with Google maps looking around the area at different roads and towns using their map and satellite views. Pretty useful information but of course before I knew it I was trying to zoom in on military installations as if I was some sort of a CIA analyst right out of "The Hunt for Red October". I had the YBW VOR tuned in just for extra help and reviewed the GPS "quick start guide" just in case (the quick start guide is about 30 pages long - I can only imagine the actual manual). I identified as many landmarks as I could enroute - bends in the highway, roads, towers, elevation, and such and felt pretty confident about being able to find my way back. As I got ready to find my place to work the procedure I made a mental note of a few terrain details so that I wouldn't get all discombobulated again.
During our brief I5 and I went through a few scenarios of where I could work in case things got busy out there. This was a good thing because I followed (and pretty much caught up to) a Skyhawk who was headed to the same area. Trying to be proactive, I had tuned to the advisory frequency of 127.6 on Com2 prior to getting release by ATC so that I could hear what was going on and get an advance picture of the area. As it turns out the Skyhawk would be staying west highway 22 and I planned on working east of it and south of the town. After making my broadcast I witnessed what was in my opinion an example of excellent airmanship. Another aircraft was north of me already established in the area. Rather than making me fly from my present position PAST his position to work north of the town, he offered to move north and let me stay south. This blew me away and as a result I made a counter offer to stay south of a smaller town which would give him about 6 miles to work with north/south. This was accepted and appreciated. It really felt good to hear someone so accommodating and felt even better to try and make his day by reciprocating. The only issue was trying to make sure I didn't bust one of the outer rings of the Calgary Terminal airspace. Thank goodness the GPS has the rings depicted to it only took a moment or two to find a few landmarks that became my southern boundary.
While on the subject of airmanship - I also witnessed what I thought was a bit on the "lame side". I know that the frequency I was on covers a fairly wide area and for the most part in the past it has been interesting listening in to what people are doing. At the same time it takes some skill to filter out the blabbery that goes on while still staying alert for anyone who announces your area, or that sounds in someone's voice that sets off your spidey sense screaming "this person has no clue where they are or what they are doing". Anyhow - seems like a few guys were out on a joy flight of some sort and decided that 27.6 would be the equivalent of aviation twitter. "Hey Joe - are you up the air yet?". "Ya Bob I'm here, Bill is with Ted in his plane at about my 6 O'clock where abouts are you at?". "Aww we got going a bit early so we'll just circle over here for ya". "Ya, sure sounds good eh. Hey Bill! It's Joe - are you back there somewhere". I suppose you get the message. This went on pretty much for the entire time I was on the frequency. Now let me just say that while I appreciate the ability to keep things a bit informal from time to time on the CTAF - these guys should have at least had the courtesy of having a second frequency where they could babble all they wanted while at the same time monitoring 27.6. This is in fact exactly what we did during a 2 aircraft group flight I took part in around the Manhattan area in April 2009. Then again - no one bothered to ask them to try a new frequency including myself. This is very typical of Canadians to be honest - sometimes we are simply too polite (and then bitch about it afterwards).
Back to flying - the precautionary went very well. There were two mistakes made that need to be corrected (and are a bit noobish). When I made my first "low pass" to inspect the field and get a grasp on its length I thought to myself "wow, it isn't so easy to identify potential problems with the surface during the low pass - I know I'm a good distance and speed from the field.. hmmm..." It was then that I realized I was making the "low" pass at 1000 AGL when it should have been more like 300-500 AGL. Whoops! That problem was corrected. I decided to make the final approach after looping around, made the radio call, briefed my "passenger", verbally stated where we would touch down and landing type, and verbalized engine shut down. Then I went to full power and best angle for the overshoot. Hmmm - aircraft doesn't sound right and isn't performing right. Let's scan the instruments, OK let's scan the engine, ok let's scan the - whoops! Flaps still in landing configuration. Good thing I was holding 58 knots! At that point I recalled a mental image of I5 showing me Full throttle and when your hand is up there flip the flap to takeoff! Didn't happen again.
Once it was time to head back I circled for a bit while I made sure I knew where I was and where I was going. After figuring the safest way to get on the other side of the highway without conflicting with anyone I levelled at 5500 and made my way back. After jotting down the ATIS I started to figure out where I would make the call to ATC. Hmmm.. where exactly should I make that call? I know that something changed with the floor of the outer rings and now realize that my VNC is out of date. OK - I'll just check in before I get to the outer ring with my distance from the lake. The lake.. the lake.. the lake... hmmm all I need now is Robert Plant to scream "Where is that confounded Lake!". Well thanks to my map reading skills and the landmarks I noted earlier I figured out my position and made my call without sounding like a .. well like a student pilot on his first solo in 140 days!
I was told to proceed direct to Cochrane and join the right downwind for runway 25. Soon after confirming that I realized that I couldn't see the town. I look on the map, I looked out the window, I looked on the map, I looked out the window, I look at the GPS, I looked at the map, and I looked out the window. For the life of me I could not figure out where the town was. Continuing along for a moment or two I realized the best course of action right now was to slow down and tell ATC I couldn't see the town. As I cut the speed back to a "Skyhawk's pace" (lol) the controller had already figured out. "FFC, fly heading 160". "160 for FFC". I learned something else here (aside from being unsure where you are); it is important to recalibrate the DG with the compass when you are level and have a chance to do so - because you don't want to be all flustered doing it while ATC is proving you with a vector. Luckily I'm sort of anal on procedures and had done this during my level off check ;)
The next call I got from ATC was a change to another frequency. When I got to 20.7 and was about to key my microphone I realized that I wasn't exactly sure how to check in. While I certainly assumed this guy new I was on an assigned heading I decided to add it to my check in "Tower, FFC checking in, heading 160 assigned.". He didn't skip a beat - "FFC, proceed direct the tower and join the downwind for runway 25 - altitude at your discretion".
Sidebar: I mentioned this scenario to I5 afterwards. He says that he's asked ATC this in the past and they would prefer if you just checked in - since they are sitting next to each other anyhow. My reply was that this was an assumption that they actually passed on the information and we'd be better off to let them know we're on an assigned heading, unless it was a standard procedure for everyone. Apparently they don't want the frequency to be congested. I agree with that completely - but also think it's probably because most people would check in with a novel rather than "heading 160 assigned". I suppose there might be better phraseology for passing this information to a controller - and well to be honest.. I'm the pilot in command here and I think it is in my best interests to let ATC know this. Also sounds like a good habit to be into (if on an assigned heading that isn't standard) to let the next controller know for times when I'm being passed between facilities rather than just two guys sitting next to each other. Would love to hear any comments people have on this.
Meanwhile back at the ranch: "FFC, proceed direct the tower and join the downwind for runway 25 - altitude at your discretion". It was about 930AM at this point and the sun was in the general direction of the airport - making it impossible to actually spot the tower. I aimed the aircraft towards the tower as per the GPS and continued on. Eventually I did spot the field and confirmed I was headed in the right direction. Once established in the circuit ATC told me I was "#4" and where my traffic was. "Looking for the traffic" was the first call, "still negative traffic" was my second and I think at that point he realized I couldn't see jack to the east. It was truly amazing how blinding that sun was. I had absolutely no clue where the traffic was except for the little "scope in my brain" that drew the picture based on the story tower was telling with each transmission.
Approach was stable and the landing was standard except that without the excess 150+ lbs of I5, the Diamond would prefer to just keep flying rather than land - thus I floated quite a way before finally settling onto the runway.
Getting back to the ramp I realized I wasn't sure where to put the aircraft (I usually ask about this before I go solo). I taxied the entire ramp looking for a place to shut her down before finally settling with the "half assed" spot next to the pumps. The rampee didn't appear fazed when I told him I "only" had half tanks available. My guilt evaporated when back inside the ramp the guy who had the aircraft next asked how much was in the tanks and appeared extremely pleased that it was full - phew. I need to have a better understanding of shut down positions for the aircraft so I don't act like a newbie.
Then again - I am the flightnewbie after all!
I've got flights booked the next 3 weeks - Dual Diversions, Ground Brief, and then the dual cross country. Looks like the "standard" cross country at the CFC is CYBW - Springbank, CYQF - Red Deer, CEN4 - Three Hills, CYBW for a total of about 160nm. I've also received a list of where I can plan to fly my solo cross countries - there are some interesting destinations in there specifically CZPC - Pincher Creek (close to mountains and Glacier National Park in Montana) and CEG4 - Drumheller (in the Alberta Badlands and home of the Royal Tyrell Museum for you Dinosaur fans).
Monday, January 18, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Solo Re-Certification
I don't know if it's a Transport Canada rule or a rule at the flying club, but as a student permit holder, if I haven't flown in the past 2 weeks (dual or solo) then I am no longer current to fly solo.
Discussing this with a friend (who has often scratched his head at the amount of "retraining" I seem to always be doing), I was reminded to make sure I did a good job of communicating what was important to me, to my instructor. With this in mind, I made I indicated to I5 right off the bat that my goal for the flight was to demonstrate whatever exercises were required to convince him that I was good to go solo again. This would allow me to pick back up where I left off back in September with the training. He agreed this was a good plan.
The specialty of the day was soft field and it went just fine. I remembered to ask for a rolling start, stay off the brake, and keep the stick all the way back from the hold short line. The Diamond's nose wants to really POP off the runway when it reaches about 30 knots so you have to be prepared to get it back down to "just off" the pavement otherwise face the potential of explaining a tail strike for the rest of your life. It of course did pop off the ground but I recovered nicely even as I5 started to reach for the stick. I really tried to focus on keeping my track aligned with the runway as I climbed out. This is something that I do an OK job of in all phases of flight EXCEPT the departure phase. The only commentary I received from I5 was that I needed to anticipate reaching the target speed for rotation out of ground effect. I didn't rotate until we hit it (come on now - ground effect is so cool!) and as a result we were pretty fast on departure and it took a little while to get everything settled in for a perfect climb out.
Once established in the practice area we did some more steep turns and then stalls. Power off stalls, power on stalls, stalls with flap, stalls while turning, and finally climbing turning stalls with flap. It was a lot of stalls - that's for sure. The thing is that the diamond just doesn't want to stall. You always get the decrease in aileron control and you always get the stall horn. Yet the buffeting, wing drop, and nose drop is not very obvious. I'd like to go and try this in a different trainer one day to see what the real difference is.
We decided to "slip" out the side of the practice area and work on some forced approaches. I5 took the controls and as I was verbalizing some of my thoughts about the forced approach procedures while admiring the mountains I5 started getting aggressive on the controls. We were in a REALLY steep turn, the engine was racing, the airspeed was increasing, we were losing altitude, and the G-Forces were kicking in.
I5 looked over at me and said "What is happening?" My first thought was to say "You've lost your f***ing mind" but my training kicked in and I said "We're in a spiral dive". He quickly replied with "Good, your control - recover".
Before I even had my hand on the stick I had pulled the throttle back and then leveled the wings. As I eased out of the dive I remembered that the aircraft will want to climb. By the time I was pushing forward on the stick I glanced over and noted the airspeed near 160. The airspeed bled off, power was applied and everything was back to normal. It was weird afterwards thinking about how automatic it had become. I suppose that I'm reaching the point in my training where he might try and pull the unexpected on me. I'm happy he did that!
We did a few forced approaches after that during which I5really prompted me to go through EVERYTHING I needed to do. During the first one I did a good job of the flying aspect but was really weak on everything else (cause check, mayday call, passenger briefing, engine shutdown procedures). As we climbed back out he went through it all with me and gave me some pointers regarding the flight test. He did tell me I had done well enough for a 2 or perhaps a 3 out of 4 on the flight test. Ya - that's something else - everything I do, I5 now relates to what I would score on the flight test and adds what I need to do for full marks.
The second went much better as I ran through everything much quicker. It seems like yesterday that it was next to impossible just to trim and stay at glide speed - now I can do it without even paying much attention to it.
Since we had slipped out of the practice area to the east, we had a different checkpoint to get back into the control zone. I incorrectly identified the highway below us (thought it was highway 22) and then was unable to spot Cochrane Lake. Things really look different in the winter! It will certainly take some time to get used to identifying some of these landmarks. I made a mental note that I need to spend some time on google maps looking at the roads in the area to get a good sense of it for my next flight.
On final for runway 34 I remembered to actually focus on a point for the approach. I had realized some time ago that I really depend on the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) sometimes to get my approach correct. I told myself that it would be useful at some point to make note of "the picture" when things were high, low, and just right so that I could recreate the picture when I fly places where there are no VASI or PAPI to help me out. (Yes, I have considered that I will one day fly "somewhere else"). I decided that the numbers would be a great aiming point. Turned out the approach was pretty stable. I definitely have gotten past that point where I'm constantly adjusting the power. Fairly good job on reducing the sink rate in the flare and keeping the nose off the ground for as long as possible.
After a short debrief I was officially "re-certified" to fly solo again. I had a few hours to kill and was considering getting my solo precautionary landing flight out of the way, but after weighing all factors I realized that I was pretty tired and would be best off to come back another day.
Discussing this with a friend (who has often scratched his head at the amount of "retraining" I seem to always be doing), I was reminded to make sure I did a good job of communicating what was important to me, to my instructor. With this in mind, I made I indicated to I5 right off the bat that my goal for the flight was to demonstrate whatever exercises were required to convince him that I was good to go solo again. This would allow me to pick back up where I left off back in September with the training. He agreed this was a good plan.
The specialty of the day was soft field and it went just fine. I remembered to ask for a rolling start, stay off the brake, and keep the stick all the way back from the hold short line. The Diamond's nose wants to really POP off the runway when it reaches about 30 knots so you have to be prepared to get it back down to "just off" the pavement otherwise face the potential of explaining a tail strike for the rest of your life. It of course did pop off the ground but I recovered nicely even as I5 started to reach for the stick. I really tried to focus on keeping my track aligned with the runway as I climbed out. This is something that I do an OK job of in all phases of flight EXCEPT the departure phase. The only commentary I received from I5 was that I needed to anticipate reaching the target speed for rotation out of ground effect. I didn't rotate until we hit it (come on now - ground effect is so cool!) and as a result we were pretty fast on departure and it took a little while to get everything settled in for a perfect climb out.
Once established in the practice area we did some more steep turns and then stalls. Power off stalls, power on stalls, stalls with flap, stalls while turning, and finally climbing turning stalls with flap. It was a lot of stalls - that's for sure. The thing is that the diamond just doesn't want to stall. You always get the decrease in aileron control and you always get the stall horn. Yet the buffeting, wing drop, and nose drop is not very obvious. I'd like to go and try this in a different trainer one day to see what the real difference is.
We decided to "slip" out the side of the practice area and work on some forced approaches. I5 took the controls and as I was verbalizing some of my thoughts about the forced approach procedures while admiring the mountains I5 started getting aggressive on the controls. We were in a REALLY steep turn, the engine was racing, the airspeed was increasing, we were losing altitude, and the G-Forces were kicking in.
I5 looked over at me and said "What is happening?" My first thought was to say "You've lost your f***ing mind" but my training kicked in and I said "We're in a spiral dive". He quickly replied with "Good, your control - recover".
Before I even had my hand on the stick I had pulled the throttle back and then leveled the wings. As I eased out of the dive I remembered that the aircraft will want to climb. By the time I was pushing forward on the stick I glanced over and noted the airspeed near 160. The airspeed bled off, power was applied and everything was back to normal. It was weird afterwards thinking about how automatic it had become. I suppose that I'm reaching the point in my training where he might try and pull the unexpected on me. I'm happy he did that!
We did a few forced approaches after that during which I5really prompted me to go through EVERYTHING I needed to do. During the first one I did a good job of the flying aspect but was really weak on everything else (cause check, mayday call, passenger briefing, engine shutdown procedures). As we climbed back out he went through it all with me and gave me some pointers regarding the flight test. He did tell me I had done well enough for a 2 or perhaps a 3 out of 4 on the flight test. Ya - that's something else - everything I do, I5 now relates to what I would score on the flight test and adds what I need to do for full marks.
The second went much better as I ran through everything much quicker. It seems like yesterday that it was next to impossible just to trim and stay at glide speed - now I can do it without even paying much attention to it.
Since we had slipped out of the practice area to the east, we had a different checkpoint to get back into the control zone. I incorrectly identified the highway below us (thought it was highway 22) and then was unable to spot Cochrane Lake. Things really look different in the winter! It will certainly take some time to get used to identifying some of these landmarks. I made a mental note that I need to spend some time on google maps looking at the roads in the area to get a good sense of it for my next flight.
On final for runway 34 I remembered to actually focus on a point for the approach. I had realized some time ago that I really depend on the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) sometimes to get my approach correct. I told myself that it would be useful at some point to make note of "the picture" when things were high, low, and just right so that I could recreate the picture when I fly places where there are no VASI or PAPI to help me out. (Yes, I have considered that I will one day fly "somewhere else"). I decided that the numbers would be a great aiming point. Turned out the approach was pretty stable. I definitely have gotten past that point where I'm constantly adjusting the power. Fairly good job on reducing the sink rate in the flare and keeping the nose off the ground for as long as possible.
After a short debrief I was officially "re-certified" to fly solo again. I had a few hours to kill and was considering getting my solo precautionary landing flight out of the way, but after weighing all factors I realized that I was pretty tired and would be best off to come back another day.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Back to basics
Sometimes you simply need to put things back to their proper priority. These past few months it has been family and career. Both of these once again have shoved the flight training to the back burner. Aside from this - the weather has been brutal out here.
My wife definitely has noticed the fact that I had stopped flying and was actually the one who suggested I book some flying time on a weekend so that I don't "lose my touch". Apparently she is starting to come around to how important this actually is to me. In fact she did tell me recently that she would be happy to be my first passenger when I complete the license. In the past she had told me outright that she would never fly in a little plane with me. How's that for a curve ball? I think it has something to do with the amount of time I've spent studying and reading. Nice.
While I haven't been in the air these past few months - I have been spending a bunch of time doing something constructive towards gaining knowledge and the goal of getting my license. First, I renewed my online ground school subscription. My plan is to spend 8 hours a week focused on this, which is close to the amount of time I would spend if I were in ground school. Second, I purchased a copy of Rod Machado's private pilot handbook. An actual copy of the book and an MP3 version. I haven't really cracked the book open yet aside from a cursory look but I'm about 75% through the entire audio. I have really enjoyed listening to it while "waiting" to do anything (I have it on my blackberry) and especially while exercising. I've listened to the weather section twice now and my eyes are still rolling to the back of my head due to information overload. While there certainly are some sections of Rod's book that aren't applicable to me (FARs and airspace class specifically) I've found his style to be exactly what I need. Even the cheezie jokes make my smile. I'm such an aviation nerd now.
They told me that the flight would be "back to basics" - out to the practice area for steep turns, slow flight, and stalls. I5 was very happy to see me and wondered where I had disappeared to. He said that if I nailed things we'd be back where we left off. I didn't have a problem with that at all. He actually seemed somewhat "excited" about flying with me again - more on that later.
Even climbing into the aircraft felt sort of weird. The checklist was the first smell of familiarity for me. Got her started up and made my ground call while still taxiing on the club ramp, so there wasn't any transition. There was a bit of a traffic jam during the taxi out and while I5 kept quiet during it I was constantly saying aloud what I thought ground was doing and who was who. After we passed that I5 said that he had forgotten about my situational awareness thing.
Anyhow - the safety brief went as if I had flown a day ago, before I knew it we were rolling down the runway and taking to the sky. No jerky movements, uncertainty, or tentative action on the right rudder. Swap the frequency, flaps up, pump off, 75 knots and we're on our way.
We had a sweet tailwind and cruised into the practice area. The terrain there causes a lot more mech turbulence so we climbed up to 9000' where it was nice and smooth. He had me do a couple of basic stuff on the way up to 9000 - a few level offs - some climbing turns, etc. All went well. Then he asked if I wanted him to demonstrate a steep turn - I said nope, let's do it. We did 4 of them. My first was my worst and still managed to pass flight test standards.
From there we moved into slow flight. It certainly wasn't as good as the last time I had flown, but once I got through the entry it was obvious that I had no issues. We did two quick stalls on the way back and I demonstrated a sweet forward slip while paralleling a road. He had me at a certain speed in the descent (we were headed from 8500 to 6000) and mid way had me exit the slip and re-enter with reversed inputs.
The flight back was great - I kept the speed up for some separation from a Skyhawk behind me and when I was cleared down to 5k I told I5 that I won't adjust the power and will keep the speed up. This was a lot of fun. Our indicated speed was 145. I can't remember the ground speed, but I do recall I5 letting out a yahoo ;).
The circuit was moderately busy and I had a bit of a brain fart. For some reason got a bit discombobulated (spell check revealed this to be an actual word - go figure) and thought I was on base for landing runway 16 when I was actually on downwind for 25. No clue why that happened. Tower cleared me to land on the base and after he reported winds 12G18 I immediately told I5 that we'd make the approach for 63 knots. By either some serious concentration or the luck of the Irish (which I'm not) - I managed to shoot my most stable approach to date. I was bang on 63 for the entire approach, barely a power change required, and was trimmed nicely. I put it right down on the center line and held things together even with a weird gust that brought the left wing up. Weird, weird, weird. I can't explain it to be honest, but I'm concerned that perhaps I think I'm better at landing than I actually am. Would be great to get some serious minute critique from someone on this one day.
During the debrief was when I5 gave me a real compliment. He said he had forgotten how focused and prepared I am. Not understanding what he meant, I started talking about all of the things where I thought I was rusty. This is when he mentioned that during the flight we just had, my first in 3 months - I had executed better than all of the students he had been with that week, many of whom were flying multiple times/week at points in their training more advanced. Wow. I was blown away.
It felt great. The airplane felt like home. It was great to be back in the skies too. There was a super high ceiling, but it was blue sky over the mountains which in the cold (-5C) were clear, white with snow, and spectacular (at some point I put two and two together, realizing that the forecast was for 12C tomorrow with high winds, I then recognized the high overcast layer that arched over the mountains was the start of a "Chinook". Lucky I was down before the winds picked up).
Ya baby, I'm back.
My wife definitely has noticed the fact that I had stopped flying and was actually the one who suggested I book some flying time on a weekend so that I don't "lose my touch". Apparently she is starting to come around to how important this actually is to me. In fact she did tell me recently that she would be happy to be my first passenger when I complete the license. In the past she had told me outright that she would never fly in a little plane with me. How's that for a curve ball? I think it has something to do with the amount of time I've spent studying and reading. Nice.
While I haven't been in the air these past few months - I have been spending a bunch of time doing something constructive towards gaining knowledge and the goal of getting my license. First, I renewed my online ground school subscription. My plan is to spend 8 hours a week focused on this, which is close to the amount of time I would spend if I were in ground school. Second, I purchased a copy of Rod Machado's private pilot handbook. An actual copy of the book and an MP3 version. I haven't really cracked the book open yet aside from a cursory look but I'm about 75% through the entire audio. I have really enjoyed listening to it while "waiting" to do anything (I have it on my blackberry) and especially while exercising. I've listened to the weather section twice now and my eyes are still rolling to the back of my head due to information overload. While there certainly are some sections of Rod's book that aren't applicable to me (FARs and airspace class specifically) I've found his style to be exactly what I need. Even the cheezie jokes make my smile. I'm such an aviation nerd now.
They told me that the flight would be "back to basics" - out to the practice area for steep turns, slow flight, and stalls. I5 was very happy to see me and wondered where I had disappeared to. He said that if I nailed things we'd be back where we left off. I didn't have a problem with that at all. He actually seemed somewhat "excited" about flying with me again - more on that later.
Even climbing into the aircraft felt sort of weird. The checklist was the first smell of familiarity for me. Got her started up and made my ground call while still taxiing on the club ramp, so there wasn't any transition. There was a bit of a traffic jam during the taxi out and while I5 kept quiet during it I was constantly saying aloud what I thought ground was doing and who was who. After we passed that I5 said that he had forgotten about my situational awareness thing.
Anyhow - the safety brief went as if I had flown a day ago, before I knew it we were rolling down the runway and taking to the sky. No jerky movements, uncertainty, or tentative action on the right rudder. Swap the frequency, flaps up, pump off, 75 knots and we're on our way.
We had a sweet tailwind and cruised into the practice area. The terrain there causes a lot more mech turbulence so we climbed up to 9000' where it was nice and smooth. He had me do a couple of basic stuff on the way up to 9000 - a few level offs - some climbing turns, etc. All went well. Then he asked if I wanted him to demonstrate a steep turn - I said nope, let's do it. We did 4 of them. My first was my worst and still managed to pass flight test standards.
From there we moved into slow flight. It certainly wasn't as good as the last time I had flown, but once I got through the entry it was obvious that I had no issues. We did two quick stalls on the way back and I demonstrated a sweet forward slip while paralleling a road. He had me at a certain speed in the descent (we were headed from 8500 to 6000) and mid way had me exit the slip and re-enter with reversed inputs.
The flight back was great - I kept the speed up for some separation from a Skyhawk behind me and when I was cleared down to 5k I told I5 that I won't adjust the power and will keep the speed up. This was a lot of fun. Our indicated speed was 145. I can't remember the ground speed, but I do recall I5 letting out a yahoo ;).
The circuit was moderately busy and I had a bit of a brain fart. For some reason got a bit discombobulated (spell check revealed this to be an actual word - go figure) and thought I was on base for landing runway 16 when I was actually on downwind for 25. No clue why that happened. Tower cleared me to land on the base and after he reported winds 12G18 I immediately told I5 that we'd make the approach for 63 knots. By either some serious concentration or the luck of the Irish (which I'm not) - I managed to shoot my most stable approach to date. I was bang on 63 for the entire approach, barely a power change required, and was trimmed nicely. I put it right down on the center line and held things together even with a weird gust that brought the left wing up. Weird, weird, weird. I can't explain it to be honest, but I'm concerned that perhaps I think I'm better at landing than I actually am. Would be great to get some serious minute critique from someone on this one day.
During the debrief was when I5 gave me a real compliment. He said he had forgotten how focused and prepared I am. Not understanding what he meant, I started talking about all of the things where I thought I was rusty. This is when he mentioned that during the flight we just had, my first in 3 months - I had executed better than all of the students he had been with that week, many of whom were flying multiple times/week at points in their training more advanced. Wow. I was blown away.
It felt great. The airplane felt like home. It was great to be back in the skies too. There was a super high ceiling, but it was blue sky over the mountains which in the cold (-5C) were clear, white with snow, and spectacular (at some point I put two and two together, realizing that the forecast was for 12C tomorrow with high winds, I then recognized the high overcast layer that arched over the mountains was the start of a "Chinook". Lucky I was down before the winds picked up).
Ya baby, I'm back.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Under The Hood
The days are quickly getting shorter up here at 51° 05' North. In fact today the sun set 3:46 earlier than the previous day. What this means to the flightnewbie is that the days of flying the 7pm flight slot will soon be coming to an end. Officially you need to be on the ground (without a night rating or in my case operating on a student pilot permit) by the end of civil twilight. The flying club says you have to be back on the ground 30 minutes BEFORE the end of civil twilight, which is essentially (to make things easier) at sunset.
The sun is currently setting at about 820pm. This means if I managed to fire up the engine at precisely 7pm, I could get 1.4 hours of flight time - which is usually just enough for a short workout solo. Speaking about this with I5 (yes, him and I are going steady now in terms of student/instructor) he told me to just "show up" as early as 6pm and be ready to go. If the airplane is there I can just take it earlier. If we fly dual - then nothing to worry about since he is the PIC.
Meanwhile back at the ranch... I completely forgot about September traffic. This is when after 2+ months of lovely summer driving, all of a sudden every one is back on the road. No more people on vacation, kids back in school, school bus craziness, double transit bus, and yes - essentially absolute mayhem. I left my office at 5pm and didn't make the usual 40 minute drive to the airport (from downtown) until 630pm. Luckily I had a relaxing drive and spent some time visualizing the precautionary approaches I'd be flying, solo, in a new area 35nm to the north of the airport. Earlier in the morning when I had a chance to breathe at the office around 830am I realized that I had forgot to change the booking that night from a dual to a solo flight. After calling and changing to the solo flight I wondered if I was "shafting" I5. He was a pretty popular instructor so hopefully he'd pick up the booking.
After wandering into the club to check the sign out sheet (could not remember what aircraft I had, and to be honest I just check when I come in now since they swap so often) I noticed that the booking before me extended their time right up to mine. A quick look on the ramp, in the hangar, and a scan around the pattern confirmed my fear - no plane there for me. So much for leaving early - I'd be lucky if I fired up the engines by 720 leaving me with barely enough time to get a worthy flight in.
Just at that moment, I5 strolled in from another flight. He had not picked up another dual flight for that slot, and given that I could solo anytime, but due to the looking sunset it would be all rushed tonight - I decided to take advantage of the situation.
Me: "How about picking up the dual with me again tonight?"
I5: "Well, did you get your solo in yet? We can't do the diversions until you complete that"
Me: "I was thinking some instrument time, since it's hazy out, FFC is late, you are available, and the sun will set in 100 minutes".
I5: "Hmmm.. you still have 2.3 hours available instrument time in the sim"
Me: "If I want instrument time in the sim I can do it at home - I want to fly with the hood"
I5: "Sounds like a blast. Do you mind if I eat dinner first?"
Me: "We don't have any time restrictions since you are the PIC and I'm under the hood anyhow."
I5: "See you in 30 minutes".
I dashed back to my car, changed out of my fancy "corporate casual" and into my comfy shorts, light hiking boots, and a dry fit shirt (it was 29C here). Then I spent the remaining 15 minutes re-reading the instrument section in my training manual and reviewed my notes from our instrument brief back in June. After completing the airworthiness check, the weight and balance, and filling out the sign out sheet I was ready to rock just as I5 came back down.
He pulled out "The Hood" and asked me try it on. I realized for the first time that I actually had no clue what "The Hood" actually was. For some reason (who can explain these things) I had always envisioned "The Hood" being some sort of contraption that went from your shoulders over your head and then attached to the top of the panel. I always imagined it hard to breathe. I also imagined it being black as night.
You can imagine my shock when he pulled out this tiny "visor like" thing that angled down towards the ground. After trying it on I immediately did my best imitation of those guys on the Death Star from Star Wars IV: A New Hope (the 1977 version) who commenced the firing sequence when they destroy Alderaan - or whatever planet it was that they destroyed. After much laughter from everyone within earshot we set out for good old FFC.
I5 made the initial ground call and asked for a southbound departure to Longview at 6.5. The farthest south I had ever been aside from a 2nm final was Bragg Creek which is about 15nm SSW. The specialty take off of the day (every takeoff and landing is a specialty one now) was the short field obstacle. It was performed well from start to finish. It amazes me sometimes how something that seemed so complicated before now becomes second nature. I only hope that I continue to review all details in my mind so that I don't start cutting corners or forgetting things. Tower essentially cleared us en route and 6.5 in his takeoff clearance (man he was in a good mood) and before I knew it we were climbing through 6000 (2000AGL) on a 160 heading when I5 asked if I was ready. He took control while I adjusted the hood over my headset (my ball cap had to be dumped into the cargo area as they don't interact well with a hood).
Once I was set we chatted for a bit while he configured us for straight and level. I was then asked to stay level at 6500 on a heading of 160. It was obvious from this moment on that this flight was going to be intense. We stayed on that heading for what seemed like forever while I adjusted to the hood, worked on my T-Scan and tried to relax. I found that I was easily fixated on a specific instrument and was reluctant to check the instruments outside of the T, and even less reluctant to double check things like my switches, mixture, circuits, and engine.
My first valuable lesson of the day: You must use all the instrumentation available to you to confirm what is happening. Airspeed and Heading are a good indication of pitch and roll.
I did OK, I made adjustments when required and managed to stay +/-50ft and within 5-10 degrees most of the time. Then three new factors were introduced. First my eyes started to "blur" up a bit. I think I was forgetting to blink. Perhaps I was more tired than I thought I was. Second we started to encounter some bumps. Not anything that we would normally be concerned about but it was a few bumps and it seemed 1000 times worse under the hood. Third - I5 started to ask me to do more than just fly straight and level.
First it was a climb on this heading to 7500. Then it was a descent on this heading back to 6500. 7.5 degrees on the climb, just below the horizon on the descent. The climb was fairly simple but certainly not as easy as without the hood. In the descent the aircraft felt "heavy" and accelerated quickly when the nose was just a few degrees below the horizon.
Second valuable lesson of the day: You need to anticipate the yaw when transitioning between cruise and full/idle power.
Then we started turns. These were the most challenging for me. Starting my scan from the Turn Coordinator made it tough for me to keep the attitude in the right place. If I focused on the attitude I would have a shallow or steep turn. If I focused on the TC I'd put my nose up or down. If I looked at the airspeed I'd be all over the place. It was during the turns that I first started to experience the inner ear issues that everyone talks about. After making a 90 degree turn to the right, when rolling out of the turn my brain told me that I was transitioning from straight and level to a left bank. Bad Brain! Bad! Luckily it passed quickly. From here we moved into climbing/descending turns. It was still a lot of fun, but it was still extremely intense.
Third valuable lesson of the day: Trim reduces pilot workload - A LOT!
At this point I5 had me take off the hood and gave me a chance to look around. It was pretty sweet in the foothills down here.. honestly in the middle of nowhere. This is when the fun really started. I5 wanted to do a test. He asked me to set the "clock" in the plane (which he apparently doesn't really know how to use, but it is a standard chronometer) as a stopwatch. As instructed, once I had the aircraft straight and level (180 heading at 9000 feet) I started the clock and shut my eyes. The airplane "felt" as if it was flying straight and level. We had a few bumps and I just tried to stay loose on the controls. At some point I noticed that the engine sounded a bit different and felt as if I was tilted to the right. Then I wrote it off as my bad brain again and held the stick steady. The engine started to sound worse so I mad an adjustment to the left but that didn't feel right so I went back to the right. Then the engine sound was racing, so I figured I was headed down. I pulled back gently on the stick and immediately felt the G-Forces at work. I relaxed my grip and again banked left a bit but after it didn't feel right banked right again. The G-Forces were crushing me into my seat when I5 said "My control - now open your eyes". We were on a 090 heading at 6800 feet. In an 80 degree spiral dive doing 140 knots. Apparently I had done a 270 degree turn, lost 2200 feet, and twice started a recovery from the right bank I had been in only to go back to the right at a steeper angle. All this in 1:22 !!
Fourth valuable lesson of the day: Trust your instruments, not your brain.
It was starting to get dark out so we headed back. I flew under the hood the entire way back. I5 did all the radio work and called the headings, altitudes, and speeds for me. I just flew. There were a number of turns, altitudes, and speed calls and I knew we were now in the pattern. Finally the tower cleared us to land and I5 said "I have control, take off the hood". The sight before me was unbelievable. We were lined up perfectly on a short final, but it was dark and the runway lights were welcoming home. I5 asked if I wanted to land and I said "without the hood - yes!" and my wish was granted. The only specialty landing done here was that it was at night. Under the watchful eye of my instructor I greased my first night landing. I'll honestly say it was my best landing to date. No winds, right down the center line smooth as glass at a low speed with minimal float time. I'm fairly certain I had a huge cheeser on my face during the entire taxi back to the club.
Fifth valuable lesson of the day: Flying at night is cool, landing at night is unfreaking believable. Well, the real lesson is that getting a night rating would not only be cool, it would also be a nice thing to have in your back pocket in the event you got stuck in the air as the sun went down.
And there it was. My first "true" flight under instruments. Well - as true as it gets (or you want it to get) while working on your PPL. While I apparently did very well (I logged 1.0 instrument time), I will admit that it wasn't as good as I had hoped, or thought it would be. It was far more intense than I expected and the concentration and discipline required was far more than I ever expected. Of course I know that like everything else it will get a bit easier over time - provided I review the concepts again and practice for perfection.
Final valuable lesson of the day: Flying under instruments is a true skill. I have a lot more respect for everyone out there with their IFR tickets now.
In case you are wondering - I've completely lost track of the time I've logged in the aircraft. It's all listed in my Pilot Training Record (PTR) which "lives" at the club right now. I checked it out during my flying week extravaganza and based on "shady math" I believe I am currently sitting at:
Solo : 11.9
Dual : 32.2
-------------------
Total : 44.1 (1.7 dual instrument)
Whoever says that a license can actually be obtained in 40 hours is trying to sell you something.
The sun is currently setting at about 820pm. This means if I managed to fire up the engine at precisely 7pm, I could get 1.4 hours of flight time - which is usually just enough for a short workout solo. Speaking about this with I5 (yes, him and I are going steady now in terms of student/instructor) he told me to just "show up" as early as 6pm and be ready to go. If the airplane is there I can just take it earlier. If we fly dual - then nothing to worry about since he is the PIC.
Meanwhile back at the ranch... I completely forgot about September traffic. This is when after 2+ months of lovely summer driving, all of a sudden every one is back on the road. No more people on vacation, kids back in school, school bus craziness, double transit bus, and yes - essentially absolute mayhem. I left my office at 5pm and didn't make the usual 40 minute drive to the airport (from downtown) until 630pm. Luckily I had a relaxing drive and spent some time visualizing the precautionary approaches I'd be flying, solo, in a new area 35nm to the north of the airport. Earlier in the morning when I had a chance to breathe at the office around 830am I realized that I had forgot to change the booking that night from a dual to a solo flight. After calling and changing to the solo flight I wondered if I was "shafting" I5. He was a pretty popular instructor so hopefully he'd pick up the booking.
After wandering into the club to check the sign out sheet (could not remember what aircraft I had, and to be honest I just check when I come in now since they swap so often) I noticed that the booking before me extended their time right up to mine. A quick look on the ramp, in the hangar, and a scan around the pattern confirmed my fear - no plane there for me. So much for leaving early - I'd be lucky if I fired up the engines by 720 leaving me with barely enough time to get a worthy flight in.
Just at that moment, I5 strolled in from another flight. He had not picked up another dual flight for that slot, and given that I could solo anytime, but due to the looking sunset it would be all rushed tonight - I decided to take advantage of the situation.
Me: "How about picking up the dual with me again tonight?"
I5: "Well, did you get your solo in yet? We can't do the diversions until you complete that"
Me: "I was thinking some instrument time, since it's hazy out, FFC is late, you are available, and the sun will set in 100 minutes".
I5: "Hmmm.. you still have 2.3 hours available instrument time in the sim"
Me: "If I want instrument time in the sim I can do it at home - I want to fly with the hood"
I5: "Sounds like a blast. Do you mind if I eat dinner first?"
Me: "We don't have any time restrictions since you are the PIC and I'm under the hood anyhow."
I5: "See you in 30 minutes".
I dashed back to my car, changed out of my fancy "corporate casual" and into my comfy shorts, light hiking boots, and a dry fit shirt (it was 29C here). Then I spent the remaining 15 minutes re-reading the instrument section in my training manual and reviewed my notes from our instrument brief back in June. After completing the airworthiness check, the weight and balance, and filling out the sign out sheet I was ready to rock just as I5 came back down.
He pulled out "The Hood" and asked me try it on. I realized for the first time that I actually had no clue what "The Hood" actually was. For some reason (who can explain these things) I had always envisioned "The Hood" being some sort of contraption that went from your shoulders over your head and then attached to the top of the panel. I always imagined it hard to breathe. I also imagined it being black as night.
You can imagine my shock when he pulled out this tiny "visor like" thing that angled down towards the ground. After trying it on I immediately did my best imitation of those guys on the Death Star from Star Wars IV: A New Hope (the 1977 version) who commenced the firing sequence when they destroy Alderaan - or whatever planet it was that they destroyed. After much laughter from everyone within earshot we set out for good old FFC.
I5 made the initial ground call and asked for a southbound departure to Longview at 6.5. The farthest south I had ever been aside from a 2nm final was Bragg Creek which is about 15nm SSW. The specialty take off of the day (every takeoff and landing is a specialty one now) was the short field obstacle. It was performed well from start to finish. It amazes me sometimes how something that seemed so complicated before now becomes second nature. I only hope that I continue to review all details in my mind so that I don't start cutting corners or forgetting things. Tower essentially cleared us en route and 6.5 in his takeoff clearance (man he was in a good mood) and before I knew it we were climbing through 6000 (2000AGL) on a 160 heading when I5 asked if I was ready. He took control while I adjusted the hood over my headset (my ball cap had to be dumped into the cargo area as they don't interact well with a hood).
Once I was set we chatted for a bit while he configured us for straight and level. I was then asked to stay level at 6500 on a heading of 160. It was obvious from this moment on that this flight was going to be intense. We stayed on that heading for what seemed like forever while I adjusted to the hood, worked on my T-Scan and tried to relax. I found that I was easily fixated on a specific instrument and was reluctant to check the instruments outside of the T, and even less reluctant to double check things like my switches, mixture, circuits, and engine.
My first valuable lesson of the day: You must use all the instrumentation available to you to confirm what is happening. Airspeed and Heading are a good indication of pitch and roll.
I did OK, I made adjustments when required and managed to stay +/-50ft and within 5-10 degrees most of the time. Then three new factors were introduced. First my eyes started to "blur" up a bit. I think I was forgetting to blink. Perhaps I was more tired than I thought I was. Second we started to encounter some bumps. Not anything that we would normally be concerned about but it was a few bumps and it seemed 1000 times worse under the hood. Third - I5 started to ask me to do more than just fly straight and level.
First it was a climb on this heading to 7500. Then it was a descent on this heading back to 6500. 7.5 degrees on the climb, just below the horizon on the descent. The climb was fairly simple but certainly not as easy as without the hood. In the descent the aircraft felt "heavy" and accelerated quickly when the nose was just a few degrees below the horizon.
Second valuable lesson of the day: You need to anticipate the yaw when transitioning between cruise and full/idle power.
Then we started turns. These were the most challenging for me. Starting my scan from the Turn Coordinator made it tough for me to keep the attitude in the right place. If I focused on the attitude I would have a shallow or steep turn. If I focused on the TC I'd put my nose up or down. If I looked at the airspeed I'd be all over the place. It was during the turns that I first started to experience the inner ear issues that everyone talks about. After making a 90 degree turn to the right, when rolling out of the turn my brain told me that I was transitioning from straight and level to a left bank. Bad Brain! Bad! Luckily it passed quickly. From here we moved into climbing/descending turns. It was still a lot of fun, but it was still extremely intense.
Third valuable lesson of the day: Trim reduces pilot workload - A LOT!
At this point I5 had me take off the hood and gave me a chance to look around. It was pretty sweet in the foothills down here.. honestly in the middle of nowhere. This is when the fun really started. I5 wanted to do a test. He asked me to set the "clock" in the plane (which he apparently doesn't really know how to use, but it is a standard chronometer) as a stopwatch. As instructed, once I had the aircraft straight and level (180 heading at 9000 feet) I started the clock and shut my eyes. The airplane "felt" as if it was flying straight and level. We had a few bumps and I just tried to stay loose on the controls. At some point I noticed that the engine sounded a bit different and felt as if I was tilted to the right. Then I wrote it off as my bad brain again and held the stick steady. The engine started to sound worse so I mad an adjustment to the left but that didn't feel right so I went back to the right. Then the engine sound was racing, so I figured I was headed down. I pulled back gently on the stick and immediately felt the G-Forces at work. I relaxed my grip and again banked left a bit but after it didn't feel right banked right again. The G-Forces were crushing me into my seat when I5 said "My control - now open your eyes". We were on a 090 heading at 6800 feet. In an 80 degree spiral dive doing 140 knots. Apparently I had done a 270 degree turn, lost 2200 feet, and twice started a recovery from the right bank I had been in only to go back to the right at a steeper angle. All this in 1:22 !!
Fourth valuable lesson of the day: Trust your instruments, not your brain.
It was starting to get dark out so we headed back. I flew under the hood the entire way back. I5 did all the radio work and called the headings, altitudes, and speeds for me. I just flew. There were a number of turns, altitudes, and speed calls and I knew we were now in the pattern. Finally the tower cleared us to land and I5 said "I have control, take off the hood". The sight before me was unbelievable. We were lined up perfectly on a short final, but it was dark and the runway lights were welcoming home. I5 asked if I wanted to land and I said "without the hood - yes!" and my wish was granted. The only specialty landing done here was that it was at night. Under the watchful eye of my instructor I greased my first night landing. I'll honestly say it was my best landing to date. No winds, right down the center line smooth as glass at a low speed with minimal float time. I'm fairly certain I had a huge cheeser on my face during the entire taxi back to the club.
Fifth valuable lesson of the day: Flying at night is cool, landing at night is unfreaking believable. Well, the real lesson is that getting a night rating would not only be cool, it would also be a nice thing to have in your back pocket in the event you got stuck in the air as the sun went down.
And there it was. My first "true" flight under instruments. Well - as true as it gets (or you want it to get) while working on your PPL. While I apparently did very well (I logged 1.0 instrument time), I will admit that it wasn't as good as I had hoped, or thought it would be. It was far more intense than I expected and the concentration and discipline required was far more than I ever expected. Of course I know that like everything else it will get a bit easier over time - provided I review the concepts again and practice for perfection.
Final valuable lesson of the day: Flying under instruments is a true skill. I have a lot more respect for everyone out there with their IFR tickets now.
In case you are wondering - I've completely lost track of the time I've logged in the aircraft. It's all listed in my Pilot Training Record (PTR) which "lives" at the club right now. I checked it out during my flying week extravaganza and based on "shady math" I believe I am currently sitting at:
Solo : 11.9
Dual : 32.2
-------------------
Total : 44.1 (1.7 dual instrument)
Whoever says that a license can actually be obtained in 40 hours is trying to sell you something.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Cremona II: The Return
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.
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.
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
