Up, Up and Away

Lesson #2

Well, my plan was to fly at least once a week, and I REALLY wanted to fly twice a week. But as time and money has it, I was 2 weeks plus between lessons this time. I figured I'd have to start back at step #1....but I forgot my keys to the plane, so I was back to step .5.

I started the morning planning on being at the airport around 8:00, but a call to AWOS and to my CFI showed that we had a lovely 100ft ceiling and 1/4 mile visibility. Fog. yuk. Well, we waited another hour and whaddayaknow? clear past 12k and 10miles visibility. So, off we go.

I made it to the airport and after finding my keys in my flight bag, I tried to remember why we start the preflight IN the cockpit....what was that thing we do before the walk around?......hrm....think Franks.....oh yea! get gum. Gum got....check.....

now what.....then it hits me....drop the flaps and take out the gust lock so that I can check the control surfaces! Yea me! I remembered something!

By this time Kary has appeared and we do the walk around together again. Identifying the parts and pieces as we go and try to put some logical process to this simple step of flying. got it...I hope.

We spend some time discussing what a stall is and why its important to know that. And we go over Bournoulli's principle concerning lift....I still don't buy it, but the Feds want me to know it again (for my second written in 4 years), so I listen closely to how THEY explain it...you know, the same folks with the black helicopters and a thing for mutilating cattle?....I watch the X-Files...I know how they operate. They'll never get me!

Conspiracy talk complete, we saddle up and start the checklist. This time, Kary seems to actually expect me to do some of these things. We jot down through them and we're off. My drunken drive to the runway is a bit less like a sine curve and more like a series of algebra limits on a graph....always edging closer to the line, but never quite getting there. Oh well, I like to leave room for improvement. No sense acting like a know it all.

Runup complete, scan the area and off we go....straight toward the right side of the runway....then back to the centerish and we sorta take off in a direction resembling the runway heading. Side loading the gear aside, it didn't look too bad. I like to hear tire squeal on take-off, it helps let me know when the gear is clear of the ground.

We climb out, do a few turns then slow the plane down and start doing slow climbing and decending turns. We work on using power to control not only altitude, but the rate at which we're climbing/descending and then using the yoke for speed control. I've done this in the light pattern work I've done before, but never to this extent. It was cool. "Hold 80mph, but descend 400 ft"...."decrease your speed to 70, but hold 3500ft", etc. Pretty cool how quick it all starts coming together (yea...like I know ANYTHING). And I just thank God that I'm paying Kary by the hour and not by the number of times he says the word "rudder". I think his lesson plan calls for that to be less necessary in the future......

We head back toward the airport and I (that's me, Jeff) make my first official CTAF call. Wasn't much different than doing it on MS Flight Sim, but with this call I know that anyone listening is past puberty and might actually care about what I'm saying. We cross the airport, turn back in to the downwind and land on 20. Well, land is a subjective word. Again, my hysteria against dying in a flaming ball of aluminum keeps me from "over doing" the whole landing thing. By "over doing", I mean...."helping". The feel just ain't there yet. Granted we've only done 2, but I used to feel much more comfortable doing it than I do now....it'll come. And, er....well until "that feeling" gets there, we might want to buy some tires with tread that goes 45 degrees off straight......

Taxi to the pumps and shutdown...We're done. Had a good post-flight discussion with Kary about several aspects of the flight. Went inside, got my homework, paid the fiddler and lesson #2 is in the books. 1.1 hrs flight time (2.2 Total) and a mind full of new questions and things I didn't know I didn't know.

jf

posted by Jeff Franks @ 8:20 PM