100th Landing

Its been tough getting in flying time this week. Strong winds kept me out of the skies on Sunday morning. Even when I rescheduled for the same evening, the wind still refused to cooperate with my desire to fly. Jeff and I were scheduled to fly on Monday evening, but he called to tell me he was stuck in Twin Falls, at the opposite end of the state, with another student. Apparently their aircraft broke down and were trying to find a way home. This got me to thinking about my own future road trips and that I need to be prepared to find a way home should something go wrong with my airplane. In the mean time, Jeff wanted me to go ahead and fly solo.

So I got to the airfield around 7 pm. Checking the squak sheet I saw that there was a write up indicating that the front wheel had a shimmy in it. Now I know from this aircraft it does have a shimmy – but goes away when you provide back pressure when taxiing. I gave the pilot who did the write up a call to get more information. I suggest this as a practice if it is practical. It gives you more insight to the issue and then you can make a determination.

After getting more information I decided to fly the airplane.

Checking the fuel I found five gallons in one tank and two in the other. This wasn’t quite enough for doing my flight, even though I was staying close to the field. I towed the plane to the pumps and put in filled it up to the tabs.

Getting to the run-up area I noticed that there was one of the local race teams practicing in the pattern. These are a lot of fun to watch- but I was pretty concerned about him doing laps in the same pattern I was going to practice in. He travels pretty fast and could literally do an entire lap around the pattern while I am just working my way out of the pattern. I also know they have very small fuel tanks and use up a large amount of fuel at the same time- so I figured he would not be there very long. I made my announcement and departed to the east.

If the world did not already have enough extreme to it- after going to the practice area to work on turns- as I came back into the pattern I had an small experimental aircraft working the pattern. Now these planes only travel about 40-60 kts so I would quickly overtake him if not careful. As I got to the downwind leg, it was apparent I was going to run up on him pretty quick so I turned out of the pattern and performed a standard rate turn.

The standard rate turn is a turn in which an airplane completes a 360 degree turn in 2 minutes. This is done by have a turn of 3 degrees per second. This allowed me to leave the pattern and re-enter it at my point of departing the pattern. This gave me approximately two minutes of distance between the light sport aircraft and myself. This was a technique Jeff taught me a few weeks ago.

Like so many things, Jeff’s teachings and advice is right on time. During our last flight he pointed out that I tend to fixate on the runway and forget to look around. Thankfully I had broken this habit. During my 2nd touch and go I called that I was departing and would be left closed traffic- meaning that I was staying in the pattern. Just after I turned crosswind I noticed another aircraft entering the pattern on the downwind –strait in- and not from a 45 degree angle. The other plane never called until after I saw him and had to stop my climb. He also called that he was at 4000 but in reality he was eye level with me at 3100. I wish the FAA would make the 45 degree entry mandatory and not just a recommendation for non-towered airfields. I have had too many of these close calls in my short career.

I did one more touch and go’s and then called it a day. I should point out that in this flight I did my 100th takeoff and landing!

I will meet Jeff tonight to go and visit the Boise Air Traffic Control tower- this should be interesting to see them work.

Total Flight Time: .6
Total Landings: 4
Total Career Landings: 103

Post-It Notes

The past few weeks I have been dedicating myself to doing more solo time. However there was a minor miscommunication between my instructor and myself. Once I did my solo flight he gave me the green light to fly and check in with him about every other week. We agreed to this when I was only flying once or twice a week. I came into some extra funding to support my aviation addiction and well, I made seven flights without going back to my instructor.

I should point out- this isn’t because your instructor doesn’t want you to have a good time or because you are a source of income- it is primarily a safety precaution.

I had developed several bad habits that if it wasn’t for Jeff catching- I could have gotten hurt or worse- killed.

So this morning we flew again. Now this was our second flight in the past week with one solo in between. I came back from my last two flights, one dual and one solo, with my confidence shaken. I think Jeff could sense this. He knows I drive myself pretty hard and have a hard time taking feedback when I think I have been doing the right thing. He also knows that for me- I’m either making an “A” or making an “F” when I grade myself. Again- I tend to drive myself very hard. When you look for an instructor- don’t just settle for one that is technically proficient, has the best price, or is the “club recommended CFI”. Choose the one that you can build a relationship with. Remember, the CFI works for you, but make this a partnership. Jeff and I spend a lot of time crammed into the cockpit of a Cessna 152, it is important that we get along. This is the responsibility of both the student and the instructor.

Jeff set me up with some great confidence boosters. After doing a few touch and go’s, he covered up the instruments with post it notes. He let me keep the tachometer and clock. Everything else was covered. We were in real VFR mode. While we stayed in the pattern he would ask me questions about my airspeed, what altitude I thought I was at, etc. We did two landings like this. It really helped me understand what the “picture” should look like during take off, landing, and each transition.

We also did some simulated engine failure exercises. The first attempt I came up a little short of the runway and had to execute a go around. The next few times I was able to bring it back in and on one occasion landed without flaps.

My flying funds are getting tight right now and I’ve run out of things to sell, so I’m not real sure how much time I will be putting in the next few weeks. I will still fly each week, but I will be dropping my time substantially.

On a side not- I did get the new website launched and if you need training materials, please purchase it through my on-line partnership with Amazon. You will find it under the “resources” link. The website address is http://www.barnstormingblarney.com

Over the next lessons I will be working on short and soft field take-offs, more hood work/instrument flying, and practicing more stalls. At some point I want to take the Cessna 172 out again, this time with my daughter and (of course) Jeff, so she can experience flying in a small plane…but we’ll have to see.

Total Hours: 28.5
Total Solo: 7.1
Total Landings: 99

Emergency Decents

My instructor and I met for a few hours this afternoon to go over emergency procedures and practice both gliding and descents.

We met at 6 pm and it was still roasting outside. I had shown up to the hangar about 30 minutes prior to the meeting so I could pre-flight the aircraft. Checking the fuel I noted that there was less than 6 gallons in the plane. Now our 152 burns 6 gallons per hour- so I knew right away I was going to have to drag it down to the pumps before we met. I like to gas up before my instructor gets there. I would rather pay for time he actually instructs and I know he would rather actually teach me during our time together.

During the preflight I noted a few loose screws that hold the aircraft fabric to the frame. I had always wondered why my fuel strainer had a screw driver on the end of it—now I know why. I tightened the screws and completed my pre-flight inspection.

Jeff and I met for about an hour before we flew. During this time we went over various reasons for emergencies, the different scenarios, possible actions, and the procedures for dealing with emergencies. We also discussed places around our own airport where I could ditch the airplane if needed.

One we were airborne I quickly got myself established in the pattern and properly turned out of the pattern once I was out of the downwind leg, this is called a downwind departure. By the time I departed the pattern we had climbed from 2537 ft (our airport elevation) to 3500 ft. I continued our climb to 4500 ft.

The first procedure we did was loss of power. For this I immediately established our glide (best glide) at 60 knots. I picked a spot to land if we needed to. Then I trimmed for glide and then went through the procedure of checking to see if fuel was on, mixture, throttle, ignition key/attempt to restart, and the check the primer. Once we established (simulated) that my aircraft was not going to start we prepared for our (simulated) emergency landing.

The next procedure was emergency descents. Here we put in full flaps, pitched the aircraft for 80 knots, and dove for the deck. At 1000 feet AGL we leveled the plane and picked a spot we could land at if needed.

On the way back I made two landings. I’m still leveling two low and I think I’m giving Jeff a heart attack. After we had a chance to talk through it- I understand better what is expected.

We took the aircraft back a little earlier than we wanted to because someone else had booked it. Unfortunately hey never showed. I wish people would cancel their bookings or at least cancel them sooner, especially when the schedule get filled up. We could have used the extra 15-20 minutes for practicing landings.

Total Flight Time: .9
Landings: 2

Squishy Flaps

I had the opportunity to get a early morning flight in this week I love getting out to the airfield when its still dark.

I asked my instructor if I could get in a day of just working in the pattern.

We had very calm skies- with almost no wind. 11 is the preferential runway so I already had it in my mind’s eye which pattern we would be working.

During my pre-flight I was sure to double check the squak sheet- since last time I missed seeing that the radio was having issues. The squak sheet is a way to communicate to other pilot using an specific aircraft if there are any known issues. When I checked it – I noticed that our write-up had been scratched out. I also noticed on the sign-out log that the club’s mechanic had taken the aircraft for a spin and checked out the radio.

The landings are coming together. I talked my instructor through each step of the pattern. After take-off I climbed to 3500 feet (MSL) which is about 1000’ AGL.

Once our airspeed came in and we set the throttle to cruise- which on the litte C-152 is about 2200 rpm at 90 kts.

As we traveled on the downwind leg I made my radio call announcing to other traffic I where I was at. I also went through my checklist for landing- including making sure seat belts were fastened. I found it interesting that seatbelts are not required for the entire flight.

As I came parallel with the 1000’ hash marks of the runway I turned on the carb heat, pulled the throttle to 1500 rpm (making sure to keep the nose level) put in 10 degrees of flaps, and pitched for 80 kts.

I continued this process from the down wind- to base- to final

I would love to be able to say that each landing was perfect- but at least I had a chance to learn how to fix different landing problems from ballooning to bouncing.

On our 5th landing / touch and go I put the flaps up, turned off the carb heat, and firewalled the throttle

Immediately I noticed there was a problem with the takeoff- when I glanced outside- I noticed the flaps were still down.

Jeff took over the aircraft at this point and we did a low and slow flight in the pattern and landed immediately—then for some reason- the flaps went back up for us

I still had some time to fly before going to work- so we took of again- giving me another shot at landing.

I’m actually thankful for the small problems that have come up in my training. It is teaching me how to handle problems once I get out on my own.

In the end- Jeff thinks that by placing the flaps lever all the way down- and then bringing them back up is what helped to rectify the issue.