I made it out to the airport at about ten minutes before six, so I went to the FBO and purchased a FAR/AIM (Federal Aviation Regulations / Aeronautical Information Manual) that I had been intending to get. I got the 152 Pilots Operating Handbook, and started the walk-around inspection. Unfortunately the 152 had been left out in the rain, and the rear window leaks, so the rear area was a little musky smelling. I left the doors open as I continued the pre-flight to let it air out, everything checked out just fine, so I went back inside where Bob and I went over the plan for the day; Stalls and Slow Flight!
It seems that as soon as I mention "stalling" the airplane, people start getting wide eyed and talking about parachutes. It's not like when your car's engine stalls.
When you stall an airplane the wings aren't producing sufficient lift to keep the airplane flying in level flight, due to a high Angle of Attack. The Angle of Attack is the angle at which the wing is cutting through the air. When the Angle of Attack is low, the air moves smoothly over the wing, generating lift. If the Angle of Attack increases, but the airplane stays at the same altitude, the air cannot flow as smoothly over the wing. When the "Critical Angle of Attack" is reached, where the wing is no longer generating enough lift to maintain level flight, the airplane stalls. After our run-up checks, we lined up on the taxiway behind a twin-engined Beechcraft, and a Cessna that was apparently having some difficulty sorting out their radio.
Bob had me handling some of the radio duties for my first time, which was a little intimidating at first, but he coached me through what to say. Generally when you talk to Air Traffic Control, you say Who you are talking to, Who you are, Where you are, and What you want to do. When they are talking to you, you only have to respond with your airplane registration number, and repeat the pertinent points. So, when we were ready to take off, I tuned in to ATC and said "Riverside Tower, Cessna November six niner two one two, at one-nine right for departure to the west." We got the clearance from the tower took off and turned west, before turning to the north and continuing our climb up to 3,500 feet.
Once we got to the practice area, we went over the checklists to prepare for stall training, did two 90-degree clearing turns to make sure there was nobody else flying in the vicinity, and performed my first "Clean Stall". I set the RPMs to 1800, carburetor heat on, and pulled back on the flight controls to maintain 3,500 feet. As we were slowing, I had to pull the nose higher and higher, until the stall warning horn started to buzz at us. At about 40 knots the plane buffeted a bit, and the nose dropped, not exactly the roller-coaster ride I had been half-expecting. We pushed in full power, carb heat off, and kept the nose on the horizon until we had our airspeed back up, then climbed back to 3,500 feet, having lost about 100 feet in the stall.
The second type of stall we did is the landing stall, so again, 1800 RPM, carb heat on, but this time, as we slowed we dropped the flaps, as if we were going to land. Again I pulled back on the controls to try to stay at 3,500 feet, this time we stayed more or less level until 35 knots, then the nose dropped, this time I had let the plane slip a bit, so the right wing stalled more than the left, and we went over to about a 30 degree bank before getting the plane straight and level with the power on and carb heat off. I retracted the flaps as our airspeed increased, and we climbed back to 3,500 feet. We lost quite a bit of altitude that time, just over 200 feet, Bob explained that it was because as the plane rolled to the right, the nose dropped further, so we were actually diving for a second or so.
The final stall we practiced is the Take-Off Stall, I reduced our airspeed to 50 knots, the speed at which we take-off, then pushed in full power and pulled back on the stick until we reached the critical Angle of Attack, at which point the nose dropped.
The Slow Flight practice is just as it sounds, flying slowly. We pitched the plane for 40 knots with the flaps full down, and did some 90-degree turns to the left and right, just to feel how it handled.
After we had practiced that for a little while, it was time to head for home. Bob handled the initial call to the tower, and had me do most of the talking after that. I had just purchased a used David Clark headset, so I was happy for the opportunity to test it out fully, it worked great!
By the time we got back to Riverside Airport, the winds were almost dead calm, so we didn't have their help slowing down in the landing pattern, and lined up on Final a little high, we used the Forward Slip to lose our altitude quickly, and I pulled off my best landing so far!
Next week: Emergency Procedures! (Practice them until you know what to do, then hope you never need them!)
-Gareth
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