Wow, 14 lessons, 12 flights. I find it hard to believe that I've reached the point where the flights are routine and the pattern is boring. Well, boring until short final. Then it's too interesting. As I write this, it's evening, cooling off, and thunder occasionally sounds. We're in a pattern of daily thunderstorms. When I got a weather briefing today, the briefer warned of storms approaching, but they were 2 hours away. So we went for more trips around the pattern. I told the instructor that I wanted to make him a spectator on at least one of my landings today. He's been telling me that I've done some of my landings on my own already, but it always seems like I can feel him on the yoke or rudder.
So in the hot, mostly clear, tolerably humid weather, we got started. Winds were light, mostly down the runway. We were in a different plane - the one from last week was still grounded because of the transponder, and the other one that I've flown had radio problems last time and the instructor wanted to avoid that one. The club has 3 152s, so we took the only one that I hadn't flown. Each one is slightly different inside and out. In addition to a slightly different panel layout, the seats were an awful red. When we started the engine, I could hear the radio but not the instructor. We switched jacks, then he couldn't hear me. We eventually discovered that this was the only club 152 with passenger isolation on the intercom. Then we got no response during the radio check. We tried transmitting with both radios. We eventually got a response, but the other aircraft said our transmission was weak. Then we figured out that we could use the microphone to transmit. So the instructor made the radio calls to allow me to concentrate on flying.
Early on, I managed a landing on my own. Really. And I'm convinced that I did it on my own because I saw that his hands were off the yoke and he said he wasn't on the rudder. It wasn't a great landing, but I got it on the ground.
We did a few more landings. I'm flaring mostly at the right time now, but coming in too fast and floating, and while floating I'm overcorrecting. So my thing to work on next time is to make smaller corrections while floating and trying to hold it off the runway. Also, I'm picking a point on the ground to turn toward, but I have a bad habit of turning more than 90 degrees on crosswind. Oh, one other thing - when it's this hot - the plane doesn't climb so well. I did a couple of normal takeoffs and we didn't have a great margin of altitude over the trees at the departure end of the runway. We did the rest as short field takeoffs and I felt a lot more comfortable with those. From now on, when it's this hot, I'm opting for short field takeoffs.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Reflections on the last lesson
I recorded the last lesson. When I listened to it today, I picked up on a lot of stuff that I didn't remember because I was busy flying. I feel like a dunce on the radio because I'm doing a bad job of remembering the details of what I should say. I should write more stuff down, but I'm busy flying. I know that a lot of flying is gradually learning to deal with the increased workload.
But the main message here is that recording the lessons is a good idea. It helps to be able to review what was said in flight. I'm using a splitter cable that I bought from Aircraft Spruce. I plug one end of the splitter cable into the intercom, another into my headset, and the last, small cable into my digital audio recorder. The sound levels come out kind of low but I was able to amplify it and come up with decent quality. I find it odd that the audio from the radio comes in louder than the audio from the intercom.
But the main message here is that recording the lessons is a good idea. It helps to be able to review what was said in flight. I'm using a splitter cable that I bought from Aircraft Spruce. I plug one end of the splitter cable into the intercom, another into my headset, and the last, small cable into my digital audio recorder. The sound levels come out kind of low but I was able to amplify it and come up with decent quality. I find it odd that the audio from the radio comes in louder than the audio from the intercom.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Lesson 13
We flew to Easton (KESN) today. This was my first trip out of the ADIZ in quite a while, and the first one where I filed the flight plans - one for exit, one for entry.
We took off uneventfully, departed Tipton to the southeast, exited the ADIZ through the PALEO gate, and had a nice trip over the Chesapeake Bay to Easton. Visibility was good, but a bit hazy, and we had to keep to about 2500 feet to avoid scattered clouds. It was hot, close to 90 degrees, so we had a fair amount of thermal activity. It was a smooth ride above 2000 feet, but a bit bumpy lower. I had to really put the nose down when we went through a thermal that was pushing us up to the bottom of the shelf of the BWI airspace. The plane didn't want to sink.
This was also my first time talking to ATC. I talked to Potomac Approach and then to Easton tower, then to Approach again on the way back. We did a few touch-and-goes at Easton. The runway is pleasantly wide and 1000 feet longer so I found that to be easier to deal with.
I had a tendency to turn too early base-to-final and wound up rounding off the pattern badly on a couple of approaches. Otherwise it was pretty uneventful at Easton.
Our return trip was eventful. As we approached the ADIZ boundary just beyond Kent Island, I contacted Potomac Approach. They couldn't see our transponder. I wound up doing the most enjoyable flying of the day as I aimlessly wandered along the western shore of the island waiting for the instructor to troubleshoot the transponder. We were on the verge of picking an airport to land at outside the ADIZ when ATC called and told us that our transponder was observed. I turned inbound, we approached Tipton, and landed. And that airplane is now grounded.
Landings are still rough; I'm flaring too high and floating along.
We took off uneventfully, departed Tipton to the southeast, exited the ADIZ through the PALEO gate, and had a nice trip over the Chesapeake Bay to Easton. Visibility was good, but a bit hazy, and we had to keep to about 2500 feet to avoid scattered clouds. It was hot, close to 90 degrees, so we had a fair amount of thermal activity. It was a smooth ride above 2000 feet, but a bit bumpy lower. I had to really put the nose down when we went through a thermal that was pushing us up to the bottom of the shelf of the BWI airspace. The plane didn't want to sink.
This was also my first time talking to ATC. I talked to Potomac Approach and then to Easton tower, then to Approach again on the way back. We did a few touch-and-goes at Easton. The runway is pleasantly wide and 1000 feet longer so I found that to be easier to deal with.
I had a tendency to turn too early base-to-final and wound up rounding off the pattern badly on a couple of approaches. Otherwise it was pretty uneventful at Easton.
Our return trip was eventful. As we approached the ADIZ boundary just beyond Kent Island, I contacted Potomac Approach. They couldn't see our transponder. I wound up doing the most enjoyable flying of the day as I aimlessly wandered along the western shore of the island waiting for the instructor to troubleshoot the transponder. We were on the verge of picking an airport to land at outside the ADIZ when ATC called and told us that our transponder was observed. I turned inbound, we approached Tipton, and landed. And that airplane is now grounded.
Landings are still rough; I'm flaring too high and floating along.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Lesson 12
And this time... More pattern work.
It was hot. Damn hot. How hot was it? In the 90s, 70% humidity. The field elevation is 150, the density altitude was about 2100. And boy did I notice it - the plane's climb performance was not what I was used to. The fuel vents were steadily dripping with the expanding fuel. I kept getting dripped on. And I did not want to close those doors to start up (the cabin was stifling), but we had an uneventful startup and runup. Uneventful, except for one radio that sounded awful and the other that seemed not to work. But the winds were calm to 4 knots, blowing right down the runway.
OK, so we did more trips around the field. Because it was so hot, we made each takeoff a short-field takeoff, with 10 degrees of flaps, and no touch-and-goes. So we checked the manual for the takeoff performance beforehand, found out that it should require about 1400 feet, and concluded that we should be airborne by midfield. And we were. Each time.
The good - I seem to have finally managed to master the takeoff. I'm pulling back at the right time, smoothly climbing out, staying over the runway (although with no crosswind it's not that hard). I've finally developed the habit of looking for a target to aim for once we climb over the tree line. It seemed odd to climb out at 54 (well, I was usually closer to 60) instead of 67 (well, I'm usually closer to 70). The other thing I've struggled with is turning the right amount on crosswind. I've finally developed the habit of looking for a target to aim for before beginning my turn. I also made a conscious effort to make more gentle turns - 20 degrees of bank. I was mostly able to manage that. And this time I was pretty consistently able to hit my altitude target (650) base-to-final. So at least I was able to come in to short final on glide path, on speed. One other thing that I've struggled with - I'm supposed to shift my focus from the near end of the runway to the far end just as I enter the flare. I'm finally doing that.
The bad - I'm still not setting it down smoothly.
All-in-all - this was a pretty productive lesson.
It was hot. Damn hot. How hot was it? In the 90s, 70% humidity. The field elevation is 150, the density altitude was about 2100. And boy did I notice it - the plane's climb performance was not what I was used to. The fuel vents were steadily dripping with the expanding fuel. I kept getting dripped on. And I did not want to close those doors to start up (the cabin was stifling), but we had an uneventful startup and runup. Uneventful, except for one radio that sounded awful and the other that seemed not to work. But the winds were calm to 4 knots, blowing right down the runway.
OK, so we did more trips around the field. Because it was so hot, we made each takeoff a short-field takeoff, with 10 degrees of flaps, and no touch-and-goes. So we checked the manual for the takeoff performance beforehand, found out that it should require about 1400 feet, and concluded that we should be airborne by midfield. And we were. Each time.
The good - I seem to have finally managed to master the takeoff. I'm pulling back at the right time, smoothly climbing out, staying over the runway (although with no crosswind it's not that hard). I've finally developed the habit of looking for a target to aim for once we climb over the tree line. It seemed odd to climb out at 54 (well, I was usually closer to 60) instead of 67 (well, I'm usually closer to 70). The other thing I've struggled with is turning the right amount on crosswind. I've finally developed the habit of looking for a target to aim for before beginning my turn. I also made a conscious effort to make more gentle turns - 20 degrees of bank. I was mostly able to manage that. And this time I was pretty consistently able to hit my altitude target (650) base-to-final. So at least I was able to come in to short final on glide path, on speed. One other thing that I've struggled with - I'm supposed to shift my focus from the near end of the runway to the far end just as I enter the flare. I'm finally doing that.
The bad - I'm still not setting it down smoothly.
All-in-all - this was a pretty productive lesson.
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