Aviation

Flight Training

Documenting my journey through flight training towards my Private Pilot License.

The Point of the S

Posted on March 04, 2016.

Performed more ground reference maneuvers today.  After warming up on the rectangular pattern, we did S turns and turns around a point.  The wind was extremely calm, so the maneuvers were greatly simplified.  It was actually nice to get the hang of them without the complexity of large wind corrections.  He wants to go over them again next time, since correcting for the wind is one of the main points of the maneuver.  If I do well, we will start with the pattern work.  I suspect we will be doing that for quite a while, since there is a lot to learn and my landings are still not good (hey, I've only done 8 so far).

I finally got some video footage of a lesson.  The 152 does not have a GoPro mount, so I mounted it to the side window just behind my head.  The camera could see the instruments and outside, but it had the door pillar right through the middle and the instruments were way underexposed.  I guess two cameras are needed if I want to get both the outside and a good shot of the controls and instruments.  Despite that and even though I started the camera a bit late, the video has already proven really helpful.  Editing and syncing-in the intercom audio was rather tedious on GoPro's software.  Looking for something better.

Missing the Reference

Posted on February 27, 2016.

Had a pretty good flight today.  My taxi and takeoff radio work were better this time.  We've started discussing emergency procedures and, as I expected, my first exposure to a simulated emergency didn't go all that well.  I did my best to memorize the checklists before the flight, but it wasn't all that helpful in the moment.  He showed me his flow checks in the 152 and so I'm going to head over there sometime for some dry time to practice those.

After a couple of steep turns that I overshot for some reason, we proceeded on to ground reference maneuvers.  We went around a rectangular pattern a few times and I got the hang of left traffic after a couple of laps.  However, the right pattern was a lot more challenging and I struggled to keep the correct distance from the landmarks and choosing my bank angles.  Going to need more practice with those.  Somehow I just couldn't keep it all straight in my head while also dividing my attention between where I was, where I needed to turn, what kind of turn it needed to be, where I needed to be after the turn, my altitude, my airspeed, and keeping everything coordinated.  Multitasking is pretty much the point of the exercise, so more practice next time when we polish this and then move on to S-turns and turns around a point.

My radio work for the arrival fumbled a bit when the tower gave me a bunch of information that I then couldn't articulate back, but it got better as we went around the pattern for a first-ever landing on runway 30 with a bit of a crosswind.  It wasn't terrible.

Fly Lighter

Posted on February 22, 2016.

So today I took my first flight in the Cessna 152, N714UF with its brand-new engine and propeller.  It flew pretty similarly to the 172, but was noticeably lighter and more nimble.

I fumbled with ATC because of the new call sign, but the takeoff went well.  We reviewed slow flight and stalls, which went OK.  I was much more relaxed during the setup, but the recoveries still need work.  We then moved on to steep turns, which I got the hang of it after a few attempts.  They were not as difficult as I was expecting and were actually pretty fun! He then handed me a hood and I flew back to the airport on instruments.  That was much more challenging than I expected.

During the approach, the tower wanted me to get in between two incoming jets.  I can't remember the wording, but it wasn't clear to me what he wanted.  After sorting that out, I attempted the approach and ended up landing long.  This caused us to miss the first runway exit, which meant that the jet behind us had to go around.  Oops.

Overall it was a pretty good flight.  Next up will be ground reference maneuvers and emergency procedures.

Rusty Stalls

Posted on February 18, 2016.

After well over 2 weeks of bad weather, we finally got up again today.  I was already feeling rusty and struggled with simple tasks.  I made a few mistakes while on the ground and the takeoff was messy, but I held my climb this time.  It felt weird at first, but it started coming back to me.  I still have a habit of climbing during my turns.

Once at the practice area, we did some slow flight and then moved on to full stalls.  I had quite a bit of trouble with these.  I did the power-on stall reasonably well after a few tries, but I struggled with the power-off stall.  Part of the problem was that I was rusty and not staying coordinated.  However, the real challenge was that I think I was getting hung up on performing each step leading up to the stall (fiddling with flaps, etc) while trying not to forget things (which I did anyway..."carb heat!") and not flying the airplane.  I think I need to step back from the procedure and just fly.  My instructor thought my problem was that I was nervous about the stall, but actually they were pretty fun.  I was actually nervous about forgetting things in the procedure and feeling generally rusty with my flying.

This was the first time that I flew with the GoPro mounted in the cabin.  And that's exactly everything that I did...mounted it in the cabin.  I forgot to start recording.  I did hook up the audio recorder to the intercom, however.  Since that battery lasts forever, I just started it as soon as I connected it and so there was no way I could forget to start it.  That proved useful in and of itself, as I heard my instructor explain things that I didn't pick up while I was in the cockpit.  At times it was painful to relive the experience, however.

Lesson three had stalls in store for me.

Posted on February 01, 2016.

Today's lesson started off normal enough.  Then I somehow dropped my pen after I made the call to ground and had no way to write down the instructions, which were complicated enough that I couldn't remember all the clearances for the read-back.  After I botched that, we got some sort of hint from the tower that I missed to get out on the runway and step on it.  Then on the rotation, I was so focused on what I was doing with the rudder that I released back pressure on the yoke and we sat in the ground effect before I figured out what was going on.

Luckily, things got better after that.  We practiced slow flight in the clean configuration once and then went on to the dirty configuration.  First we wallowed around with various flap settings to give me a feel for it and then he demonstrated slow flight in the landing configuration.  My first try was messy, second try was better but I still couldn't hold my heading or altitude during the transition.  The turns were awkward, but not a disaster.  I nailed the altitude on the third try and my turns were better, but still lost my heading during the transition due to poor management of the rudder.  Apparently though, I did well enough that he showed me power on and power off stalls and gave me a stab it at.  We always recovered before the stall started, but it was still a challenge as I hadn't studied the procedures beforehand.  I didn't do them very well, but now I know what I'm in for next time.

He said my landing was good...if you say so Mr. CFI! It was a blur to me.  I need to relax more.  That is a big part of my trouble with the rudder.  I'm pushing on both pedals so hard that I can barely stand when I get out of the plane.