My First Lesson
I now have 1 hour in my logbook. 
It's been over two hours since I returned from the airport and I'm still grinning ear to ear. My instructor, I'll call him C, and I went through a detailed preflight of Cessna 172S N2160Q. This went pretty much as I expected and he said that I would be responsible for this from now on. He didn't introduce me to any of the mechanics but he told me they are all approachable and that I shouldn't hesitate to ask him or them questions if I found anything during a preflight.
60Q was manufactured in 2003 so it's in pretty good shape with 879 hours on the hobbs.
We followed two other Monarch planes up and to the practice area north of Dallas. Of course, C had me taxi the plane part of the way and then handed over control on the runway so I could perform the takeoff. This time it didn't seem as much of a blur as during my last discovery flight. We departed runway 15 (no flaps) with a slight wind coming from 160-degrees. I did raise the nose a bit too much at one point but quickly brought it back down. At 500 feet AGL we made a moderate 90-degree turn to the left and then leveled off at 2000' MSL. We turned left again to follow Preston Road (a six-lane thoroughfare) north out of Dallas.
C showed me and then had me practice straight and level flight, turns, ascents and descents. And he also gave me pointers on how to scan for traffic and how to visualize straight and level. A couple of times we did ascents and then he'd cover the altimeter and attitude indicator and have me put the plane in straight and level flight. I did ok, though I usually ended up slightly nose down.
Then we returned to Addison just in time for a georgeous sunset. Not that it was better than any other sunset, just that it seemed more beautiful seeing it from 2500'.
Highlights:
- A FedEx DC-10 crossed our path about 2000' above us. I guess he was headed to DFW.
- During the runup the left magneto was running really rough so we ran up the engine to 2200 RPM and pulled the mixture out to heat up the cylinder for about a minute. That did the trick, C said that the last person to fly probably never took the mixture out of full rich and so a lot of carbon had built up.
- Takeoff ... what a rush!
- C said I did a good job and he was impressed that I got a grasp on trimming so quickly. He said some students take until the third or fourth lesson to get the hang of it.
Next lesson, tomorrow morning at 7 am local time.
It's been over two hours since I returned from the airport and I'm still grinning ear to ear. My instructor, I'll call him C, and I went through a detailed preflight of Cessna 172S N2160Q. This went pretty much as I expected and he said that I would be responsible for this from now on. He didn't introduce me to any of the mechanics but he told me they are all approachable and that I shouldn't hesitate to ask him or them questions if I found anything during a preflight.
60Q was manufactured in 2003 so it's in pretty good shape with 879 hours on the hobbs.
We followed two other Monarch planes up and to the practice area north of Dallas. Of course, C had me taxi the plane part of the way and then handed over control on the runway so I could perform the takeoff. This time it didn't seem as much of a blur as during my last discovery flight. We departed runway 15 (no flaps) with a slight wind coming from 160-degrees. I did raise the nose a bit too much at one point but quickly brought it back down. At 500 feet AGL we made a moderate 90-degree turn to the left and then leveled off at 2000' MSL. We turned left again to follow Preston Road (a six-lane thoroughfare) north out of Dallas.
C showed me and then had me practice straight and level flight, turns, ascents and descents. And he also gave me pointers on how to scan for traffic and how to visualize straight and level. A couple of times we did ascents and then he'd cover the altimeter and attitude indicator and have me put the plane in straight and level flight. I did ok, though I usually ended up slightly nose down.
Then we returned to Addison just in time for a georgeous sunset. Not that it was better than any other sunset, just that it seemed more beautiful seeing it from 2500'.
Highlights:
- A FedEx DC-10 crossed our path about 2000' above us. I guess he was headed to DFW.
- During the runup the left magneto was running really rough so we ran up the engine to 2200 RPM and pulled the mixture out to heat up the cylinder for about a minute. That did the trick, C said that the last person to fly probably never took the mixture out of full rich and so a lot of carbon had built up.
- Takeoff ... what a rush!
- C said I did a good job and he was impressed that I got a grasp on trimming so quickly. He said some students take until the third or fourth lesson to get the hang of it.
Next lesson, tomorrow morning at 7 am local time.
posted by AirmanChet at
09:42
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