So - I purchased a share of an airplane back in October 2010 (more about that in a later blog post).
I flew during the fall, with my previous flight with my son and daughter-in-law on December 24th (more about that in a later post as well).
But, due to weather, work, and mechanical problems, I didn't fly for more than 2 months. One of the rules our group has is a 60-day currency rule - if you don't fly in 60 days then you need to go fly with an instructor to regain the PIC capability. Even if we didn't have this rule, at my level of experience I'd do it anyway.
Last Saturday was a beautiful day - big wind but steady right down the runway centreline. Sunny. Below zero, but not too cold. I booked the bird and an instructor, Steven.
I have to take a flight with an instructor to re-PIC, but what I need to do on that flight is not explicitly specified. Technically, one circuit is sufficient.
But I like to fly. And I booked Steven for 2 hours, not 6 minutes. So in our pre-flight briefing I request everything I want to cover. Steven is going to have fun with me, since we did everything on my list and little more.
To save reading to the end: I re-certified. I'm safe. I forgot all sorts of little things due to rust, but caught myself on almost all of them (or the checklists caught me). I didn't do anything stupid or dangerous.
Checklists were slow - they didn't flow, and I was methodical while working through them. I missed checking the brakes after we started moving (but checked all the instruments). I missed doing a carb lean test while at 1700 RPM (Steven caught that one).
I chose to do a soft-field take-off. I find it the most difficult one to do, especially in a lightly loaded 180HP Cessna 172 with a good headwind. I may have leveled out a bit high, and I forgot to raise the flaps once we were climbing, but I did remember to turn off the landing light.
Standard straight&level flight on a heading, then climb once in the training area.
We started with steep turns. Left or right? I answer "let's do both". I prefer turning to the right over turning to the left. Turn was good, rolling out at the end was excellent, my altitude control was within limits but pretty loose. I'm grabbing the yoke too tightly. No spiral dive though.
Slow flight, with turns to a heading, and then speed recovery. Pretty good. I'll want to practice this alone, however, since my airspeed fluctuated. And it didn't feel very comfortable.
A power-on stall. Routine.
Simulated emergency landing to a field. Done well, but I should have given a passenger briefing at a higher altitude when I was less rushed. And I forgot to "transmit" a Mayday or a 7700. Sheesh.
The we get the foggles out for instrument work, and climb, descend, change speeds, turn to a heading, etc.
With the foggles still on, Steven decided my vacuum pump has failed, we cover the AI and HI, and we do some more turns, flying a heading, and then we fly back to the field.
Back to Rockcliffe, descend from 1700 to 1200 feet on the quiet side with a procedure turn, and I take the foggles off as we cross over the field to join the mid-right downwind for R27.
We do an inspection pass to see that the runway is indeed bare&dry (since we didn't run through the precautionary landing out in the practice area), then climb out and remain in the circuit.
On the soft-field landing I'm not descending on base because I have some power on, so I remove power and side-slip, losing air at about 1200 FPM, and I set up for the final Real Pretty. The landing was not great but OK - soft-field landings are also my least favourite.
A heavy workout after more than 60 days of no flying, and with very short air time -0.8 in the air, of which 0.3 was instrument (and some of that was partial panel).
One other observation - when recovering after a stall or slow flight I need to use full throttle (I'm timid on the throttle because the airplane accelerates faster than the flaps come up, and the speed limit with flaps extended is 100 MPH).
And I still need to always put the carb heat back in so I get that last 10% of power from that nice thick cold air (I sometimes forget).
But it was good to be in the sky again.
Showing posts with label Stalls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stalls. Show all posts
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, July 09, 2009
S S S S S Stuff
2009/07/09
Third lesson in three days - I'm loving it. Today's weather was sunny with a large number of Cumulus clouds and a high ceiling - the glider pilots were loving it as well.
The aircraft was back a little late, so RK and I briefed Emergency Procedures. I'm doing the emergency procedures OK, my approach to the procedures is logical and reasonable, but not exactly what the manufacturer has prescribed. Time for some more study.
Preflight was very thorough, since we were going to be doing utility-grade work today. Taxi, checklists, and a normal take-off all went well. We flew up to the practice area, staked out an area between Meech Lake and the Gatineau River, and started the upper-air work. Most of these activities I had not performed since the fall of 2006, so while I knew what I needed to do, I was apprehensive.
Stalls:
Spins
Spiral Dives
And I put in a few forward slips on the way home, to lose the required altitude when leaving the practice area. Still not slick.
RK quizzed emergency procedures as I made radio calls, scanned for traffic, switched from the practice area to the aerodrome frequency. Nothing like keeping your mind busy.
Circuit good, final approach good, and the touchdown was the best yet.
Overall, I was very pleased with today's lesson. We reviewed a lot of items, I handled all of them (except entering a spin) well. Good enough to move along. I'd like to go back and review all items again, sometime in the near future, just for the practice. I was apprehensive and now feel comfortable, however, I would appreciate some additional practice.
Dual: 1.1
Landings: 1
Third lesson in three days - I'm loving it. Today's weather was sunny with a large number of Cumulus clouds and a high ceiling - the glider pilots were loving it as well.
The aircraft was back a little late, so RK and I briefed Emergency Procedures. I'm doing the emergency procedures OK, my approach to the procedures is logical and reasonable, but not exactly what the manufacturer has prescribed. Time for some more study.
Preflight was very thorough, since we were going to be doing utility-grade work today. Taxi, checklists, and a normal take-off all went well. We flew up to the practice area, staked out an area between Meech Lake and the Gatineau River, and started the upper-air work. Most of these activities I had not performed since the fall of 2006, so while I knew what I needed to do, I was apprehensive.
Stalls:
- Several power-off stalls (the C172 is very gentle in a stall). I recovered at the first sign of a stall, rather than seeing if we could get a good clean break&drop.
- Power-on stalls. The aircraft breaks a little harsher, but recovery is routine.
- Climbing turning full-power stalls - I've not seen one before. These are really interesting - one second you're climbing to the left in a very nose-up attitude, and the next second you've tumbled down to the right. This was demonstrated only, I didn't recover one myself (time constraint). Must do that someday.
Spins
- My last spin was in October 2006, so I had RK demonstrate spin entry and recovery. We lost 1,000 of altitude in the spin.
- I tried twice to put the C172 into a spin, but was too cautious in kicking it in, or we were not quite stalled enough when I tried the entry, and achieved two spiral dives - which I recovered easily.
Spiral Dives
- RK put the aircraft into a few spiral dives, which I recovered correctly and readily (in addition to the failed spin attempts).
- As a quick demonstration, RK put the airplane into a steep spiral dive and recovered. It felt like we were going to launch a torpedo attack on an aircraft carrier. Impressive. And what I am likely to see on my flight test.
And I put in a few forward slips on the way home, to lose the required altitude when leaving the practice area. Still not slick.
RK quizzed emergency procedures as I made radio calls, scanned for traffic, switched from the practice area to the aerodrome frequency. Nothing like keeping your mind busy.
Circuit good, final approach good, and the touchdown was the best yet.
Overall, I was very pleased with today's lesson. We reviewed a lot of items, I handled all of them (except entering a spin) well. Good enough to move along. I'd like to go back and review all items again, sometime in the near future, just for the practice. I was apprehensive and now feel comfortable, however, I would appreciate some additional practice.
Dual: 1.1
Landings: 1
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Upper-air work - Nov 23
Today was upper-air work review, as a step towards cutting me loose to travel to the practice area solo.
Power-off stalls - Maintain altitude, slow nose-up while shedding speed, pull the stick right back into the gut and get the stall to happen, use rudder to keep the wings level (never aileron), stick forward to recover, pull back to level flight (do not induce a secondary stall) and add power.
Power-on stalls - Same as power-off stalls, but require more nose-up to make the stall happen, expect the "break" to be stronger, expect a need for right rudder to counter-act the slipstream against the fuselage. Stick forward to recover, pull back into level flight (do not induce a secondary stall), and add power.
Slow flight - Reduce power to idle, nose up to maintain altitude, when flying slow add some power to maintain altitude, keep lifting up the nose and adding power until we are at cruise RPM, but with a very slow airspeed (just above stall speed). Watch the CHT (Cylinder Head Temperature) to ensure the engine does not overheat (high RPM, low volume of cooling air flow). Practice turns (always shallow), level flight. To exit slow flight one has to lower the nose and add power (if not already at full power).
Forward slips - Throttle to neutral, left (or right) rudder to get the nose pointing away from the direction of flight, using as much aileron as required to maintain the same ground track. Use elevator to maintain speed (aim for 70 knots with no flaps, 60 knots with full flaps). Rudder should be at full deflection, use more/less stick to determine ground track, aircraft should be descending at a significant FPM due to plowing through the air sideways. To exit from the slip gently, and simultaneously, remove both the rudder and the ailerons.
Steeps turns - Oddly, I found this most difficult. Hours or grinding out circuits have get me very used to left-hand turns, and shallow-banked turns. Lots of aileron to get a 45 degree bank, use rudder to keep the turn coordinated, add some elevator to hold altitude, and some power to maintain airspeed. I had trouble maintaining altitude.
Coming back home I did two touch&go circuits, then a full stop.
Time: 1.5 hours dual
Landings: 3
Need to work on: All the upper-air work was OK, but rusty. Need to get practiced so it is once again second-nature.
Next steps: Briefing on forced-landings and precautionary landings, off-airport. Practice same, plus continue to review upper-air work. Do a W&B, and review spins and spiral dives. Then, assuming all is satisfactory, I'll be signed-off for away-from-the airport solo flight.
Power-off stalls - Maintain altitude, slow nose-up while shedding speed, pull the stick right back into the gut and get the stall to happen, use rudder to keep the wings level (never aileron), stick forward to recover, pull back to level flight (do not induce a secondary stall) and add power.
Power-on stalls - Same as power-off stalls, but require more nose-up to make the stall happen, expect the "break" to be stronger, expect a need for right rudder to counter-act the slipstream against the fuselage. Stick forward to recover, pull back into level flight (do not induce a secondary stall), and add power.
Slow flight - Reduce power to idle, nose up to maintain altitude, when flying slow add some power to maintain altitude, keep lifting up the nose and adding power until we are at cruise RPM, but with a very slow airspeed (just above stall speed). Watch the CHT (Cylinder Head Temperature) to ensure the engine does not overheat (high RPM, low volume of cooling air flow). Practice turns (always shallow), level flight. To exit slow flight one has to lower the nose and add power (if not already at full power).
Forward slips - Throttle to neutral, left (or right) rudder to get the nose pointing away from the direction of flight, using as much aileron as required to maintain the same ground track. Use elevator to maintain speed (aim for 70 knots with no flaps, 60 knots with full flaps). Rudder should be at full deflection, use more/less stick to determine ground track, aircraft should be descending at a significant FPM due to plowing through the air sideways. To exit from the slip gently, and simultaneously, remove both the rudder and the ailerons.
Steeps turns - Oddly, I found this most difficult. Hours or grinding out circuits have get me very used to left-hand turns, and shallow-banked turns. Lots of aileron to get a 45 degree bank, use rudder to keep the turn coordinated, add some elevator to hold altitude, and some power to maintain airspeed. I had trouble maintaining altitude.
Coming back home I did two touch&go circuits, then a full stop.
Time: 1.5 hours dual
Landings: 3
Need to work on: All the upper-air work was OK, but rusty. Need to get practiced so it is once again second-nature.
Next steps: Briefing on forced-landings and precautionary landings, off-airport. Practice same, plus continue to review upper-air work. Do a W&B, and review spins and spiral dives. Then, assuming all is satisfactory, I'll be signed-off for away-from-the airport solo flight.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Every day should be like this - Aug 6
Arrived at CYRP at 5:50 for tonight's lesson. Regardless of the weather, tonight was going to include lots of preparatory work.
We sat in the FBO cafeteria for 40 minutes and reviewed stalls, spins, spirals, emergency procedures, forced landings and lots of other bookwork. While a nasty thunderstorm cell rolled right over the airport and pelted us with rain for 30 minutes. After the book learning was complete, we looked out the window to find blue sky with the odd cu.
Preflight, and off we went.
Takeoff was right down the centre line. Nailed 2,000' right on the money, and maintained, while flying to the practice area, then climbed to 3500'.
Stalls... put the Eclipse into a stall, kept the stick hard back and worked the rudder pedals to prevent falling off to one side into an incipient spin. My previous record (in 2006) was 4 seconds, today I maintained 15+ seconds while losing 1100 feet of altitude, before falling off to the right, where I recovered the spin. Climbed back up to 3500', did a second stall which I recovered right away by lowering the nose and adding throttle.
Spiral Dive... Are routine to recover, the trick is to recognize a spiral dive quickly and recover before Vne (Never Exceed). Flying past Vne is test pilot territory.
Climb back up, and get into Slow Flight. A couple of gentle turns, maintain altitude.
Back towards CYRP, dropping from 3000' to 1400' using a forward slip, radio calls leaving the practice area and joining airport traffic, cross over the airport and join the mid-left downwind.
Final approach was on rails. Just after a major storm goes through the air is quite stable, and the wind for runway 28 was from 300 and slow - maybe 5 kt - so little crosswind effort and no mechanical turbulence. I chopped power at about 600' and glided it right to the landing. Rotate, and a good landing (especially for the first one of the lesson). Flare was slightly higher than it should have been, so it was accompanied by a slow rotation. No bounce, little yaw, and just to the left of the centre line. Touch&go.
Second landing. Final was on rails. Flare a bit lower. Power was at 1200 RPM until I chopped it before flare. Decent landing. Just to the right of centre line. Touch&go.
Third landing we did a simulated engine failure forced landing at the airport. I conserved lots of energy to the runway, but forgot to do the Cause Check. We were at about 40', at 65kt, and a third down the runway when I called Overshoot, throttled up and did a proper overshoot. If I had no engine I could have used a slip to get rid of the altitude and speed, and could have got it down. Or landed without the slip and stood on the brakes. Or both. But I proved I could make it to the runway and knew how to get it down, no need to do anything extreme on a simulated engine failure. Especially as a student, and at low altitude.
Fourth landing was also a simulated engine failure, forced landing at the airport. While flying to the threshold I put in a forward slip and shed 200', then glided to a decent flare and touchdown. Again, I ensured I comfortably made the runway (28 is notorious for sink approaching the threshold), so touchdown was a distance down the runway. Touch&go would have been possible but edgy (and a major issue if there was power failure during the takeoff roll), so I backtracked, worked the pre-takeoff checklist (see yesterday's blog), and did a takeoff right down the centre line.
Fifth landing was a normal full stop. Final on the rails (man, I love smooth air!), a smidgen to the right of centre, with a flare that was a touch high.... but lots of back elevator made it reasonable.
Time: 1.1
Landings: 5
What I did well:
We sat in the FBO cafeteria for 40 minutes and reviewed stalls, spins, spirals, emergency procedures, forced landings and lots of other bookwork. While a nasty thunderstorm cell rolled right over the airport and pelted us with rain for 30 minutes. After the book learning was complete, we looked out the window to find blue sky with the odd cu.
Preflight, and off we went.
Takeoff was right down the centre line. Nailed 2,000' right on the money, and maintained, while flying to the practice area, then climbed to 3500'.
Stalls... put the Eclipse into a stall, kept the stick hard back and worked the rudder pedals to prevent falling off to one side into an incipient spin. My previous record (in 2006) was 4 seconds, today I maintained 15+ seconds while losing 1100 feet of altitude, before falling off to the right, where I recovered the spin. Climbed back up to 3500', did a second stall which I recovered right away by lowering the nose and adding throttle.
Spiral Dive... Are routine to recover, the trick is to recognize a spiral dive quickly and recover before Vne (Never Exceed). Flying past Vne is test pilot territory.
Climb back up, and get into Slow Flight. A couple of gentle turns, maintain altitude.
Back towards CYRP, dropping from 3000' to 1400' using a forward slip, radio calls leaving the practice area and joining airport traffic, cross over the airport and join the mid-left downwind.
Final approach was on rails. Just after a major storm goes through the air is quite stable, and the wind for runway 28 was from 300 and slow - maybe 5 kt - so little crosswind effort and no mechanical turbulence. I chopped power at about 600' and glided it right to the landing. Rotate, and a good landing (especially for the first one of the lesson). Flare was slightly higher than it should have been, so it was accompanied by a slow rotation. No bounce, little yaw, and just to the left of the centre line. Touch&go.
Second landing. Final was on rails. Flare a bit lower. Power was at 1200 RPM until I chopped it before flare. Decent landing. Just to the right of centre line. Touch&go.
Third landing we did a simulated engine failure forced landing at the airport. I conserved lots of energy to the runway, but forgot to do the Cause Check. We were at about 40', at 65kt, and a third down the runway when I called Overshoot, throttled up and did a proper overshoot. If I had no engine I could have used a slip to get rid of the altitude and speed, and could have got it down. Or landed without the slip and stood on the brakes. Or both. But I proved I could make it to the runway and knew how to get it down, no need to do anything extreme on a simulated engine failure. Especially as a student, and at low altitude.
Fourth landing was also a simulated engine failure, forced landing at the airport. While flying to the threshold I put in a forward slip and shed 200', then glided to a decent flare and touchdown. Again, I ensured I comfortably made the runway (28 is notorious for sink approaching the threshold), so touchdown was a distance down the runway. Touch&go would have been possible but edgy (and a major issue if there was power failure during the takeoff roll), so I backtracked, worked the pre-takeoff checklist (see yesterday's blog), and did a takeoff right down the centre line.
Fifth landing was a normal full stop. Final on the rails (man, I love smooth air!), a smidgen to the right of centre, with a flare that was a touch high.... but lots of back elevator made it reasonable.
Time: 1.1
Landings: 5
What I did well:
- Final approach was on the rails
- Landing on the centre line
- Minimal yaw
- Forced landings (airport)
- Slips
- Flaring closer to the ground... but today was markedly better than previous.
- Checkride with the Chief Flight Instructor (CFI) Sunday @ 1400. And depending on her assessment.....
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