Will It Ever End

I guess by now everyone thinks that I will never get finished. I have
to admit that I was one of those for a while. This whole thing with my
medical just won't stop. As I said in a previous post, I'll explain
more later. To make it all even worse, I now have to take the written
test again now because it is only good for 2 years and as of May 30,
my 2 years were up. So now I have had to dig up all of my study
materials and begin that process again.

On a side note, for anyone who is getting ready for their written
test, there is a great tool for you to use on the web. The URL is http://www.exams4pilots.org/ and it is a wonderful resource of all of the questions on the written test that can be timed and graded. I highly recommend that you have the actual printed supplement because you do have to measure distances, angles and so forth that you just can't do on a screen.

To get over the extra added work I now have to do, I finally found
time to go fly on July 3rd. I can't go early in the morning anymore
because I have a job where I have to go into the office everyday. I
could go in late and get away with it but I just laid off for a month.
The biggest reason I need to go in the morning is that it is
summertime in Texas and it has been anywhere from 100 to 103 for the high temps lately. With our cap that is in place to cause the high temps, you have to get up to about 5,000 feet to get any relief.

When I finally was able to go flying, I made sure that we went early.
Too bad I didn't go ay earlier as I could have had a little more
relief. I made reservations from 9 AM - 11 AM and by the time we got
through a couple of squawks, we finally were able to get in the air
about 9:40 AM. The wind was light and I couldn't see a cloud anywhere.

Since I needed to get back in the saddle, I needed to work on my
landings. So we stayed in the pattern with a Kingair doing touch and
goes. Finally I asked Richard if we could go to Rockwall to do some
T&Gs. Rockwall's runway is only 3,373 X 45 feet with a 30 foot
obstruction on the North end (Power lines). On top of that, the runway
has a crown in the center so when you flare, you have to flare uphill.
So it make for a good place to practice your short field landings over
an obstacle. I actually did a soft field over an obstacle because I
was feeling so good.

After that we went back to McKinney and we number 6 to land. I had to extend my downwind all the way to the outer marker because of all of the traffic.

I need to go some more but I am still swamped at work and it is hard
to balance work, family, workouts and flying. I'll keep looking for a
way to make it happen.

My E-Logbook

The Final Push

The past month has been medical hell. I'll put up a post about it later but I finally started flying again. I have until the end of the month to get this completed or I have to take my written test over.

We started out as if this were the practical portion of the flight. As I finished the pre-flight, I was getting ready for the cockpit portion of the pre-flight and I made sure that Richard had his seat belt and harness on. I also gave him the pre-flight briefing and exit procedures and how we would egress. Once I got my clearance to taxi, I did the runup and finished my pre-flight. We were ready to go. It was a little windy as the winds were from 150@14 knots gusting to 23, a little left crosswind. Richard asked me to do a soft field takeoff. In low or calm winds, this is easy but on a windy day with a crosswind, it was a lot harder. We got in the pattern and did a short field landing over an obstacle. Good.

Now we went off to the practice area over the lake where we went up to 3500 feet to get away from the heat. It was 86 when we took off. It was 68 at 3500 feet. First on the list, steep turns. I was asked to do 2 complete turns to the left and 2 to the right. The PTS says that you have to maintain +/- 100 feet from the altitude you started at. Good.

Next was turns about a point. This one was new. We kept a tighter circle than we usually do and it meant you had to stay way ahead of the airplane and make your banks a lot quicker. Good.

Here is where I started having some issues. We started S-turns across a road and I was having trouble keeping my turns correct to make smooth arcs. Not too Good but passable. I need to work on this.

Next we did an emergency engine out procedure. He pulled the power on me and we started looking for a good place to land. After finding a field that was suitable, I did a circling turn, like a turn about a point, until I was sure that I could make it, added flaps and at about 300 feet off of the ground, went full throttle and got out of there before the people who owned the field got too annoyed. Good.

We climbed back up to 3000 feet to cool down and begin power off stalls. I started slowing down but maintaining altitude when I was sure that I was sufficiently trimmed, I pulled the power and kept the nose up and waited for the nose to drop. As soon as it dropped, I added full power and pulled up. I only lost about 75 feet but I could have done better. Semi-good.

Here is where it started getting tough. Next up was a power on stall with a twist. He wanted me to put the airplane in a slight right hand turn for the stall. So I did. and he wanted me to guess which wing would stall first. I had no idea. It seems that the right hand turn wasn't coordinated and I needed some left rudder. As soon as we got the shudder, the plane dropped the left wing and I had to add some left rudder and also pull up. This shook me up a bit. I had never experienced this before so we did it again a couple of more times, each one equally difficult. Not very good.

As I continued to sweat, it was time for some hood work. We have been having trouble with the AI (Attitude Indicator, formerly called the artificial horizon) in this airplane. We have had it removed and sent back numerous times with a failure with in a couple of weeks. What seems to be happening is that in straight and level flight, the AI shows a bank to the right. If you fly the AI and have it set for straight and level, you are in a left hand turn. I think it is as simple as turning the unit, in the panel, a couple of degrees to the right. Meanwhile, after fighting the AI and the DG (directional gyro) he had me do some turns to maintain altitude and direction but the DG kept processing. At one point I was asked to turn to a heading of 270 degrees. The difference between the DG and the magnetic compass was as much as 30 degrees. Not a desirable effect. Me, semi-good.

After we did our turns and found out that the airplane is having some instrument problems it was time for some unusual attitudes. I was rusty for not having flown for a month. He had me look at the yoke as he put me through a bunch of turns as he prepared me for an unusual attitude. Heh handed the airplane off to me in a dive as the speed was coming up. I hesitated a little and didn't get the power off quickly but did start to pull out of the dive. I finally got the airplane back to straight and level flight as I looked at my now unreliable instruments. Hey, if it was easy, anyone could do it. One more unusual attitude where I was handed an airplane in a climb. I added power and pused the nose over to get back to a level attitude and tried my best to get the the wings level with just the turn coordinator. Semi-good.

When we finally finished, we realized that the wind had blown us back into McKinney airspace, but above it. We called the tower, asked to join the pattern for some touch and go work. I did a soft field landing and a slip where we called it a day. Semi-good and I was tired.

I still need to work on S-turns, power on stalls and I need some more hood work to get more comfortable. I'll be flying again Friday and Saturday. We will see how I fare Friday and Saturday to judge how soon I can go take my test. There is also that medical thing I have to get finished too, but that is a whole other post.

My E-logbook

Great Landing

Sorry for being quiet for so long but I am going through some medical issues and have had to take a break. I hope it won't be too long before I can go back to flying. Technically, I can fly anytime I want with an instructor but I have to have a valid medical before I can go back to my solo work.

Anyway, I saw this clip on Good Morning America of a guy making an emergency landing with a camera man in the plane with him. They were going to do some taping on their way to Sun 'n Fun. The engine quit just after takeoff and the pilot was able to get the engine restarted but it went out again. He was able to get the engine restarted once more but it died one more time before he had to land on a boulevard in Winter Haven, Fla.

Great job!!!

Inching Closer (To What, I Don't Know)

Well here we go again with excuses. I'll be posting about 4 flying experiences. They don't even begin to cover all of the stuff I have been doing. I've decided that enough is enough and I'm going to fly more. I've been doing that since the beginning of March. Unfortunately, anyone who has to schedule around a lot of other people and a limited number of airplanes will have some bumps in the road. That is me. We have been down 1 172 since the middle of January for a paint job. What was supposed to be a 1 month process is now at 3 months and still going. The guy painting our airplane needs to get a little more serious before some of our other members go pay him a visit. Let's just say that we have a few VERY unhappy members and I don't blame them one bit. At our board meeting last week, we decided that he needs a little more pressure applied to get this finished. We have already paid him over $6K and there isn't a single drop of paint on this airplane.

Enough about things that don't belong here. This is about learning to fly.

3/22
Time to get back in and really start tweaking things for my check ride. So off to the practice area we went. One thing we had never worked on was stalls. Richard tried to tell me that we did early but I just forgot. My response was that if he could find the word stall in my logbook, I'd buy dinner. No stalls in the logbook ;-) Before we did any stalls, we started working on steep turns. The object is to start a turn with at least a 45 degree bank and keep it within 10 degrees of bank angle. You have to roll out and be within 10 degrees of your original heading and be within 100 feet of your original altitude. It is a lot harder than it sounds. As soon as you get past 30 degrees, you will need a lot of back pressure because past 3o degrees the airplane looses most of its lift. If you do like I do and let the nose drop a little, it is almost impossible to recover from. Next thing you know, you are pulling back as hard as you can in a 3G turn trying to gain back that precious altitude and you're still 200 feet below your original altitude. The trick I am learning is to remember the picture that the horizon makes across the top of the dash and keep it there.

Next we progressed to stalls. Since I had never done any stalls, I got set up like I would for slow flight except I didn't trim as much and just waited for the nose to shimmy and then drop. As soon as the nose drops, yo are in a stall. All it takes to recover is full power,and push the nose over a little and you are flying again without dropping much. I think I dropped about 100 feet, which isn't very much. Next was a power on stall. This is used to teach you about stall recognition, especially on a climbout. The procedure goes something like this: (I forgot to mention that before you do any of these procedures, you must do a clearing turn to make sure that you don't have any traffic near you) Set up like you would for a climb. Reduce the power and start a climb like you would on takeoff. Then make sure that you have full power in and begin to increase your angle of attack. You will notice that this angle is much steeper than you would ever want on takeoff but that is not the point. The point is to take the airplane to the backside of the drag curve and stall it. What will happen is you will feel a little shudder and that is where you lower the nose and get your airspeed back so you are creating lift again. Like I said, this technique is to recognise a stall during takeoff.

We finally headed back to the airport and he had me do some full flap spot landings. He would pick a spot on the runway and have me hit them within 200 feet. I did pretty good on my landings and felt like I had made some good progress.

3/26
Since our experience with stalls went so well last time we dicided to add them to our dance card for today. We started with my old friend, turns about a point. I had always struggled with this but Richard had me try something new. The object for TAP is to pick and object on the ground (I usually pick a water tower) and fly around it keeping the same distance away from it all the way around. It is very difficult to judge distance as you are screaming around an object at 100 knots. As an added bonus, you are dealing with a constantly shifting wind because you are flying in a circle. If you have a 100 knot airspeed and the wind is at 20 knots, you are flying at 80 knots on your upwind leg and 120 knots on the downwind leg. This means your bank angles are constantly changing. The trick is to pick 4 points equadistance from the object and use them to fly over. You will notice quickly just how much bank angle you will need.

Next he had me do some S Turns over a road. The object is similar to the TAP but you want to make sure that as you cross the road, you have completed your turn and are rolling over to begin the next turn. During all of this you want to keep your distance from the road consistant and make sure that your points where you cross the road remain consistant also. Your bank angle changes according to the wind much like TAP.

Since I had so much fun with stalls last time we went out and did some more. Same technique, same results.

We headed back to the airport to do some landings. We did the usual short field landings, soft field landings and slips to a landing. This time my landing sucked more than the last time. I just have to keep at it.

4/1
This time I did something different. I went up with a different instructor. I had been up with Dick about a year and a half ago. Things didn't turn out too well that time as the heat got to me. This time was much better. Dick likes to train his students on the east side of Lake Lavon between the lake and Caddo Mills (7F3). We headed out to see what I needed to work on. First thing we did was steep turns. He doesn't like for his students to use the AI to see the angle. So while I was in my turn he pulled one of his trusty panel covers he uses for partial panel failures and put it right on the AI. Use the force Luke. I made 2 360 degree turns. Of course I lost 250 feet in my turn but who's counting? The next 2 to the other side were much better.

Next he had me get set up for slow flight. I have to preface this by saying that we had some very high winds that day. We were at 2500 feet and the winds were from 140 degrees at 45 knots. When I got the airplane slowed down (it was really bumpy) my ground track was almost nothing. It was really difficult to maintain altitude and direction becasue the wind was gusting so much.

Dick had me clean up the airplane and head south were he pulled the power and told me that I had just lost an engine. I needed to try to find somewhere to land safely. Unfortunately I gravitated to a big field that had been plowed. Not the best place to land. He pointed out to me the little road on the side of the field that was a good choice and a driveway to a house that was about a half of a mile long.

We recovered from that and headed over to Cado Mills to do a normal landing. Then he had me do a power off landing from abeam of the numbers. Not nearly as good as the first one but it was still able to fly. He had me do this again and it was much better this time. finally he had me do one last thing. He wanted a spot landing on the numbers and I put it right on the 17.

After looking at the clock, we decided to head back to McKinney and talk about what needs work. The steep turns definitely need work but everything else was pretty good.

4/10
Today is going to be a short day but a busy day. We started out at McKinney to do some pattern work but it was busy with a lot of twins in the pattern. Not the fantasy twins from the beer commercials but twin engine airplanes who fly a lot faster and wider in the pattern. we decided that we needed to go somewhere less busy so we headed over to Rockwall (F46). We climbed to 3500 feet and he wanted me to do a spiral down to to land, simulating an engine out emergency landing. I was able to get down but it wasn't pretty. Next he wanted to fly a normal pattern and kill the power at midfield and make a power off landing. The first few were pretty good as I had a good I dea of how much energy I had to make it to the runway. When you know you can make it and are high enough, grab all of the flaps and put it down.

The final pass he had me do the same thing but add full flaps as soon as I got below 80 knots. That is hard to do on a windy day. I was trying to maintain the best glide speed (65 knots) ans still turn toward the runway. With all of that drag and slow speed, I had to make gentle turns and use a lot of rudder because a hard turn would have stalled the airplane or maybe put it into a spin. I actually had to add power for about 10 seconds but made it to the runway and when he said to stall it and land, we fell out of the sky. I had bled my airspeed down to nothing and was barely flying. But that is the object. Land it safely.

My E-Logbook

Yes I'm Still Alive

It's been a while since I've been able to post anything. I actually have been doing some flying but I need to get serious now. I have completed all of my requirements and have been doing touch up work with Richard getting ready for my check ride.

1/21/2009
I went up with Richard today and we did some of the usual stuff like soft field takeoffs, soft field landings, short field landings and slips to a landing. After he got bored, he said that we should go do some stalls. I said that would be great since I haven't done any yet. His response was that we had. I challenged him to find the word stall in my logbook anywhere.

We went out to the practice area and he had me start out with some slow flight. I had a friend tell me that she flunked her check ride because she didn't do the slow flight part correct. You have to take the airplane down to the absolute minimum airspeed that you can control the airplane. If you do it right, you will get the stall warning horn to go off, yet you will still be able to maintain altitude and directional control. Just remember that as you slow down, you will need more and more right rudder. Next he had me clean up the airplane and do about the same thing except that I wanted to stall it. All you have to do is wait for the buffet and then when the wings lose their lift, the nose comes down, add full power and pull out of the dive. Get it level and trim and you are good to go. Finally I got under the hood and did some unusual attitudes (along with a 3G turn).

Time was up so we headed back. I go a good 1.4 hours out of this lesson. I needed it and I got my confidence back.

2/07/2009
I needed some more work so we headed out to do some turns about a point. I have always had a problem with these but Richard had given me a new way to approach them. I picked 4 spots out on the ground that were equa-distant from the object I was flying around (a water tower). Once I did that, it was a lot better at keeping my bank angles to where they should be. Next he had me do something I have never done. It was 8s across a road. You basically fly a figure 8 pattern but at the apex of the 8, you have to have your wings level and transition from a right to left turn or a left to a right turn. It is a lot harder than it sounds.

Next we did a little more slow flight and I did a slow 360 at about 47 knots indicated. Finally we headed for McKinney to do some more short, soft and slips. I really wish I had the money and time to do this all of the time.

3/1/2009
I really needed to knock off some dust so I had the foresight to reserve a plane 2 weeks out. We only have 1 C172 right now because the other one is in the paint shop getting painted and getting a new windshield. This makes it very difficult to watch the weather and try to schedule. You just have to schedule and hope for the best. This time, I got lucky. The day before we had 35 knot winds behind a cold front. when I got to the airport, winds were 330@12 which meant we had a crosswind. Anytime there is a crosswind, Richard begins to salivate. He loves him some crosswind.

I was actually surprised at how well I did being so rusty. I did have one that I "removed some rubber" on the landing. It never fails in gusty situations everything is tracking perfectly until the last 2 feet. When you get into ground effects and are slowing down, the wind really has the ability to push you more. In this case, I side loaded the landing gear more than I wanted to. Nothing damaged but a good lesson in flying the airplane into the ground. There is a saying that says that you always fly the airplane all of the way to the crash. I did a couple of more and was putting it on the centerline and looking for the optimum place to put down to avoid the worst of the winds. After our 6th landing I asked Richard if he felt like going up to Sherman and getting some cheap gas. We had about 50 minutes befoe we had to be back. So we pointed the nose to the north and in about 15 minutes, we were in Sherman filling up with $2.55/gal 100LL.

I made a good landing in Sherman but while we were on final, I had the wind do something I had never experienced. The wind was out of 300 and the runway in Sherman is 34 so I had about a 30 degree crosswind. The whole trip to Sherman was very bumpy with a lot of CAT (clear air turbulence). Once on final the wind was swirling and actually turned ind gave me a big push from behind. I was a very strange feeling and I noticed that the ground speed jumped really abruptly. I eventually flew out of it but it was a bit unnerving.

A lot of people from McKinney go to Sherman to get their cheap fuel because McKinney is $4.99/gal (our rate is $4.69). Our flying club reiumberses back at McKinney's rate because we have a contract with them and we use that price to calculate our rental rates. To encourage people to actually leave the pattern at McKinney, we use that rate for reiumbersment. So I took on 23.7 gal @$2.55 for a grand total of $60.44. I will get reiumbersed $111.15, which is the McKinney rate (it makes flying cheaper).

We took off and headed back to McKinney and since we had a nice tailwind, we were able to get there in about 13 minutes. I was tracking about 118 knots across the ground. All in all, it was a beautiful (but windy) clear day for flying. In fact, it was so clear that after we took off from Sherman and were at 2000 feet, I could see downtown Dallas. That's about 60 miles away.

We got back into McKinney just in time for the next member to take N737TY up for a while. I just need to do this a lot more real soon to get ready for my check ride. I have some other adventures I'll post but I have to get back to work.

My E-Logbook