Lesson 10

After yesterday's no-go because of high winds today I had two lessons scheduled. The first was just a ground school lesson. C had me use page flags and highlighters to mark all the relevant sections of the 2005 FAR/AIM. He was pretty thrilled that I had already done it so we spent a little time looking through the sections. The only thing specific that he wants me to focus on at the moment is 91.155 Basic VFR Weather Minimums. As for the rest of it ... "well just start memorizing it". Oy!

C had me pull out the Dallas Terminal Area Chart and he pointed at things on the chart and I had to tell him what they are. Not too hard, though I missed a few. Some I just blanked on but some I just flat didn't know. We also did this with the Dallas Sectional to cover things that were not represented on the other chart. Then C gave me a few minutes alone to absorb the weather minimums. When he came back he would point at a spot on the map and say, "we're at 3000', what are the weather minimums?"

What was easy for me to visualize reading the grid in the book was not so easy to visualize on the sectional. The minimums don't change that much for most of the controlled airspace, but the Class G rules really tripped me up. From now on when I study the minimums at home I'm going to do it with a sectional in front of me.

One interesting thing I learned was that the little yellow blocks denoting cities and towns are the actual dimensions of the towns lights when see from altitude at night. Now that's handy!

I also didn't realize until C told me that the victor airways, even when running through Class G airspace, are considered Class E controlled airspace.

Then we spent a half hour or so talking about emergencies, about the ABC flow (airspeed -- best field -- checklists) and stepping through some of the scenarios.

C mentioned again that he wants me to start studying for the written test. He said the sooner I get it out of the way the better as then I'll be able to concentrate on the cross-country training. So I picked up the Gleim study guide.

Later in the afternoon I returned for a flying lesson. While C was there at the desk when I arrived the plane wasn't back yet. So we went into the hangar to see if there was a Skyhawk to look at ... sure enough there was. One of the recent 172 SPs had the prop and cowling removed so that the entire engine and firewall was exposed. C pointed out the cylinders, magnetos, vacuum pump, fuel injector, spark plugs, etc. Some parts were removed so not everything was there. I did get a good look at the nose wheel and I was surprised to see how it's just bolted on to the bottom of the firewall. It didn't exactly look flimsy, but I expected something a little more robust. All in all the engine looks pretty straightfoward, like the one in my old Honda hatchback ... just minus the giant radiator.

About the time we were finished gawking P, one of the senior instructors, came out and we asked what the plane was in for. He showed us where the bottom of the firewall, just above the nose gear attachement points was wrinkled and bent. Someone had done a seriously hard nose landing in this plane! He told us that there's still an evaluation going on but at a bare minimum everything from the firewall forward would need to be replaced. I'm not sure if he meant the entire engine as well or just the structural parts. As far as the insurance company was concerned the plane was a total write off. Ouch!

Finally, N729SP returned from the previous lesson and I went out to preflight. It has been a week since my last flight and it really felt nice to get out there move around her .. flipping switches, looking for dents and dings, moving the control surfaces. Everything looked great and we had full fuel. So when C arrived I pulled out the towbar and we pulled her out to the line.

For the first time I tried to use my new flow to go through the start procedure without referring to the checklist line by line. It went pretty well ... started on the first try and I remembered to look at the oil gauges quickly. We got our clearance and taxied out to hold at alpha where we were subsequently cleared to taxi to runway 15. Again, for the runup I tried to do my flow and not go line-by-line through the checklist. I was so intent on the runup part that I did it before I did the controls check, which normally comes first. Regardless, I got them all done. I radioed the tower and we were cleared for takeoff.

The conditions were wonderful, winds 150 at 6 knots, skies clear, temp 6-degrees C, visibility 13 miles and altimeter 3044. We reached Vr pretty darn quick and I was able to trim out at a 75 kias climb. At 1300' I turned to the left and departed the pattern following Arapaho Road to the intersection with Preston where we turned left again and headed north to the practice area at 2000'.

Once in the practice area C had me climb to 3000' where he took the controls and asked me to pull the power to idle whenever I wanted. I did and he demonstrated an engine out emergency and landing. As a bonus, since we were surrounded by lovely flat fields, he picked one rather close and spiraled down over the approach end until we were at the right altitude to land. During the go around we only climbed to about 1500' where he had me pull the power again and he demonstrated an abbreviated version of the engine out emergency.

Now it was my turn. Back up to 2000' we went. No sooner had I trimmed for level flight C pulled back the power. OK, first bring the nose up to trade speed for altitude and then trim for 68 kias. I look out the window ... hey! where'd all those beautiful flat fields go!? Now everything looks hilly and covered in trees and surrounded by power lines. So I switch my attention back inside ... fuel selector both, cut-off valve in, mixture full rich, fuel pump on ... no engine restart ... ok, let's see cut-off valve out ...

"Where are you going to land?" C asks me.

Oh yeah, now I'm looking back outside. Everything still looks hilly except for one spot. There .. I point ... that's where we'll land. I start a turn toward the field.

"Watch your airspeed."

Where was I, oh yeah, mixture pulled out, fuel pump off, mag switch off, open the doors.

"OK, let's go around."

So I put in full power and we climb out. C walks me through it again. Let's see, do I have enough fingers to count the things I forgot? NO.

We did a couple more of these and with the last one I seemed to get the hang of it. I was able to pick out my field and get us down to the right height and attitude to successfully land. And I remembered to do most of the checklist steps.

Then we did one more where I picked a road to land on. The road was nice and straight and had no poles, power lines, etc near it. But instead of circling and landing on the beautiful bit right below me I just followed the road and did the checklist. By the time we got low enough to land on the road it had power lines running along one side. Doh!

Then we simulated a wing fire. It really took me a few seconds to remember what I needed to turn off ... oh yeah, lights, pitot heat. And we put the nose into a shallow dive and slip away from the flames to hopefully put the out.

After that we headed back in. I was so flustered over how I had done that I totally munged the radio calls to Regional Control and Addison Tower. We got clearance for a straight in landing to runway 15 and though I rode the glideslope white-over-white the whole way down I managed to pull off a good landing ... just the right amount of flare to touch down on the mains and just had to use moderate braking to stop us at the desired turnoff.

So, C said I did ok but I really wasn't happy with myself this time. I thought I was way too timid with the controls during the emergency simulations though I did do a good job holding the speed to around 68 kias. But I've got to work on the checklists and on setting up for landing. I think I was partly visualizing my landings in the context of the pattern at an airport. Cow pastures don't have patterns! If the field is to the right then turn right and go there. If it's to the left then turn left and go there. I don't need to waste time and altitude trying to conform to an imaginary traffic pattern.

I think the next lesson will be better. We agreed to only go on Saturday if the winds are giving us a healthy crosswind to play with. Otherwise, next Sunday we're going to do a longer flight to go up to Grayson County airport (GYI) where there's very little traffic to compete with and we're just going to do touch-and-goes and emergency drills.

This flight: 1.1 hours
Total: 13.2

Lesson No Go

I was scheduled for a lesson at noon today but awoke to strengthening winds out of the north. Other than that it was a beautiful sunny day, light jacket weather.

I didn't hear from my instructor and I knew he had a lesson just before mine so I went ahead and collected my things and drove out to the airport. Parking I could see most of the planes tied down including 729SP, mine for today. Sure enough, when I opened the door C was sitting behind the desk leaving me a voice mail on my cell phone.

Well, my old cell phone. Two days ago I got a new one, a shiny Motorola flip phone ... I finally get to retire the Ericsson brick I've been carrying around.

Anyway, back to the story, C just shrugs his shoulders and says, "I don't know. You tell me if the wind is too strong."

Well, twice this morning I had checked the METAR reports online and the winds had gone from 10 kts sustained/20 kts gusting to 18 kts sustained/32 kts gusting. And driving up I noticed the flags all flying very stiffly straight out. So, yeah, if it was me alone I'd cancel.

"What about the winds aloft", he asks.

Ummmm I don't know.

"Why don't you call and get a local weather briefing and be sure to ask if there have been any pilot reports for North Dallas."

OK, so I have to admit something here. A couple of lessons back C had mentioned in passing, "Oh I want you to start getting a briefing before each flight. We'll talk about the weather." But then he'd never mentioned it again.

So, I all I had been checking the weather reports on the NWS - Aviation Weather Center web site, but I had not been calling the FSS for this area. I'm not clear yet on how all that works. And I hadn't gotten around to asking C about it. But I did know the phone number -- I'd programmed it into my shiny new cell phone. Did I mention I got a new cell phone? Ahhh gadgets.

Anyway, I wondered off into a corner and called. First up was a recording telling me all about the Prohibited area P-49 (otherwise known as Crawford, TX) and that I should check for the latest NOTAMS. Then I press the option for a briefer. She answers and asks for my registration number.

My mind goes blank ... oh yeah, 729SP.

"What time is your departure?"

Noon.

Then there's an uncomfortable silence. So I throw out, "I'd like a local weather briefing for the North Dallas area. I'm at Addison Airport, ADS."

"OK" she says. I can hear her typing for a second and then she starts talking a mile a minute! And here I am without a pencil or paper. Doh! But having been outside I already know what the general weather is like so I just concentrate on listening for wind speeds. She basically read me the latest METAR for Addison (which is same one I got on the computer before I left the house) and then gives me some winds aloft readings of which the only one I really catch is 3000' and 20 kts.

When she's done she asks me if there's anything else I'd like to know and I ask her about PIREPS. She says there hasn't been anything new today but that earlier this morning there was a PIREP for moderate turbulence under 5000'.

Thank you!

Wow, that wasn't so bad. But next time I'm going to be prepared and have something to write on.

I go back over to C and tell him what I found out and he tells me that a couple of instructors that went up this morning reported back turbulence as well. About this time Addison updated the weather report and the winds had strengthened a little. So we have a definite no go decision. That wasn't so hard.

I'm already on the schedule for Sunday at 4, but C also schedules me for 9 am. We're going to have a ground school session and talk about the written test, the FARs, the AIM (I'm to bring my book and a bunch of page flags, I already did this actually), and we're also going to go out in the maintenance hangar and meet the folks there and hopefully poke around the engine of a Skyhawk. I know that 729SP is scheduled for some maintenance in the morning tomorrow. Oh, and we're going to take a look at the Dallas sectional and terminal area charts so I'm to review the legend. This is easy ... I'm a bit of a map nut and when I started playing around with MS Flight Simulator a couple of years ago I went out and bought a set of sectionals to use.

So, no flying today but I still got a lesson!

Lesson 9

This morning's lesson was to be about steep turns and forward slips and touch and goes. But it also turned into a lesson on frost.

I got to Monarch a little early for my 8 am appointment and since it was the first flight of the day the plane was ready for me to preflight. I noticed that the plane was covered in frost but I figured I'd go ahead and do my preflight to get it out of the way and then find out from my instructor, C, what they normally do about the frost. There were a few other students preflighting as well. And pretty soon the hangar doors opened and the instructors filed out to their students and had us pull the planes in.

We managed to fit three Skyhawks in what seemed like an already crowded hangar. Mine was just a whisker away from a Citation with the engine nacelles and the radome removed. When I stopped drooling I continued with my preflight. In the meantime the instructors got out the engine warmer ... essentially a small fire-breathing dragon on wheels ... and used it heat up the surface of the planes.

It really didn't take long at all, probably 15-20 minutes in all to get them clear. There was a solo student who's plane didn't make it into the hangar. So one of the instructors decided to hose it off with water ... I seem to remember my dad doing this with the car window when I was young. Mind you, the temperature was hovering right around freezing though the sun was starting to warm things up. He was hosing this plane in the shadow of the hangar though. So even though it was clear when he finished, by the time the student was doing her preflight she discovered icecycles hanging from the wings! Doh! I think they gave her a different plane.

Anyway, fun over and preflight done we hopped in and to save time C got the plane started and handled the radio getting clearances. I taxied us out to runway 33 (winds 340 at 10 knots) and we launched into the crisp morning air. With temperatures so low the Skyhawk climbed like a scalded cat! With hardly a blink we were level at 2000' and leaving the area.

We went into the North practice area and C demonstrated a 45-degree banking turn. He warned me that he was actually a bit rusty on these so I shouldn't expect much. But, of course, he performed it well within the PTS standards. Then it was my turn. I think I did six or eight full turns, first left and then right. I actually found the right turning ones easier as I could just line the left corner of the cowling up with the horizon. But I did have two consistent problems:

1) I initiated the turn with too little back pressure so the nose would start to drop. Though I generally kept the altitude variations with the test standards it was difficult to keep the nose from bobbing up and down across the horizon.

2) For the last 45 degrees of the turn I kept letting the bank angle degrade to around 30-degrees. I think I was over-anticipating the roll out. Well, that and for most of the turn I kept looking outside but then C would remind me to glance at my instruments and I'd do that and start letting the bank out. I need to practice glancing in and out of the cockpit without letting it affect what I'm doing to the controls.

Those were pretty fun!

Next we turned toward Denton to return to KDTO and do some more touch and goes. I had less of a problem finding the airport this time and again we were cleared to enter base from the right and then continue with a standard left pattern. I did five touch-and-goes with C helping me out on a couple of them. The runway is oriented toward 350 and the wind was from 340 at 10 knots so I had more to deal with than yesterday. I mostly had trouble with keeping aligned with the center line at the flare. I'd be ok coming in, maybe a tad too fast, then I'd start to flare and have to hold it off to let the speed go and I'd start drifting. I would use the rudder to get back over the center line but now that I think about it I'm not sure that's a good idea.

So I'm flaring and I'm just a few feet above the concrete and dropping. I start to drift off the centerline, if the runway is wide (say 100' or more) then wouldn't it be better on the landing gear to just get the plane aligned with its groundtrack when I touch down instead of trying to get back over the centerline? I'm thinking that in the process of trying to get back over the centerline if I touch down then I'm putting a side load on the landing gear. Right?

I should ask my instructor about this. I guess this is where my judgement as pic comes in, right? I should recognize that I'm drifting and get back over center quickly. But if I'm drifting too much or I don't recognize it early enough then perhaps I should go around!?

This time C let me do some of the radio work as well. All in all, I felt like I had a good enough workload but I did get behind the airplane a couple of times. For the next lesson C says we're going to go to an uncontrolled airport and do a boatload of landings. I'm really looking forward to that.

On the way back to Addison we had to stay under some clouds that were forming at 2600'. Believe it or not that's the first time I've seen low clouds during a lesson! Most of the time the ceiling is way up there or there's no clouds at all. It was neat ... they were kind of thin and whispy and were going full throttle so they went by in a hurry.

Coming in on downwind we were asked to watch for a plane on final and follow him. C radioed that we were looking and I spotted him first, he was down low on short final. C radioed that we had him in site and had me turn base. Once the guy was down and turning toward a taxiway I turned final. C helped me out in the flare again because I was a bit fast but it was an OK landing.

Even with all the excitement about the frost we still managed to fly 1.3 hours so it was a good lesson. Learned to do a steep turn and got some more landing practice in. During the week I plan on doing some chair flying and also trying out something I read in a magazine. A glider instructor has his students actually walk a pattern on the ground calling out the tasks they have to do. I think that sounds like a good way to visualize the whole process while also making your neighbors think you're crazy. Well, maybe I shouldn't hold my arms out like wings and make engine noises!

This flight: 1.3 hours
Total: 12.1 hours

Lesson 8

My last lesson was a progress check and a flight-by-instruments lesson that went pretty well. Afterwards my instructor told me that my next lessons would focus on flying the pattern and landing.

So this afternoon, I arrived at Monarch about 20 minutes early to find that my plane was available. So I got the key and did a leisurely-paced preflight. This really helped to calm my before-lesson nerves. Today I was flying 2160Q, which is the plane I used for my first three or four lessons. I didn't find any squawks but I did notice that at one point it had one of the cowling fasteners and the surrounding metal repaired.

My instructor, C, arrived and did a quick preflight of his own before we hopped in. He told me we'd fly up to Denton Airport to do some pattern work and that today would really just be an introduction to landings, nothing too strenuous.

Before C got there and after my preflight was done I sat in the cockpit and walked through the steps to start the plane. And so when we were ready to go and I started the engine it went like a piece of cake. The practicing had helped. I might do that again ... maybe before a morning flight when I know no one else is going to have the plane ... get there early and do some "dry" runs with the checklist, etc. I had tried "chair flying" before but this was one step better! ha

Today the weather was beautiful ... temp 12-degrees C, winds 350 at 9 knots, clear skies, no clouds below 12,000'. We've got an area of high pressure sitting on us, the altimeter was 3052.

So, I taxied us out to runway 33 and we took off and turned to a heading around 320 to go to Denton, which is not far. I was pretty proud of myself on the way out there. I was able to get to altitude, level off, trim the plane and hold the heading without thinking about it all too much. The hardest part was when C asked me to point out the Denton airport. I really had a hard time spotting it. Considering that I haven't done much airport spotting from 2000' before I shouldn't be too hard on myself. Eventually I got it and we called the tower and got permission for touch and goes.

We were instructed to enter the base leg from the right. C took the controls and demonstrated a landing and takeoff and the pattern. When we were turning final for the second touch he trimmed the plane for the descent and handing over the controls. I wasn't too nervous because C kept his fingers on the control wheel just in case. It went pretty well though it all seems a blur now. After touchdown I put in full power and we went back up.

From then on we just went around the pattern (standard pattern) about 7 or 8 times (we put 7 in the logbook). To tell you the truth it all went pretty easy. The runway at Denton (KDTO) is oriented 17-35 so the wind was coming right down the runway at first. Toward the end it started to change a bit because I was having to move the controls more to keep the centerline. I guess the weather was cooperating to give me a good day to learn landings.

Instead of listing what all I did ... as you know there's a lot going on in a short amount of time ... let me tell you about the things that I need to work on.

1) Adding right rudder when doing the takeoff. I mention this because (to me) I was not getting this right consistently. Just about the time I rotated we'd be drifting to the left off the centerline.

2) Keep an eye on the vasi. I would notice it when I turned onto final, but then I wouldn't pay any more attention to it. Instead I would keep my eyes glued on the runway itself to see if it was changing shape or if my "spot" was moving up or down (or sideways).

3) Scan for traffic, don't depend on the tower. I was looking but usually it was after C made the comment "clear of traffic on the 45", etc. Perhaps I was just too absorbed with everything else since it was new. I guess like scanning for traffic during the straight-and-level portion of the flight it'll get easier and feel more natural the more comfortable I become.

You may recall that one of my earlier lessons was with another instructor who took me to McKinney Airport (KTKI) where we flew the pattern and did two touch-and-goes. At the time it wasn't really to teach me how to do it but just to introduce me to the pattern. I just remember that it seemed like everything happened really fast and my brain couldn't process it all.

This time, however, everything just seemed to happen at the right pace. I suppose it was a combination of there being little crosswind, little other traffic, and my having time to do a leisurely preflight so I was comfortable and ready to go by the time my instructor arrived.

On the way back, C told me that he was surprised that I did so well the first time. He really only meant for me to do a couple of touch-and-goes because that's normally how the first time goes. But since I seemed to have the hang of it we kept going until the sun was going down. The fun really begins when we get a healthy crosswind to work with, he told me.

C did show me a short approach landing (which the tower asked us to do to clear traffic) and on our last run he took the controls to demonstrate ground effect. This was a blast. C came down on a low approach, picking up speed until we were in the yellow arc and we flew down the entire length of the runway sitting on top of the ground effect cushion. I was a bit surprised to find that I really could feel it ... and it really did feel like a cushion. At the end of the runway he pulled up into a banking turn out of the pattern and back toward Addison. Not something that I intend to do myself but it was fun.

My next lesson is tomorrow morning at 8 am and the forecast is for clear skies, lots of sun and no clouds and the wind stays out of the North. However, it's going to be a bit colder and the wind a bit stronger. So I probably still won't have a crosswind but it'll be a perfect day for a beginner like me.

BTW, I picked up a copy of "Stick and Rudder" by Wolfgang Langewiesche and it is fascinating. I highly recommend it.

This flight: 1.5 hours
Total: 10.8 hours

Lesson 7

Progress check time. Actually, in the Cessna curriculum flight 6 is a flight with a chief instructor who introduces you to instrument flying and then might ask you to do a couple of things you've learned to see how you're progressing.

I had my last lesson just this morning so I went home to decompress. I'm really working myself up about this prog check and I don't know why. The little movie that keeps playing in my head is of an old guy pointing me out and saying, "hey you, you're not a pilot. You're just pretending. Get out of here." I know it sounds silly but I suppose after what I went through to get the medical I just keep expecting something to happen that would keep me from flying. And the idea of flying with someone who is suppose to be judging my performance is a little intimidating.

So I eat a bowl of soup and I lay down on the floor and try to empty my mind. The zen of flying. =;-)

Soon enough it's time and I hop back in the car and drive over to Monarch. There are three chief instructors and my lesson is with P whom I've seen around there before, I just didn't know who he was. We chit chat for a bit and then he checks out the plane and sends me on my way to preflight.

As I walk out I notice that there are two other planes being preflighted. I walk down the flight line and when I get to the end I realize that my plane isn't there. What the .... ! I make the walk again double-checking the tail numbers until I realize that one of the planes being preflighted is mine.

I walk over and politely ask the guy to check which plane he's suppose to be in. He looks at his paper and realizes he has the wrong plane (even though the key fit the lock!) so he moves down the line to another plane. I start getting my stuff settled and I realize that I left my fuel tester in the plane I flew this morning. Doh! So I lock up everything and turn to go in and ask if that plane's here when I realize that the guy who had the wrong plane is preflighting the plane I drove this morning. So I walk over and ask him if he minds if I look inside. I could tell from the look on this face when I walked up he was thinking ... "now what!?".

Sure enough, there's my fuel tester. Whew! But before I leave the guy starts asking me questions. Here's the deal ... he wanted to fly the plane that got checked out to me. That actually was the plane he scheduled. And I had originally scheduled the plane the he's preflighting because I wanted to fly the same plane for both lessons today. Confused? Somehow the planes we scheduled got switched and this guy thinks the rate on both planes is different. So he asks if it's ok with me to switch? Sure, I don't have a problem with that. So he takes off with the paper work for both planes and I gather my stuff and move to 729SP and start another preflight.

After a while P comes out and meets me and he's got the corrected paperwork. We have a good laugh about the whole thing and I start to feel more relaxed. P seems like a really nice guy and not intimidating at all. And the ridiculousness of the swapped planes just makes me want to giggle. So we hop in the plane and get the engine fired up.

It's noon on a beautiful Sunday and again everyone and their grandmother wants to go flying. So it takes us nearly ten minutes until there's a break in the ground traffic to get clearance to taxi. When we get out to runway 15 there must be about six other aircraft out there ... everything from another Cirrus, to a twin Seminole, to a Boeing Stearman.

Finally, our turn comes and I lift off and we start following Preston Road north to the practice area. P says, "I hate to spoil the view for you but I need you to put these on." And he hands me a pair of frosted safety glasses.

I put them on and P gives me the finer points of flying by instruments alone. The main two instruments to watch is airspeed and attitude. As long as I keep the little ball centered on the horizon line then I'm going to stay level and I can tell because my airspeed stays constant. If you let it rise or fall even just a little then you see a definite change in airspeed and then you can see your altitude changing. Same goes for keeping the wings level using the attitude indicator.

Seems pretty simple. P has me do an ascent and a descent and then some turns to various headings. And I think we did a climbing turn in there too. All in all, it is pretty simple. As long as I keep the changes small then the plane doesn't get away from me.

This is where I think all those hours flying the Microsoft Flight Simulator have paid off!

Finally I get to take the glasses off and then P asks me to show him a turn-around-a-point. So I descended to 1700' and slowed to 100 kias and picked out a spot pretty quickly that had some good obvious key points around it and I managed to do a pretty good turn. We went around the point twice and then he asked for an s-turn. There was a road right ahead of us so I just headed straight toward it and did one s-turn and I managed to cross the road perpendicular and wings level both times! Not perfect, mind you, but much better than any I have done yet.

Afterwards we climbed back up to 2500' and I turned to the south because we were getting to the northern boundary of the practice area. P asked me, what would you do if the engine quit right now. Hmmmm well, first I'd drop the nose and trim for best glide which is 65 kias in this plane. And then I'd find a place to land. "OK", he says, "where"?

Well, how about that field I suggest. "It looks like a good field but do you think we'd make it that far?" he asks. I don't really know, I can't really visualize from here how far we'd get. So with that he pulls back the power and we start a 65 kias glide. Oh! I quickly realize that the field I picked out is too far. From 2000' we're not going to get far.

P points out that I should pick a field that I can see out my left window because anything I pick out of the right window will disappear when I turn. And if I happen to have a field right under me that's perfect because we've already made the field ... we just need to descend in a spiral to land in it.

He asks me what else I would do and we discuss changing the transponder code and making a call on the emergency radio frequency and opening the doors to prevent them getting stuck if we have a hard landing. I mention all kinds of things except "following the engine-out checklist". Doh! Lesson learned.

With that he says let's head back in and we turn toward Addison. After landing and taxiing back in we de-brief and he tells me that I don't need to be nervous about flying with him because his job isn't to fail people. That's what the FAA Examiner is for. The worst that I would hear from P is that my instructor and I need to do some more work on something. He was pretty encouraging and said that I handled the plane well and am progressing satisfactorily. So my next lessons will focus on landings. Yeah!

I showed up today nervous about missing three weeks of flying and nervous about being "tested" but everything went pretty darn well. I'm doing the right things and I'm cleared to continue to the next big task.

So next weekend C and I will go to either Collin County (TKI) or Denton Airport (DTO) to start learning how to land. Even better news is that my boss gave me clearance to begin taking a morning lesson during the week and come in to work late. So soon I'll be taking three lessons a week.

This flight: 1.3 hours
Total: 9.3 hours

Lesson 6

I schedule this and my next lesson on the same day because my next lesson is to be a progress check. Today's flight was really just a review of the things I've already been exposed to. It has been nearly three weeks since my last lesson and though I've been reading about flying and visualizing maneuvers in my head I'm a little worried about being rusty.

The ATIS report this morning (around 8 am) at Addison was 6-degrees C and dewpoint 6-degrees C. Wind from 140 at 6 knots which I'll find out later is only at the surface. Altimeter is 3022.

So I preflight the Skyhawk, this is my first flight in N729SP, and I actually find a couple of minor things this time. The taxi light is out, the nose wheel is a wearing more on one side than the other, and the mixture control is really really stiff. Other than that it looks good to go. When my instructor, C, joins me I learn that the left tire blew out during a landing the day before. Hmmm I thought that tire looked pretty good ... turns out ... it's new!

After we get the ATIS and I'm finishing the before taxi checklist we hear a Cirrus ask to taxi for departure. Turns out he's just down the way from us. As a matter of fact there's four or five nice new Cirrus' sitting down there. C says he thinks they're giving demonstration rides. As a matter of fact the one that is departing is owned by a student pilot and he's made a deal with the Cirrus dealer here to use it as a demonstration model. So I'm guessing that C knows all of this because the guy is getting his instruction at Monarch.

Today, C tells me that since this flight is really just a review he's going to sit back and let me run the show and he'll only give me help if I ask for it or I miss something. Sounds like fun. I get clearance and we taxi out to runway 15 and do the runup. Everything checks out and we lift off and follow the Cirrus out to the North. Dang that's a beautiful plane, awefully expensive, but beautiful.

Once we're trimmed out at 2000' and going North we talk a little more about the Cirrus. C likes the idea of having a BRS parachute but not on training aircraft. He says that he heard about a student pilot who recently pulled the chute when his battery gave out. That's a waste because the plane was perfectly flyable, he said. The guy should have declared an emergency and landed as quickly as possible. The best use for the BRS is when you get into an unrecoverable spin, for example.

This was interesting to hear because I've recently read several articles in magazines and online about the controversy around BRS parachutes. Sounds like this is shaping up to be another one of those "discussion" points like should you crab or side slip to the runway in a crosswind.

C did indeed sit back and just let me fly. First he asked me to do a turn-about-a-point. So I went into the spiel and got set up. The wind up at 1700' was out of 210 or 220 and it was much stronger than 6 knots. Going to the practice area we were doing around 145 kts ground speed. I say I got set up to start the maneuver but actually I had to abandon my first point and pick another because by the time I got turned to come at it downwind I was practically over it.

The first turn was more of an amoeba than a circle. So I set up to do it again and dang it felt like I was flying pretty far away from it but the wind was so strong that by the time I got turned around I was practically on top of the target. This time I did more of an oval than an amoeba so ... progress.

C mentioned that I wasn't verbalizing my key points. Oh, maybe that's because I wasn't picking out key points. Doh! The next try I did just that, I pick my four key points and flew over them instead of looking at my central point. Bing bong! That did the trick. I still didn't do a circle but it was very much closer. This time we circled the target a couple of times and by the last time I was making a pretty good circle.

Even though the circle got better I wasn't doing a good job of keeping my altitude constant. At least, I was recognizing that I was low and I would correct it, but it would degrade to just the practical test limits before I noticed. I really need to watch for that.

Next he asked to see S-turns across a road. Coming out of the last turn there was a road right ahead of us so I picked that as my target. Usually an s-turn is just two turns ... enter on downwind, turn, cross the road, turn the other direction, cross the road, exit the maneuver.

Today I did s-turns up and down the road. As soon as I would finish the maneuver I would turn the opposite way and do it again. It seemed like we did dozens but it actually was only about four. They weren't too hard this time. I did come out flat ahead of the road once and I another time I wasn't perpendicular to the road when I crossed it but all in all they went pretty well.

At the end of the last one C noticed a flock of birds flying very low. It was a flock of maybe 200-300 small white birds, maybe cranes(?) and they were flying back and forth across the empty fields. The birds stood out well against the green and brown background but then you could also see their shadows on the ground so it looked like two flocks of birds flying together. Utterly beautiful!

They were keeping really low to the ground so we followed them for a bit and I tried to do a turn-around-a-flock but it didn't work to well. They moved on, so I ended up with a turn-around-an-empty-field.

After that bit of revelry C suggested we go up to 3000' to do a departure stall. Weeeeeee I've been waiting for this. Got stablized at 3000' ... pulled the power back to idle and slowed to 55 kias before putting in full power and pulling the nose up. Damned if I didn't get the plane uncoordinated again! The ball was swinging left to right.

C suggested that I was pulling up the nose to high like I was trying to stand the plane on its tail. He took over and demonstrated a departure stall keeping the nose at about 20-degrees up (on the attitude indicator). Then I took control and performed another one the way he showed me. This time it went much better! I kept the ball (mostly) centered and recovered quickly.

Then he asked for a power-off stall. No problem. Back up to 3000' and then slow and pitch for a 75 kias descent until we got to 2700' and then I started the flare. Pulled the nose way up, we stalled and the nose dropped, I put in full power and right rudder and back up we went. Piece of cake!

That's it for today, let's head back in ... but first something new. North Dallas has an inversion layer sitting over it. If you're on the ground the sky looks bright blue with some thin clouds waaaaaay up there. And when you're in a Skyhawk at 2500' it looks the same if you look up. But if you look ahead or to the sides it looks like you're flying inside a smokestack. The visibility was about 7 or 8 miles. So, C looks at me and asks, "what lake is that over there?" Ummm, maybe it's Lake Lewisville, maybe it's Lake Ray Roberts, I'm not really sure. So he suggests asking Approach Control for a vector to Addison. And before I can key the mike he adds, "be sure to announce yourself and your intentions first."

Me: "Approach Control, Skyhawk 729 Sierra Papa is two-zero miles north of Addison inbound for full stop."
AC: "Skyhawk 29 Sierra Papa, squawk 3676."
Me: "Squawk 3676, 729 Sierra Papa."
C: Pointing at my lapboard where I wrote down the ATIS info. "You forgot to tell them you had Bravo."
Me: "Should I tell them now?"
C: "No, it's ok, they'll ask if they want to know. Put in the squawk code."
Me: I'm reaching my finger out to the buttons on the transponder when I realize my mind is a blank!
Me: "Ummm do you remember the code?"
C: "ahhhh, you could ask them again."
Me: "yeah, I guess I'll have to."
C: "Maybe next time. This time just remember to be ready to type the code in as soon as they say it. The code is 3676."
Me: punching in the code and kicking myself

He probably would have made me ask again but Approach was getting pretty busy.

I drove until we were on final and then C took over to land the plane. We taxied back and de-briefed. C told me to not sweat about the progress check, to just consider it another lesson.

So then I drove home. I have two hours until my next lesson and I'm starting to feel a little anxious about it.

This flight: 1.6 hours
Total: 8 hours