Thursday, July 1, 2010

Third Lesson, Crosswinds and Go-Arounds

I got to my Wednesday evening lesson a few minutes after six, as I had been held up on the highway by a traffic accident, fortunately a fairly minor fender bender, but of course people were slowing down to look. Bob arrived a few minutes after I did, as he had also been caught in accident related traffic.

We checked the 152's fuel level, and as we only had 5.5 gallons, called the Fixed Base of Operations (FBO) for a fuel truck to bring us up to 13 gallons. The 152 burns just over 6 gallons an hour on average, so a nice safety margin is good to have, plus we should have plenty left over for whoever needs the plane next.


We went inside and spoke for a bit about emergency procedures, what to do if the engine dies on take-off, good emergency landing spots and decision making, then went back out to the plane to perform the pre-flight checks.


The wind was from the northeast at about 9 knots on the ground, however the Airport Tower had suffered a power failure, so we had to judge by the windsock as there was no ATIS (Automated Terminal Information Service) to give us the current weather conditions. We called up the tower and got the last known readings from them.


We taxied to the run-up area, where the right magneto's showed some rough running again, so we leaned the mixture and increased the RPMs to clean the spark plugs. They passed the second check with no problems. The airport was pretty busy, so we got to watch a Yak aerobatic plane take off, and a Learjet land before we were given clearance for the runway.


We had decided to do some more pattern work around Riverside airport, as the wind was right for some crosswind practice, coming from about seventy degrees off of the runway. Bob showed me how to start the takeoff with full aileron into the wind, then roll to neutral as we approached 50 knots to take off.


We climbed as usual at 67 knots, then started a right traffic pattern. The runway heading is 010 degrees, with direct north being 0 degrees, so once we passed 1100 feet, we turned right to 100 degrees,(just past direct east, which is 90) and continued the climb to 1700 feet.

Once we leveled off, we did a GUMPSS checklist, which is Gas on, Undercarriage check, Mixture full rich, Power set as required, Seats adjusted, Seat-belts adjusted. The idea was to have the plane at altitude and GUMPSS completed by the time we were passing the center of the runway on the downwind leg.


A Left Traffic Pattern

The problem we had, was the wind was blowing us toward the airport on the downwind leg, so we had to adjust our course to remain parallel to the runway. This was even more of a problem once we had started our descent and turned onto the Base Leg. As the wind was coming from behind us, we weren't slowing down as much as usual, which meant that by the time we had to turn to Final and line up on the runway, we were much too high.


This resulted in some Go-Around practice. We determined we couldn't make an acceptable landing in the first 1/3rd of the runway, so we decided to go around for another try. Carburetor heat off, full power, take a notch of flaps out and pitch to maintain 67 knots. Once we were level, we reduced the flaps further until we had a reasonable climb rate, at which point we returned to zero flaps, and climbed back to pattern altitude.


On the next approach Bob showed me how to do a "Forward Slip" for a landing, by using the rudder to turn the airplane's nose into the wind, and the ailerons to counteract the turn. This way the side of the airplane is pushed into the wind stream, increasing drag and rate of descent, but without increasing airspeed.

I also got to practice the pattern while sharing it with Traffic, as there was another student pilot in a Cessna 172 in the air with us. The overall pattern is the same, but instead of using land marks to turn, we just waited until the other aircraft is behind our wingtip, two steps ahead of us in the pattern. So we didn't make the turn onto the Crosswind Leg, until they had passed us in the other direction on their Downwind Leg.


Landing with a crosswind is a bit more difficult than a normal into-the-wind landing, as not only is the wind pushing you sideways off of the runway approach, but the airplane is trying to "weather-vane" into the wind. Bob explained how to counteract this by turning onto final slightly early and letting the wind carry you onto the centerline of the runway, while also using the ailerons to roll into the wind a little.


We had performed four landing approaches with two resulting in Go-Arounds, when the wind started to get a bit more lively, so we landed for the fifth and final time, and headed back to the parking area.


I am meeting a guy before my next lesson on Saturday as I found what looks like a really good deal on a used aviation headset on Craigslist. I won't technically need my own until I start to solo, but having it early won't hurt either.


Next lesson: Stalls maybe? Looking forward to it!

-Gareth

1 comment:

  1. Stalls are really cool! That was one of my favourite lessons. :)
    Glad you had a good lesson! Yes, landing in a crosswind is a pain in the ass, but it makes landing in calm winds feel WAY easier!

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