Lesson 5
After my last lesson my instructor, C, mentioned that I should check out some of the other Skyhawks so I wouldn't get too used to just one aircraft. So this time out we used N432SP which is a 1999 Skyhawk 172S with 4000 hours on the Hobbs. Preflighting this plane was just what I expected ... everything is a little looser, a little noisier, a little faded. And little things are different. Like the headset plugs are near the armrest and have little metal flaps over them. In N2160Q they were on the panel.
It took two tries to get the engine started this time. But I wasn't blanking on what to do this time. The mixture control on this plane feels like it's rusted so you really have to put some muscle behind it to move the thing. So the first starting attempt I couldn't get the mixture rich fast enough to keep the engine alive. But the second time went great.
I called up ground control and taxied us out to a hold position at taxiway A, which is the main taxiway paralleling the runway. There we had to let a Citation X go by first before we were cleared on A in front of a helicopter. I'm not sure the make but it looked sort of like a Bell Agusta. In the runup area we were second in line behind a Mooney. But behind us was a King Air, then a Pilatus, then a couple more Cessna piston singles. I suppose that we had clear skies, 60-degrees Fahrenheit, and bad weather projected for tomorrow had something to do with it.
Soon we were cleared to take off on runway 15 and so I taxied out following the short S-turn from the runup area onto the runway, kept it moving and lined up and let her rip. C told me to hold a constant 75 kias climb out and I had a little trouble with that. Instead we were mostly between 80 and 85 kias. Later, C told me that since there's a lot of buildings south of the airport when he says hold 75 he means 75, not about 75. Point taken.
Today we went to the far northern edge of the north practice area where we had the fewest homes and we did turns about a point on the ground and s-turns over a road. C did the first turn-about-a-point and ran me through the whole process, which involves a lot more than just turning. In the future, if an instructor asks me to show a turn-about-a-point I am to ...
1) Decide what altitude I will do the maneuver (approximately 1000' AGL) and announce it
2) Pick out a spot on the ground and announce it
3) Determine the wind direction and announce it
4) Clear the area and descend to my target altitude, noting any obstructions in the area, such as towers
5) Announce where you'll go if the engine quits (this is Texas cattle country, there's lots of level open space ... just watch out for the cattle)
6) Reduce speed to 100 kias and trim for level flight
7) Enter the maneuver on the downwind ... I can take as much time as I want for this because it is important that I enter the maneuver in stable level flight with a tailwind
8) Maneuver so that the chosen point is 3/4 the way up my left spar
9) Begin a turn to the left and look for my first target point
10) Fly arcs from one target point to another keeping an even distance from the chosen center spot
11) Exit on downwind
Once C flew the circumference of the first circle he turned the controls over to me and I continued the circle around the point two more times. Then I exited on downwind and started the whole process over again looking for my own spot.
You know, it was really hard picking out a spot! I finally chose a road that made three 90-degree bends with the center bend being my target. Of course, I didn't make a perfect circle but I at least got halfway around before my circle turned into an oval. At least it was a parallelagram!
Next we went and found a pretty decent road and did S-turns. C did a couple and then turned the controls over to me. I managed to do a couple of decent turns and then a couple of bad ones. For two of them my wings were just not quite lined up with the road. On the last one I flattened out waaaay before I got to the road. But by that time we realized that the wind had swung around from South to North! No wonder I flattened out!
After that we climbed up to 3000' and C asked me to demonstrate a power-off stall. I managed to do it correctly but I fumbled my way through it. C has switched teaching tactics on me. During the last lesson he talked me through the steps but this time he just said "show me" and sat there and watched. Ohhhh the silence!
I climbed back up to 3000' and he said, "show me a power-on stall". So I set it up but, again, I was slow bleeding off my airspeed and wasn't forceful enough on the controls and ended up uncoordinated during the stall. After recovery, C walked through the steps again and then had me demonstrate it and I got it right ... mostly. I still didn't get the airspeed down quickly enough, but I did do a better job of using the rudder to keep the ball centered and the wings level.
And it wasn't nearly as stomach-churning as the last time.
Then, alas, our time was up and we had to book it back into Addison. It was just as busy as when we left and the traffic was just as interesting. On the way back in we passed the Cavanaugh Museum's T6 out giving a joy ride and holding at runway 33 was their bright yellow Stearman. What a beautiful plane.
Sure enough, Addison had switched from using runway 15 to runway 33. Entering the pattern C demonstrated a forward slip to get us down from 2500' to pattern altitude of 1600'.
So, my big lesson I learned today ... besides how to make turns-about-a-point and s-turns over a road ... was that I need to be more forceful about flying the plane. C isn't going to talk me through stuff I've already practiced. I know the steps, I just need to do them and stop looking to him for hints or approval. I need to start acting like PIC ... this is my plane because I'm flying it.
C suggested I have one more lesson where we practice more maneuvers using ground reference (and stalls I added) and also have a talk about spins. Then after that one I need to schedule a progress check ride with one of the senior instructors.
This flight: 1.7 hours
Total time: 6.4 hours
It took two tries to get the engine started this time. But I wasn't blanking on what to do this time. The mixture control on this plane feels like it's rusted so you really have to put some muscle behind it to move the thing. So the first starting attempt I couldn't get the mixture rich fast enough to keep the engine alive. But the second time went great.
I called up ground control and taxied us out to a hold position at taxiway A, which is the main taxiway paralleling the runway. There we had to let a Citation X go by first before we were cleared on A in front of a helicopter. I'm not sure the make but it looked sort of like a Bell Agusta. In the runup area we were second in line behind a Mooney. But behind us was a King Air, then a Pilatus, then a couple more Cessna piston singles. I suppose that we had clear skies, 60-degrees Fahrenheit, and bad weather projected for tomorrow had something to do with it.
Soon we were cleared to take off on runway 15 and so I taxied out following the short S-turn from the runup area onto the runway, kept it moving and lined up and let her rip. C told me to hold a constant 75 kias climb out and I had a little trouble with that. Instead we were mostly between 80 and 85 kias. Later, C told me that since there's a lot of buildings south of the airport when he says hold 75 he means 75, not about 75. Point taken.
Today we went to the far northern edge of the north practice area where we had the fewest homes and we did turns about a point on the ground and s-turns over a road. C did the first turn-about-a-point and ran me through the whole process, which involves a lot more than just turning. In the future, if an instructor asks me to show a turn-about-a-point I am to ...
1) Decide what altitude I will do the maneuver (approximately 1000' AGL) and announce it
2) Pick out a spot on the ground and announce it
3) Determine the wind direction and announce it
4) Clear the area and descend to my target altitude, noting any obstructions in the area, such as towers
5) Announce where you'll go if the engine quits (this is Texas cattle country, there's lots of level open space ... just watch out for the cattle)
6) Reduce speed to 100 kias and trim for level flight
7) Enter the maneuver on the downwind ... I can take as much time as I want for this because it is important that I enter the maneuver in stable level flight with a tailwind
8) Maneuver so that the chosen point is 3/4 the way up my left spar
9) Begin a turn to the left and look for my first target point
10) Fly arcs from one target point to another keeping an even distance from the chosen center spot
11) Exit on downwind
Once C flew the circumference of the first circle he turned the controls over to me and I continued the circle around the point two more times. Then I exited on downwind and started the whole process over again looking for my own spot.
You know, it was really hard picking out a spot! I finally chose a road that made three 90-degree bends with the center bend being my target. Of course, I didn't make a perfect circle but I at least got halfway around before my circle turned into an oval. At least it was a parallelagram!
Next we went and found a pretty decent road and did S-turns. C did a couple and then turned the controls over to me. I managed to do a couple of decent turns and then a couple of bad ones. For two of them my wings were just not quite lined up with the road. On the last one I flattened out waaaay before I got to the road. But by that time we realized that the wind had swung around from South to North! No wonder I flattened out!
After that we climbed up to 3000' and C asked me to demonstrate a power-off stall. I managed to do it correctly but I fumbled my way through it. C has switched teaching tactics on me. During the last lesson he talked me through the steps but this time he just said "show me" and sat there and watched. Ohhhh the silence!
I climbed back up to 3000' and he said, "show me a power-on stall". So I set it up but, again, I was slow bleeding off my airspeed and wasn't forceful enough on the controls and ended up uncoordinated during the stall. After recovery, C walked through the steps again and then had me demonstrate it and I got it right ... mostly. I still didn't get the airspeed down quickly enough, but I did do a better job of using the rudder to keep the ball centered and the wings level.
And it wasn't nearly as stomach-churning as the last time.
Then, alas, our time was up and we had to book it back into Addison. It was just as busy as when we left and the traffic was just as interesting. On the way back in we passed the Cavanaugh Museum's T6 out giving a joy ride and holding at runway 33 was their bright yellow Stearman. What a beautiful plane.
Sure enough, Addison had switched from using runway 15 to runway 33. Entering the pattern C demonstrated a forward slip to get us down from 2500' to pattern altitude of 1600'.
So, my big lesson I learned today ... besides how to make turns-about-a-point and s-turns over a road ... was that I need to be more forceful about flying the plane. C isn't going to talk me through stuff I've already practiced. I know the steps, I just need to do them and stop looking to him for hints or approval. I need to start acting like PIC ... this is my plane because I'm flying it.
C suggested I have one more lesson where we practice more maneuvers using ground reference (and stalls I added) and also have a talk about spins. Then after that one I need to schedule a progress check ride with one of the senior instructors.
This flight: 1.7 hours
Total time: 6.4 hours
posted by AirmanChet at
09:52
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