Friday, December 29th, 2006
Hours – 19.4Â
Ahhh, what a beautiful morning. The birds were chirping sweet melodies, the sun was settling on my silky smooth skin and the air was calm…WHAT? The air was calm? FINALLY! Yes, that’s right. I checked the weather last night and knew today would be the day I have been waiting for through many torturous weeks. Actually, I haven’t even flown in a few weeks due to weather. I was starting to think Mother Nature didn’t like me anymore. I’m not sure why…I always recycle.
Anyway, I got to the airport at 8AM. This is a little later than usual for me. Yigal was waiting in the parking lot. I know EXACTLY what he was thinking. “Hey, look. Here comes my best, brightest and not to mention, my favorite student.”
I walked over to the Cessna 172 and did the fingertip numbing preflight inspection. It was a little chilly. I went back inside and met Yigal. He was putting on his heavy coat and had his radio in his hand. All set, ready to go.
We hopped in the plane and taxied to runway 3. We took off and did a few landings. On the third takeoff, at about 1000FT, Yigal pulled the throttle back and told me I had a dead engine. He caught me by surprise, but showed me that it is quite possible to make a 180 degree turn and land back at the airport at that altitude. You just need to react very quickly. I like the fact that he enjoys teaching the tough stuff to teach. This is the stuff no one likes to learn, but could save your life one day.
After I landed that time, we taxied back to the beginning of the runway. He told me I was ready to solo and that he was gonna hop out. I kept thinking of all the articles and blog posts I have read on the topic. Was I supposed to be nervous? Excited? I am not sure what I was feeling. I think I may have been a little nervous right when he was getting ready to exit the airplane, but the minute he closed the door, I know for a fact that I was ready to roll. I mean I was really excited. I just adore that fact that a few months ago, during a conversation with my father, I was almost kidding when I said I was going to learn how to fly, and now I was sitting next to a runway, alone in a running airplane. An airplane that would be in the air in about 30 seconds. I have to hand it to these instructors. I mean, the way they get their students to do the things they do is pretty incredible. This is a pretty challenging skill to learn.
I made my radio call and pulled onto the runway center line. There was so much space on the seat next to me…kind of weird. I set the heading indicator and pushed the throttle in all the way. 60KTS…the tires came off the ground. I did notice that the airplane seemed lighter. I have read that you can’t really feel a difference anymore, with the higher horsepower airplanes, but I certainly did. I climbed at 70KTS and really noticed the lighter and more maneuverable airborne vessel (you like that?). I made my trip around the pattern and came in for final approach. Everything seemed right. It’s amazing that it really didn’t seem any different that any other time I have ever done this. I came in for my landing and it turned out to be very smooth. I taxied back to where Yigal was standing and he waved me on. I had two more to do. I pulled over for a quick mag check and took off again. This time, on my final approach, I was pretty high. I cut the throttle and lost some altitude. When I saw the VASI lights turn one red, one white, I gave it some throttle. I maintained my approach at 65KTS and came in for another nice landing. Taxied back and took off for another. Landed that one and everything was great. I let out a sigh of relief and headed towards Yigal to pick him up. Over the radio, he told me to do one more and meet him back at the office. Gladly. Now I was having fun. This time, when I came in for my landing, I floated a little bit. All those hours, about a month ago, trying to correct my ballooning paid off. I leveled out and just kept pulling back on the yoke. Smooth.
We talked for a little while back at the office. I have to say that I was beaming. I asked Yigal how he felt. “What do you mean?” he asked. I said, “How do you feel having a new member in the club?” He laughed and shook my hand.
Of course, now I can’t wait for my next lesson on Sunday. I feel good.
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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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Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006
I was pretty excited to get going again. I had been watching the Private Pilot Ground School DVDs, so I was very motivated to put all of my new knowledge to use.
It’s funny, when you sit at a computer and watch a video on how to do something, you really think you can do it. The videos explained a lot on ground work, like the pre-flight inspection, taxiing and all that, but I am not sure it prepared me for what was to come during this lesson.
I showed up at Freedom Air at about 7:55. The flight instructor, Yigal, arrived a few minutes later. He and another person pulled a Piper Cherokee out of the hangar and we went over some basics for about an hour. Yigal covered some things like aerodynamics of an airplane wing, dispatch procedures, the use of checklists (which I now have laminated), certificates and documents, the aircraft preflight, decision making and judgement, engine controls, flight controls and fuel grades.
After all this, we got in the plane and it was suggested that I taxi to the runway. I did so, only after zig zagging all over the place. A little note, you steer an airplane with your feet. You also brake with your feet. Each pedel has two sections. This took a while to get used to. I also used the radio to make a few calls. I thought to myself that Yigal was really having me do a lot right off the bat. Well, right after I had that though, he instructed me to pull the airplane onto the runway, give it full throttle, and when we reach 65MPH, pull back on the control yoke (sort of like a steering wheel). I was wondering why he wanted me to do that, and then it struck me…he wanted me to takeoff! Ok, I was fine. I pulled out from the waiting area, made a right onto the runway, stopped, gave the plane full throttle and began to accelerate. For some reason, the plane kept trying to go to the left. Yigal kept saying, “Keep it in the center, keep it in the center.” Easier said than done when you are trying to steer with your feet and you keep thinking and any sudden move is going to tip the plane over. The reason planes pull to the left during takeoff is because of the torque of the engine, propeller slipstream and gyroscopic precession. So we hit 65MPH before I knew it and I began to pull back on the yoke. Strangest thing happened…we began to rise. We climbed at 85MPH until we hit 3000ft. Now that was pretty cool.
Now that we were up in the practice area, I controlled the airplane for about a half hour. Yigal had me practice left and right turns at a 20 degree bank as well as turns to specific headings. This gave me good experience feeling the turns, using the instruments and using the horizon as a guide. After this was done, Yigal took back the controls and landed the plane.
Next lesson, Sept. 1, 8:00AM.
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