We're having a beautiful weekend here as Summer comes to a close. I was looking forward to a nice, calm trip out to the practice area. I reserved a different plane, and I had a time with the radio. I never did get the second radio working and I wound up just using the first radio to pick up the AWOS. The wind at ground level was calm, but I definitely felt it when I cleared the trees. It was cool, about 65 degrees, when I departed and the airplane climbed a whole lot better than I was used to.
I went around the pattern once, just to get a sense of the visibility, wind, and airplane performance. I landed, taxied back, took off, and departed the area. When I switched to the ATC frequency and called in, the controller asked me what transponder code I was using. After I told him, he asked me whether that was the assigned code. I said it was after double-checking what I wrote when I got it on the phone. He asked me to ident, I did, and then he told me that my transponder was observed and sent me on course. Very peculiar.
I proceeded out to the bay, turned south, and promptly arrived in the practice area. I did my clearing turns, followed by a figure 8 medium bank turn, followed by a series of steep turns. It was very smooth, but I had a hard time holding altitude and lost more than I liked. I then did some slow flight, with shallow turns. When I'd had enough, I went back, landed, and went once more around the pattern.
Some firsts on this flight: first time solo away from the airport, first time solo practicing maneuvers, first time solo finding my way to the practice area and back to the airport, and finally, first time dealing with ATC solo.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Solo 1
I'm calling this solo number 1 because this was my first time flying without the instructor present. He wasn't even at the airport. I never left the pattern, but that's fine - it was fun anyway.
I did 6 trips around the pattern, bounced it on 2 of the landings, and managed only one really nice nose high landing, with the other three so-so. The wind at ground level was 3-6 knots but variable, and mostly along the runway. But the wind was gusting a lot at pattern altitude and lifted a wing now and then, but I was able to handle it easily. I might have gone around a couple more times, but at the end of the hour, there were some low clouds lingering over the field and even though I stayed well clear, they were close enough to bother me.
Oh and by the way, even though it was just a pattern flight, it felt really good doing it all by myself.
I did 6 trips around the pattern, bounced it on 2 of the landings, and managed only one really nice nose high landing, with the other three so-so. The wind at ground level was 3-6 knots but variable, and mostly along the runway. But the wind was gusting a lot at pattern altitude and lifted a wing now and then, but I was able to handle it easily. I might have gone around a couple more times, but at the end of the hour, there were some low clouds lingering over the field and even though I stayed well clear, they were close enough to bother me.
Oh and by the way, even though it was just a pattern flight, it felt really good doing it all by myself.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Lesson 21
The chief instructor wanted me to fly once more with my regular instructor before going out on my own. So that's what we did today. The remnants of Hurricane Gustav blew through yesterday, soaking the whole area and with some significant winds that left me without power for a couple of hours. But today was beautifully clear, with light winds.
I told the instructor about the things I had struggled with on the stage check, so we did a couple of engine out approaches, including my first ever approach back to the departure end of the runway. The landings weren't pretty, but they were better than that awful first one I did on my phase check. Then the instructor got out and I went around five more times by myself. The wind picked up, became variable, and made the approaches kind of challenging. I was getting tossed around a lot in the pattern and found myself having to work pretty hard to hold altitude.
The pattern got really busy for a while and I had to take care to maintain spacing. One guy on downwind heard me announce my downwind leg and he called out wondering where I was until I assured him that I had him in sight and there was plenty of space between us. Another pilot was entering the pattern, saw the airplane ahead of me, then announced a 360 degree turn for spacing. He finished, rolled wings level, and was on a converging course with me, so he announced another 360 and I thanked him.
I bounced it once, on the second to last trip around. I couldn't end the day with such a bad landing, so I made one more trip around, fought the wind in the flare, had to dip a wing to keep from drifting sideways, and landed smoothly on the upwind wheel first, so that's how I ended it.
So now I've flown solo three times in the pattern. Next time I'll fly completely alone, no babysitter for the first few times around. Then I can start working on my cross country flights.
I told the instructor about the things I had struggled with on the stage check, so we did a couple of engine out approaches, including my first ever approach back to the departure end of the runway. The landings weren't pretty, but they were better than that awful first one I did on my phase check. Then the instructor got out and I went around five more times by myself. The wind picked up, became variable, and made the approaches kind of challenging. I was getting tossed around a lot in the pattern and found myself having to work pretty hard to hold altitude.
The pattern got really busy for a while and I had to take care to maintain spacing. One guy on downwind heard me announce my downwind leg and he called out wondering where I was until I assured him that I had him in sight and there was plenty of space between us. Another pilot was entering the pattern, saw the airplane ahead of me, then announced a 360 degree turn for spacing. He finished, rolled wings level, and was on a converging course with me, so he announced another 360 and I thanked him.
I bounced it once, on the second to last trip around. I couldn't end the day with such a bad landing, so I made one more trip around, fought the wind in the flare, had to dip a wing to keep from drifting sideways, and landed smoothly on the upwind wheel first, so that's how I ended it.
So now I've flown solo three times in the pattern. Next time I'll fly completely alone, no babysitter for the first few times around. Then I can start working on my cross country flights.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Stage 1 Check
Today I flew with the chief CFI for the club. It was hot, but the humidity was way down, so visibility was quite good.
We took off and I navigated to the practice area where we did the usual steep turns, stalls, slow flight, and unusual attitudes. He didn't say much. I guess he was evaluating. After uneventful maneuvers, we returned to the airport and this is where things went south. He had me establish on downwind well away from the airport, which completely screwed my pattern up. I wound up coming in on final way too fast, floated, bounced, and basically showed him my worst landing in a while. We went back around and this time it was far better. Once more around and this time we did a simulated engine out. I always struggle with these, especially with speed control. Best glide in that airplane is 60, but I frequently wind up going too fast, no matter how much nose up trim I manage to dial in. I also learned something on this particular approach. He told me to keep the nose down and it looked like we'd come up short and land in the grass, but we came into the ground effect and floated and made the runway after all.
So I botched that first landing. He kindly called it "poor." He (rightfully) criticized my technique. I reverted to my previous problems of overcorrecting in the flare, and he called it "double clutching", where I alternate between pushing forward and pulling back. On the second one I had a nice touchdown and I thought I had done it pretty well, with me pulling back on the yoke pretty hard, just about has hard as I could, holding it off, and even keeping it back to bleed off speed on the ground, but he told me that I relaxed at the end. I sure didn't feel relaxed. Also, at one point while taxiing, I got confused about which way to turn the ailerons, and of course got it backwards.
We talked a bit more after the lesson and it's clear to me that I need my regular instructor to throw in a few unexpected things to deal with as I go forward in my training. He was so reserved during and after the lesson that I wasn't even sure that I passed until I got home and saw the message that he sent to my regular instructor. It wasn't pretty, but I passed.
It's clear that my first landing or two each day is pretty rough around the edges. Clearly I'll still need to have the instructor along for the first couple of trips around the pattern.
We took off and I navigated to the practice area where we did the usual steep turns, stalls, slow flight, and unusual attitudes. He didn't say much. I guess he was evaluating. After uneventful maneuvers, we returned to the airport and this is where things went south. He had me establish on downwind well away from the airport, which completely screwed my pattern up. I wound up coming in on final way too fast, floated, bounced, and basically showed him my worst landing in a while. We went back around and this time it was far better. Once more around and this time we did a simulated engine out. I always struggle with these, especially with speed control. Best glide in that airplane is 60, but I frequently wind up going too fast, no matter how much nose up trim I manage to dial in. I also learned something on this particular approach. He told me to keep the nose down and it looked like we'd come up short and land in the grass, but we came into the ground effect and floated and made the runway after all.
So I botched that first landing. He kindly called it "poor." He (rightfully) criticized my technique. I reverted to my previous problems of overcorrecting in the flare, and he called it "double clutching", where I alternate between pushing forward and pulling back. On the second one I had a nice touchdown and I thought I had done it pretty well, with me pulling back on the yoke pretty hard, just about has hard as I could, holding it off, and even keeping it back to bleed off speed on the ground, but he told me that I relaxed at the end. I sure didn't feel relaxed. Also, at one point while taxiing, I got confused about which way to turn the ailerons, and of course got it backwards.
We talked a bit more after the lesson and it's clear to me that I need my regular instructor to throw in a few unexpected things to deal with as I go forward in my training. He was so reserved during and after the lesson that I wasn't even sure that I passed until I got home and saw the message that he sent to my regular instructor. It wasn't pretty, but I passed.
It's clear that my first landing or two each day is pretty rough around the edges. Clearly I'll still need to have the instructor along for the first couple of trips around the pattern.
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