Lesson 13
Hmmmm unlucky lesson 13? Maybe.
This one just didn't go well at all. Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. I met my instructor, C, to go and do more touch-and-goes in preparation for solo. I'll skip the preliminaries ... we headed over to Collin County Airport (KTKI) and everything went well until we actually started doing landings. There was no one else in the pattern and the controller in the tower was being super friendly and helpful (saying things like "make that next base turn inside of that last one and it'll be perfect").
The winds were calm at the surface, but just at pattern altitude the winds were about 9-10 knots from the NorthEast and it was pretty bumpy. I think it was the bumpiest day yet that I've been up. I don't want to blame my lack of skill on the weather but it was a factor.
I was just all over the place. The first approach was too low and the landing flat. Plus the wind pushed me and I overshot the turn to final. The next two or three were too high and I had to slip to get down to the runway. On the next one C took the controls and did one circuit for me to remind how it's suppose to look.
He said, "You saw what the wind did the first time around. Now keep that in mind and adjust for it."
So I would crab on downwind and my turns to base and final were ok as far as keeping the pattern rectangle a rectangle. But I was still coming in too high and too fast.
In the flare I seemed to be getting more of a feel for it, but since I was not getting my speed down on base and final I was either floating for a long time or touching down too fast.
We did about eleven landings or so and instead of getting into the groove it seemed like I was getting more and more rattled as we went along. The last three were engine out exercises. The first one we didn't make the runway, but the next two we did. However, I wasn't sure we would until we were on final. C would pull the throttle out and then say you can do whatever you feel is necessary, even use full flaps. Then he'd say, "why don't you go ahead and put in a notch of flaps." I did, but I was thinking to myself "you're crazy, we'll never make it. Flaps = drag." But, of course, he was right and we actually needed full flaps to slow down enough to make a decent landing.
Later I went and did some more reading about flaps and I read that (at least with the Skyhawk) 10 and 20-degrees of flap provide more lift than they do drag. It's only the 30-degree setting where you get more drag than you're getting lift.
Plus there were several times where I was concentrating so much on wrestling the plane that I didn't hear the tower talking. A couple of times they were calling me and once they were talking to another plane doing a straight-in approach and C had to remind me to extend my downwind leg to accomodate them. Sheesh, too much going on.
On the trip back to Addison, C covered the GPS to make look up our position on my chart before calling regional approach. That was easy enough but then approach was really busy and asked us to remain beyond 10 miles out from Addison so we circled. All this got me distracted again and I forgot to do the approach checklist.
Then once we're cleared to Addison and I'm turning final the winds decide to pick up and I ... well, the only thing I can say is ... I got flat out completely turned around about the wind. I was moving the controls to counter a left-quartering crosswind when we actually had a right-quarting crosswind and I let the plane get to slow. We were drifting off the centerline and everything I did just made it worse. I started to say "let's go around" when C took the controls and finished the landing. Sheesh! I wasn't shaking but I was close to it.
Mainly I was just mad at myself ... for getting confused, for letting us get slow, for not (how should I say this) "being" a pilot.
C didn't seem angry, but he did give me a stern talking-to. He suggested I write down the things I did wrong so that I can study how to change them and then review that before the next flight. So here goes. Things I was doing wrong:
1) Not paying attention to the wind ... know where it's coming from, watch how you're drifting and correct for it.
2) Not being aggressive with the power and controls ... if I'm too low then push in the throttle and get back to the glidepath. Don't second guess, just do it.
3) Not paying attention to the radio ... yeah, there's a lot to do, but you got to learn to deal with it all. And I have to respond quickly when the controller calls.
4) Coming in too high and too fast ... don't be afraid to pull the throttle out, you're not going to drop like a rock and you can always use power to regain altitude if you get too low.
5) Don't land flat ... pull that nose up during the flare, keep it coming so that you hear a definite delay between the mains and the nosewheel hitting the runway.
6) Don't ever push forward on the yoke during the flare ... I did this when I felt a balloon coming on and C pointed it out. I can release the backpressure, but never actually push the yoke forward. Instead release back pressure and use the throttle to catch the balloon and let the plane back down easy.
The thing is ... I know all of this in my head ... it's just hard turning it into action when I'm in the cockpit. I wish I could take a couple of days off from work and go do several lessons in a row because I think this would be easier if I was able to keep a regular schedule. Lately, with all the weather and my job keeping me busy and stressed to the gills I go 10 to 14 days or more between lessons.
Well, at the very least I now have my list and I can review it every day, several times a day, until my next lesson. And the next time in the left seat I'm going to do everything perfectly.
This lesson: 1.7 hours
Landings: 11
Total: 18.4 hours
This one just didn't go well at all. Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. I met my instructor, C, to go and do more touch-and-goes in preparation for solo. I'll skip the preliminaries ... we headed over to Collin County Airport (KTKI) and everything went well until we actually started doing landings. There was no one else in the pattern and the controller in the tower was being super friendly and helpful (saying things like "make that next base turn inside of that last one and it'll be perfect").
The winds were calm at the surface, but just at pattern altitude the winds were about 9-10 knots from the NorthEast and it was pretty bumpy. I think it was the bumpiest day yet that I've been up. I don't want to blame my lack of skill on the weather but it was a factor.
I was just all over the place. The first approach was too low and the landing flat. Plus the wind pushed me and I overshot the turn to final. The next two or three were too high and I had to slip to get down to the runway. On the next one C took the controls and did one circuit for me to remind how it's suppose to look.
He said, "You saw what the wind did the first time around. Now keep that in mind and adjust for it."
So I would crab on downwind and my turns to base and final were ok as far as keeping the pattern rectangle a rectangle. But I was still coming in too high and too fast.
In the flare I seemed to be getting more of a feel for it, but since I was not getting my speed down on base and final I was either floating for a long time or touching down too fast.
We did about eleven landings or so and instead of getting into the groove it seemed like I was getting more and more rattled as we went along. The last three were engine out exercises. The first one we didn't make the runway, but the next two we did. However, I wasn't sure we would until we were on final. C would pull the throttle out and then say you can do whatever you feel is necessary, even use full flaps. Then he'd say, "why don't you go ahead and put in a notch of flaps." I did, but I was thinking to myself "you're crazy, we'll never make it. Flaps = drag." But, of course, he was right and we actually needed full flaps to slow down enough to make a decent landing.
Later I went and did some more reading about flaps and I read that (at least with the Skyhawk) 10 and 20-degrees of flap provide more lift than they do drag. It's only the 30-degree setting where you get more drag than you're getting lift.
Plus there were several times where I was concentrating so much on wrestling the plane that I didn't hear the tower talking. A couple of times they were calling me and once they were talking to another plane doing a straight-in approach and C had to remind me to extend my downwind leg to accomodate them. Sheesh, too much going on.
On the trip back to Addison, C covered the GPS to make look up our position on my chart before calling regional approach. That was easy enough but then approach was really busy and asked us to remain beyond 10 miles out from Addison so we circled. All this got me distracted again and I forgot to do the approach checklist.
Then once we're cleared to Addison and I'm turning final the winds decide to pick up and I ... well, the only thing I can say is ... I got flat out completely turned around about the wind. I was moving the controls to counter a left-quartering crosswind when we actually had a right-quarting crosswind and I let the plane get to slow. We were drifting off the centerline and everything I did just made it worse. I started to say "let's go around" when C took the controls and finished the landing. Sheesh! I wasn't shaking but I was close to it.
Mainly I was just mad at myself ... for getting confused, for letting us get slow, for not (how should I say this) "being" a pilot.
C didn't seem angry, but he did give me a stern talking-to. He suggested I write down the things I did wrong so that I can study how to change them and then review that before the next flight. So here goes. Things I was doing wrong:
1) Not paying attention to the wind ... know where it's coming from, watch how you're drifting and correct for it.
2) Not being aggressive with the power and controls ... if I'm too low then push in the throttle and get back to the glidepath. Don't second guess, just do it.
3) Not paying attention to the radio ... yeah, there's a lot to do, but you got to learn to deal with it all. And I have to respond quickly when the controller calls.
4) Coming in too high and too fast ... don't be afraid to pull the throttle out, you're not going to drop like a rock and you can always use power to regain altitude if you get too low.
5) Don't land flat ... pull that nose up during the flare, keep it coming so that you hear a definite delay between the mains and the nosewheel hitting the runway.
6) Don't ever push forward on the yoke during the flare ... I did this when I felt a balloon coming on and C pointed it out. I can release the backpressure, but never actually push the yoke forward. Instead release back pressure and use the throttle to catch the balloon and let the plane back down easy.
The thing is ... I know all of this in my head ... it's just hard turning it into action when I'm in the cockpit. I wish I could take a couple of days off from work and go do several lessons in a row because I think this would be easier if I was able to keep a regular schedule. Lately, with all the weather and my job keeping me busy and stressed to the gills I go 10 to 14 days or more between lessons.
Well, at the very least I now have my list and I can review it every day, several times a day, until my next lesson. And the next time in the left seat I'm going to do everything perfectly.
This lesson: 1.7 hours
Landings: 11
Total: 18.4 hours
posted by AirmanChet at
10:17
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