Who ordered these winds?
Woke up this morning with a beautiful clear blue sky. I had worked it out with Kary to meet him at LUG at 9:00am. My work obligations had kept me from getting in the air any this week, so since I was off today for Christmas, I figured I'd capitalize. Being that I am getting close (real close) to solo'ing I have been wondering how Kary would spring it on me. We've discussed it, but I've wondered if he's the type of CFI that makes it no big deal, or the type that just says "hey, I'm getting out. Have fun".
For the last week, in my paranoia, I've been debating whether or not "I" feel ready to do this. I'm completely comfortable with every aspect of flying the pattern, except the last 3-5 seconds. Most every time I'm landing, I get SOME level of affirmation that I'm doing the right or wrong thing. Meaning that as I start my round-out, I know that if I'm doing it too soon, Kary's gonna say something. As I begin flaring, if I'm too aggressive Kary will say something. If everything is perfect, Kary will say so. He's not doing it for me, but I have this little CFI sitting on my shoulder telling me that I'm ok. Now that's good, but the way I work, I need to screw it up on my own and fix it on my own before I feel comfortable doing it....on my own. In my timidity (see 2 posts back), even though Kary says very little, I have a comfort level in that he'll say something if it's wrong (or right). So, can I do it without him affirming every step? That is the question.
With all this going through my head, I've been a bit anxious that I might solo during the next lesson. I really wanted to do a few more circuits with Kary to convince myself that it really is me doing it and not him telling me how (if that would even be possible).
So, When I finally pulled in to the airport, I noticed a familiar plane sitting on the ramp....hrm....what's Dad doing here?.......
Immediately, I begin to get the sweats....
1. I have a lesson today.
2. Dad's here (as is his wife, Gail)....why?
3. I should be solo'ing soon and
4. Maybe I shouldn't go in........
........cough...cough...I'm feeling like I coming down with something.
Ok, Ok, get a grip. Man up. As I was getting my gear from the trunk, I glanced at the windsock, I realized that we had a good 7 knot wind going. HA! there's no way Kary will solo me in this hurricane. So, I figure I'm safe to give it a shot.
The lesson was VERY good. Kinda funny how the preflight and taxi has now become "normal". Something I don't even have to think about. Today, the wind was blowing and only getting stronger as the day went. But, in the process of flying the pattern 7-8 times, I was able to experience some mild turbulence and see how the wind can really effect the "squaring" of my pattern. Luckily the wind was right down the runway, so it did effect final, but I didn't have to account for much of a crosswind.
About halfway through the flight, Kary had me exit the pattern and we did a couple of turns about a point. With the wind blowing the way it was, it made it more interesting in trying to account for where in the turn you were versus where the wind was blowing from. I did pretty good. Held my altitude within 150ft and speed was pretty constant. Woohoo! One PTS Standard down, 8657 more to go!
As we re-entered the pattern, Dad and Gail were taxing out to leave. I noticed from about 3 miles out that he was taxing awfully slow....dang him. I knew what he was doing. Taking his time so that he'd be sitting right there on the end of the runway when I was landing...that sucker. No pressure. I call entering downwind and our base turn. The wind was up to 10 kts gusting to 16 now. This could be fun AND with my first audience.
I didn't get my downwind to base turn in quite fast enough and the wind managed to push me further away than I'd woulda liked, but hey, I can do this. We had about a 1 mile final (felt like a King Air) and a lot of altitude to lose. I chopped the power, and she started falling. Got back in the groove, added a tad of power, crossed the threshold, cut the power, bleed off the extra speed I had picked up and "squirp, squirp" HA! Take that! I told Kary that now maybe Dad would let me take his plane to the prom.
Another time around the pattern and I'm done for the day. The wind was a new experience for me, but I'm real glad I did it. Just another step in the process of seeing how well you really can control a plane if you just stay in front of it. Kary confirmed I had my Student Cert/Medical in hand and I gave him my pre-solo written test. He's going to go over the answers and get back with me on it. Now, we're just waiting for a nice, calm morning and then....we'll see.
Was good.
Lesson's learned on this flight?
I (me, Jeff) am doing "it". I'm really the one landing the airplane. Even in the last 3 seconds.
Psshh. This stuff is easy :)
jf
Getting better at it.....
This morning I woke up to a beautiful clear cool morning. Stratus clouds several thousand feet up and abou 33 deg. My older brother (who is also working on his PPL) called and had setup a great opportunity for us both to get some flying in this morning. He had worked it out with our Dad to pick us up at our local airport (MRC), fly us to the airport where we hangar the plane and train (LUG) and fly us back. Woohoo! can't beat that with a stick.
Well, we get to MRC, load up in Dad's C172 (all...ahem...700lbs of us...good thing it was cold) and off we go. Man it was smooth as glass on the way over. 10 minutes later we're on final for LUG and life is good. The plan was for Scott (my bro) to go up with Dad in our training plane for a few circuits, then he was going to fly an hour of solo. While he did that, I was going to fly some T&G's with Dad in his plane.
When we get to LUG we find Kary (our CFI) milling around looking lonely. So, he jumps in with Scott to get him back on track after a 4 week layout and Dad and I jump in his plane to hop around the patch. Dad's plane is several years newer than our H model (I think his is an "N" model) and the differences were interesting. His has 15 more hp under the hood and the panel is laid out completely different. Heck, even the seat height difference was noticable.
At first I was concerned that flying a different plane this early on might screw me up. But I'm really glad I did it. It made me realize that I was doing the "things" of flying because I knew why/when to do them, rather than just some memorized routine. When I had to FIND the Tach everytime I need to look at it, I was reminded of that. We managed about 8 T&G's, each a little different than the other and all was good.
At one point, we left the pattern because I wanted to try something I had read in a newsgroup discussion (rec.aviation.student Ton's of info there, check it out!). It was called "pinning the nose" in turns.
Basically, the idea is that you should be able to "see" whether or not your coordinated in your turns as soon as you start your bank. If you are coordinated, the plane will appear to spin on a "pin" and then start turning into the bank. So, you can pick a hill directly in front of you on the horizon and when the turn starts, the plane will never move off that hill. You just roll as if that hill was what was holding the "pin".
If you are uncoordinated (assuming too little rudder), then the plane will actually yaw OPPOSITE of the direction you roll for a split second (due to adverse yaw) and then will start back in the correct direction. Well, I had to try this. So we tooled around a few minutes with me flying sans rudders just to see what it was like. And I be dern, but thats EXACTLY what happened. As the day progressed, I realized that I was actually watching for the yaw as I started any turn. If it went the wrong way, I knew I was too light on the pedals. Neat.
After I'd flown with Dad, it worked out that I could get an hour in with Kary, so I swapped planes and away we go. Flying the 2 different planes (albeit both were 172's) didn't screw with me too bad. But it did make me realize what just a little more power can do for you. So, Kary and I managed another 8-9 landings. We did a couple simulated engine failures and a go-around, but nothing that new. Just more of the same (I sound bored don't I? lol, I'm anything but).
I keep finding myself "surprised" that I can do certain things. Since I was a kid flying with Dad, I always noticed that just as the wheels touched down, the yoke would be all the way back in his (and my) gut. When I flew a couple of lessons last year in a Champ, the CFI told me then that the stick would need to come all the way back at touchdown. So, I assumed that this was fairly important and something I should try to do.
Well, the first time I tried to make the yoke come back that far, I ballooned. And the second time too. Then today as I was doing my last landing, I flared, landed and it hit me.....the yoke was in my gut and had been on every "good" landing I've been doing.
Not that this is revolutionary or anything, but it re-enforced what I was saying about the flare in my previous post. Yes, the yoke should be most of the way back when you land. But you don't pull the yoke back for the sake of having it back. The yoke naturally comes back that far when your trying to hold the plane in the air during the "Flare". Again, not ground breaking, but was still a cool revelation that I WAS, in fact, doing it like the big boys :)
Well, a GREAT day of flying. I managed to get in abou 2 hours worth with approx 16 landings (takeoffs too). Not a bad way to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the Wright Bro's flight.
jf
P.S. I've gotten a few emails concerning my last post and the "Flare" discussion. I wanted to clarify that I am NOT saying that a flare isn't necessary or that you should just fly the thing into the ground. What I am saying is that if you level off at a 3-4ft altitude and try to maintain that altitude without power, you WILL flare. It's just that I don't have to think to myself "flare now". The "NOW" part comes with the "don't let it land". Just like the above mentioned issue of the yoke being all the way back at touchdown. I'm not thinking to myself "ok now is when the yoke should be in my lap". I'm just flying the airplane until it won't fly anymore and viola! The yoke is all the way back (and I've flared). Magical :)
Just wanted to clarify that. I got some concerned emails that I wasn't flaring and I got a couple of people who think I've missed the boat completely. From my point of view, it's neither.
Thanks for the feedback though!
jf
Nothing left but the finishing up....
Well after 2+ weeks of bad timing, I finally made it back in the air today. Seems like since my last flight, every time I could get away from work, I'd have crappy weather. Then the weather would be gorgeous, but I couldn't get away from the job. Oh well, I'll do it when I can.
It also just occurred to me that I'm only a couple of days away from the 3 month anniversary of my first lesson......and I thought I'd be working on my IFR ticket by now! This life stuff has got to stay out of the way.
Today's flight was the best yet. I have figured out the key to this whole thing. The single piece that will make or break me as a pilot. The holy grail of flight training! The one thing I'd dump into someone's head if they had zero hours and wanted to start learning to fly. "What? What?", you say? "Tell us, please!??!"
Stop begging, I'm getting there.
Today we started out like any other day, except this time I had my keys. Preflight, check. Engine start, check. Runup, check.
For the entire lesson, we did takeoffs and landings. A few times, we exited the pattern so that we could re-enter and get out of the circle (or rectangle) flying mentality. But for the most part it was just T&G's over and over and over and over (it's fun really, you'd just think I'd catch on eventually :) ). As I've said before, I think I learn more in the last 20 seconds of a circuit than the rest of the time combined. I'm doing pretty good on my takeoffs, climbouts (gotta hold that climb speed a little closer to 80) and downwind/base . I'm even moving my feet more!!! yea me!
I told Kary at the beginning of the flight that I was going to "over do" the rudder this time. In the past, I've been waaaaay under doing it, so I figure if I tried to intentionally over push in the direction I needed, I might come up about right. And waddayaknow?! It works! When I thought I needed about X amount of pressure, I'd push X+50% just to see. There were a few times the ball would go plumb to the other side, but at least I knew. On a scale of 1-10, I did about a cool 8 on the rudder this time (in my humble opinion, ask Kary for the truth :) ). It's amazing how much better the plane flies when you do it right. I may just have to rethink this anti-rudder binge I've been on. We'll see.
So, anyway, the first landing was a bit disheartening. Nothing too bad, but I still didn't feel like I was controlling the plane when we touched down. I have no problem getting the thing to the threshold, but then the concept of power, pitch, roll and yaw all become beasts of their own. Each one requiring input, but not necessarily to fix the same problem and sometimes causing new problems of their own that have to be solved by something else! I like to think about this stuff way too much. After about 3 circuits, I was getting a bit more comfortable and started thinking less about *SOME* of the things I had to do. But, as usual, I still have to concentrate to make the rudder keep me straight.
Also, today was the first time I've had to compensate for any crosswind at all. It wasn't much (4 kts from 50 deg right of the runway), but it was enough that when I turned final I could tell it was pushing me left. So, as we progressed (and the wind picked up a tad) I got some good experience with the ancient Chinese art of landing One Wing Lo (I know, old joke).
But you know what you have to do when your landing "crooked"? YOU HAVE TO USE THE RUDDER MORE!!!! My life sucks.
But, as we go through the flight, each landing made a little more sense. It seems like I'm learning exponentially during this lesson.
Something I figured out (in theory) many moons ago while tinkering with Flight Sim games, was that the "flare" wasn't really anything but the act of holding a plane off the ground until you stall. In reality, it seems that I always try to make the flare into something short of a snap-roll type aerobatic maneuver. I make it something that I have to "DO", but it's really not.
In my mind, as I round out and start settling, I think "I have to do something else", when in essence all I have to DO is hold it right there and let the plane land. The mysterious flare isn't really a "thing" at all. It's just what happens when you hold an altitude of 1 ft until all your energy is gone. (at this point Kary stands up at his computer, screams "Debra! HE CAN BE TAUGHT!" and does some tribal looking happy dance).
After I started letting this sink in again today, it all worked for the better. Stop trying to "flare" and just don't let the plane touch the ground until you can't keep it from it. Simple enough. I think Kary even said this a few times....ok a LOT of times.
After several of these Touch and Go's, we taxied back and shutdown. And I have to say it felt good for a change. I gave myself a little credit this time, where I'm usually focused on how I screwed X, Y and Z up. Not to say it was perfect, but it's coming.
Now, for the answer you've been glued to your screens for. My answer to all the aviation woes of the world for student pilots? Confidence. I know, that sounds like some Tony Robbins type answer, but it's so true for me.
When I first started this thing 3 months ago, I was unsure about everything in the plane. From how much and when to push/pull the throttle to "should I call in on CTAF now"? I know it's just something that you have to learn and something only experience can get you. But if you could make a zero time student truly understand that he's not going to break the plane (usually) and that he's expected to use the controls to fix whatever problem is in front of him, then I think that person would grab on to the "learning" part of flying much faster. How to do that? I have no idea. But for me, timidity has held me back.
That may make no sense, but after today's flight I realized that for the first time in my life, I was confident in an airplane. Not in an arrogant or cocky way, but I felt like I knew what I was doing in the confines of the Touch and Go's that we were performing. In many cases, I knew what was "wrong" with the situation (too high, too low, too fast, no rudder, etc) before Kary could say it.
Again, don't get me wrong, I've not even soloed and I KNOW there are some things I'm going to have to feel better about before I let Kary get out of the plane, but to have some level of confidence....ANY level of confidence makes the learning much easier and flying much more fun.
jf
