Solo

I did it.

The visibility was poor when I arrived at the airport early this morning, with mist in the trees nearby. I figured it would burn off as the sun came up. When I filed my flight plan and got my weather briefing, the briefer kept emphasizing that the AWOS reported IFR and he said the VFR flight was not recommended. I politely listened and hung up.

When I called for my transponder code, the controller didn't have my flight plan on file. I had to go back to the club to call again. The briefer said that he found my flight plan after all and sent me on my way. By this time the mist was gone and it was partly cloudy with very high ceilings. And it was relatively cool.

We did 3 trips around the pattern. The wind was calm, with the wind sock hanging limp. I expected we'd do several more circuits and maybe I'd get to fly by myself. But after 3, the instructor asked me to park it on the ramp. He asked me if I was ready, I said I was, we shut the engine down, he endorsed my logbook, got out, and sent me on my way.

It's common practice to shut the radios off before shutting the engine down. This airplane, which I've seldom flown, has no radio master. He shut the radios down before I cut the engine, and as I was taxiing out I turned them all back on. I could hear, but I couldn't transmit. I stopped in the runup area for a few minutes to try to get it to work. I finally gave up and taxied back to the instructor, where he showed me the knob that had eluded me.

I went back to the end of the runway, added power, and took off. It was easy. The airplane climbed well without the instructor's weight inside. The cool temperature helped too. I brought it around on final, flared, and landed. A little fast, but smooth. Second time, same thing, but even smoother, although as I taxied back the instructor flagged me down to scold me for letting the yoke forward as soon as I touched down. Last time around - I got the only turbulence bumps of the day in the pattern as it started to heat up. I brought it around on final again, let it settle down, and bounced it, probably because I was trying to hold that yoke back, and came in a little too fast again. I haven't figured out how to come in on short final at 65 knots and yet hold it off the runway to bleed off speed all the way down to stall speed in the 40s.

It seemed too easy, probably because of the lack of wind. But I'll take it.

I did it. I flew an airplane solo.

Lesson 18

He warned me...

Wind 190 at 11 gusting to 14. At least that's what the AWOS reported. I think the gusts were stronger. That was a direct crosswind, far stronger than any crosswind I'd dealt with before. The instructor was afraid I'd get frustrated and lose confidence after all of those adequate landings I did last time. But I wanted to go because I know that I need to learn to handle crosswind landings. Oh, and it was hot; I had sweat dripping onto my sunglasses as we shut the doors and got ready to start up. With that wind, it was even hard to taxi straight when we were on the ground.

So off we went. Of course that heat always means we get a pathetic climb rate with the Cessna 152. The poor climb rate meant we went way farther on upwind than usual. And the crab angle was enormous. I felt like I was looking out the side window instead of the windshield. It was easier to get lined up to land than I expected, but with the lack of a headwind and the extra speed we carried for the gust factor, it seemed like we were screaming down past the arrival end of the runway.

So I definitely had help on these landings. He said I did well, that experienced pilots struggle with that kind of wind. It was pretty challenging. No way I'm ready to land in crosswinds.

Lesson 17

I wanted to try to string a few lessons together close in time to try to get over the landing hump. So we went out on a weekday. I was worried that we wouldn't get to go because a line of storms went through overnight and the METAR showed IFR first thing in the morning. It even showed IFR when I arrived at the field, even though the sky was mostly blue. It was at least 20 degrees cooler than for my last few flights.

I filed the flight plan and asked for a weather briefing, only to have the briefer seem incredulous that I wanted a briefing for a flight in the pattern. I was really only interested in whether there were any other storms coming along and I wanted something to back up my opinion that the METAR was wrong. I got my briefing, preflighted the plan, and got the transponder code, all before the instructor arrived.

We went round and round, logging 8 landings. But that was because we lost count. The GPS track that I plotted when I got home showed 11 landings. The plane climbed a whole lot better because of the cooler temperature. And visibility was actually pretty good. We hadn't done any go-arounds, ever, so I wanted to try it. We did one. And we did a few simulated engine out landings. I had a tough time holding the right airspeed and the nose up pitch attitude without flaps on landing just seemed odd.

I had one bounced landing that was pretty ugly. But other than that, I was consistently setting it down smoothly, no drop-ins or side loads. When we finished, the instructor said that he didn't help me on any of the landings, not once on the yoke or rudder. But even more importantly, he said that all of them were safe, even the ugly one.

Reflections on the last lesson

I've had a day to think about that last flight. It occurs to me that I neglected to mention that I'm now making power adjustments in the pattern without thinking about it, especially on base and final. It just feels right. I still pay a lot of attention to the airspeed indicator, at least until short final. I'm making the right corrections, but I still have a tendency to overcorrect in the flare.

So I still feel like I'm making lots of mistakes, mostly minor, but overall I feel a lot more comfortable with most all phases of flight.

Lesson 16

Today I wanted to go back to Easton, so we did. I wanted to get out of the pattern or practice area, and going to Easton required me to file the ADIZ exit and entry flight plans, talk with ATC, navigate by visual reference to landmarks, and to set up for landing. I like doing landings at Easton because the runway is so much wider and longer than at the home field. And it makes for much more comfortable touch-and-goes when it's hot.

Speaking of hot, boy was it. The thermometer in the car read 100 degrees F on the way to the airport. The AWOS reported density altitude at 2200 feet, where the field elevation is closer to 150. But at least the humidity was down. Visibility was far better than last week. But just like last week, the plane had a pathetic climb rate.

I came to the lesson today determined to be prepared. I looked up the route on the map, I wrote down the frequencies I expected to need, and I completed the preflight checks long before the instructor arrived. I mostly got the radios set up by myself. I think part of the problem for me with the radios is that they differ from plane to plane.

We taxied out of the ramp area, only to find a veritable traffic jam caused by pilots who failed to make sure the taxiway was clear before driving on. At one point we had four aircraft converging. The runup went well, I lined up for a short-field takeoff (much more comfortable clearing the trees when it's so hot), and off we went.

We climbed out, turned on course, and I called ATC. I was able to spot most of the landmarks pretty well. Twice I saw shadows of other aircraft on the ground, shadows that were going the opposite way. We only spotted one of them, a low-wing single that passed below and left, although closer than I care for. We climbed (slowly) to 3000 feet, crossed the Chesapeake Bay, and proceeded toward Easton. I had a hell of a time locating the airport until we were close, even though the instructor kept pointing it out to me. I called the tower and got into the pattern, only to hear the tower controller say that he now had two aircraft, us and another, very close and he wanted to know who was ahead. We immediately saw the other airplane, a half-mile ahead. It was slower than our 152 (imagine that), so the controller asked the other pilot to do a 360, which he did. We came in to land and proceeded to do a few touch-and-goes. In my weather briefing the briefer told me that the PAPI was out, and I found that to be accurate. I was surprised at how easy it was to judge my path without it. The landings weren't great, and I overcorrected badly on at least one of them, but they were uneventful. There was a lot of traffic, including a helicopter that did a 360 to avoid us.

We flew back to Tipton, I set up to land, and brought it in. The instructor was coaching me as I set it down, and it might have been my best landing yet. He was pretty excited. I had a hard time accepting the idea that I had done it, mostly because of the coaching. I'd like to get to a point where I'm consistently setting it down without his commentary; I want him to be a quiet passenger because if he's quiet, he's not correcting my mistakes, meaning I'm not making any.

I handled most of the radio work today, although at times it was difficult to understand ATC. I still feel like a dunce on the radio, but today it went smoothly nevertheless.

But the biggest development is that when I suggested that we could go for a cross-country flight next time, he said it's time for me to do my phase check. That means the next step, presuming I don't botch the phase check, is the solo.

I'll confess that I'm not satisfied with my landings, not completely confident that I can avoid dropping it in, or putting side loads on the gear. I'm convinced I can bring it in and I'll be able to walk away, but whether I can do it without bending the airplane, that's what I'm worried about. The instructor seems more confident than I am.

I'm noticing a pattern - the first few landings of the day are usually ugly. After I get a few done, I seem to settle down. Maybe that's why every description of solo flights that I've seen seems to begin with a few trips around the pattern with the instructor.

Lesson 15

I was unable to fly for a few weeks because of an out-of-town trip. But I got back into it today. It was hot and humid, with a nearly-direct crosswind, but at least it was only at 6 knots. I was pleased to notice that the preflight checks were still routine, although the radio stack still confuses me.

We took off and turned on course for the practice area. The airplane had a pitiful climb rate today, barely able to manage 250 feet per minute at full throttle and 80 knots. And it had an annoying tendency to turn right all day, regardless of power setting or direction. Visibility was awful; from the west side of the bay we could barely see the eastern shore. We got to the practice area and did stalls, slow flight, and steep turns. I had to break one turn off and level the wings because I suddenly observed another airplane ahead of us and continuing the turn would have put us on a collision course. Just as I was rolling wings level ATC called to warn us about traffic dead ahead, one mile away, and converging.

Then the fun began - my first hood work. First we did unusual attitudes, which I recovered from without any trouble. Then the instructor just gave me headings and altitudes to maintain. I had a tough time holding a heading; I would look at the directional gyro and then the attitude indicator would tell me that I was in a turn. I'd level the wings, only to find myself on the wrong heading. I imagined I must have S-turned all the way. So I chased the heading for the whole trip back to the airport. More than once I thought I was flying wings level, and then discover I was banked over 20 degrees. And I kept climbing. And climbing. I'd push the nose down to try to fly wings level and then we picked up a lot of speed, even flying level. The speed just felt really weird, especially without the ground reference.

So I got out from under the hood close to the airport. We entered downwind, and I set up to land. I was trying so hard to put that upwind wing down to handle the crosswind. I seemed to have it all set up, got into the flare, and the wind died. I pulled back to compensate, and we ballooned. I instinctively added a bit of power, saved the landing, and set it down. I thought it was an ugly landing, the the instructor complemented me on how I handled it and he said he didn't help me with it. So there's my first real crosswind landing.

So I feel good about this lesson. I handled the maneuvers, albeit not perfectly. I struggled with the hood work, but at least I got about 30 minutes in. And I managed the crosswind without a hard landing or side loads.