Whose wife loves him?

 
 

Model plane

 
Spent a little bit of the snow day shopping at the airplane store, and building this little model.

Lesson 12 12/18/08

Lesson 12

1.1hrs - Navigation, pattern work, crosswinds, clouds, snow, and my head not quite in it.

Why the pictures from the yard, and not from the air? I've not had a camera along for the past few lessons, and much of what we flew over during lesson 12 was snow covered.

The weather around here had been poor in the morning with a mix of snow, rain, freezing rain, or sleet, but fortunately by lesson time, had improved.

We departed Twin Oaks and climbed to clear a small band of low clouds hugging a ridge. From there is was a clear shot below the high overcast to McMinnville.

My calls on the radio and navigation work seemed to have slipped, and was already beginning to feel a little behind.

We arrived at McMinnville with wind at 10kts from 200, and entered the pattern for 22. Snow and limited visibility was forecast to move into the area in the next hour, so or time at here would not be long.

My first landing at McMinnville was okay, but I just didn’t feel on top of it. I flared a bit high, struggled a little with the small crosswind component, and touched down at bit hard. The subsequent takeoff was good, and in the cold air I was able to climb out at about 1400fpm (nice).

About mid field on downwind, my instructor pulled the throttle “you just lost your engine, what are you going to do?”. I needed a hint or two during the descent, and flared a little flat, but pulled off a decent landing.

The last trip around at MMV went okay, but I began to flare high, could feel us begin to drop in, added some power, and brought it down with no more than a squeak. I was happy with my ability to correct for a poor short final and flare, but not so happy with my performance that led to the need for it.

Now it was time to head for Twin Oaks. Many areas are still covered in snow (unusual for this part of Oregon), so the view was really something, and we passed through a few light snow showers along the way. Pretty cool.

About 10 miles south of Twin Oaks, it was IMC (instrument conditions) ahead . We turned around, and headed a little farther east, and then north. It was clear at Hillsboro, so we planned to head there and wait, or leave the airplane overnight and get a ride back to Twin Oaks. Soon we found a clear opening to the west between to storm fronts, could see Twin Oaks in the clear on the back side, and headed for home.

Back at Twin Oaks the wind favored 20 (over the trees to the down sloping runway), so I entered the pattern for 20.

I had it pretty well set up on final, but started to lock up on the rudder on short final. A wiggle on the rudder from my CFI and a reminder to be aggressive loosend me up again, ending landing number 4 of the day nicely.

Everything seemed to have slipped since my last lesson, but it did turn out to be a really good lesson in how physical condition can affect my performance (I’ve had a sore lower back this week and have not slept as well as normal), and how non-flying related issues in the day or week can affect my mental preparedness.

My CFI sent me off after some encouraging discussion of plateaus, and pre-solo struggles of his own.

I may be able to get one more lesson in on the 23rd, but if not I’ll be on the ground until early next month. Oh well, many things to stay busy with anyway!

Lesson 11 12/11/08

Lesson 11 1.3hrs - Basic navigation, pattern, and landing practice.

My assignment after last lesson was to study the sectional, airport directory, and any other sources I wanted to use, to plan a trip from 7S3 (Twin Oaks) to 4S9 (Mulino), including heading, frequency, pattern direction, calm wind runway, etc.

It's only a distance of approx 20 nautical miles, but a first step for me.We departed 7S3 and followed the heading I'd determined, with a little correction added for the slight crosswind. At about 5 miles out, I realized that I had over corrected a little for the wind, and was a little farther north than I'd planned, but it did make the descent to pattern altitude, and entry into the pattern for runway 22 easy.

I made a total of 5 landings, all really very nice, but still am consistently high on final and touch down left of the centerline. It seems to go back to needing work on judging my descent on base. The left of center I think comes from seeing all the runway width in front of me. At Twin Oaks, which is a half to a third the width of the UAO, MMV, or 4S9, I consistently touch down on the center.

I also need to use the trim more. My CFI did one trip around to demonstrate that the whole pattern, from takeoff to the beginning of the flare can be flown with a light two fingers and thumb, if you use the trim well. He actually was able it complete the flare as well without adding fingers.

We departed the pattern at 4S9, which during the time we were there had not one other aircraft around, and followed my heading right back to 7S3.

I made my way around the pattern, came out of the turn to final a bit high, but was able to correct for a nice landing to end the evening. Now with a total of 15.3 hours logged.

My CFI feels that I'm getting very close to solo, and will soon spend a lesson with one of the other instructors as kind of a stage check. With each lesson, I feel more confident.

So another very good day!

Lesson 12 will be to somewhere else new, so I have a couple of possible destinations to plan for. One possibility is TMK, near the coast, which would be very cool, but would require unseasonably good weather. We'll see, it looks like the weather is going to really go down hill here for several days, but I have the pre-solo test to study for to keep me busy while waiting to go up again.

Lesson 10 12/08/08

1.5hrs – Making the position calls, pattern work, steep turns, and intro to the sectional, airport/facility directory, online resources, and navigation.

Prior to takeoff, we spent a few minutes looking over and discussing the sectional, airnav, and the weather reports. It was my task (in addition to flying of course) to navigate from 7S3 to MMV, make the position calls, and determine how to enter the pattern based on our arrival direction and the active runway. One minor slip on the first call to McMinnville, but pretty smooth thereafter. I’ve been practicing by running through the calls in my head.

We worked on a couple of steep turns (45 degree bank angle). My altitude and bank angle varied some, but on the second time around to the left, I did manage to hit my own wake, which means that I ended at the same altitude that I began. Steep turns to the right seem a little more difficult.

I managed to navigate our way to McMinnville (It’s not far from Twin Oaks, so no huge feat, but a start) and overflew midfield for a descending right turn to enter the 45 for left traffic.

The first two approaches I started the base to final turn a little early, and was high on final (both I have tendency to do), but got back on track for some very respectable landings.

The third trip around, My CFI covered the altimeter. The pattern went well, was again a little high on final, but arrived smoothly.

The next pattern was without the airspeed indicator. I was a little nervous about this, but my CFI reminded me that the nose attitude, sound, and feel, will tell me what I need to know. This time we arrived with a little bump, but still better than most in previous lessons.

The fifth pattern was with no instruments (my CFI covered the whole panel with his coat). “You’re a VFR pilot, not IFR. Eyes need to be outside, only peeking inside to compare the instruments to what your eyes are telling you”. Okay I say, and around the pattern for a normal approach and landing. Not too bad. After cleaning everything up (so I thought) to make it a touch-and-go, I go to full throttle and my CFI pulls the mixture. “We’re not ready to take off. What did you miss?”. I’m looking around not seeing anything. “Trim?” He asks. Doh!! He had reminded me on the previous touch-and-go. The trim is used to releave pressure on the yoke, and correctly trimmed, you can maintain altitude, climbs, descents, and airspeed with hands off the yoke. The trim is a wheel that you roll up for nose down, and down for nose up. In the pattern in a 172, it works well to run one wheel of nose up (from top to bottom) as you begin the descent, and two wheels you are on final. If you don't retrim before the takeoff roll, the aircraft will pitch up quite high, and you'll need a lot of forward pressure on the yoke during climbout.

The next time around, trim was remembered.

Back to Twin Oaks. A little low by the downwind to base turn and had to add some power, then a tad high on final, but not too bad. I began to flare a little too early and started to drop in, but added a little power to help smooth the landing. It ended with a little bump, but since my CFI didn’t need to coach me through it, I happy with it.

After we shut down, my CFI was pointing out how my learning curve has steadily been increasing over the past several lessons, and the S word (solo) was spoken. He's thinking somewhere around the 20hr point based on my progress. Seems soon, especially since my first few lessons, at least, were spent in large part just getting comfortable with flying, but I do feel very satisfied with my progress as of late.

My next lesson will include a mini cross-country to Mulino (4S9), to practice a little navigation and reading the sectional, as well as visit somewhere new.

New Headset

Audrey is modeling Steve's new headset, designed here and sold by the local airpark.

Lesson 9 12/04/08

Lesson 9
1.5hrs – Power-on and power-off stalls, accelerated stalls, simulated engine out, power off landing, crosswind landings, and turbulence.

Lesson 9 began with a nice departure into a beautiful clear sky, and great view of the Cascade Range and Willamette valley in route to MMV for crosswind landing practice (my first).

In route to MMV we practiced a several more stalls in various configurations, which by the end, were much quicker and better coordinated.

My instructor demonstrated some accelerated stalls, which are stalls at higher air speeds due to excessive maneuvering loads created by steep turns, pull-ups, or other abrupt changes in flightpath, and we discussed the situations that could lead to these abrupt changes.

We simulated engine out emergency in the practice area, which went well. I quickly pulled the carb heat on, and pitched for best glide, found a nice large field with no obstructions, and began to circle the end of the field as we lost altitude. Once we were down to around 200 ft, and a safe landing was assured, I was able restored power from idle.

At MMV, there was a left crosswind (my first crosswind landing experience). In the pattern I was able to correct for the wind with a crab angle (turning the nose into the wind) with no problem. On final my CFI took over to demonstrate how to use a slip for crosswind. A slip for crosswind correction is called a sideslip, and is accomplished by lowering the wing into the wind, and using the rudder to keep the airplanes longitudinal axis aligned with the runway.

We took another trip around the pattern, and he demonstrated a second time.

Next up, my turn. Slipping to correct for a crosswind is difficult! On my first I had either too little right rudder, or too much left aileron, because we drifted pretty far to the left side of the runway before touching down (fortunately for me MMV is wide).

The next trip around was a little better.

We then did a power off landing, in which thankfully the crosswind died off for, making it achievable.

Departing MMV for 7S3 and happily passing 800 AGL at out over 1000 fpm, my power drops to idle...
My CFI: Where are we going to go?
Me: That nice big field about 20 degrees off our nose.
CFI: You’re not going to return to the runway?
Me: No, we’re too low.
CFI: Good, you have your power back.

Unless you are at least 1000 AGL, a turn back to the runway after an engine out is a bad idea. The rate of descent, the distance required to turn, and the low airspeed make a return to the airport very difficult, if not impossible, and the maneuver is known as The Impossible Turn. Therefore its best at low altitude to pick a spot straight ahead to 90 degrees in each direction, depending on wind direction and current altitude.

I also handled much of the communications during this lesson. It was pretty choppy, and at one point I looked at my instructor and mentioned that everyone listening must be thinking “student pilot…”. “Yes, but its okay. You’ll get better”. I’d start to make a good call, then stop and think “cr@#, what was the runway?” Fortunately I’ve managed to censor myself, and finally spit the number out. I think I need a pad to write the runway number and other key notes down on, or some other memory aid.

On the trip back to 7S3 we had some time to review, and enjoy the view, then came the turbulence….

Much more turbulence than I’ve experienced in my short number of hours.

The closer to 7S3 we got, the bumpier it got, and I was getting a workout maintaining attitude and heading.

A wing would drop, I’d bring it back up and the other side would drop, or the tail would lift, or some combination everything. As a result, my turns in the pattern weren’t real smooth, and by the time we turned final I was high fast and tense, so around we went for another try.

My next attempt was better, but in the turn to final I had difficulty coming out of the turn, and as a result turned too far. At this point I think I was hoping he would take over, and my CFI must have picked up on my mumbled cursing and says “This is your machine. You control it, it does not control you, so make it do what you want it to do.” I think I managed to squeak out an okay, but it was enough to get back on track for a good landing, and thankful he hadn’t taken over.

Now after lesson 9, I've completed the first page of my log book (which included my intro flight) with 12.5 hrs and 41 landings, an amazing experience so far with much to look forward to, a brand new ANR headset of my very own, and feeling like I'm making some solid progress.

A Mentor Pilot

I now have a mentor pilot through the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilot's Assn).

A mentor is an experienced pilot volunteers to coach, and offer encouragement, and assistance while you progress through flight training. They are also available to help with questions or issues that you're not comfortable discussing with your flight instructor, as well as help you understand the challenges of learning to fly, or just simple suggestions like what to look for in a headset. According to AOPA, a student with a mentor is three times more likely to finish training. Maybe true, but even increasing the odds a little is worth it, plus its nice to have someone to talk flying with. Here's a link to the AOPA mentor page -http://flighttraining.aopa.org/projectpilot/students/pilot_mentor/

My mentor was kind enough to offer after I had posted a question regarding the mentor program on the AOPA pilot's forum. He began his training about 2 years ago at the on-campus airport at UC Davis, where he's a student, and is currently working on his instrument rating, and has plans for a glider rating, and high performance and complex endorsements. He is also involved in Angel Flight West - http://www.angelflight.org/

Lesson 8 12/2/08

1.3hrs – Forward slips, crab angle, standard landings, power off landing, power on landing with no flaps, turns around a point, and go-arounds.

1.2hrs ground – Aircraft systems, and communications.

After departing Twin Oaks (7S3), we headed to Aurora (AUO) for some landing practice with intro to landing in various configurations. In route, we discussed slips and power off landings, wind correction, communication, and determining the preferred runway.

At AUO my CFI demonstrated a forward slip. A side slip is used to lose altitude without gaining airspeed and is entered by lowering a wing with the ailerons, and applying just enough opposite rudder to prevent a turn. Side slips are useful in forced landings, landings when flaps are inoperative, or the aircraft does not have flaps. Side slips feel a bit unatural at first, because one wing is down, and your looking at the runway more through the side window than the front. Also, it feels a bit like you will slide out the door (if your on the low side).

I then took off, flew the pattern. Descent took a little more work without flaps, and on final, my CFI helped a little with the slip and landing flair.

The next trip around I performed the slip. I didn’t have quite enough left aileron, and got off to the right of the runway, but was able to correct, and transition into the flair for a pretty decent landing.

Next up was power off landing. In a power off landing, the throttle is brought back to idle while in the patter. My CFI demonstrated the first. My turn became a power on with no flaps due to the need for an extended downwind to adjust for other traffic. Different, but ended smoothly.

We also practiced best angle of climb, and an engine out after departure.

For the first time in my training there was some noticeable wind, so we practiced using crab angle, and turns around a point. Wind correction came pretty easy, probably from my days of dealing with current in sea kayaking and boating. Turns around a point appear much easier than they actually are, but I got the basics.

Back at 7S3, due to the sloping runway, the calm wind runway for takeoff is 20, with landing on 02 (up to about 8 knots). Landing on 02 thus gave us a tailwind here, and resulted in a go-around. We set up for landing on 20 (my first on 20). About half way down on final, it just didn’t look right, so around we went again. I felt really good about this go-around; it didn’t look right to ME, and I made the call and completed the maneuver, without my CFI making the calls. By this time it was beginning to get a little dark, with some light rain, but I was able to make a nice pattern, and a very acceptable landing.

So now it’s all beginning to come together. I’m feeling much more relaxed (even have an appetite on days with a lesson), and am thoroughly enjoying each minute in the air, or at the airport.

My hours are now in the double digits! (11hrs logged)

Lesson 7 11/29/08

Lesson 7 – 1.4hrs. Landings and go-arounds.

Finally, Saturday the clouds lifted enough to get another lesson in. My takeoffs have continued to improve. I’m able to remain pretty straight, and am developing a good feel for when controls begin to become effective. So far the wind has been calm during my lessons, so I know there are still surprises to come.

We departed Twin Oaks for McMinnville, and practiced some mock go-arounds along the way. The process seems simple on paper, but difficult to perform smoothly in practice. After a little practice I felt comfortable with the process, and can identify where I need a little more work.

We arrived at McMinnville, entered the pattern, and flew down to one of the most stable finals that I’ve been able to manage. It then unraveled in the flair when the low sun filled the windshield, and highlighted every scratch and insect carcass covering it. I tried looking more off to the side to judge the remainder of the flair, but have no experience in this, so we came down a little hard. Heatherle, who was able to come along again, commented that it was hard enough to surprise her a bit, but she was able to hang on to her gum. Of course she was also videotaping from the back seat, and the taping ends with the camera nearly being knocked from her hands. Oh well, no one ever seems to be taping when you make a really smooth landing

After we exited the runway, the active runway changed from 22 to 04, making life much more pleasant. The next landing was my best so far. Nothing more than a squeak, and a straight roll out. Nice praise from my CFI, and Heatherle, but of course she didn’t tape that one... no one ever seems to be taping when you make a really smooth landing….

The next was a nice approach, and go around thrown in at the last minute for practice. The go-around definitely included less undue excitement than the first in lesson 6, but needs more practice. The final trip around the pattern at McMinnville ended pretty smoothly, and we departed for Twin Oaks.

I still struggle some with identifying while on base whether I’m high or low, but I’m now maintaining the correct airspeeds, judging my turns better, and feeling more confident. Two trips around Twin Oaks, both with pretty decent landings, ended lesson 7 on a high note.So I feel like I’m progressing well, or at least I’m happy with my progress. My CFI asked if I had noticed that he was coaching me a lot less (I hadn’t), and Heatherle commented that she has noticed improvement in the short time since her last ride, and that I appear more relaxed (support appreciated), so life as a student pilot is good!

Next lesson(s) – Consistency, slips, power-off landing, and radio work.