Solo Practice Flight #2

I finished my tasks that I started with my last solo flight last week. This morning was perfect flying weather, though it was a little hazy.

KADS 251147Z 35004KT 13SM SKC 23/19 A3008

Which translates to: winds from the north at 4 knots (5 mph), clear skies, temperature 73-degrees Fahrenheit, dewpoint 66-degrees Fahrenheit, and the barometric pressure was 30.08 inches of mercury.

Sounds a little warm for 7am doesn't it? Well, this is Texas!

During my preflight my instructor, Y, came out to tell me that there was an FAA inspector doing ramp checks. I assured him that I had all my paperwork in my bag and that I wasn't planning on landing anywhere but Addison (only airwork for today's flight!). He seemed happy with that so I continued with my preflight. I finished up and pulled the Skyhawk out to the line and hopped in. I never did see the inspector ... which is too bad, because I've been curious about what a ramp check is like.

Anyway, I started up and finished my checklist, then called up ground control and got clearance to taxi to runway 33.

By the time I got out there the winds were coming right down the runway so the takeoff was easy. I elected to do a normal takeoff instead of a short or soft. Y told me that I should maximize my lessons by always practicing anything I could, but I wanted to concentrate on airwork today. Besides, maybe my normal takeoffs need practice!? lol

The air was smooth as silk today! I climbed out to 2000' and headed north. Once under the last ring of the Class Bravo airspace I climbed to 3000' and continued until I was over the eastern shore of Lake Ray Roberts. After doing some clearing turns I started off with some steep turns. First to the left, then to the right. The first set were ok, within the PTS standards. The next set I had to abort. I let the nose drop too much and I picked up a lot of speed and lost too much altitude. I climbed back to 3000' and did some more clearing turns. The third set of steep turns went much much better. I easily held the nose on the horizon and kept my speed, altitude and headings within the limits.

Next came slow flight. I slowed to about 48 kias and held my altitude at 3000'. I made two 90-degree turns, like clearing turns and kept the speed and altitude within limits. Feeling pretty confident, and considering I had the flaps out I went straight into a power-off stall. The first one went ok, so I tried another. Uh oh ... like when I flew with Y the last time I pushed the nose down and ended up in a dive. I quickly pulled the power to idle and recovered. I climbed back to 3000' and tried again. Same result.

So I climbed to 3000' and tried it again, ahhh much better this time. Just let the yoke in a little and let the nose drop, add full power and we're flying again!

Next up was a power-on stall. This one went ok except I never really got into a full stall. Y makes it look so easy. He just puts the airplane into a 20-degree nose-up attitude and holds it until the speed bleeds off and it stalls. I do that and it just keeps climbing!

Eventually I got it on the edge of a stall, which was enough for me and so I recovered. I found that you can easily alternate the two types of stalls. Power-off with the flaps down and descending ... recover, retract the flaps, climb back to 3000' then slow down till 55 kias, add full power and climb until you stall ... recover, start a descent, extend the flaps ... do a power-off stall ... rinse and repeat ... lol

I think I ended up doing about five repetitions like this.

Next I needed to relax a little so I flew across the practice area and back just to relax. Once I returned to the Ray Roberts shore line I descended to 1600' and picked out a road to do s-turns along. That was fun!! The wind was blowing pretty strongly at that altitude so it was a challenge to get them right. After about 20 s-turns I decided I'd had enough and climbed back to 2500' to return to Addison.

At Addison I was cleared to land while still on the downwind and I ended up not paying enough attention to my pattern. I hardly did a base leg and nearly did a circle to land kind of approach. The controller was probably thinking ... "this guy's obviously a student".

But the actual touchdown was on the centerline and main wheels first so I was happy!

Next up is a mock checkride with Y.

This flight: 1.7 hours
Landings: 1
Total: 57.7 hours

Solo Practice Flight #1

On Sunday I flew solo for the first time since my cross country flights. My lesson plan was to go to Denton (KDTO) and practice some short and soft takeoffs and landings. Then I was to go out to the practice area and practice a ground reference maneuver, slow flight, and steep turns. If I felt comfortable I could also try a stall or two.

So I met my instructor, Y, at Monarch and we checked the weather to make sure everything was OK. Then we discussed my flight plan and he gave me the necessary endorsements. Soon I was on my way. Departure from Addison was uneventful and within minutes I was arriving in the Denton pattern. There was only one other aircraft in the pattern.

I was cleared for touch and goes and I decided to start with some soft field landings and takeoffs. The third time around the pattern I asked for a full stop and taxi back so I could do a short field landing and takeoff. I was determined to make the first turnoff on runway 17.

The first attempt wasn't any good at all. The trick with short field landings is controlling your speed on final approach. If you don't nail the correct speed, in this case 62 kias, then you'll end up floating down the runway right past the spot where you wanted to touch down. And that's exactly what happened on my first attempt.

I taxied back to the end of 17 and got clearance to take off for another try. The short field takeoff was a success and so this time around the pattern I concentrated on managing my speed. This time I knew on short final that I had it nailed. Sure enough, I crossed the runway threshold at 62 kias and touched down nearly exactly where I wanted and I was able to make the first turn off without unduly use of the brakes!

I taxied back to 17 again and requested permission to depart to the Northeast. Time for some airwork. After I passed the north end of Lake Lewisville I climbed up to 3000'. Once in the practice area I made some clearing turns to make sure no one else was in the area. My first maneuver was steep turns.

Here the idea is to first make a 360-degree turn to the left with the airplane at a 45-degree angle, which feels like the plane is on its side. Once you come 360-degrees to your original heading you roll the plane into a right bank of 45-degrees and go around again. The trick (and the standards I have to meet) is to do all of this while keeping your altitude within plus or minus 100 feet ... keep your speed withing plus or minus 10 knots (not to exceed the aircraft's maneuvering speed) ... keep your bank angle within plus or minus 5-degrees of a 45-degree bank ... and turn out on your original heading plus or minus 10 degrees.

That sounds like a lot to pay attention to but its not really. It is hard to deal with the freak-out factor of being in such a steep bank but mostly what's hard is maintaining the altitude. The nose of the airplane naturally wants to drop, and to hold it steady on the horizon you have to put increasing back pressure on the yoke. Or use the trim wheel to relieve some of that pressure.

If you can manage to keep the nose level and the altitude under control then all the rest will come naturally. My first time around was terrible. I was all over the place. So I did it again. The second time around was much better.

Next I did some more clearing turns to make sure I was still by myself and then I did some slow flight. This is pretty easy. Just pull back the power so the plane slows down and then put some power back in to maintain altitude. Then you just make some turns to various headings while keeping the airplane on the verge of a stall.

I felt so comfortable with this that I decided to try a stall. Which one? The one that makes me the most nervous, of course! The power-on kind. So first I did some more clearing turns and then pulled the power back to slow to 55 kias. When I reached that speed I pushed in full power and pulled the nose up so the airplane was climbing. All of sudden the power quit and the engine backfired twice, then the power came back to full. With my heart racing a little I levelled out and turned toward Addison.

The flight back to Addison was uneventful. The engine RPM remained constant and before too long I was back on the ground and taxiing to Monarch. I filled out a squawk sheet to let them know what had happened.

Later, Y told me that a mechanic checked out the airplane and didn't find anything wrong. Oh well, I guess it was just one of those things. But on my next solo flight I think I'll take a different Skyhawk.

This flight: 1.6 hours
Landings: 5
Total: 56 hours

Demonstrating air work for my instructor

I really thought I wouldn't get to fly today. Last night thunderstorms rolled through North Texas and the forecast for this entire weekend is for thunderstorms. But as luck would have it, by the time 2:30 rolled around the clouds had moved East and the sky was mostly clear.

So I met my instructor, Y, at 2:30 and we agreed to go ahead and fly and check out my airwork ... things like slow flight, stalls and ground-reference maneuvers.

I pre-flighted and everything looked good except some hangar rash on the vertical stabilizer and the rudder. I showed it to Y and he agreed that we should squawk it but it wouldn't keep us on the ground. We taxied out and took off, turning out toward Denton to follow the first part of my Addison to Lubbock flight plan.

Once we were over Lake Lewisville, Y had me divert toward a large tower between Lake Lewisville and Lake Ray Hubbard. So I turned toward the general direction of the tower and reset our timer. Once I was straight and level again I found our location on my sectional chart and determined the distance to the tower, about 13 miles. Then I whipped out my e6b computer and determined how long it would take us to get there.

We ended up arriving about half a minute later than I calculated, that's well within the PTS limits. PTS stands for Practical Test Standards, which is what I'll be judged against during my checkride.

Once we passed the tower Y had me climb to 3000' where we started some slow flight. That's pretty easy. After some clearing turns, I pulled back the power to about 1500 RPM and let the airplane slow until we were at about 48 knots with full flaps. By that time you have to put starting power back in just to maintain altitude. That's called flying behind the power curve ... meaning that once you slow to a certain point it takes more and more power to maintain that slow, nose-high attitude. Once I was established at 48 knots and 3000' Y had me turn to some specific headings. All the while the stall horn is blaring away.

Then we did some stalls. First were power-off stalls. These simulate a stall while coming in for a landing. At 3000' you pull the power back and begin a typical landing approach descent and speed at full flaps. Then at a pre-determined altitude you pull the nose up until the wings stall. Immediately you let the nose fall and put in power to recover, then you climb back to 3000'. Once you have a positive rate of climb and a speed over 60 knots you pull the flaps back in. Those went pretty well.

Next were power-on stalls. These simulate a stall while climbing after take-off. At 3000' you slow the 55 knots (which is a Skyhawk's takeoff rotation speed). You push in full power and start climbing and you keep pulling the nose up until the wings stall. Immediately you let the nose drop so the wings start flying again. Then since you're already at full power you just keep the power there and put the airplane in a slight ascent so your speed increases until you're climbing back to 3000' at 74 knots.

During my first stall we ended up in a dive. We recovered and Y asked me to demonstrate the stall again. This time he watched my hands and sure enough we ended up in a dive again. He said that instead of just release pressure on the yoke to let the nose fall off I was actually pushing the nose down which put us in the dive. So we did it two more times with me being very concious of not pushing the nose down. It went much better! Next we did a couple of engine-out emergency simulations.

Y pulled the power all the way to idle and asked me what I should do next. So I went through the steps .. trimmed to fly at 68 knots, looked for an appropriate field to land in and then ran through the steps to restart the engine. We did this a couple of times and then while down low Y had me pick a spot and do a turn-around-a-point. After one and half turns Y was satisfied that I could do this within the PTS standards.

So I climbed to 2500' and flew us back into Addison. Probably the highlight of the trip was watching a B-17 land after us. Y was gracious enough to take the controls and taxi us while I watched.

I'm on the schedule for tomorrow so with a little more luck the weather will cooperate and I'll be making a solo flight into the practice area.

This flight: 1.4 hours
Total: 54.4

First flight in 141 days!!

That's right, today I flew for the first time since 21 January. I've been doing ground school the past few weeks with my new instructor, Y. We've finally finished all the material we need to cover and it was time to knock some of that rust off and get back in the air.

The plan was to follow a flight plan from Addison (KADS) to Lubbock (KLBB) and divert somewhere to do some practice takeoffs and landings. After a couple of delays kept us from getting off the ground when we wanted the plan changed to just going straight to Denton (KDTO) to do the practice takeoffs and landings.

The only time I get on the schedule was for 1 to 3 pm on a 100-degree Fahrenheit day so as you could imagine it was pretty bumpy up there. But despite the heat and bumpy air I managed to do OK. I felt pretty comfortable in the cockpit and remembered to use my checklists. I got the radio calls mostly right.

But the rust was definitely there. I had some trouble maintaining my altitude (though I could blame a little of that on the bumpiness) and my turns to final were consistently late and low. Despite that Y was pretty happy with my performance. He suggested that we do another flight to do the airwork .. ground reference maneuvers, slow flight, stalls, steep turns, etc ... and then a mock checkride flight.

After that he'll likely endorse me to do some solo flights before scheduling the real checkride. I'm almost there!!

This flight: 1.2 hours
Takeoffs and Landings: 5
Total: 53 hours