Lesson 2
Wooohooo! This is a blast!
Had my second lesson this morning. It went great. Like I mentioned yesterday the weather is perfect, clear sky, only a slight southern wind and temperature in the mid 50s (Fahrenheit). I was the first lesson of the day and got there just before sunrise. C had me go out and start the preflight. I was a little nervous doing this the first time alone and I probably checked everything three times. I had to call the fuel company to get a truck sent over. C came out about the time the truck showed up and followed me while I finished the check. I noticed that he also checked some things like the fuel and oil.
We tugged the plane out onto the line, got in and I ran through the startup checklist. Note to self ... gotta remember throttle in = more power, throttle out = less power. I keep pushing it in when I mean to pull it out.
Starting with the taxi C had me do everything from then on. He only took over control when we were on short final to land. Today was a repeat of what I learned yesterday except this time C would call out and altitude and then I had to ascend or descend and trim out the plane to straight and level. We did a couple of those, then he threw some ascending and descending turns in there. We also pretended like he was ATC and was giving me vectors to fly, so I had to repeat his commands to him with our callsign. We also did slow flight and a go-around at 3000'. Man, during the go-around you really have to put some muscle into it to keep the nose of the plane up ... at least, until I could trim some of that out.
It was surprising to me just how much noise full flaps produce. C mentioned that when I start practicing landings I'll be restricted to just 10-degrees of flaps.
We basically just flew around the practice area so that I could get a feel for the boundaries.
I know I'm getting a better feel for how the plane responds to the controls. I had less of a problem getting to and holding an altitude or a heading, but I had to think real hard to perform the steps in the right order, or not skip something. I know that'll get easier with practice.
I need to get my own headset now. So far they've loaned me different headsets and they've all been OK until today. The cheapy pair I wore really pinched my head and by the end of the flight it was a huge relief to take them off. I'm sold on getting an ANR set but now I gotta shop for the lowest price. Comfort-wise I really like the David Clarks and the Flightcom Denali. I have a Sporty's rebate on the Telex Stratus 50-D model but when I tried them on at Monarch I didn't like the feel at all. The holes in the padding for your ears is too small so the padding actually sits on my ears. I'd have to fold my ears to fit them inside the padding. Ick!
The hardest part about the lessons so far is that now I have to wait five whole days before my next lesson!!! At least I've got MS Flight Simulator to sorta fill the gap.
Had my second lesson this morning. It went great. Like I mentioned yesterday the weather is perfect, clear sky, only a slight southern wind and temperature in the mid 50s (Fahrenheit). I was the first lesson of the day and got there just before sunrise. C had me go out and start the preflight. I was a little nervous doing this the first time alone and I probably checked everything three times. I had to call the fuel company to get a truck sent over. C came out about the time the truck showed up and followed me while I finished the check. I noticed that he also checked some things like the fuel and oil.
We tugged the plane out onto the line, got in and I ran through the startup checklist. Note to self ... gotta remember throttle in = more power, throttle out = less power. I keep pushing it in when I mean to pull it out.
Starting with the taxi C had me do everything from then on. He only took over control when we were on short final to land. Today was a repeat of what I learned yesterday except this time C would call out and altitude and then I had to ascend or descend and trim out the plane to straight and level. We did a couple of those, then he threw some ascending and descending turns in there. We also pretended like he was ATC and was giving me vectors to fly, so I had to repeat his commands to him with our callsign. We also did slow flight and a go-around at 3000'. Man, during the go-around you really have to put some muscle into it to keep the nose of the plane up ... at least, until I could trim some of that out.
It was surprising to me just how much noise full flaps produce. C mentioned that when I start practicing landings I'll be restricted to just 10-degrees of flaps.
We basically just flew around the practice area so that I could get a feel for the boundaries.
I know I'm getting a better feel for how the plane responds to the controls. I had less of a problem getting to and holding an altitude or a heading, but I had to think real hard to perform the steps in the right order, or not skip something. I know that'll get easier with practice.
I need to get my own headset now. So far they've loaned me different headsets and they've all been OK until today. The cheapy pair I wore really pinched my head and by the end of the flight it was a huge relief to take them off. I'm sold on getting an ANR set but now I gotta shop for the lowest price. Comfort-wise I really like the David Clarks and the Flightcom Denali. I have a Sporty's rebate on the Telex Stratus 50-D model but when I tried them on at Monarch I didn't like the feel at all. The holes in the padding for your ears is too small so the padding actually sits on my ears. I'd have to fold my ears to fit them inside the padding. Ick!
The hardest part about the lessons so far is that now I have to wait five whole days before my next lesson!!! At least I've got MS Flight Simulator to sorta fill the gap.
posted by AirmanChet at
09:44
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