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
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
posted by AirmanChet at
20:30
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