Archive for the ‘Flying’ Category
Wednesday, October 4th, 2006
This lesson was awesome. I got to fly the plane I really wanted to fly…a Cessna 172. This is a larger airplane than the Piper Cherokee I usually fly. There is more interior room and it has a high-wing configuration as compared to the low wing. The Cherokee had more power due to the engine modifications, so which is better is really up to the pilot.
We did more touch and goes today. The weather was good for it, so there were 3 other planes in the pattern. I did six take offs and landings. The touch and go teaches you a few important things…take offs, climbs, patterns, descent, turns, landings, runway management and communications. It also teaches you how to manage the cockpit with a passenger. Yigal likes to throw a lot at you when you are practicing. He was trying to distract me while I was flying to show me what is going to happen when I start flying with friends. He tried, but didn’t succeed. I am like an arrow heading towards its target (haha).
We had a lot of fun during this lesson. I like to keep things light and laugh. It helps me to learn. I also got to use my new headset. Wonderful!
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Thursday, September 28th, 2006
Today lesson was devoted to staying on the ground, having coffee and discussing some very important ground material. Yigal and I talk quite a bit in the plane when I am practicing, but the airplane in no way a classroom. You must take time to go over things that are going to be on the written test.
We went to Rick’s Runway Cafe with a VFR Sectional Chart that covers some of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. We also brought a plotter and a flight computer. For a good hour, we went over classes of airspace. This is pretty straightforward when talking about class A, B, C and D, but gets a little tricky when talking about class E and G. I got the concept, but need a lot more reading to get a firm grasp on it. We also went over how to use the plotter and the flight computer. The plotter is used to determine your heading (direction) and the flight computer is used for a few things. We went over how it is used to help you determine your actual heading, compensating for wind. Here is an example: say you want to fly directly east for 100 miles. Say there is a wind coming from the south at 25kts. If you take off and head directly east and continue on that heading, you are going to land east, but quite a bit more north than expected, due to the wind carrying you in that direction. The flight computer computes your heading, speed and wind speed, to give you the proper heading to fly. With this knowledge, you will “crab” (point the airplane south east, but remain flying directly east) the airplane the entire trip. Think about crossing a flowing river. If you get in a boat and head directly across, the current will bring you down stream. If your goal is to get straight across the river, you will need to point the boat up stream to compensate for the current.
For the next hour, we reviewed what I am doing in my Sporty’s Ground School. I gave him some topics I had covered and he quizzed me on them and offered some clarification on any questions I had.
I have to say, the DVDs and reading are very helpful, but nothing really beats face to face back and forth.
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Thursday, September 28th, 2006
Thanks to a special someone out there, I received the David Clark headset I wanted for my birthday.
This headset if very comfortable, is backed up by a top notch company and has a five year warranty. I have heard that their customer service is great. If you have a problem after five years has passed, they will most likely fix the issue for free. Also, Yigal, my flight instructor uses them, so I trust them. THANK YOU!
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Monday, September 25th, 2006
I recently added an “Airplane Classifieds” category on WebClassifieds.US. Better post your ad soon, before there are hundreds. This site is getting popular extremely quickly…about 300 new ads per day.
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Friday, September 22nd, 2006
This lesson was scheduled after work, because I used up my days off for the year. Good thing they renew tomorrow. I am going to start taking half days, so I can take my lessons at about 1PM. I think that would be the best time to fly. Mornings are good too because a nice lesson wakes me up.
I am a little razzled after work, so I needed to relax a little before getting in the plane. I needed to get in the zone. I was sitting on Freedom Air’s couch chillen like a villain when Yigal walked in. He was wondering why I wasn’t doing to pre-flight. Ok, getting in the zone…over.
I did the pre-flight and we taxied to runway 26, which threw me for a loop. It’s amazing how used to one runway and one pattern you become in such a short time. The wind was different today, so we had to mix things up. I learned that this was a right pattern runway as compared to runway 3’s left pattern. That threw me for a loop too.
Ok, taxiing done. Run-up done. Radio calls done. Takeoff number one was smooth. This lesson was to go over touch and goes again. Incidentally, touch and goes are a little taxing on the brain. There is a lot to do in a very short time. The pattern is not that far of a distance and there is not much altitude to play with. I made it a point today to use more of the rudder and to start using the horizon as a guide more than the instruments. This works much better and gets me more used to flying the plane like I am supposed to. Imagine driving a car with your nose stuck in the speedometer, gas gauge and turn signals. Not going to work well.
There were about 2-3 planes in the pattern today. There was a really nice Columbia up there with us. I found the new plane I want. This sucker cruises at 190MPH. There was another plane that came into the pattern later on from the left instead of the right. His radio call that he was entering the pattern on at a 45 concerned us a bit…because if that radio call was correct, he would be coming straight at us. Yigal took over at that moment and tried to find out where he was. We couldn’t find him at all. Apparently, since he thought it was a left pattern, he was all the way over on the other side of the runway. No wonder he was no where to be found. That’s why I like having a good instructor…it’s second nature for him.
Since there was a faster plane up there with us practicing touch and goes as well, we had to practice some slow flight waiting for him to do his thing. I am not a fan of slow flight…it’s ok, but you really have to keep your eye on the airplane’s pitch and speed. Too much pitch or too slow of a speed, the plane can stall and you will need to immediately recover. It keeps you extremely alert. We also practiced “crabbing” the airplane due to some wind coming from the North.
We made 4 landings and on our last one, Yigal asked if I remembered what to do if I lost the engine. I said I did. Of course his next move was to pull the throttle to idle. He said, “Land it.” I completed the proper steps and started my final approach. It is very difficult to maneuver in slow flight…so I had some difficulty. I pulled up the last click of flaps and slowed the plane down too much. Ok, that would’ve been a landing in the grass. Another note to self: keep your speed until you absolutely know you will make the runway. Yigal gave the airplane some throttle so we were further down the runway and I landed the plane.
I have to say, using the rudder more liberally improves my landings by giving me more maneuverability. Also, using the horizon as a guide lets me focus more on flying the airplane more comfortably. It feels like I “own” it more.
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Sunday, September 17th, 2006
Beautiful Sundays are meant for riding motorcycles…and flying airplanes. Well, that’s just what we did. My friend Craig and I went for a nice bike ride up to Sherman, CT on an exploration mission. We had no goal and that’s the way we like it. We rode our motorcycles…and had them pose for a photo…
I wanted to show Craig a house that I almost purchased the Spring of 2005 located on Green Pond Rd. in Sherman, CT. We rode by it, took a look and agreed that it was too small. Good thing I walked from that deal. Anyway, we continued up the road because I was raving about how the house came with lake access to two private beaches on Candlewood Lake. We went through the gates and started climbing a hill and then rolled down the other side…ooh, an unexpected surprise. A small lake called Green Pond. No one knows about this little pristine treasure, because no one is allowed in unless you live on that road. It was really, really nice. There were a few people sitting on the small beach and the lake was surrounded by the thickest Hemlocks. I love that…totally private.
Enough of that. We rode up and back out towards the main road. I was in back of Craig…when he made a sudden right. I read the partly hidden sign located on the entrance of the small road he just turned into. It read “Candlelight Farms Airport.” Hmmm…what was this? Well, apparently, there is a really cool grass airport located right behind the tree line. This is actually the one that the chopper landed on in the movie “Mr. Deeds.” We continued to ride down the dirt road until we got to the hangar.
There was a bi-plane sitting outside and a guy there who was giving scenic rides. His company is called Preston Aviation and he lives in Florida in the winter and Connecticut in the summer. His plane is a Stearman PT-17, built in 1941. This plane was in awesome condition.
Ok, fine. This sounds like fun. Craig went up first for a half-hour. He came back down and said it was a gorgeous view and I just had to go up. I climbed in to the 2-seater and was pretty excited. This airplane is totally open, so your head sticks out. Great for nice warm days.
Craig was right. It was gorgeous. We flew over Candlewood Lake and parts of Sherman and New Milford. He let me fly a bit and snap lots of photos. Way too many to put in this entry. We also did some lazy eights.
Flying over this lake is a very scenic adventure. I will be sure to come back after I get my license.
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Thursday, September 14th, 2006
I have read a few blog entries in the past few days that have solicited comments and advice from readers. I hope they work for their owners. I have a similar entry. Here is my solicitation. I would like a new headset.
It is a David Clark H10-13.4 Airplane Headset. Please leave a comment if you are interested in getting this for me.
Thank you.
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Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
I gave Freedom Air a call yesterday morning to see if they had anything available for that afternoon because it looked like rain today. I have a habit of calling last minute. I found out that they were booked. That was fine, the rain looked like it was towards the afternoon anyway.
I arrived at about 7:50 today to give the plane a preflight inspection. This would save some $$$ if I got this done early when the clock wasn’t running. Unfortunately, the plane was in the hangar and I didn’t have the key. Oh well, I took some photos like I said I would in a previous post.
This is a sea plane, as you can see from the upper propeller in back of the pilot.
This plane had “Experimental” written on the side of it, so I thought it deserved a photo. I have no idea was type of experiment they will perform with it.
The next one is a Cessna (the most popular small plane out there) and the last is the flight school across the way. If you look past the hangar, you can see runway 3.
Yigal arrived after me and we talked a little about the weather. I was concerned about the very light drizzle coming down and he said that wasn’t a problem, we could fly in the rain if need be. It was visibility that mattered.
He had me call the weather service again for a standard briefing. I was secretly apprehensive about making this call because the first time I called the service, a real jerk gave me a hard time. This time, Yigal told me not to let them get the best of me and had me put the call on speakerphone.
The operator came on and was a different guy than last time, or the same guy, just beat up a little bit from his supervisor. He was very, very helpful. I gave him the airplane tail number and the airport we would be taking off from. I told him the duration of flight time and he gave me a complete rundown of everything I could possibly want to know. He also gave his opinion based on his experience, which was nice. We had good visibility, so it was cool to fly. What a pleasure talking to him.
I gave the plane a preflight in the hangar and we pulled it out. We got in and taxied to the runway. Today, I was going to do touch and goes for about an hour and a half. This should be interesting. Landing an airplane is the toughest thing to do.
Basically, here is what we did. I took off and climbed to an altitude of 1000 FT. Then, I made a radio call: “Orange County, Cherokee turning crosswind at runway 3.” Then, I continued to climb, while making a left turn to1400 FT. When I hit 1400 FT, I lowered the throttle so the engine was running at 2000 RPM (cruising speed). Then, when I was about a mile out from the runway, I made another radio call: “Orange County, Cherokee turning downwind at runway 3.” We paralleled the runway until we passed the very end (where we begun our takeoff) of it, then, I raised the flaps one click. We continued past the beginning of the runway for about one more mile. Then, I made a radio call: “Orange County, Cherokee turning base at runway 3.” This is where I made the most mistakes. At this point, I had to make another left turn, lower the RPMs to 1700, raise the flaps one more click and begin our descent to about 900 FT. It took me a while to get this. It seems like the plane wants to climb when I should be descending and vice versa. When we were lined up with the runway, I made one last radio call: “Orange County, Cherokee turning final for runway 3.” There were about 3 other training planes up in the same airspace this moring, so there was a lot of chatter. I talked over one guy once or twice…I’ll have to correct that for next time. Note to self: Listen for open air before making a radio call.
So, at this point we were heading straight for the runway. I would line my angle of descent up with the lights on the runway (VIZI Lights?). When I was too high, both lights would be white (and I’ll fly all night), too low, both lights would be red (and I’ll be dead…a little saying pilots use to remember the lighting sequence), just right, the rear light would be red and the front one would be white. As we got closer to our touchdown spot, I would flare the plane slightly. Basically, I would let the plane fall, give it a slight flare, let it fall, and give it a slight flare. When we almost touched down, I would give it another flare to land the plane. Too many flares and you slow the plane too much and it begins to fall too fast for a hard landing.
It took a few times to get the entire takeoff and landing pattern down pat with no mistakes. I took off and landed 5 times and had two very good landings. The second landing was very iffy, as I over-corrected with the rudder to land kind of crooked.
Yigal says that I am doing excellent for a student with only slightly over 4 hours. Next step, continue with my ground school, start looking into my own headset and prepare for my next lesson, Thursday of next week at 5:30PM.
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Saturday, September 9th, 2006
Well, I received my pilot FAA handbooks yesterday. I got the FAR/AIM 2007, Aviation Weather, Aviation Weather Services, Airplane Flying Handbook and the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Now I can really hit the ground running with the Private Pilot’s Ground School I already have from Sporty’s.
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Friday, September 8th, 2006
There are two distinct sides to me…one that is aggressive and uptight (my teenage years) and one that is laid back and relaxed…just along for the ride. This is how I have trained myself to be over the years. I couldn’t continue to be uptight my whole life.
Well, with learning to fly, you can’t be laid back. Yigal acts more laid back than me, perhaps because he has over 4000 hours under his belt. This guy is good. He has the ability to look around and enjoy the scenery. One thing I really like about him is the way he periodically pulls my nose away from the instruments to look at the horizon or the colors of the trees (there are a few of them changing right now). He likes to remind me why I am doing this…for the fun and beauty.
Today we took up a Piper Cherokee. This is the same plane as last time. Smaller but pretty powerful because the engine has had some work done to it. It has had some exhaust work done and hemi-spherical (Hemi) pistons put in. The “Hemi” creates more compression, thus a more powerful piston stroke. I couldn’t grab any photos today, because there were people there already and we were ready to get going.
I am getting pretty used to doing the preflight inspection, taxiing to the runway and taking off. This time we had to fill the plane with fuel first. We did this and headed for the runway. I got off the ground at 65MPH and climbed at 85MPH. In order to gain speed during the climb, I pitched the nose down (like rolling down a hill in a car) and in order to slow down, I pitched the nose up with the elevator. Of course, we take off at full power. We climbed to 3000ft and banked 30 degrees to the left to fly crosswind of the airport and then banked again to fly downwind. We were practicing patterns and turns during ascending flight. This is really tricky, as I found out. First of all, I had to focus on my climb speed, then I had to focus on my bank degree, then I had to focus on my heading, all the while making sure that there was no traffic in the air. Focusing on 3-4 things simultaneously is tricky to say the least. Some of the things are opposite of what I am used to in a car, but it does get easier every time. Here is a photo of the airport from where we practice. Basically, if you are driving on Interstate 84 in New York, we practice in between the Mongomery exit and the Newburgh exit.
We practiced more maneuvering during slow flight, practice area operations, cockpit management, constant airspeed climbs, constant airspeed descents, airspeed transitions, turns to headings (of which I need work. I really need to get the heading indicator down) and flight at low cruise airspeeds. The real push of this lesson was Emergency Operations and landings. Yigal showed me what to do if you lose power in the plane. The first time you go over this, you feel very rushed, because you think there really is no time, but trust me, there really is time, especially if you are above 3000FT, like you most likely will be.
The first thing you do if you lose engine power is to control the airplane. You change your pitch for optimum glide speed of 75MPH. Then, you look for a field to land in and start heading in that direction…seriously. Once you have these two things squared away, and you are gliding and heading towards your destination, you begin checking the flight controls from right to left. You start with turning on the carburetor heat. You may have ice buildup if it is warm and humid. Then, you check your fuel mixture to make sure it is rich or lean. If you are coming down from a high altitude, your mixture is lean and you need to compensate on your descent and make it richer. Without doing this, you are starving the airplane for fuel. Then you need to pump your throttle to see if the plane isn’t getting fuel for some reason. After that, you check your key to make sure it is in and on and last you change your fuel tank. Maybe one tank ran out of fuel and you need to switch to another. This took me some time to cover, but Yigal assures me that it will be instinct by the time I am ready to fly solo.
We assumed that nothing worked and the engine could not be brought back. So with this in mind, we needed to land the plane. We headed towards the airport, using my new skills of descending the plane while turning to a specific heading. I did have a number of questions while doing this and Yigal had no problem being patient and answering the questions for me. Usually I feel stupid asking people questions because most people have an uncanny knack for belittling others. A sign of a good flight instructor is one who continues to encourage with patience and skill.
We followed the airport pattern for our approach to landing. This was my show, with Yigal’s hands at the ready. He walked me through step by step for a relatively smooth landing. Immediately after landing, we gave the plane full power for another take off, called a touch-and-go. I climbed to altitude and followed the pattern to simulate another engine failure from 3000FT. I flew the crosswind leg, then the downwind leg, then the base leg and then the final approach. This time I came in semi-smoothly and landed the plane myself.
We made a turn and taxied back to the runway for another takeoff. I did the same pattern and this time made my best landing so far. It’s a great experience being able to make a good takeoff and a good landing!
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