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.

s-turns, from www.sportpilot.org

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.

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

http://earthboundmisfitt.blogspot.com/

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!

Grey Eagle Flight Academy in Carlsbad, CA

Ask Captain Scott, such a great resource!!!

I just wanted to share this website, askcaptainscott.com

I have been watching his videos for a while, but now that I am actually taking lessons I am finding his videos very beneficial to use as a post lesson review. Check him out!

Second Lesson: Steep Turns, and Slow Flight Glides

When I arrived for today's lesson the first thing I noticed was that my plane wasn't in its usual spot, sure enough someone had it out. No problem though, I was a bit early anyway. Once the plane came back I filled out I was given a binder which contained the checklist for the plane, the keys, and a log of who had the plane and what the planes tach and hobbs meter read.

With the check list in hand, I made my way around the plane visually inspecting the plane according to my CFI's input. Last lesson I followed him around while he told me what I was looking for, but today he followed me around and helped me find what I was looking for. The plane needed fuel, so we made the call and waited for the truck to arrive. 

Once we were fueled up, we started up the plane, taxi'd to the runway, and eventually took off...each of these steps had its own checklist which needed to be followed. I also learned the basics of how to talk on the radio. You want to first state who you are calling (tower), who you are (plane number), where you are, and why you are calling...so that's how it works!

Once in the air it was time for today's lesson: steep turns. The turns I practiced were made at 45 degrees of bank, which felt a lot different then the turns we made at 30 degrees of bank. I found these a little more difficult to control, and they felt a lot sketchier, as I could feel the g force while doing these turns...although I did catch myself going closer to 60 degrees of bank instead of 45 at times. Some turns went better than others. I did notice that when I would glance down at my instruments to make sure I wasn't losing altitude, I would look up to find the planes pitch not where I wanted it to me. 

After a few steep turns we practiced slow flight glides, these were difficult too. Man, I didn't think flying was going to be tough until I was in a few lessons, but sure enough its lesson 2 and I am finding it difficult. The slow flight glides were tricky because when your at such a slow speed your controls react differently. For example I was using throttle to maintain altitude, and pitch to maintain airspeed...the opposite of how you would control the plane at normal speeds. 

And with a couple slow flight glides under my belt we were headed back. That flight went by fast! I made the final approach to the runway, and my CFI made the landing. I was in control of taxing the plane once we landed though, and even maintained control once we got near other planes and buildings...this was definitely the sketchiest part of the day. The last thing I wanted was to bump into another airplane...that reminds me, I am going to sign up for renters insurance as soon as I post this blog entry.

Well that's it, another 1.1 hours added to the log book! Paid my CFI for 1.6 hours of his time, and paid 1.1 hours for the plane rental, a grand total of $171. Next lesson is Monday. 

Checklist for the Cessna 152

My rental

Another entry to the logbook

First Lesson: Straight and Level / Turns / Climbing and Descending

Well I went through with it...I had my first lesson. It took me 5 minutes to commute from my office cubicle to the flight schools office. Upon arriving I was greeted by Kam, who would be my instructor. My first impression of my him was that he would be too old, and his personality too rigid for me to be able to relate too, but that wasn't the case at all. I found him to be funny, personable, and a great teacher. I felt like he really enjoys teaching, and wants me to learn...and isn't there for any other reasons besides that.

We started the lesson by going through the pre-flight checklist on the Cessna 152 I was renting. He showed me what I was looking for, and had me check the fuel levels on my own. After that we taxi'd for take off. Kam had me get a feel for the rudders while taxing to see how the plane reacted. We waited for a small jet plane and another Cessna to take off, and then it was our turn.

Once in the air Kam had me fly the plane straight and level. He then had me make 30 degree turns to the right and the left. After that we climbed, and then climbed while turning. We then descended by pulling the throttle all the way out, and he told me about when to use the carburetor heat. We made some turns while descending, and then headed back to the airport. He had me control the plane for the final approach to the runway, and then took over for landing. 

On the ground he once again had me control the rudders while taxiing. He took over the controls once we got near some parked airplanes...man what a tight squeeze... that's going to be a bit tricky for me to handle I think. We tied down the airplane, and went inside. Kam filled out my logbook, which I purchased there...my first entree...how exciting! We put exactly one hour on the hobbs meter, and Kam only charged me 1.5 hours of instruction, even though he spent over 2.5 hours with me this day. Awesome! The cost was definitely not as high as I thought it was going to be, a grand total of $172.04 (includes logbook), and the experience was better than I had expected. All in all a fantastic experience.

The plane I rented, a Cessna 152

Inside the Cessna 152

My brand new pilot logbook

First entry into the logbook, how exciting!

First lesson is booked!

Well the time is finally here. Day light savings has arrived, my tax return has been deposited, the out of town guests have gone home, and my zero interest credit card has been activated. Guess I've run out of excuses... Wednesday after work will be my first real flying lesson. LETS DO THIS!

I just discovered the most amusing instructional videos...

Check out the videos from profpilot.co.uk on YouTube, they are entertaining and informative.