I had scheduled the Cessna 152 for my solo cross country on Saturday the 29th of January, but Tulsa and most of the mid-west United States got record snowfalls dumped on us. Melodie and I couldn't even get to work for several days. The snow finally let off, and we got the driveway shoveled, and then it snowed again.
I figured that a first VFR Cross Country flight, using ground points as reference, would probably not be in my best interest. "Fly 10 minutes to this featureless expanse of white snow, then once you are there, correct your course and fly another 10 minutes to the next featureless expanse of white snow."
I have had a couple of lessons since my last post, but they have been maneuvers practice, nothing new. I am at the point in my training where I can do everything required for the examiners check ride, it's just a matter of getting the altitudes and speeds and headings to within the tolerances of the test.
I have booked the Cessna 152 for this Saturday morning to get some solo traffic pattern practice done, it's been a few weeks since the last time I flew, so I want to get back into the groove before I take off headed for new and strange places, some of them up to 75 miles away!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Lessons 20-23 and the Cross Country Flight
Well, I have let this logbook / diary get away from me again, so this is my attempt to get all caught up at once. The last few lessons have been mainly practicing the maneuvers I had learned throughout my training, with one really fun exception, "Unusual Attitude Recovery".
The idea behind Unusual Attitude Recovery is that if you get disoriented flying through a cloud, and can't really tell which way the aircraft is pointed, you can usually trust the Attitude Indicator to help get you back to straight and level flight. As an added bonus, we did these with the IFR Training glasses on, so all I could see was the instruments, and not out the windows.
We got out to the practice area at 3500 feet, Bob took the controls and handed me the glasses. I had been instructed that in order to further disorient myself I should hold my head down and to the left with my eyes closed. Bob would fly the plane through some turns, climbs and dives, and with the plane in some random "unusual attitude" would return control to me, and I would have to get us back to straight and level flight. If the nose was pointed up, I should apply full throttle, lower the nose, then roll to wings level. If the nose was pointed down, I should pull the throttle to idle, roll wings level, pull up to level flight, and push the throttle back to cruise power.
The first one was pretty gentle, what felt like a shallow dive followed by a climb and a turn to the right, I was given the command to recover. The Attitude Indicator was showing a climb with about 20 degrees right bank, so I pulled the throttle out, quickly realized my mistake and shoved it full in, lowered the nose and rolled to wings level. The next one was a bit more maneuvering, and we ended up nose down in a left banked turn. The 3rd recovery felt like a roller coaster ride (which I really enjoy) and left us in an almost 45 degree dive rolled to the right. I was able to recover quickly and we continued to other maneuvers.
Wednesday the 8th, Bob and I got together and planned out the Cross Country trip, We would leave Tulsa, fly direct to Fayetteville Arkansas, up to Joplin Missouri and back to Tulsa. I learned how to file a flight plan through Lockheed Martin's Flight Following Service, we figured out the waypoints I would be looking for to aid in navigation, and got everything marked down on my sectional chart. When I got home I plugged it all in to the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) flight planner, which confirmed the math Bob and I had done, as well as figuring for actual wind conditions for the time of the flight. We were set to leave on Saturday the 11th around 1pm. I got a call Thursday night, Bob had a scheduled charter flight had been moved up, and was it OK to go Sunday morning instead? Sure no problem. Sunday morning rolled around, and I had a voicemail from Bob, he had come down sick overnight after getting back from his charter flight, so we would reschedule for the following weekend.
Melodie and I arrived at Riverside Airport just after noon on Saturday the 18th, I had scheduled the flight schools Cessna 170, 724PG for the whole afternoon. Melodie had bundled up warm and brought a blanket as the back seats get pretty chilly in the wintertime. I performed the pre-flight inspections and printed out the navigation logs with the latest weather information. When Bob arrived we got the fuel tanks topped all the way up, 25 gallons per side, which would put us right at maximum takeoff weight, but also give us just over 6 hours of flight time. We filed the flight plans, and at about 1:45 taxied out to runway 1 left.
I pushed in full power, and the plane started rolling down the runway, the 172 needs more right rudder to compensate for the additional power compared to the 152, so I drifted left on the runway before I got it compensated for. We climbed into the early afternoon air, got our flight plan opened and headed east at 5500 feet, under an overcast cloud layer at 7000 feet.
The air was as smooth as glass, the previous week had seen winds gusting to 25 or 30 knots, but on the 18th, it was reporting calm with a 6+ mile visibility, and light haze close to the ground.
I soon spotted my first waypoint, a small river almost perpendicular to our flight path, followed a few minutes later by my second waypoint, a lake. We had planned to tune into a VOR (Very high frequency Omni-directional Radio) and use it to plot out location for our next few waypoints, but it turned out to be too far away, and the signal too weak to be of any use. Fortunately Bob had brought a GPS, and the plane had a course tracking GPS in the instrument panel that we had set up for the flight. I still tracked our location on the map by highways and other landmarks as we flew overhead.
About 50 minutes later we were approaching Drake Field in Fayetteville, it took me a minute to locate the airport, as we had drifted south, I was expecting to see it on my right, but eventually found the runway off to my left. We had started our descent to pattern altitude (1000 feet above the ground) several miles out, and were given clearance to land. The wind was still fairly calm, so we were a bit high on the approach as it hadn't helped slow us down, but squeaked in a fairly decent landing, and taxied to the parking area, and with the engine still running Bob called the Flight Service Station to close our first flight plan, and open our second to Joplin.
We got permission to taxi out to the runway, took off, and headed North. We were flying over some very hilly terrain at 4500 feet on the way up to Joplin, it was really neat to see the patches of evergreens scattered through the forests of other trees that had already shed their leaves for winter. We arrived at Joplin Regional about 40 minutes later, and once again taxied to the parking area. We had decided that we would try to find something to eat, as it was almost 5pm. We were marshalled into a parking spot by a very chilled looking ground crewman, who suggested a local BBQ place called Woodys that was just down the street. We borrowed the FBO's courtesy car, a Scion XB, and got some dinner.
By the time we got back to the airport it was starting to get dark. We filed our flight plan back to Tulsa, figuring it would take about an hour, got the plane ready to go, and checked our course on the GPS. As it was about 100 miles to home, this would count as my night cross country requirement too, awesome! Two lessons checked out of the syllabus on one flight!
Flying cross country at night was really a lot of fun, Bob said that a lot of people will avoid night flying, but I found it easier to find the small towns and highways that were all lit up at night. As a bonus, we got to see a lot of Christmas lights from 4500 feet on the way home.
Soon after we took off out of Joplin, Bob directed our attention off to the left, as there was some light snow or rain off in the distance, which he could see as a haze around the city lights. We were soon up to altitude and headed southwest, our course paralleling Interstate 44.
Bob and I talked about the differences in emergency procedures at night, and what to do if we lost electrical power. If for some reason the alternator on the engine stopped working, we would have a few minutes of battery power for the lights and radios, but it would have been better to shut everything off except 1 radio and the engine, we could follow the highway lights all the way to Tulsa. Fortunately this conversation remained theory only, as the plane purred smoothly on through the night air.
About halfway home, Bob asked me to turn on the landing light out on the wing, we were flying through snow! I turned on the Pitot Heat, just in case, but the snow wasn't heavy, and nothing accumulated on the windshield, so it was just scenic and not worrying.
We soon arrived back in Tulsa, having seen the glow on the horizon almost all the way home. There were several helicopters running Christmas light tours, so we were asked to head out to the south a bit, then turn straight west toward Riverside airport, this worked out really well, as we were able to fly over the Rhema Bible College, and see their impressive annual display of lights.
Once we got back to Riverside airport we were given clearance to land, but were told to extend out to the south as a light tour helicopter was about to take off. The tower controller let us know when we could make the turn back to the airport. As I had to make two landings for the Night Cross Country requirements, we did a short field approach to a full stop on runway 1 Right, followed by a short field takeoff, then once around the pattern to runway 1 Left, where we landed and taxied to the parking area.
Due to the air traffic controllers assigning us courses instead of being able to take a straight route in, were were a little late closing our flight plan, but the Flight Following Service had contacted Riverside tower to see if we were in the area, so they knew we were safe. By the time we got the airplane shut down and parked it was just after 7:30PM, and I had logged 3.8 hours of flying time, with 1.6 of that at night. Bob also let me know that as I had picked up the ideas behind navigation, he felt good about letting me plan a solo cross country, which will take me to Shawnee and Stillwater in Oklahoma.
If I can get the Written Exam behind me, which I am still studying for, I might be able to get my checkride done sometime next month!
The idea behind Unusual Attitude Recovery is that if you get disoriented flying through a cloud, and can't really tell which way the aircraft is pointed, you can usually trust the Attitude Indicator to help get you back to straight and level flight. As an added bonus, we did these with the IFR Training glasses on, so all I could see was the instruments, and not out the windows.
We got out to the practice area at 3500 feet, Bob took the controls and handed me the glasses. I had been instructed that in order to further disorient myself I should hold my head down and to the left with my eyes closed. Bob would fly the plane through some turns, climbs and dives, and with the plane in some random "unusual attitude" would return control to me, and I would have to get us back to straight and level flight. If the nose was pointed up, I should apply full throttle, lower the nose, then roll to wings level. If the nose was pointed down, I should pull the throttle to idle, roll wings level, pull up to level flight, and push the throttle back to cruise power.
The first one was pretty gentle, what felt like a shallow dive followed by a climb and a turn to the right, I was given the command to recover. The Attitude Indicator was showing a climb with about 20 degrees right bank, so I pulled the throttle out, quickly realized my mistake and shoved it full in, lowered the nose and rolled to wings level. The next one was a bit more maneuvering, and we ended up nose down in a left banked turn. The 3rd recovery felt like a roller coaster ride (which I really enjoy) and left us in an almost 45 degree dive rolled to the right. I was able to recover quickly and we continued to other maneuvers.
Wednesday the 8th, Bob and I got together and planned out the Cross Country trip, We would leave Tulsa, fly direct to Fayetteville Arkansas, up to Joplin Missouri and back to Tulsa. I learned how to file a flight plan through Lockheed Martin's Flight Following Service, we figured out the waypoints I would be looking for to aid in navigation, and got everything marked down on my sectional chart. When I got home I plugged it all in to the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) flight planner, which confirmed the math Bob and I had done, as well as figuring for actual wind conditions for the time of the flight. We were set to leave on Saturday the 11th around 1pm. I got a call Thursday night, Bob had a scheduled charter flight had been moved up, and was it OK to go Sunday morning instead? Sure no problem. Sunday morning rolled around, and I had a voicemail from Bob, he had come down sick overnight after getting back from his charter flight, so we would reschedule for the following weekend.
Melodie and I arrived at Riverside Airport just after noon on Saturday the 18th, I had scheduled the flight schools Cessna 170, 724PG for the whole afternoon. Melodie had bundled up warm and brought a blanket as the back seats get pretty chilly in the wintertime. I performed the pre-flight inspections and printed out the navigation logs with the latest weather information. When Bob arrived we got the fuel tanks topped all the way up, 25 gallons per side, which would put us right at maximum takeoff weight, but also give us just over 6 hours of flight time. We filed the flight plans, and at about 1:45 taxied out to runway 1 left.
I pushed in full power, and the plane started rolling down the runway, the 172 needs more right rudder to compensate for the additional power compared to the 152, so I drifted left on the runway before I got it compensated for. We climbed into the early afternoon air, got our flight plan opened and headed east at 5500 feet, under an overcast cloud layer at 7000 feet.
The air was as smooth as glass, the previous week had seen winds gusting to 25 or 30 knots, but on the 18th, it was reporting calm with a 6+ mile visibility, and light haze close to the ground.
I soon spotted my first waypoint, a small river almost perpendicular to our flight path, followed a few minutes later by my second waypoint, a lake. We had planned to tune into a VOR (Very high frequency Omni-directional Radio) and use it to plot out location for our next few waypoints, but it turned out to be too far away, and the signal too weak to be of any use. Fortunately Bob had brought a GPS, and the plane had a course tracking GPS in the instrument panel that we had set up for the flight. I still tracked our location on the map by highways and other landmarks as we flew overhead.
About 50 minutes later we were approaching Drake Field in Fayetteville, it took me a minute to locate the airport, as we had drifted south, I was expecting to see it on my right, but eventually found the runway off to my left. We had started our descent to pattern altitude (1000 feet above the ground) several miles out, and were given clearance to land. The wind was still fairly calm, so we were a bit high on the approach as it hadn't helped slow us down, but squeaked in a fairly decent landing, and taxied to the parking area, and with the engine still running Bob called the Flight Service Station to close our first flight plan, and open our second to Joplin.
We got permission to taxi out to the runway, took off, and headed North. We were flying over some very hilly terrain at 4500 feet on the way up to Joplin, it was really neat to see the patches of evergreens scattered through the forests of other trees that had already shed their leaves for winter. We arrived at Joplin Regional about 40 minutes later, and once again taxied to the parking area. We had decided that we would try to find something to eat, as it was almost 5pm. We were marshalled into a parking spot by a very chilled looking ground crewman, who suggested a local BBQ place called Woodys that was just down the street. We borrowed the FBO's courtesy car, a Scion XB, and got some dinner.
By the time we got back to the airport it was starting to get dark. We filed our flight plan back to Tulsa, figuring it would take about an hour, got the plane ready to go, and checked our course on the GPS. As it was about 100 miles to home, this would count as my night cross country requirement too, awesome! Two lessons checked out of the syllabus on one flight!
Flying cross country at night was really a lot of fun, Bob said that a lot of people will avoid night flying, but I found it easier to find the small towns and highways that were all lit up at night. As a bonus, we got to see a lot of Christmas lights from 4500 feet on the way home.
Soon after we took off out of Joplin, Bob directed our attention off to the left, as there was some light snow or rain off in the distance, which he could see as a haze around the city lights. We were soon up to altitude and headed southwest, our course paralleling Interstate 44.
Bob and I talked about the differences in emergency procedures at night, and what to do if we lost electrical power. If for some reason the alternator on the engine stopped working, we would have a few minutes of battery power for the lights and radios, but it would have been better to shut everything off except 1 radio and the engine, we could follow the highway lights all the way to Tulsa. Fortunately this conversation remained theory only, as the plane purred smoothly on through the night air.
About halfway home, Bob asked me to turn on the landing light out on the wing, we were flying through snow! I turned on the Pitot Heat, just in case, but the snow wasn't heavy, and nothing accumulated on the windshield, so it was just scenic and not worrying.
We soon arrived back in Tulsa, having seen the glow on the horizon almost all the way home. There were several helicopters running Christmas light tours, so we were asked to head out to the south a bit, then turn straight west toward Riverside airport, this worked out really well, as we were able to fly over the Rhema Bible College, and see their impressive annual display of lights.
Once we got back to Riverside airport we were given clearance to land, but were told to extend out to the south as a light tour helicopter was about to take off. The tower controller let us know when we could make the turn back to the airport. As I had to make two landings for the Night Cross Country requirements, we did a short field approach to a full stop on runway 1 Right, followed by a short field takeoff, then once around the pattern to runway 1 Left, where we landed and taxied to the parking area.
Due to the air traffic controllers assigning us courses instead of being able to take a straight route in, were were a little late closing our flight plan, but the Flight Following Service had contacted Riverside tower to see if we were in the area, so they knew we were safe. By the time we got the airplane shut down and parked it was just after 7:30PM, and I had logged 3.8 hours of flying time, with 1.6 of that at night. Bob also let me know that as I had picked up the ideas behind navigation, he felt good about letting me plan a solo cross country, which will take me to Shawnee and Stillwater in Oklahoma.
If I can get the Written Exam behind me, which I am still studying for, I might be able to get my checkride done sometime next month!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Lesson Twenty: More Maneuvering
Wednesday's lesson last week was canceled again due to the weather, but Saturday was beautiful. The wind was almost dead calm when I arrived at the airport just before my 9 AM lesson, but it was pretty chilly, I need to start taking some gloves to wear for the pre-flight inspection. We had plenty of fuel and oil, and everything else checked out, so we got the lesson plan and decided to head northwest for some more maneuvering practice.
We climbed out of Riverside and headed for the practice area. Once we got up to 2500 feet we started with some steep turns, at 45 degrees all the way around to the right, then back around to the left. Then did some stall practice, we did an approach to land stall, with full flaps down, then a departure stall, where you slow down to 50 knots then push in full power and pull back to simulate a too-steep take off.
With stalls successfully completed, we did some slow flight and slow turns, as the wind was so calm I performed by best slow turns to date, nice and smooth and maintained altitude and speed just about perfectly.
After that we started looking for some ground points for ground reference maneuvers, we found a road and did some S-Turns over it, then found an oil pump out in a field to do turns-around-a-point around. The wind was starting to pick up a little, but not really enough to blow us off course very quickly, so the ground reference maneuvers (which are supposed to counteract wind drift) were a little useless, but still good practice for the theory part.
We headed back to Riverside and did a soft field landing, then got the plane tied down and headed inside to talk about the lesson.
Soon we will be planning a cross-country trip, probably to Fayetteville in Arkansas, then up to Joplin in Missouri before coming back to Riverside. Bob tells me that it should take about 4 hours actual flight time for the whole excursion, and as we will be taking the Cessna 172, my wife Melodie can come along for the ride!
More to come!
-Gareth
We climbed out of Riverside and headed for the practice area. Once we got up to 2500 feet we started with some steep turns, at 45 degrees all the way around to the right, then back around to the left. Then did some stall practice, we did an approach to land stall, with full flaps down, then a departure stall, where you slow down to 50 knots then push in full power and pull back to simulate a too-steep take off.
With stalls successfully completed, we did some slow flight and slow turns, as the wind was so calm I performed by best slow turns to date, nice and smooth and maintained altitude and speed just about perfectly.
After that we started looking for some ground points for ground reference maneuvers, we found a road and did some S-Turns over it, then found an oil pump out in a field to do turns-around-a-point around. The wind was starting to pick up a little, but not really enough to blow us off course very quickly, so the ground reference maneuvers (which are supposed to counteract wind drift) were a little useless, but still good practice for the theory part.
We headed back to Riverside and did a soft field landing, then got the plane tied down and headed inside to talk about the lesson.
Soon we will be planning a cross-country trip, probably to Fayetteville in Arkansas, then up to Joplin in Missouri before coming back to Riverside. Bob tells me that it should take about 4 hours actual flight time for the whole excursion, and as we will be taking the Cessna 172, my wife Melodie can come along for the ride!
More to come!
-Gareth
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Lesson Nineteen
I have managed to fall behind in keeping this up to date, so this entry is for November 20th.
I had scheduled a lesson from 8 to 10 am, as the Flight School was hosting an Open House from 10 to whenever, which I had volunteered to help with. I got to the airport a few minutes before 8, and chatted with some pilots who were also going to volunteer, but they were going to be working with the EAA's (Experimental Aircraft Association) touring B-17 bomber "Aluminum Overcast".
Michael arrived and let me into the flight school office to get the Pilots Handbook for 69212 so I could start the pre-flight inspections. The previous Wednesdays lesson had been called off due to a weather front coming through the area, which had produced winds gusting past 30 knots. I got the Cessna checked out as Bob arrived, it had been parked across a slope, with one wing slightly lower that the other, which allowed fuel to run from the uphill tank to the downhill tank, so we had 10 gallons in one and 4 in the other. As the engine fuel is supplied from the tanks by gravity, it would naturally drain more from the heavier tank at first, so we would be fine.
I got clearance from Riverside tower and taxied past the parked B-17 to the run-up area, then we were cleared for a takeoff to the southeast.
We flew up through the bumpy air, which smoothed a little by the time we reached 2,500 feet. The wind was still too strong for our planned ground reference maneuvers, so we did some stalls and slow flight.
As I dropped the flaps down for the "dirty" slow-flight I noticed Bob peering down out of the window. I had the plane pointed 180 degrees South, almost straight into the wind, with the airspeed indicator right at 35 knots. Bob asked me to adjust course to the right by 20 degrees to 200, then after a minute, asked me to go back left a little to 190 degrees.
He had been trying to gauge our ground speed, he decided that we were definitely hovering, or flying at an indicated 35 knots straight into a 35 knot headwind, he had been hoping we could actually go backward, but the wind just wasn't quite strong enough.
We got the fresh weather information and turned back around to the airport when he pulled the throttle out and told me the engine had stopped. I ran through the checklist, determined that the engine was windmilling in this simulation, and picked a field to land in. Down we went. The wind closer to the ground had picked up so we were really getting bumped around. I would have successfully landed, so we performed a go-around, full power and flaps retracted as we went back up. At this point I decided that maybe McDonalds breakfast and orange juice aren't the best combination for rough weather flying. I wasn't nauseous, but I was more aware of my stomach than usual and was glad to reach the relatively smoother air above.
We returned to Riverside with no further incident, when we landed we had to taxi through a parking area, as the B-17 had started its 4 huge radial engines, and we didn't want to risk taxiing too closely behind it.
We got the plane tied down and I tracked down Michael to see where I would be needed for the fly-in.
The flight school had recently purchased a Diamond DA-20 Katana as a low-wing trainer, so I was fed some pertinent facts and posted next to it to answer any questions that prospective students might have. Fortunately the DA-20 was parked out in the main fly-in area, so I got to see the B-17 start its engines and take off, as well as a P51 Mustang and F4F Wildcat that were doing some low level formation fly-by's.
After they had landed we walked back to the Flight School building where Michael was grilling some hamburgers and hot-dogs, so I helped out there where I could, got something to eat, and called it a day.
Here are some videos of the B-17 Aluminum Overcast that I shot while at the open house:
Engines Starting, with a cameo by the P51 Miracle Maker.
Take Off with the Wildcat taxiing in the foreground.
Landing and taxiing back to parking.
I had scheduled a lesson from 8 to 10 am, as the Flight School was hosting an Open House from 10 to whenever, which I had volunteered to help with. I got to the airport a few minutes before 8, and chatted with some pilots who were also going to volunteer, but they were going to be working with the EAA's (Experimental Aircraft Association) touring B-17 bomber "Aluminum Overcast".
Michael arrived and let me into the flight school office to get the Pilots Handbook for 69212 so I could start the pre-flight inspections. The previous Wednesdays lesson had been called off due to a weather front coming through the area, which had produced winds gusting past 30 knots. I got the Cessna checked out as Bob arrived, it had been parked across a slope, with one wing slightly lower that the other, which allowed fuel to run from the uphill tank to the downhill tank, so we had 10 gallons in one and 4 in the other. As the engine fuel is supplied from the tanks by gravity, it would naturally drain more from the heavier tank at first, so we would be fine.
I got clearance from Riverside tower and taxied past the parked B-17 to the run-up area, then we were cleared for a takeoff to the southeast.
We flew up through the bumpy air, which smoothed a little by the time we reached 2,500 feet. The wind was still too strong for our planned ground reference maneuvers, so we did some stalls and slow flight.
As I dropped the flaps down for the "dirty" slow-flight I noticed Bob peering down out of the window. I had the plane pointed 180 degrees South, almost straight into the wind, with the airspeed indicator right at 35 knots. Bob asked me to adjust course to the right by 20 degrees to 200, then after a minute, asked me to go back left a little to 190 degrees.
He had been trying to gauge our ground speed, he decided that we were definitely hovering, or flying at an indicated 35 knots straight into a 35 knot headwind, he had been hoping we could actually go backward, but the wind just wasn't quite strong enough.
We got the fresh weather information and turned back around to the airport when he pulled the throttle out and told me the engine had stopped. I ran through the checklist, determined that the engine was windmilling in this simulation, and picked a field to land in. Down we went. The wind closer to the ground had picked up so we were really getting bumped around. I would have successfully landed, so we performed a go-around, full power and flaps retracted as we went back up. At this point I decided that maybe McDonalds breakfast and orange juice aren't the best combination for rough weather flying. I wasn't nauseous, but I was more aware of my stomach than usual and was glad to reach the relatively smoother air above.
We returned to Riverside with no further incident, when we landed we had to taxi through a parking area, as the B-17 had started its 4 huge radial engines, and we didn't want to risk taxiing too closely behind it.
We got the plane tied down and I tracked down Michael to see where I would be needed for the fly-in.
The flight school had recently purchased a Diamond DA-20 Katana as a low-wing trainer, so I was fed some pertinent facts and posted next to it to answer any questions that prospective students might have. Fortunately the DA-20 was parked out in the main fly-in area, so I got to see the B-17 start its engines and take off, as well as a P51 Mustang and F4F Wildcat that were doing some low level formation fly-by's.
After they had landed we walked back to the Flight School building where Michael was grilling some hamburgers and hot-dogs, so I helped out there where I could, got something to eat, and called it a day.
Here are some videos of the B-17 Aluminum Overcast that I shot while at the open house:
Engines Starting, with a cameo by the P51 Miracle Maker.
Take Off with the Wildcat taxiing in the foreground.
Landing and taxiing back to parking.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Lesson Eighteen, back on schedule
I got to Riverside Airport Saturday afternoon just before my scheduled 1pm lesson. The Directional Gyro had been replaced in the 152 a day or two earlier, so we would be flying it.
I completed the pre-flight checks and we looked at the lesson plan for the day, we would be flying to the west practice area to work on slow flight, stalls, turns and emergency procedures, working to get the maneuvers closer to check-ride tolerances.
The airport was very busy, as there was a Beechcraft fly-in, I got the weather report from ATIS and received clearance to taxi to runway 1 left. As soon as we pulled out into the taxiway, we were stuck behind a couple of pilots in Beechcraft who had pulled up to the airport's controlled area marker before calling for any clearance, which is legal but a bit thoughtless. They eventually got finished with whatever they were doing, but we had to cancel our taxi while we waited for them. There were so many Beechcraft calling ground control that at one point the controller called out "Beechcraft one-zero.. uh, sorry, Piper one-zero-three..."
We got a new taxi clearance, completed the run-up checklist and were assigned number four in line to take off. We got to witness what was technically a runway incursion, as someone had rolled to a stop with the nose gear just past the runway edge markings before getting clearance from the tower, but nothing was reported.
Finally we were number one to takeoff, and Bob called for a soft field take-off, so I dropped in ten degrees of flaps, and held the controls back as I pushed the throttle to full, to keep the weight off the nose wheel. After rotating at 50 knots, I immediately leveled off while still in the ground effect area, increased speed to 67 knots, then raised the flaps and climbed out as normal.
We were quickly given instructions to make our turn to the west so as to get us out of the way of faster planes taking off behind us.
On Saturday I had spent some time looking out the windows at the trees that were turning yellow and red for autumn, this time out there was a lot more brown visible as the leaves were starting to fall.
We climbed to 2500 feet and headed to the practice area, where I performed some stalls and slow flight, then Bob pulled the throttle to idle and we went through the emergency procedures for a failed engine and forced landing. After deciding that we could land in the field I had picked out, we did a go-around, engine to full power and climbed back to altitude.
After some steep turns we got the fresh weather report and headed back to Riverside. The airport was still pretty busy, so we were given a hurry-up request and cleared straight in to land.
Next lesson is Wednesday, which will be night time flying again, so probably more maneuvers and pattern work to knock the remaining rust off of my flying.
Soon I will have to start deciding where to fly for cross country navigation lessons!
I completed the pre-flight checks and we looked at the lesson plan for the day, we would be flying to the west practice area to work on slow flight, stalls, turns and emergency procedures, working to get the maneuvers closer to check-ride tolerances.
The airport was very busy, as there was a Beechcraft fly-in, I got the weather report from ATIS and received clearance to taxi to runway 1 left. As soon as we pulled out into the taxiway, we were stuck behind a couple of pilots in Beechcraft who had pulled up to the airport's controlled area marker before calling for any clearance, which is legal but a bit thoughtless. They eventually got finished with whatever they were doing, but we had to cancel our taxi while we waited for them. There were so many Beechcraft calling ground control that at one point the controller called out "Beechcraft one-zero.. uh, sorry, Piper one-zero-three..."
We got a new taxi clearance, completed the run-up checklist and were assigned number four in line to take off. We got to witness what was technically a runway incursion, as someone had rolled to a stop with the nose gear just past the runway edge markings before getting clearance from the tower, but nothing was reported.
Finally we were number one to takeoff, and Bob called for a soft field take-off, so I dropped in ten degrees of flaps, and held the controls back as I pushed the throttle to full, to keep the weight off the nose wheel. After rotating at 50 knots, I immediately leveled off while still in the ground effect area, increased speed to 67 knots, then raised the flaps and climbed out as normal.
We were quickly given instructions to make our turn to the west so as to get us out of the way of faster planes taking off behind us.
On Saturday I had spent some time looking out the windows at the trees that were turning yellow and red for autumn, this time out there was a lot more brown visible as the leaves were starting to fall.
We climbed to 2500 feet and headed to the practice area, where I performed some stalls and slow flight, then Bob pulled the throttle to idle and we went through the emergency procedures for a failed engine and forced landing. After deciding that we could land in the field I had picked out, we did a go-around, engine to full power and climbed back to altitude.
After some steep turns we got the fresh weather report and headed back to Riverside. The airport was still pretty busy, so we were given a hurry-up request and cleared straight in to land.
Next lesson is Wednesday, which will be night time flying again, so probably more maneuvers and pattern work to knock the remaining rust off of my flying.
Soon I will have to start deciding where to fly for cross country navigation lessons!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Back in the Saddle
Soon after getting the official go-ahead from the TSA, I scheduled my normal Wednesday night 6pm to 8pm lesson in the flight school's Cessna 152. About a day later I got the news that the Directional Gyro had been steadily getting worse since the last time I flew, and it was decided that it was time for a replacement. The gyro is still under warranty, but we have no spare while it's being rebuilt. As a result, the 152 is down for maintenance until some time next week.
Fortunately Michael took pity on me, and offered me a discount rate on the larger Cessna 172. I immediately agreed. Bob and I had talked about getting me checked out on the 172 so we could use it for the cross country lessons, as it's faster, and has better range than the 152. Wednesday afternoon Bob called and said he had a spot open for a 4pm to 6pm lesson if I could make it, I got permission from work, and at 3:30 headed for the airfield.
I have to admit I was nervous as I really wasn't sure how much I had forgotten in the two months of bureaucratic shenanigans since my last flight.
Michael met me at the flight school, and had a new checklist for the 172 that he wanted me to try out, so we both went out to the plane, tail number 370JA, and started through the checks. There were a couple of corrections we found to simplify the flow a little, such as "Fuel Shut-Off In" instead of "Fuel Shut-Off Off".
As we continued around the plane, I really got a feel for how much larger than the 152 a 172 really is.
Bob and I got in the plane, and we got the weather report. Winds were light out of the North, and the temperature was about 70f on the ground. The airport was very busy due to the nice weather, lots of pilots enjoying the last of the warmth before winter really sets in. I got clearance to taxi from ground control, and after the run-up checklist was complete, I was number 2 to take off on runway 1 left.
Bob and I had gone over all the appropriate speeds, most of which were just 5 knots faster than in the 152, rotate at 55 knots, climb at 74 knots.
We were cleared to take off, and given instructions to maintain a heading of 300 degrees, north west.
The largest flying difference between the planes is that the 172 model we were in is really sensitive to Pitch inputs, so I had some difficulty maintaining my proper altitude until I got used to it. The other difference is the power, we were buzzing around at 120 knots, and hit 140 at one point, the 152 has to work hard to reach 100 knots straight and level.
The plan for the day was just to see how much I had retained, so we did slow flight, stalls, turns, and steep turns, then headed back to Riverside for a couple of Touch-and-Go landings before calling it a day.
By the time we got back to Riverside it was getting dark, but the airport was still pretty busy, we completed two touch-and-go's on runway 1 right, then asked for a full stop landing on runway 1 left, so we would be closer to the flight school's parking area.
We got the plane tied down and went back inside to discuss the lesson, Bob told me I had done really well, and we could start the syllabus lesson plan on our next lesson. The whole flight had been a great confidence booster, but I can really understand the importance of staying current in your airplane, one of the requirements to carry passengers is that you have had at least 3 take off and landings within the previous 90 days.
I have another lesson scheduled in 370JA on Saturday, and 69212 should be flight-worthy again by next Wednesday. I really enjoyed flying the 172, but I am a lot more comfortable in the 152 that I have been flying since the beginning.
More to Come!
-Gareth
Fortunately Michael took pity on me, and offered me a discount rate on the larger Cessna 172. I immediately agreed. Bob and I had talked about getting me checked out on the 172 so we could use it for the cross country lessons, as it's faster, and has better range than the 152. Wednesday afternoon Bob called and said he had a spot open for a 4pm to 6pm lesson if I could make it, I got permission from work, and at 3:30 headed for the airfield.
I have to admit I was nervous as I really wasn't sure how much I had forgotten in the two months of bureaucratic shenanigans since my last flight.
Michael met me at the flight school, and had a new checklist for the 172 that he wanted me to try out, so we both went out to the plane, tail number 370JA, and started through the checks. There were a couple of corrections we found to simplify the flow a little, such as "Fuel Shut-Off In" instead of "Fuel Shut-Off Off".
As we continued around the plane, I really got a feel for how much larger than the 152 a 172 really is.
 | |
| Cessna 152 |
Bob and I got in the plane, and we got the weather report. Winds were light out of the North, and the temperature was about 70f on the ground. The airport was very busy due to the nice weather, lots of pilots enjoying the last of the warmth before winter really sets in. I got clearance to taxi from ground control, and after the run-up checklist was complete, I was number 2 to take off on runway 1 left.
 | |
| Cessna 172 |
We were cleared to take off, and given instructions to maintain a heading of 300 degrees, north west.
The largest flying difference between the planes is that the 172 model we were in is really sensitive to Pitch inputs, so I had some difficulty maintaining my proper altitude until I got used to it. The other difference is the power, we were buzzing around at 120 knots, and hit 140 at one point, the 152 has to work hard to reach 100 knots straight and level.
The plan for the day was just to see how much I had retained, so we did slow flight, stalls, turns, and steep turns, then headed back to Riverside for a couple of Touch-and-Go landings before calling it a day.
By the time we got back to Riverside it was getting dark, but the airport was still pretty busy, we completed two touch-and-go's on runway 1 right, then asked for a full stop landing on runway 1 left, so we would be closer to the flight school's parking area.
We got the plane tied down and went back inside to discuss the lesson, Bob told me I had done really well, and we could start the syllabus lesson plan on our next lesson. The whole flight had been a great confidence booster, but I can really understand the importance of staying current in your airplane, one of the requirements to carry passengers is that you have had at least 3 take off and landings within the previous 90 days.
I have another lesson scheduled in 370JA on Saturday, and 69212 should be flight-worthy again by next Wednesday. I really enjoyed flying the 172, but I am a lot more comfortable in the 152 that I have been flying since the beginning.
More to Come!
-Gareth
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Reach for the Sky!
I got an email from the TSA this morning, they have acknowledged receipt of my fingerprints, and I am allowed to fly again! The email from the TSA arrived in my email in-box at 6:34 AM, and at just after 7am, I got another from Bob, he had received the good news as well. I have already scheduled a lesson for tonight from 7:00 to 9:00pm. It's been getting dark earlier lately, so it will probably be night hours for me!
The trip to Will Rogers airport in Oklahoma City to get fingerprinted took about 2 hours by car, we had joked during ground school about just making it an unofficial cross country flight, but decided to err on the side of caution. My wife Melodie and I both took the friday afternoon off of work to make the trip, and we arrived shortly before my appointed time of 3:00pm.
The fingerprinting location was at a jet charter company, where we met the guy that would be taking my fingerprints. The fingerprinting machine used a pink ink and thick paper fingerprinting cards. After all the pink prints were taken, the card was heated in the machine to cure the ink, which turned black when it was done cooking. While we chatted, I learned that I was actually his first Alien Flight Student Program customer, and that he had purchased the fingerprinting equipment to help his charter company air crews pass their security checks.
Twenty minutes after we arrived, and with two separate sets of fingerprints completed, we were done, and so went to visit my sister, Rachel, who lives in Oklahoma City. While we were at her house, I got a phone call letting me know that the fingerprints had been successfully uploaded.
Stay Tuned! More to come, hopefully more often that over the last couple of months!
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