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
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
posted by AirmanChet at
09:54
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