My name is Gareth, and I'm addicted to flying. I haven't been on a lesson since July 21st, but it feels like a heck of a lot longer than that.
The Cessna 152 that I am taking my lessons in has been grounded for repairs (Not My Fault!)
Apparently before my sixth lesson on the 17th of July the rudder cables had been inspected and adjusted because of some looseness in the rudder controls. The adjustment helped a little, but it turns out that it was a weak tensioning spring that finally let go after my lesson on the 21st. The plane was grounded for maintenence on Friday the 23rd, and is still waiting for parts today, the 30th.
I spoke to Bob earlier and if the new spring comes in this weekend, we should be good to go for the Wednesday evening lesson next week.
He said there's another operation at Riverside that has a 152 available to rent, so I will check into rental rates for that and hopefully we can get airborne again soon.
Happy Landings!
-Gareth
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Lesson Seven: Ground Reference Maneuvers
I must have spent half of Wednesday afternoon looking outside, it was beautiful. Those occasional fluffy clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky, just begging to have some holes bored through it. The view was tempered a little by the fact that I was looking at it through the windshield of a borrowed Chevy Suburban, as I was running luggage from Tulsa International Airport to the hotel where my work is hosting its annual national convention. The route took me within a mile of Riverside airport every hour or so though, and there were plenty of people in the pattern above as I drove below them, so I got a slight aviation fix, which was nice.
Wednesday evening I drove back out to Riverside, did the pre-flight checks on the Cessna 152, and went back inside the flight school building to talk to Bob about the plans for the day. The Cessna's fuel tanks had been refilled since I flew it last, so we were actually a couple of pounds heavy on the weight and balance sheet for takeoff, but as we generally burn just over a gallon during the run-up and taxi to the runway, we decided we would be OK.
Today's lesson plan would be Ground Reference Maneuvers! Turns-about-a-point and S-Turns to learn how to do maneuvers by using points on the ground as reference, and varying the bank angle of the plane during the turn to compensate for the wind.
We went back out to the plane, and got the ATIS information, the wind was from the south at 10 knots gusting to 17, perfect for our plans, windy enough to have to compensate, but not too windy. I had printed out a copy of the practice radio scripts Bob had given me, and scaled it down to fit my kneeboard with my checklists. I am proud to say that I made no mistakes on the radio, which was a confidence booster. I knew I was using a cheat-sheet, Bob knew I was using a cheat-sheet, but nobody listening on the radio would have known.
We took off and flew southeast at 2500 feet, it was a little hazy, but not enough to have to worry about, until we got a call from Tulsa ATC "Cessna 69212, you have traffic ahead, a Cessna 172 at 2500 feet, 3 miles out flying your direction." Bob and I both went into rubber-neck mode trying to find the other airplane, we never did see it, but Bob had me turn on the landing light to make us more visible, and the other guy called out "Traffic in Sight" so it must have worked. We got another update from Tulsa Air Traffic Control letting us know the other Cessna was off our left wing at 2500 feet, but we still couldn't find the guy, and he was behind us going the other way, where it was safer.
As we flew over the Arkansas River south of Tulsa, Bob pulled the throttle out and announced "Engine Failure." I ran through the emergency procedures checklist, and Bob decided the simulated engine failure required a simulated forced landing, so I ran through the next checklist. The wind was from the south still, I picked a field clear of trees, wires and tiny black dots, and turned around to get the field between us and the wind. I let the airspeed drop a little too far below 60 knots, so I had to drop the nose to compensate, but we still lined up on the field with plenty of time to spare. I pushed the power back to full, using the go-around procedure to get us back up to normal flying configuration, and we continued southeast toward our ground reference area.
Bob has a favorite spot for Turns about a Point, an intersection in the middle of some fields with a couple of houses as reference points. You have to enter the turn with the wind behind you, and turn steeply at first, as the wind will push you away from your center point, then as you come around into the wind, decrease the bank angle as the wind will be pushing you toward your center point. We went around three times, and I managed to maintain my altitude of 1500 feet within about 50 feet either way, and my airspeed of 95 knots, so I was really pleased with that. We flew on north for a minute or so to set up for the S-Turns.
The easiest way to do S-Turns is use a straight road as your reference, fly across the road with the wind behind you, then turn left 180 degrees into the wind, leveling your wings as you cross back over the road. If you did it properly, your wings should be parallel to the road as you fly across it, then turn right 180 degrees and repeat.
I really enjoyed ground reference maneuvers, I played a lot of combat flight simulator games in the past (and still do) and it really reminded me of circling overhead looking for some poor unsuspecting tank column or train or building that was too tall for my liking.
With the ground references complete, we turned back to home into the setting sun. It was at that perfect height, just below the sun-visors. There were a couple of planes ahead of us when we got back to riverside, and as we managed to find them in the air, watched them land before landing ourselves. I still have trouble judging the correct time to flair for landing, so I was a little high again, Bob said there will be plenty of touch-and-go's in my future to get that ironed out, as we have pattern work coming up in the next few lessons.
He also mentioned the S-word for the first time, I don't know if I am looking forward to Solo-ing or not, it still seems a little scary to think of taking off without anyone sitting next to me. Hopefully more confidence will come with practice.
Next lesson is Saturday afternoon, as I will be at work Saturday morning. Well most of me anyway, my head will be in the clouds for certain.
-Gareth
Wednesday evening I drove back out to Riverside, did the pre-flight checks on the Cessna 152, and went back inside the flight school building to talk to Bob about the plans for the day. The Cessna's fuel tanks had been refilled since I flew it last, so we were actually a couple of pounds heavy on the weight and balance sheet for takeoff, but as we generally burn just over a gallon during the run-up and taxi to the runway, we decided we would be OK.
Today's lesson plan would be Ground Reference Maneuvers! Turns-about-a-point and S-Turns to learn how to do maneuvers by using points on the ground as reference, and varying the bank angle of the plane during the turn to compensate for the wind.
We went back out to the plane, and got the ATIS information, the wind was from the south at 10 knots gusting to 17, perfect for our plans, windy enough to have to compensate, but not too windy. I had printed out a copy of the practice radio scripts Bob had given me, and scaled it down to fit my kneeboard with my checklists. I am proud to say that I made no mistakes on the radio, which was a confidence booster. I knew I was using a cheat-sheet, Bob knew I was using a cheat-sheet, but nobody listening on the radio would have known.
We took off and flew southeast at 2500 feet, it was a little hazy, but not enough to have to worry about, until we got a call from Tulsa ATC "Cessna 69212, you have traffic ahead, a Cessna 172 at 2500 feet, 3 miles out flying your direction." Bob and I both went into rubber-neck mode trying to find the other airplane, we never did see it, but Bob had me turn on the landing light to make us more visible, and the other guy called out "Traffic in Sight" so it must have worked. We got another update from Tulsa Air Traffic Control letting us know the other Cessna was off our left wing at 2500 feet, but we still couldn't find the guy, and he was behind us going the other way, where it was safer.
As we flew over the Arkansas River south of Tulsa, Bob pulled the throttle out and announced "Engine Failure." I ran through the emergency procedures checklist, and Bob decided the simulated engine failure required a simulated forced landing, so I ran through the next checklist. The wind was from the south still, I picked a field clear of trees, wires and tiny black dots, and turned around to get the field between us and the wind. I let the airspeed drop a little too far below 60 knots, so I had to drop the nose to compensate, but we still lined up on the field with plenty of time to spare. I pushed the power back to full, using the go-around procedure to get us back up to normal flying configuration, and we continued southeast toward our ground reference area.
Bob has a favorite spot for Turns about a Point, an intersection in the middle of some fields with a couple of houses as reference points. You have to enter the turn with the wind behind you, and turn steeply at first, as the wind will push you away from your center point, then as you come around into the wind, decrease the bank angle as the wind will be pushing you toward your center point. We went around three times, and I managed to maintain my altitude of 1500 feet within about 50 feet either way, and my airspeed of 95 knots, so I was really pleased with that. We flew on north for a minute or so to set up for the S-Turns.
The easiest way to do S-Turns is use a straight road as your reference, fly across the road with the wind behind you, then turn left 180 degrees into the wind, leveling your wings as you cross back over the road. If you did it properly, your wings should be parallel to the road as you fly across it, then turn right 180 degrees and repeat.I really enjoyed ground reference maneuvers, I played a lot of combat flight simulator games in the past (and still do) and it really reminded me of circling overhead looking for some poor unsuspecting tank column or train or building that was too tall for my liking.
With the ground references complete, we turned back to home into the setting sun. It was at that perfect height, just below the sun-visors. There were a couple of planes ahead of us when we got back to riverside, and as we managed to find them in the air, watched them land before landing ourselves. I still have trouble judging the correct time to flair for landing, so I was a little high again, Bob said there will be plenty of touch-and-go's in my future to get that ironed out, as we have pattern work coming up in the next few lessons.
He also mentioned the S-word for the first time, I don't know if I am looking forward to Solo-ing or not, it still seems a little scary to think of taking off without anyone sitting next to me. Hopefully more confidence will come with practice.
Next lesson is Saturday afternoon, as I will be at work Saturday morning. Well most of me anyway, my head will be in the clouds for certain.
-Gareth
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Lesson Six: Emergency Procedures!
I logged in to the Flight School's lesson scheduling website Thursday afternoon to schedule my Saturday morning lesson. Unfortunately the 152 that I fly was booked solid from 8:30am to 6:30pm. I could have taken the 6:30 to 8:30 AM slot, but as I was looking to be Bob's only student that day, decided not to be a jerk about it, and signed up for the evening flight.
Saturday eventually rolled around, but it took its time doing so, and when it did show up, it was a scorcher! Light winds out of the south, but hovering around 100 fahrenheit and about sixty percent humidity. A wonderful day to stay in the air conditioned comfort of home. We had planned for a cookout on Sunday, so Saturday afternoon I had to mow the lawns. It was too wet in the morning, and I had let it grow long again, so I had to wait until it was nice and hot to let the grass dry a bit. Who wants to play a game called "Fun with Heat Exhaustion"? Not me again.
It was the thought of cooler air a few thousand feet up that motivated me through my yardwork.
I left the house just after six and headed for the airport, it would normally be about a ten or fifteen minute drive, as it's only thirteen miles, but the interstate is being completely rebuilt, so it usually takes a little longer to get through the construction.
I still made it a few minutes early, so I went inside to get the folder containing the airplanes FAA Required documentation, the Airworthiness Certificate, Registration, Operating Handbook and Weight & Balance sheet. The folder was missing. Turns out the guy who had rented the Cessna had left the folder at the FBO, no problem, just a short walk to get it.
Folder in hand, I returned to the 152 to perform the Pre-flight check, step 1: check the fuel levels. There's usually a fuel gauge tube in the plane, a hollow acrylic tube with fuel level marks that you stick into the fuel tanks. Note the "usually"; it had gone missing. Fortunately by that time Bob had arrived, and he had a spare. Plenty of fuel, plenty of oil, pre-flight complete, everything checked out just fine. I left the windows open and we went inside to discuss the upcoming lesson.
Today would be Emergency Procedures! I had been going over the checklists, and was determined not to repeat the last lessons mistakes on the radio. Emergency Procedures is basically "What to do when something goes wrong" and there's checklists for all of it. Unfortunately, when something does go wrong, you might not have time to find your emergency procedures checklists and go down the page. That's what practice is for!
We worked on Engine Failures, which covers anything from "Whoops, I bumped the ignition key" to "Out of Fuel." They're all more or less the same procedure.
If you are in flight when the engine quits, stage 1: Adjust the aircraft pitch to fly at 60 knots, try to get the engine running again, check the Fuel Selector valve, Mixture control, Carb Heat, engine Primer, and Magneto Ignition switch.
If those are all where they're supposed to be, and the engine still isn't running, move to stage 2: pick a place to land, still pitching for 60, set the transponder to 7700, If you are out of range of any airport radio frequencies, tune to 121.50, there's always someone listening on that frequency, and declare your emergency. Turn the fuel selector valve off, pull the mixture to idle cut-off, turn the ignition off, drop down full flaps, then turn the master electrical switch off. At this point there should be no fuel or electrical spark anywhere near each other. Land, hit the brakes, walk away from the aircraft.
The procedure for an engine failure if you are still on the ground is a little simpler: throttle to idle, hit the brakes, flaps up, mixture to idle cut-off, magneto ignition and electrical master switch both off.
Fortunately, we would only be Simulating engine failures on this flight. We took off and headed southwest, when we got up to 3500 feet and in the practice area, Bob pulled the throttle out and announced "Engine Failure" I ran through the checklist just fine, but forgot to pull up to gain altitude and drop the airspeed to 60 knots. We got set up at 3500 and powered flight to try again. "Engine Failure" ok, pitch for 60 this time, get a bit of altitude, fuel is on, mixture is rich, carb heat is on, magnetos are on, primer pump is in and locked. At this point Bob asks me which field looks nice, and which way was the wind coming from when we took off? The wind was out of the south, so we would be landing pointed south.
I picked a nice looking large field with some tiny black dots in it, but no trees or visible power lines, so down we went. Full flaps, touch everything you should be turning off (but leave them turned on - very important, it's a simulation remember) and we lined up for the landing. Turns out the tiny black dots were cows. Bob announced that we would have made the field with no problem, and that the cows would have moved had we actually tried to land, so I hit the power and performed the go-around procedure. We climbed back up to 2500 feet, turned toward the north and picked out a couple more nice fields to land in before calling it a day.
Bob told me that in an actual emergency, if I didn't like the looks of a field when I got close to it, that I could adjust as I went, but on the checkride, once you pick a field, you are committed to it.
After Saturday's lesson I had filled the first page of my logbook! I currently have 6.2 hours logged, and 16 landings.
Next Lesson: Ground Reference Maneuvers! Turns around a Point, and S-Turns.
Stay Tuned!
-Gareth
Saturday eventually rolled around, but it took its time doing so, and when it did show up, it was a scorcher! Light winds out of the south, but hovering around 100 fahrenheit and about sixty percent humidity. A wonderful day to stay in the air conditioned comfort of home. We had planned for a cookout on Sunday, so Saturday afternoon I had to mow the lawns. It was too wet in the morning, and I had let it grow long again, so I had to wait until it was nice and hot to let the grass dry a bit. Who wants to play a game called "Fun with Heat Exhaustion"? Not me again.
It was the thought of cooler air a few thousand feet up that motivated me through my yardwork.
I left the house just after six and headed for the airport, it would normally be about a ten or fifteen minute drive, as it's only thirteen miles, but the interstate is being completely rebuilt, so it usually takes a little longer to get through the construction.
I still made it a few minutes early, so I went inside to get the folder containing the airplanes FAA Required documentation, the Airworthiness Certificate, Registration, Operating Handbook and Weight & Balance sheet. The folder was missing. Turns out the guy who had rented the Cessna had left the folder at the FBO, no problem, just a short walk to get it.
Folder in hand, I returned to the 152 to perform the Pre-flight check, step 1: check the fuel levels. There's usually a fuel gauge tube in the plane, a hollow acrylic tube with fuel level marks that you stick into the fuel tanks. Note the "usually"; it had gone missing. Fortunately by that time Bob had arrived, and he had a spare. Plenty of fuel, plenty of oil, pre-flight complete, everything checked out just fine. I left the windows open and we went inside to discuss the upcoming lesson.
Today would be Emergency Procedures! I had been going over the checklists, and was determined not to repeat the last lessons mistakes on the radio. Emergency Procedures is basically "What to do when something goes wrong" and there's checklists for all of it. Unfortunately, when something does go wrong, you might not have time to find your emergency procedures checklists and go down the page. That's what practice is for!
We worked on Engine Failures, which covers anything from "Whoops, I bumped the ignition key" to "Out of Fuel." They're all more or less the same procedure.
If you are in flight when the engine quits, stage 1: Adjust the aircraft pitch to fly at 60 knots, try to get the engine running again, check the Fuel Selector valve, Mixture control, Carb Heat, engine Primer, and Magneto Ignition switch.
If those are all where they're supposed to be, and the engine still isn't running, move to stage 2: pick a place to land, still pitching for 60, set the transponder to 7700, If you are out of range of any airport radio frequencies, tune to 121.50, there's always someone listening on that frequency, and declare your emergency. Turn the fuel selector valve off, pull the mixture to idle cut-off, turn the ignition off, drop down full flaps, then turn the master electrical switch off. At this point there should be no fuel or electrical spark anywhere near each other. Land, hit the brakes, walk away from the aircraft.
The procedure for an engine failure if you are still on the ground is a little simpler: throttle to idle, hit the brakes, flaps up, mixture to idle cut-off, magneto ignition and electrical master switch both off.
Fortunately, we would only be Simulating engine failures on this flight. We took off and headed southwest, when we got up to 3500 feet and in the practice area, Bob pulled the throttle out and announced "Engine Failure" I ran through the checklist just fine, but forgot to pull up to gain altitude and drop the airspeed to 60 knots. We got set up at 3500 and powered flight to try again. "Engine Failure" ok, pitch for 60 this time, get a bit of altitude, fuel is on, mixture is rich, carb heat is on, magnetos are on, primer pump is in and locked. At this point Bob asks me which field looks nice, and which way was the wind coming from when we took off? The wind was out of the south, so we would be landing pointed south.
I picked a nice looking large field with some tiny black dots in it, but no trees or visible power lines, so down we went. Full flaps, touch everything you should be turning off (but leave them turned on - very important, it's a simulation remember) and we lined up for the landing. Turns out the tiny black dots were cows. Bob announced that we would have made the field with no problem, and that the cows would have moved had we actually tried to land, so I hit the power and performed the go-around procedure. We climbed back up to 2500 feet, turned toward the north and picked out a couple more nice fields to land in before calling it a day.
Bob told me that in an actual emergency, if I didn't like the looks of a field when I got close to it, that I could adjust as I went, but on the checkride, once you pick a field, you are committed to it.
After Saturday's lesson I had filled the first page of my logbook! I currently have 6.2 hours logged, and 16 landings.
Next Lesson: Ground Reference Maneuvers! Turns around a Point, and S-Turns.
Stay Tuned!
-Gareth
Monday, July 19, 2010
Fifth Lesson: More Slow Flight, and Steep Turns
I was not able to schedule a lesson for Saturday the 10th, as Bob was flying to El Paso, and I was riding with Southwest to St. Louis.
One of my friends, Jari, was driving down from Michigan on Friday, and staying the night with a cousin in St. Louis. I got a one-way ticket to St. Louis for Saturday morning, arriving at around 9:30.
This was my first commercial flight since starting my lessons, and knowing a bit about what was going on in the front seats made it a lot more enjoyable. I was able to sort out our location on my airport diagram printouts, as I had learned about the taxiway signs, and I was really paying attention during the base, final and landing in St Louis. It felt very fast. In the Cessna 152, we are aiming for 60 knots airspeed at landing, from what I can find the 737-300 has a landing speed of between 107 and 152 knots airspeed depending on the weight.
Jari arrived at the airport a few minutes after I got off the plane, and we drove back to Tulsa, a long, but uneventful drive. We got home in plenty of time to go to Mom's house for my youngest sister Rachel's birthday dinner.
On the evening of Wednesday the 14th, I arrived at Riverside airport for my fifth lesson. The rain had finally stopped, but the winds were gusting from ten to nineteen knots, and variable from the south and east, with a few broken layers of clouds at 3700' and higher. The 152 was a quart low on oil, and a few gallons low on gas, so Bob called the FBO for a top-up while we went over the lesson plan. Once we got out to the airplane it became obvious that missing Saturday's lesson had set me back a bit, I fumbled my way through the engine start and run-up checklists, then announced on the radio that we were run-up complete. Bob then had to call back and apologize, and tell the nice people on the Ground frequency that we were at Roadhouse West, had the latest weather information, requesting a west departure with radar following and that we were run-up complete.
We were given the option of using runway 13, due to the wind, and Bob figured it would be a good opportunity, as 13 isn't used very often. Runway 13 crosses both runways 19 Left and Right, is short and bumpy, and is aimed pretty much straight at a noise abatement area, so as soon as we were five hundred above the ground we had to turn to the south for a while then west to the practice area.
We climbed to 3500 feet and practiced some stalls. On the landing configuration stall, the wing went over again just as it had on my last lesson. Bob took the controls and showed me how to gently work the rudder pedals in small and smooth adjustments, instead of just cramming it over to try to counteract the stall that had already happened. The next few were much smoother, so we moved on to slow flight.
I actually enjoy slow flight, there's a constant demand for small precise control input, that I do my very best to keep up with, It really shows how sensitive all the controls are at low speed, especially the rudder. We made some ninety degree turns to the south and back, then brought the airplane back to normal flight and headed home to the airport.
The wind had shifted around again, so we were cleared to land on 19 right. We decided to do a crab landing to counteract the crosswind, which resulted in a great (in that we could use the plane again) but not very smooth landing.
I was told to study the emergency procedures checklists for engine failures during the takeoff roll, after takeoff, and mid-flight, as we would be simulating those on my next lesson.
See ya next time!
-Gareth
One of my friends, Jari, was driving down from Michigan on Friday, and staying the night with a cousin in St. Louis. I got a one-way ticket to St. Louis for Saturday morning, arriving at around 9:30.
This was my first commercial flight since starting my lessons, and knowing a bit about what was going on in the front seats made it a lot more enjoyable. I was able to sort out our location on my airport diagram printouts, as I had learned about the taxiway signs, and I was really paying attention during the base, final and landing in St Louis. It felt very fast. In the Cessna 152, we are aiming for 60 knots airspeed at landing, from what I can find the 737-300 has a landing speed of between 107 and 152 knots airspeed depending on the weight.
Jari arrived at the airport a few minutes after I got off the plane, and we drove back to Tulsa, a long, but uneventful drive. We got home in plenty of time to go to Mom's house for my youngest sister Rachel's birthday dinner.
On the evening of Wednesday the 14th, I arrived at Riverside airport for my fifth lesson. The rain had finally stopped, but the winds were gusting from ten to nineteen knots, and variable from the south and east, with a few broken layers of clouds at 3700' and higher. The 152 was a quart low on oil, and a few gallons low on gas, so Bob called the FBO for a top-up while we went over the lesson plan. Once we got out to the airplane it became obvious that missing Saturday's lesson had set me back a bit, I fumbled my way through the engine start and run-up checklists, then announced on the radio that we were run-up complete. Bob then had to call back and apologize, and tell the nice people on the Ground frequency that we were at Roadhouse West, had the latest weather information, requesting a west departure with radar following and that we were run-up complete.
We were given the option of using runway 13, due to the wind, and Bob figured it would be a good opportunity, as 13 isn't used very often. Runway 13 crosses both runways 19 Left and Right, is short and bumpy, and is aimed pretty much straight at a noise abatement area, so as soon as we were five hundred above the ground we had to turn to the south for a while then west to the practice area.
We climbed to 3500 feet and practiced some stalls. On the landing configuration stall, the wing went over again just as it had on my last lesson. Bob took the controls and showed me how to gently work the rudder pedals in small and smooth adjustments, instead of just cramming it over to try to counteract the stall that had already happened. The next few were much smoother, so we moved on to slow flight.
I actually enjoy slow flight, there's a constant demand for small precise control input, that I do my very best to keep up with, It really shows how sensitive all the controls are at low speed, especially the rudder. We made some ninety degree turns to the south and back, then brought the airplane back to normal flight and headed home to the airport.
The wind had shifted around again, so we were cleared to land on 19 right. We decided to do a crab landing to counteract the crosswind, which resulted in a great (in that we could use the plane again) but not very smooth landing.
I was told to study the emergency procedures checklists for engine failures during the takeoff roll, after takeoff, and mid-flight, as we would be simulating those on my next lesson.
See ya next time!
-Gareth
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Fourth Lesson, Stalls and Slow Flight
Due to Oklahoma's continuing wonderful weather, last Saturday's lesson was rained out, and it was looking like the Wednesday lesson would be as well. Fortunately the storms that were coming through the area blew out to the east far enough to safely fly by Wednesday evening.
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
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
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
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 PatternThe 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
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