When I arrived at the airport today for my lesson, I was informed that my airplane had no right wheel, that the mechanic was installing a new one, and would be finishing up any minute now. After waiting about 30 minutes for the mechanic to finish, I decided to go outside and see if he wouldn't mind if I preflighted the airplane while he worked. He told me to go for it, and assured me I wouldn't be in his way. As I preflighted the airplane, the mechanic told me several stories of his past, of people he met throughout his life, and then we got into talking about movies. I reckon that by me going out and preflighting while the mechanic was working, I added another 30 minutes to the time it took him to finish. The good news is that the mechanic was a good guy, and had some interesting stories...so whats waiting a little longer matter?
Once the mechanic was finished, we taxied to the runway to begin our lesson. There was a special event going on at my local airport today, which meant there was a lot more traffic than usual. Once it was our turn to take off, we flew the pattern, landed, and were told to make a full stop and taxi for takeoff again. My instructor wasn't about to deal with this all day, so we flew to another local airport...an uncontrolled airport.
The uncontrolled airport we did most of today's lesson in had a much narrower, and shorter runway than the one I am used to. It was also next to a military base, and over a neighborhood with noise abatement procedures in effect...it made for an interesting experience, and I really enjoyed it.
We made a total of eight landings today. One of them felt great, and I think I actually flew it all by myself. Another landing was okay, and the rest were not so good.
Today's lesson ran for a total of 1.9 hours on the hobbs, mostly due to waiting to taxi, and being forced to make a full stop after our first lesson I am sure. The costs were $171 for the airplane rental, and $85.50 for instruction...a grand total of $256.50...my most expensive lesson to date I believe.
My instructor informed me that all the lessons from here on our will be to practice landings until I am ready to solo. Things are getting exciting!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Medical exam
Since I have begun practicing landings, I figure I am probably not too far along from having to solo, which means I am going to need my medical. My school refered me to a doctor, and I was able to make an appointment immediately...no three month wait for an available appointment, unlike my regular doctor.
The medical exam was easy. The doctor specialized in aviation, and had picture of airplanes all over the wall, and the magazine rack was full of AOPA magazines. They had me pee in a cup, checked my eyes, checked my blood pressure, and poked at me a bit. That was it. I was out of there 40 minutes after I walked through the door, and my bank account was $85 lighter.
The medical exam was easy. The doctor specialized in aviation, and had picture of airplanes all over the wall, and the magazine rack was full of AOPA magazines. They had me pee in a cup, checked my eyes, checked my blood pressure, and poked at me a bit. That was it. I was out of there 40 minutes after I walked through the door, and my bank account was $85 lighter.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Lesson Seven: Departures and landings
Today was a milestone in my training I would say. Today is the day we started practicing takeoffs and landings. After I preflighted the airplane, taxied, and did the run up, I did something I haven't yet done...I asked Tower for permission to do touch and go's.
Once Tower gave us permission, we made our first departure down the runway. My instructor Kam had the controls, and demonstrated what I would be doing the next time we flew the pattern. Kam departed the runway, made a climbing turn 90 degrees right to crosswind, and another climbing turn 90 degrees to downwind. We were now parallel to the runway. Once we were abeam our landing spot, we started our descent at 80 knots. We continued descending, and made a 90 degree turn to the base leg. Once on the base leg, we reduced speed to 70 knots. We kept descending, and made out last turn onto final approach. One on final we reduced speed to 65 knots. Now all that was left to do was to stay lined up with the runway, and keep descending at the right speed and angle...not an easy task I found out. Once over the runway, Kam was able to make the airplane float just a foot or two over the runway. While floating over the runway, he pulled back slightly on the controls to raise the noise, forcing the place to slow down, and help it settle onto the runway...this is called flaring.
With Kam's demonstration over, it was now my turn. I followed his instructions, making the turns when he told me to, and reducing power when he instructed. My landings were much harder than Kam's. I seemed to struggle with every aspect of landing, from staying lined up with the center-line, to floating the airplane over the runway, to flaring correctly. Multiple times I found the nose of the airplane facing towards the side of the runway, or flaring the airplane too fast, and ballooning off the runway. Landing is not an easy task, but it is not impossible. I was surprised just how awkwardly you could control the airplane, and still land it in one peice.
We made a total of seven landings, and although I don't feel like I did a very good job, Kam says I did good for a student, and that we can progress to landings with flaps on the next lesson. After the lesson I went home and made myself a few Jack and gingers, because I knew my heart, and mind would be racing all night thinking about today's lesson. The three drinks I had helped, but I still had a horrible nights sleep.
Today's lesson totaled $171. The airplane rental was $108 (1.2 hours x $90), and instruction was $63 (1.4 hours x $45).
Once Tower gave us permission, we made our first departure down the runway. My instructor Kam had the controls, and demonstrated what I would be doing the next time we flew the pattern. Kam departed the runway, made a climbing turn 90 degrees right to crosswind, and another climbing turn 90 degrees to downwind. We were now parallel to the runway. Once we were abeam our landing spot, we started our descent at 80 knots. We continued descending, and made a 90 degree turn to the base leg. Once on the base leg, we reduced speed to 70 knots. We kept descending, and made out last turn onto final approach. One on final we reduced speed to 65 knots. Now all that was left to do was to stay lined up with the runway, and keep descending at the right speed and angle...not an easy task I found out. Once over the runway, Kam was able to make the airplane float just a foot or two over the runway. While floating over the runway, he pulled back slightly on the controls to raise the noise, forcing the place to slow down, and help it settle onto the runway...this is called flaring.
With Kam's demonstration over, it was now my turn. I followed his instructions, making the turns when he told me to, and reducing power when he instructed. My landings were much harder than Kam's. I seemed to struggle with every aspect of landing, from staying lined up with the center-line, to floating the airplane over the runway, to flaring correctly. Multiple times I found the nose of the airplane facing towards the side of the runway, or flaring the airplane too fast, and ballooning off the runway. Landing is not an easy task, but it is not impossible. I was surprised just how awkwardly you could control the airplane, and still land it in one peice.
We made a total of seven landings, and although I don't feel like I did a very good job, Kam says I did good for a student, and that we can progress to landings with flaps on the next lesson. After the lesson I went home and made myself a few Jack and gingers, because I knew my heart, and mind would be racing all night thinking about today's lesson. The three drinks I had helped, but I still had a horrible nights sleep.
Today's lesson totaled $171. The airplane rental was $108 (1.2 hours x $90), and instruction was $63 (1.4 hours x $45).
Right hand traffic patterns, like at Palomar, are not typical.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Lesson Six: Ground reference maneuvers
When I arrived at the airport today, my instructor Kam hadn't arrived yet. The guy running the office told me to go ahead at pre-flight the plane, and that Kam would be right along. This was my first time pre-flighting the plane without Kam watching over me, and it was kind of nice not having that pressure. Once I was finished with the pre-flight, I went back into the office and Kam was there waiting. Kam gave me a quick lesson on the white board, showing me what the ground reference maneuvers we were doing today would look like, and when he was finished we headed out to the plane.
I worked the radio, taxied, and took off into the sky. We headed to the practice area, and found a long road, and intersection that we would use for the ground reference maneuvers lesson. Kam demonstrated the rectangular course maneuver first. Its as easy as looking out of the planes windows, and keeping a set distance away from your target...in this case, a series of roads. You do this around a rectangular path, and its not as easy as it sounds, especially when you have windy conditions like we had today. Next came the turn around a point maneuver, this consisted of making circles around an intersection while keeping a consistent distance from it. Around this time in the lesson, I was starting to feel a little nauseous from all the turbulence. I tried not to panic, and took a deep breath and continued on. The final maneuver we practiced was the s-turn. This is similar to the turn around the point maneuver, but you switch direction halfway through the turn, making an "S' shape instead of a full circle.
The reason these maneuvers are tricky, is because of the wind. When you are heading down wind, your speed is faster than if you were heading into the wind. How much you need to turn is directly related to how fast you are going, so you are constantly making adjustments to maintain a consistent distance from your target. These maneuvers are also practiced, because you are forced to look outside the plane, and not stare at your instruments, but quickly reference them.
Kam said that our lesson today is usually split into two lessons, but he felt that I was doing really, and decided we could get it all done in one lesson. He informed me that we will start practicing takeoffs and landings on the next lesson, and that I am progressing really well. He told me most people don't start practicing takeoffs and landing until around 10 hours, and I am starting them at 7.7 hours. I was very glad to hear I was doing well, but I am extremely nervous about practicing takeoffs and landings, these have been the parts of our lessons where my palms are the sweatiest, and my knuckles the whitest...and I'm not even the one landing the plane!
Today we put 1.5 hours on the planes hobbs ($135), and Kam charged for 1.7 hours of instruction ($76.50), totaling $211.50 for today's lesson.
I worked the radio, taxied, and took off into the sky. We headed to the practice area, and found a long road, and intersection that we would use for the ground reference maneuvers lesson. Kam demonstrated the rectangular course maneuver first. Its as easy as looking out of the planes windows, and keeping a set distance away from your target...in this case, a series of roads. You do this around a rectangular path, and its not as easy as it sounds, especially when you have windy conditions like we had today. Next came the turn around a point maneuver, this consisted of making circles around an intersection while keeping a consistent distance from it. Around this time in the lesson, I was starting to feel a little nauseous from all the turbulence. I tried not to panic, and took a deep breath and continued on. The final maneuver we practiced was the s-turn. This is similar to the turn around the point maneuver, but you switch direction halfway through the turn, making an "S' shape instead of a full circle.
The reason these maneuvers are tricky, is because of the wind. When you are heading down wind, your speed is faster than if you were heading into the wind. How much you need to turn is directly related to how fast you are going, so you are constantly making adjustments to maintain a consistent distance from your target. These maneuvers are also practiced, because you are forced to look outside the plane, and not stare at your instruments, but quickly reference them.
Kam said that our lesson today is usually split into two lessons, but he felt that I was doing really, and decided we could get it all done in one lesson. He informed me that we will start practicing takeoffs and landings on the next lesson, and that I am progressing really well. He told me most people don't start practicing takeoffs and landing until around 10 hours, and I am starting them at 7.7 hours. I was very glad to hear I was doing well, but I am extremely nervous about practicing takeoffs and landings, these have been the parts of our lessons where my palms are the sweatiest, and my knuckles the whitest...and I'm not even the one landing the plane!
Today we put 1.5 hours on the planes hobbs ($135), and Kam charged for 1.7 hours of instruction ($76.50), totaling $211.50 for today's lesson.
s-turns, from www.sportpilot.org
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Fifth Lesson: Departure and approach stalls, engine out procedure
Today's lesson started like all the others: I pre-flighted the airplane, taxied to the holding area, did the engine run-up check, and took off! Everything up to this point seems to be getting a little easier, and a little less intimidating.
Once in the air, we were forced to fly under the clouds. Up until today I have been flying in clear skies, so this was a new experience for me. When Kam spotted an opening in the clouds, he instructed me to climb through it and get us above them. From here we found an area clear of clouds, and used it as our practice area. It felt like we were in some sort of cloud arena. It was pretty cool!
When we found our practice area we did a few departure stalls, which simulate taking off from the airport and stalling the airplane. We have been doing a lot of stalls lately, and I am finding myself a lot less nervous of them, in fact I felt like I was in pretty good control when it came to recovering from the stall. Kam even said I did a really good job, and seemed genuinely happy, which is something I have yet to experience up until this point. After the departure stalls we did approach stalls, which simulate stalling the airplane as you are coming in for a landing. Again, I felt like I recovered very well from the stall, and Kam once again seemed happy with me.
After a few departure stalls, and a few approach stalls, we did the engine out procedure. First thing I had to do was put the airplane at the preferred gliding speed, and then trim to maintain that speed. Once the plane was trimmed, I didn't have to worry about the plane gliding at the correct speed, it was doing it on its own. Now I could find a good emergency landing site, and take out my checklist. This is a fun scenario, but I hope to never have to do it for real.
And with that, our time was up. We headed back to the airport. Usually our approach to the runway is straight ahead, but today we were perpendicular to the runway, and had to make a right turn while descending. I lined up the airplane with the runway, and continued to descend. Once we got real low, Kam jumped on the controls with me, and landed the plane.
Today's lesson went by real quick, and I was surprised that we put 1.3 hours on the Hobbs, it definitely didn't feel that long. The cost of today's lesson was $117 for the airplane, and $67.50 for instruction...a grand total of $184.50. Before I left, Kam actually gave me a little homework assignment, and told me we would have some ground instruction before the next lesson. Until now, I have been reading on my own, following a syllabus I had found online. It will be interesting to see how his ground lesson goes.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Fourth Lesson: Stalls, stalls, stalls, stalls, stalls...
Today started with me doing the pre-flight checklist on my own, as my instructor Kam looked on. The check list went smooth...I am starting to feel like I am getting the hang of this. Once the pre-flight check was done, we started the engine, and I got on the radio and requested permission to taxi. I have the asking for permission part down, but I am getting tripped up on how to respond to the directions given by ground control.
While taxiing to the holding spot, I felt like I was doing a much better job controlling the plane than I had previously. We did our pre-takeoff check, and then I requested permission to takeoff from the tower...something I was too afraid to do last time, and you know what...it wasn't so bad. I am making an effort to do as much as possible when Kam gives me the option...no fear!
Kam once again had me controlling the plane during take off. I found myself more nervous doing it this time around though...now that I know about stalls. When we reached the practice area, we did some more instrument practice under the hood. Its difficult, but I felt like I was finally doing okay by the end.
Next Kam showed me a bunch of different stalls. We did accelerated stalls, trim stalls, cross controlled stalls, departure stalls, and approach to landing stalls. Thankfully none of them were as scary as the power off stalls that we did last week, although the accelerated stall was pretty intense...I could feel the skin of my face being pushed back by the G force as Kam tried to stall the airplane. Not to scary, although, Kam never did get the plane to actually stall...he said he didn't want to push it anymore than he had.
After stalls we did another engine out procedure, which is kind of fun. Kam put the throttle at idle, and said "the engine is out, what do you do?". I followed the check list, and then looked for a spot that I would want to land at. Its interesting...
That was it for today, so we headed back to the airport. I requested permission to land from the tower, and headed towards the airport. Kam let me control the airplane during final approach to the runway, and then took the controls for landing. The idea of landing a plane on my own scares the crap out of me! I wont worry about that yet though...I got enough of my plate.
Today's lesson cost me $202.50: 1.4 hours on the Hobbs meter, equaling $126 for the airplane, and 1.7 hours of instruction equaling $76.50, well worth the price of admission as far as I am concerned. I may find myself nervously anticipating/ dreading each upcoming lesson, but I always leave the airport with a huge smile on my face.
Photo by another KCRQ pilot
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Power on stall video
If you have read my previous post than you how much power on stalls freaked me out on my last lesson. I wanted to share a video with you so you could get an idea of what I experienced.
Fast forward to about 1:00
Third Lesson: Power on/ off stalls, and IR maneuvers
Today's lesson started with me handling the checklist. I went through the preflight checklist while describing to my instructor what I was doing. Doing the preflight on my own is something I had a little anxiety about, but it went smoothly. I also got a chance to speak on the radio to ask for permission to taxi, again this was pretty easy, but when we were ready to ask for permission to take off I declined the opportunity to handle the radio since there was a bit more information I would be required to say. The radios intimidate me.
Once we were granted permission for takeoff, I was surprised when my instructor let me handle the controls. I gave the plane full power, waited until we reached 50 knots, and pulled back on the controls. Piece of cake.
Once we were in the air, he told me to put the hood on for some IR maneuvers. A hood is just a plastic shield you wear on your head that prevents you from seeing anything in the airplane except the instruments. With the hood on, I was instructed to perform several maneuvers, such as: maintaining straight and level flight, turns, climbs, and descents. All in all I think I did okay, although it is definitively tricky! I found myself over compensating to correct errors, or I would focus too long on one instrument, and go off course on another.
Here is when things started getting sketchy...STALLS! The power off stalls were a breeze! We would pull the throttle all the way out to reduce power, and then pitch the nose up until the wings couldn't produce lift anymore. Once you stall you feel the plane rumble a bit, and to correct it you just need to reduce pitch...no big deal. The real scare was doing power on stalls. Power on stalls involve putting the throttle in to full power, and then pitch the nose up until you stall. It takes a lot of pulling on the yoke to get enough pitch to stall, but when it does the plane violently jerks down and to the side. You see, when you are climbing the plane has a tendency to yaw to the left, you have to correct this by stepping on the right rudder. If you do a full power stall, and the plane is yawing left because you aren't giving it enough rudder, you will experience what I experienced, which was the sensation that the plane was about to go upside down and plummet to the ground! Seriously, power on stalls scare me.
After doing a couple more power on stalls (not my idea!), we did a scenario where I lost engine power. The checklist has a section for such an emergency, so we just followed that. Kind of fun, but not too involved in this lesson. With that complete, we headed back to the airport...another lesson complete.
Today's lesson was the longest I have had to far, we logged 1.4 hours in the airplane for a total of $126, and my instructor charged me an additional half hour of ground time for a total of $85.50...a grand total of $211.50 to get the crap scared out of me. Good times!
Once we were granted permission for takeoff, I was surprised when my instructor let me handle the controls. I gave the plane full power, waited until we reached 50 knots, and pulled back on the controls. Piece of cake.
Once we were in the air, he told me to put the hood on for some IR maneuvers. A hood is just a plastic shield you wear on your head that prevents you from seeing anything in the airplane except the instruments. With the hood on, I was instructed to perform several maneuvers, such as: maintaining straight and level flight, turns, climbs, and descents. All in all I think I did okay, although it is definitively tricky! I found myself over compensating to correct errors, or I would focus too long on one instrument, and go off course on another.
Here is when things started getting sketchy...STALLS! The power off stalls were a breeze! We would pull the throttle all the way out to reduce power, and then pitch the nose up until the wings couldn't produce lift anymore. Once you stall you feel the plane rumble a bit, and to correct it you just need to reduce pitch...no big deal. The real scare was doing power on stalls. Power on stalls involve putting the throttle in to full power, and then pitch the nose up until you stall. It takes a lot of pulling on the yoke to get enough pitch to stall, but when it does the plane violently jerks down and to the side. You see, when you are climbing the plane has a tendency to yaw to the left, you have to correct this by stepping on the right rudder. If you do a full power stall, and the plane is yawing left because you aren't giving it enough rudder, you will experience what I experienced, which was the sensation that the plane was about to go upside down and plummet to the ground! Seriously, power on stalls scare me.
After doing a couple more power on stalls (not my idea!), we did a scenario where I lost engine power. The checklist has a section for such an emergency, so we just followed that. Kind of fun, but not too involved in this lesson. With that complete, we headed back to the airport...another lesson complete.
Today's lesson was the longest I have had to far, we logged 1.4 hours in the airplane for a total of $126, and my instructor charged me an additional half hour of ground time for a total of $85.50...a grand total of $211.50 to get the crap scared out of me. Good times!
Grey Eagle Flight Academy in Carlsbad, CA
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