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.
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