Lesson 14 - Am I ever going to get this!?

Aimlessly flying an airplane with no clue.

Probably one of the first posts I have absolutely no interest in writing. Today I had my most frustrating day yet, although I didn't have any atrocius landing, I really didn't have any great ones. Despite another 1.6 hours and 16 landings, I can't say I am any closer to soloing. Admitedly, I had some variable crosswinds to deal with today, but I just can't seem to get the fricken airplane pointed straight down the runway. The control inputs are a complete mystery to me, and it's really starting to tick me off. I get the concept, aileron into the wind, use the rudders to keep yourself straight. I had a brief "ah-ha!" moment when I realized that my rudder usage was weaker than a limp noodle, I really have to stomp on those damn pedals, there is a ton of resistance in a good crosswind. We did a couple low approaches, which helped a bit to visualize it, but I just can't do it! Despite Jack taking the throttle controls, all I had to do is use aileron and rudder to keep it centered, but I still couldn't manage it! I was floating one direction or the other, failed to keep it straight, it was so frustrating. And when I did have a glimmer that I might actually be catching on, after touchdown, I would "give-up", and fail to maintain my inputs.

This truly is a roller-coaster ride, and it really was the first moments while in the plane I wanted to quit, I was so angry with myself, even as I type now I am fuming. I have absolutely no natural flying talent, I am going to have to fight this all the way through the training. When you are accustomed to excelling at most ventures in life, its tough to admit that you naturally suck at something. After today, it will truly be a miracle if I solo in under 30 hours, I just don't see it happening. Jack has reassured me it will click eventually, but I am starting to lose some faith. Not to mention, on the final approach, either a bump or me wrenching on a control made me tweak my back, so I got spasms that is making for a fun afternoon. I have 3 more lessons this week, but if my back still hurts, I will cancel, I don't want to fly if I am physically hurting in anyway. What the hell am I doing?

Lesson 13 - More Progress

This will be another short entry, but a goodie.  After a week since my last lesson (my Wednesday lesson was cancelled for weather), I was eager to get back in the air.  Got to the airport around 5:20, Laura came again to watch, and there was perhaps some weather in the area.  We checked out the radar, and saw the clouds, but it looked good for a bit.  Got the plane preflighted, and taxied on charlie for runway 32.  We held short for a bit while a Menards jet was landing on another runway, once they were down, we were clear for some pattern work.  

First landing was ok, not great, I attributed it to knocking off some rust.  We had several landings, all not too bad, I then proceeded to have a really good landing, and got an "Excellent Landing!" from Jack.  We did 12 laps, most landings were decidedly better than last week.  I didn't have any more "Oh, my!"s from Jack, which was good.  Still working on that sight picture, getting a little better.  On one landing, we did a low approach, which is basically when we fly over the runway just a few feet above it the entire way, Jack took the controls and had me use the rudders to keep us straight.  This helped me understand a little better what it looks like to be straight down the runway.

I think I made some significant progress today, because Jack pulled the throttle again, and said "you lost your engines, now what?"  I was much faster to react this time, and got all the important stuff right:  

• Pitch for best speed, which is 65 knots.  Technically I was going 75, but Jack said that was just fine since I didn't try to fixate on a speed, and concentrated on FLYING THE AIRPLANE!
• I didn't let myself get too far away from the airport, I knew I had the longest runway, and turned to land on about 1/3 down the runway, good!
• I did NOT extend flaps until I was over the runway, and had it "made".  That is VERY important, flaps introduce drag, and brings the plane down in less time (allows you to land with a steeper pitch, and slower speed).  When you are still not sure if you have your landing spot made, you want to get us much horizontal distance as you can.
  

On the final lap, I continued my streak of "bad" landings.  Although, this one I think I deserve a pass on.  As the weather started to move in, we could tell things were changing, on the downwind, the wind was moving us around quite a bit.  When we turned final, Jack asked, "you sure you got this?"  My approach was getting ugly, but I felt I still had control of the airplane, "I responded yeah, I got it."  The crosswind got worse, and Jack repeated, "you sure?", "I said, yeah, I think so", then on short final, Jack pressed again... "you sure?" , I then relented, "ok, maybe you should take it..."  Wise choice, it was shaping up for a really ugly landing, Jack got us lined up, he let me control the rudders again, and did an excellent crosswind landing... right tire, hold it..., then left, hold it..., then nose.  Wow, I image crosswind landings will continue to kick my butt for a while.

Overall, a much better flight.  For the first time, I started to believe it was possible for me to solo.  Probably still going to be several lessons away, but I am feeling more confident.  Another 1.2 hours, I now have 15 total, woot!

Oh, I called the FAA after submitted more paperwork for my "permanent" medical certificate.  They said the just mailed my cert, Yeeessssss!  I will save the celebration when I see the print in front of me, but it appears I've cleared another hurdle!

Lesson 12: Incremental Improvements

Getting a little better, plus some minor excitement!

Another early evening in the pattern.  This time I was treated to having Laura there to watch the lesson from the ground.  We both got there about 5:15 pm, Laura watched me preflight the plane and peeked inside a bit.  When we were ready to go, exchanged a smile and a wave, and we began taxing to runway 22.  Winds today were light, and again fairly straight down the runway, good weather to practice my slowly developing landing skills.  Now earlier in the week, Jack had warned me that someday I will have a door open in flight, the important thing is not to panic, and FLY THE PLANE.  A door open is not an emergency, unless you make it one by panicking!  He mentioned this because it happened to him earlier in that day.  Sure enough (not more than a few days later) shortly after lift off, I felt my door open.  I did not panic, told myself, "ok, the door is open, that is not a problem, concentrate on climbing to a safe altitude, I am not going to fall out or anything."  So, after we made our crosswind turn, I had Jack take the controls for just a second, got my door closed, and resume the flight, no problem!  When you are going 80 knots (almost 100 mph), its hard to even open the door (to close it), lots of wind pressure keeping it shut!

Anyway, today I saw some marginal improvements.  I had many unassisted landings, although some were a bit ugly.  I also was able to remember I had feet during the landings, and did better keeping it straight.  We did about 10 landings, most were not that great, but a couple stood out nice.  I am starting to see what a good flare is, its not 100% clicking yet, but I had a couple smoother touchdowns, but many need work.   Fortunately, there wasn't any terribly teeth-crunching landings, but there was definitely one firm landing, and a couple where I had poor directional control after touchdown and needed Jacks help.  Midway through, Jack mentioned he was going to try a "new technique."  We take off, do the normal pattern, and Jack is quiet.  I do my thing, waiting for him to explain this new technique.  I proceed to have my best landing yet, while Jack isn't saying a thing.  We touched down, I retract the flaps, accelerate, and off we go for another lap.  So, I say, "your new technique is to be quiet?"  Jack replied, "yep, seemed to work!"  So, had some incremental progress, but I think its clear I probably won't solo until I have at least 20+ hours, which is just fine!  This is what I still need to focus on...

• Still a little unsure when to begin the flare, a couple I knew I missed the window, and flare late, then over-compensated with too much flare which made me float  
  
• Many had bounces, which meant I had too much speed going into the landing.  This also might be because I am flaring just a bit late and not arresting some of that speed.
  
• I had more stabilized approaches this time, but still a bit inconsistent.  I had definitely one approach too low, and many more too high, although I'd rather be too high on a longer runway.  
• Many times, after the initial touchdown, Jack felt me "relax," particularly in my feet.  I have to remember to keep the flare through the touchdown, and to control the nose with those rudders to keep on centerline.  EAU has great, long, wide runways to learn and practice on, but I will be expected later to be able to land much more precisely so I can land on short, narrow grass and gravel strips.

So, after our 9th landing, we went for another touch and go.  Shortly after takeoff, Jack noticed the engine was running a bit rough.  It was subtle, but it definitely sounded different.  We decided this was our last run, with the door incident earlier, we were definitely not in the mood to tempt fate.   So, on this lap, we made a tighter pattern just in case we would loose engines.   I think the prospect of an engine failure distracted me a bit, I ended the night with my worst landing of the evening.  Oh well, I am going to remember the better landings.

As we taxied back, Laura was there waving, welcoming us home.  She later said she was able to watch all the landings, she said most looked pretty good, but there were just a few she kinda covered her eyes on, yah, I remember those :)

Another 1.2 hours, had a lot of fun, and have a good attitude for the holiday weekend.  Got 3 more lessons scheduled next week!

Lesson 11: Plateau flying

Another evening in the pattern.

Well, this entry won't be terribly long, primarily because it's sounding a lot like the last few entries, lots of takeoffs and (ugly) landings.  And in the words of my instructor, Jack, I've definitely hit a "plateau,"  in my training.  Now it just depends on how long I sit in it. 

Anyway, I was scheduled for a couple different times this week, and with Memorial Day weekend approaching, my availability was going to be limited.  So, when I noticed today the weather outlook was nice this afternoon, and both Jack and the plane was free, I scheduled an impromptu lesson.  Got to the airport around 5:30 pm, took my sweet time preflighting, and we were ready to take off on runway 14 (first time for me) by 6 pm.   We did several laps around the circuit, and had little traffic to deal with, which meant I had little excuse.  Granted, it was rather hot, which put density altitude at 2800 ft, and significantly degrades engine performance.  Consequently, our takeoff roll was longer than normal and our climb performance was also weaker.  This meant we watched very closely today how much fuel we had in the plane to make sure we were not overweight, so running with about 2/3 tanks fuel, we were safely within weight and balance.

So, the actual flying part of the lesson.  Wind was pretty much down the runway, so I had little crosswind to deal with, but with it being so hot, we got plenty of thermals moving up and down.   It wasn't terrible, then again, I think I am getting used to being tossed around, so it isn't bothering me that much anymore.   As for landing, the good news is I think I might be improving only slightly on the actual landing part, only one teeth-crunching landing.  My flare is still crappy, and I have trouble maintaining runway heading right before touch down.  The bad news is now my approaches were totally inconsistent.  Too high, too low, poor turn to base, waiting too long to turn to base, poor crab angles on base, sheesh!  I am certainly in a rut.  After about 8 landings, Jack called it a night.  Granted, I didn't have any landings like my final landing from last week, which was truly laughable, but Jack definitely notices a bit more frustration from me and recognizes a definite "stall" in my progress.  So, we had a longer than usual debrief, and he tried to reassure me, and talked about some of his landings he did recently, that were not great.  So, its somewhat comforting that even with 900+ hrs like Jack, he'll still can have a few ugly landings too.  It was also helpful for Jack to say, "I've seen you do this before, you can do it!"  Jack also gave me some old VHS videos to watch, maybe a slight different perspective will help.

I am still having fun despite the frustration, and I keep telling myself I am in no hurry.  I have a long way to go, it will not happen overnight, nor am I guaranteed to beat the "national average."  So, I remind myself of two things at the end of these lessons:  1. The Lord has given me another day, enjoy it, and give thanks!  2. They can still use the plane after I landed it, so I must be doing somethings right!

Another 1.0 hours in the book, 12.6 total now.  Hard to believe I've been behind the yoke of plane for over 12 hours already!

Lesson 10: More Rough Landings

Another visit to Menomonie, Ugly Landings

Well, it has been a week since I was able to last fly. Weather had deterred me from getting back in the air despite aggressive rescheduling, but the winds just wouldn't cooperate. Winds today were quite interesting, 170 @ 9 kts. My mother-in-law, Carol, accompanied me to the airport, she was flying back to Rochester from a weekend visit. She took a peek inside the plane and got to watch me preflight the plane. I know she was a bit worried for me, but I was hoping her witnessing how much attention we paid during preflight might help. As we climbed in and got it started, and started to taxi, I looked back and gave Carol a little wave goodbye, and we headed for runway 22 for departure. There was a Menards jet in front of us, so we had to pay extra careful attention for wake turbulence. Upon takeoff, shortly off the ground, I would say 100 ft, we hit some very interesting winds, threw the little plane around quite a bit, actually needed Jack's help to stabilize it. I asked Jack if that was the wake turbulence, he said no, it was the winds aloft that was being blocked by the buildings and other ground obstructions, once we ascended high enough, the plane got the full brunt of the winds. So, that was interesting, today's flight was bumpy, but not ridiculous. Since there was so much activity in Eau Claire, we headed to Menomonie for some pattern work, but as we started our jaunt, we were facing a very strong southern wind, and we had to make a very significant wind correction angle (crab), relative to highway 29 below, we were flying pretty sideways, probably about 25* degrees or so.

So, on arrival into Menomonie, I got the wind direction all confused, and wanted to land on runway 27, that would have been bad. Jack corrected me, since we got a southern wind, runway 18 is far more appropriate. We did 4 takeoffs and landings, they were not great, nuff said. Some of it might have been getting a little rust knocked off, but I think I just need to learn so much more. I was forgetting stuff, and constantly behind the plane. I don't know what my problem was today, but I just couldn't get things to click. I also might be expecting more of myself, but my patterns are bit oval-ish in shape instead of rectangular because I am failing to account for wind. My "flare" was too late one time, and we came down all 4 wheels rather roughly. The next time, I flared too much, and we ballooned and floated for a bit. Meanwhile, I am concentrating so much on the flare, I am forgetting the crosswind components and landing off centerline nearly always. Jack did one for me to watch again, how does he do that!? So, on our way back to Menomonie, checked weather and reset radios. Call up tower, have us coming for runway 22, they then offered runway 14. I said sure, why not. Well, Jack later advised, all things being equal, runway 22 is longer, he'd gone for that instead. Good safety tip, I proceeded to have a pretty crappy landing there. We did a quick touch and go for a final landing, and I did probably my worst landing yet. Thanks to Jack, we got it down, but I was completely lined up wrong, came in low all the way, and proceeded to bounce. Man, overall, this was probably my worst performing flight yet, I learned a lot of ways how not to land a plane, but I am not sure if that is impressing on me the correct way to land.

Anyway, despite the frustration, 1.2 hours in the logbook. The light at the end of the tunnel dimmed a bit today, but I will get back at it later this week!

Ultrasound confirms...It's a girl!

We had our final ultrasound today, and we found out pretty confidently that we can expect a girl in about 6 weeks.  Here are some great ultrasound pictures.  Apparently the first picture identifies the "hamburger" typifying a girl, according to our very friendly ultrasound tech....  I have never heard anybody explain it that way before.

The baby is measuring right down the line, she estimated the baby weighs 5 lbs now.  We are 

only 2 weeks away from end of the "premie" stage, our hospital is best equipped to deal with deliveries beyond 36 weeks.

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Here is some more pics... 

 

Oh, quick update on flying, I have had two lessons cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday morning due to weather, but I am aggressively rescheduling. 

Lesson 9: Round in circles again!

More Pattern Work at KEAU, My First Unassisted Landing!

After some rest and relaxation on the weekend, I was raring to get back in the air, eager to push through this current bout of frustration.  As I was driving to work, I saw a jet departing to the southwest, and given the weather I had been watching, I was pretty sure that runway 22 would be the active.  Got to the airport, grabbed the headset, Matt, the lineman, was putting fuel in as I was walking out.   Preflight done, I still take my own sweet time doing preflight, I think I will always take 15-20 minutes, I am not in any rush and it gives me confidence in the plane, and in turn confidence in myself.  So, I hollered over to Jack that I was ready, in we climbed in, fired up the engine (helps if you turn on the master switch), got the weather, radioed Ground, and we were taxing to runway 22 via alpha.  For the first time, I positioned the aircraft correctly for runup WITH the nosewheel straight, a small, but important accomplishment!  So, on the first run around the circuit, I pretty much did everything correct.  Although I failed to hold right rudder on climb and as a result my upwind leg was off-center.   I continued this mistake for several laps until Jack decided it was time to point it out to me, doh!  Anyway, on my first landing, I touched it down, probably not the smoothest landing, nor the straightest, but it worked.  As Jack got the flaps up and we lifted off for another go, I realized and asked Jack, "Did you do anything on that landing?"  he replied "Besides a little advice here and there, no, I don't think I touched the controls at all."  Alright!! My first unassisted landing.  We had several more rounds around the pattern, until as we approached the base leg, he pulls the throttle, "Lost your engines, now what?"  Ah crap, I knew this was coming eventually, I of course froze and hesitated.  As I blinked out of my malaise, I said, ok best glide!  65 kts.  Ok, pitch the plane to 65 kts., got it.  Jack then replied, "I'd be heading back toward that really long concrete road we call the runway, don't worry about a proper pattern, FLY THE AIRPLANE, and get back to the runway if you have the altitude to do it!"  So, as I turned, I did my best to maintain the pitch attitude and maintain 65 kts.  It was an ugly approach, but there was actually a lot less thinking involved without worrying about throttle (since I had no engines), maintain flying speed, get yourself over the numbers, then a normal landing, since I didn't have to worry about making a nice rectangular pattern.  Now despite my hesitations, you realize if you don't panic, setting down the airplane with no engines is not a big deal (if you have a place to do it).  After the next takeoff, Jack reiterated the importance of NOT PANICKING, and as Jack's own CFI would say more properly, "FLY THE F-IN AIRPLANE!" I told him to use the actual word if he thinks it will make a deeper impression on me :)  

So, we did a few more landings, Jack took the controls once or twice to give me a break.  We did two go-arounds, and another simulated engine out, even tried a little slip on one approach to lose some altitude.  We also had good traffic in the pattern including some jets, so that was interesting adjusting our approach, either extending downwind, or abbreviating an upwind.  Of course, I remember two absolutely horrid, hard landings.  One in which I pulled the power out too quickly, and we landed with a big thud.  And only one or two landings came on all 3 wheels at the same time (bad), the rest came ok, although I have a tendency to float a bit on the flare, and holding centerline on touch down.  So, the things I really need to work on...

• Last time, I had a tendency to pitch up during my turns to base and final, this week I did the opposite, and even once busted my airspeed in flap range.  I have to find the proper descent attitude and maintain my airpspeed through the turns.  I got a little better as the lesson progressed, but lots of improvement needed here.
  
  
• Remember that right rudder on climbs, and hold that centerline after take off.
  
  
• Remember to do that after take-off checklist, which is basically turn off the landing lights, but still!  I got a little frustrated with myself as I did the GUMPS descent checklist and got to the "S" for safety items and realized I never turned off my landing lights.  Grrr!
  
  
• When you begin the descent from pattern altitude, work on a more smooth coordination between power and pitch to get my speed into flap range.  The first couple times, I would pull the power, and then jerk the joke to maintain horizon.
  
  
• I still have trouble with the flare, and Jack says that is completely normal, most students have an issue here. 
  
  
• Hold the centerline through the flare.  About 80% of the time, I would be able to come over the numbers on center, but as soon as I would attempt to flare, I would lose the centerline, this would result in landing either off center or sideways.  Yuck.  The other 20% I couldn't find the centerline at all, so we don't count those :)  I can't be afraid to use the rudder liberally at those final moment before touchdown.  The rudder is a low risk input and will not significantly affect your airspeed, so I need to USE THEM RUDDERS on the landings!
  
  
• We had a couple crosswinds landings, that was by far the hardest task, I know the concept, but execution is terrible.  Aileron into the wind, use opposite rudder to compensate.  The problem is using them in coordination to maintain centerline, oi!

As we taxied back to the Heartland ramp, Matt (the lineman I mentioned early) commented, "A couple of nice, smooth landings there!"  Of course, I responded, "Those must have been the ones Jack did for me!" We all had a nice laugh, but I think there was a sincere compliment there, thanks Matt!  

So, a decent evening of flying.  12 more landings, 2 go-arounds, 2 engine failures, 2 jets, and 1.5 hours for the log book.  Oh!  Jack mentioned for the very first time the concept of me soloing, no, I am not ready at all yet, but basically if I can give Jack confidence I can put all the pieces together consistently, that is when he hops out.  I really think that is still weeks away, maybe even over a month, but just in case, I told him Laura would really like me to be present for the special day.  Of course, I will never know exactly when it comes, so if he has a feeling it maybe be one day or another, he has her phone number to let her know ahead of time.  Man, that will be a tough secret for her to keep, when the time comes!  I will at least have a warning, Jack has to sign off on my student/medical certificate an endorsement for solo (usually done a lesson or more ahead of time), which usually means an oral test.  So, fun night, great flight, looking forward to the next lesson!

Lesson 8: Pattern work at KEAU

Pattern work at KEAU, a truly humbling experience.

My third lesson of the week, weather was looking awesome around lunch, but I knew some potential rain was heading our way this afternoon. Sure enough, the sky became overcast around 4 pm. However, the clouds stayed high enough, so when I got to the airport, there was just a light rain. Still perfectly safe conditions to fly, so Jack said we were staying in the pattern today at KEAU. So, out to the plane, Jack helped with the preflight so we could get into the air faster. Preflight good, new runway today because of the wind. We took off from runway 32, via taxiway charlie, which isn't really marked by signs, so I needed Jack's help with the directions on that. Getting much better taxi-ing. Run-up, good! Call up tower and off we go. Also, noticed I was getting better at keeping the plane centered on the runway on take off, but that would be the last of my confidence building today. I hit my first of probably a few learning plateaus, today was rough. The air was pretty smooth, but my flying not so much. We basically made left traffic for runway 32 the entire time for touch-and-gos, for those not familiar with those fancy aviation terms, that means we flied in a circle taking off and landing. I wouldn't say I backslid today, but it became very clear how much Jack was helping me on all the previous landings. He really tried to make me do most of the flying from takeoff to land, and I think its safe to say, I haven't had a completely unassisted landing yet, Jack intervened, although sometimes only slightly on all my landings today. My climbs were ok at best, I thought I had my climbout pitch and technique down, but I couldn't quite keep my wings level, my pitch was all over the place, and my speed always seemed too fast. Jack caught me frequently trying to stretch my neck and look over the nose of the plane to judge my pitch angle, he corrected me several times... "watch the level of your wings on climbs." The wind was also pushing me off centerline on take off, consequently I would drift after lift off, and then have a terrible crosswind turn. And then, landing....

I know exactly what I need to do, but I don't seem to be putting it together: Mid downwind, should be coming up on pattern altitude, level off, reduce throttle to 2300 rpm, do the prelanding checklist: GUMPPS (Gas, Undercarriage Welded On - No retractable gear on this plane, Mixture Rich, Propeller Spinning - Fixed pitch propeller on this plane, Primer Locked, Safety Items - Belts, Lights). Abeam the numbers, throttle to 1500, pitch to horizon to slow within flap range, then 10* flaps, set your pitch attitude for 75 knots. Ok, watch that runway, make your base turn about 45* on your wing. Watch your rollout to account for the wind, add that second notch of flaps, adjust your pitch slightly to maintain 75 knots. If you are high or low adjust throttle but in coordination with your pitch, maintain those 75 knots. Before turning final, get that carb heat off, maybe another notch of flaps and adjust that pitch slightly again. Keep those numbers in the same spot in your windshield, start transitioning to looking down the runway. Over the numbers, slowly easy back on that throttle, start to flare, not too much, throttle should be all the way out, flare, hold it, hold it, remember that landing sight picture! Touch down, hold that nose in the air as long as possible, gentle set down.

That is the way its supposed to be, for the most part I need a lot of work. I have trouble keeping myself centered on final, this is partly because I need to start crabbing into that wind better on approaches. Also, to be blunt, my flares absolutely suck, on one landing I flared a bit too much and surprised Jack a bit, he of course recovered no problem. Not to mention the lesson wouldn't be complete without a bounce, but I actually recovered ok from that. I think part of it, is that I still need to get comfortable getting so close to the ground during landing. Of course that is necessary (hah!), but particularly on my turn to base and final, the plane is slowed up so much, I am so nervous I am going to stall the plane, and Jack actually catches me wanting to pitch up without throttle.

So, I had about 10 landings, with one go-around. During the very first circuit, there was traffic that chirped up just as we turned downwind saying they were also on the downwind on the same runway! Yikes! I saw the traffic ahead, but Jack couldn't pick it out. So, I watched the traffic and he took over. Turns out the gentleman was unintentionally on UNICOM instead of tower frequency. Fortunately he realized it and graciously abandoned his approach and let us continue. I did several landings, and Jack must have sensed I was getting a little frustrated, so he took over for a full lap, then had me try again. I did some more again, then he took over once more. We finally did a couple more, than Jack said, ok, one more and we are done. That one I felt pretty good at, although Jack mentioned later that my earlier landings were better than my later ones. He could tell I was getting information overload, and it was time to call it a day. So, another 1.2 hours for the log book, almost 9 hours already.

During the post-lesson debrief, Jack said given where I am in my training (hours), I should be really pleased with myself. He said to try not to get too discouraged or hard on myself, learning to fly is not an easy challenge, and I need to push through these times of frustration. So, he advised, to take the weekend off, relax, I have some more lessons next week. He also said, that for the next few lessons, this would be it, perhaps a mini-cross country up to Chetek, but my next major hurdle is where I am. So, I am very pleased that I appeared to have sufficiently learned the fundamentals, and I can look forward to getting the landings down. I also figure there will be more stall and emergency training ahead before Jack thinks I am ready for solos, so I expect that still to be several weeks away at my current pace (~4-5 hrs/wk). This has been a very busy week, lots of flying and fun. Plan to catch up at home this weekend with some yard work, more baby preparations, some grocery shopping and maybe even some WoW with Lori and Bryan.

Lesson 7: Hello Menomonie!

More Steep Turns, Slips, and Pattern Work at Menomonie!

Another beautiful morning for flying. Got to the airport about 5:45 am today. I saw Jack already on the ramp looking over the plane, I got the clipboard and headset and headed out. He asked me to let him know what I thought of the fuel situation Before I even got that far in my preflight the lineman was topping off the tanks. Did the usual preflight, no issues. I check the tanks anyway, 9.5 gal in one 10 in the other, good to go! Dial up weather, looking smooth as silk today. I am getting into the groove of the checklists better. My taxing skills are also improving, I don't look so drunk maneuvering the plane on the taxiway. At run up, Jack showed me another way to turn into the wind. Run to 1700, mags check, carb heat check, alternator check, suction check. This time for takeoff, since we weren't pressured with anybody behind us or on approach, we took our time getting on the runway, aligned to centerline, full stop. Then take off to full power. I did a little better this take off, still struggling finding that sight picture for take off. But I got it off the ground, smooth climb out at 80 kts.

Onto the practice area, we did some clearing turns first. Then did some steep turns again. Did a little better on the right hand turn, and I think I did a heck of job maintaining altitude this time, but now my rollout timing could be a bit better. Hah! It's so easy to start getting dizzy after a few of these steep turns! Onto slips. This was new. You use this if you want to lose altitude a little faster than a normal glide. So we setup in a 70 knot glide, got some flaps. Then basically use aileron on one side and a bit of rudder on the opposite side. It feels goofy in the plane, and your kinda shifted cock'eyed in a weird way, but you certainly lose some altitude, about 500 fpm. If you really push the slip and keep the nose down, you can get about 1000 fpm. Its really nice to use if you are coming high on final and want to loose just a bit of altitude. This will definitely take some practice to master. When I tried it, I was a bit wimpy on my rudder so we were kinda rolled too far in one direction and kind a flying a bit sideways.

So, we called up Eau Claire tower to let them know we were changing frequencies for a quick trip to Menomonie (KLUM). This was nifty, and underscores how much faster you are moving in the plane, we were there in a minute or two. Menomonie is an uncontrolled airport, our first landing at such a place. Since there is no controller, you monitor and talk on the appropriate frequency to advise any pilots on the ground or the air: Who am I, Where am I, What am I planning to do. So, we came from the south and did standard downwind entry into the pattern, about 45* entry for runway 27. The winds were calm, so we picked 27 because the sun was rather intense rising in the East. At pattern altitude about 1900 ft, on the downwind entry begin easing just a bit on the throttle, abeam the numbers, carb heat, bring it down to 1500 rpm, pitch for 70 knots. Start to bleed that altitude off. Turn to base. Keep that nose pitched for 70 knots, use the throttle if you need to gain some altitude back. Carb heat off and turn to final. The wind and my own abilities have my downwind, base, final turns looking more like a lumpy oval instead of a tight rectangle. I guess I am a little timid on those turns, I don't like seeing the ground so close and I start to instinctively pitch up, but that is bad because I am flying at pretty low speed, I pitch up and I lose even more speed. So, after a landing we taxied back to 27 for another takeoff, we did one more landing at Menomonie. I overshot my turn on crosswind, so again an ugly oval pattern, but the landing was ok. A bit of a bump and squeak, we did a quick touch-and-go, and we were back in the air. We did a textbook downwind departure back towards KEAU.

Got the weather for KEAU (actually Jack did for me :), called up Tower, we were to report right base for runway 22. This is were things got a bit confusing. There was a bunch of chatter about traffic in the area, Jack had spotted it and took over controls. I was quite confused because I couldn't see the plane. Turns out they were on the ground taking off on the same runway we planned to enter downwind on, but they were in the way. So, instead, we dropped our altitude a bit so they could fly over, and we changed our approach to use left traffic on runway 22 instead of right hand pattern. A great example how you have to adjust your plans and think ahead. As I turned onto downwind, Jack noted I was too close to the runway, so I angled myself out a bit. Did the usual checklist and routine for descent. Jack need to supply some minor corrections, but I largely did the landing. Not the prettiest again, but ok. Got off the runway, ran the checklist. And chatted about things I need to improve on. Jack was pretty happy with my flying today, he says I am making good progress. I also advised him that I have the financing all worked out, and I plan to fly 3 times a week now, netting about 5 hours per week. So, by the numbers, I could have about 30-40 hours in by the time the baby arrives, but weather and other mishaps might cause me to get a little less. I don't expect to be done by then, we'll take one lesson at a time! So far so good, I really love flying, its challenging and liberating being freed from the fear!

Lesson 6: Introduction to Stalls!

Slow flight, Steep Turns, and Stalls!
No, not this type of stall! Contrary to the intuitive thought, an airplane stall has nothing to do with your engine. Text book definition is when an the wings critical angle of attack is exceeded. Say what? Well, for those that want mental punishment, I will refer to you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stall_(flight) if you want an explanation of the physics. In short, the lift an airplane receives is from the airflow over the wing foils. This occurs when you have sufficient airspeed and smooth airflow over the wings. You can lose lift basically one of two ways: remove the airflow (i.e. fly too slow), or pitch the plane so that the airflow is no longer smooth over the wing.

So, onto the actual lesson. Arrived at the airport just before 6 am, jumped in, grabbed the clipboard and started my preflight. I think Jack had already looked over the plane, but I think he was pretty satisfied that I proactively preflighted the plane anyway, everything looked good. I was told a little later this was the first flight after they replaced the spark plugs (or magnetos as they are more accurately called). Weather check, call up ground, I had to rehearse one time before calling up, its been a few days, just to get my confidence up. I still have trouble using the radio when the workload is more intense, but during the times on the ground running checklists, its a little easier. I also have difficulty turning the airplane into the wind for the runup with the nose-wheel straight. We'd like that straight because if the brakes fail during runup, we'd like to know where the airplane is going to go!

So, runup, good! Call up tower, "Eau Claire Tower, Cessna 588BR, at the hold runway 22, ready for departure". They give us clearance, ease the throttle in, accelerate, and off we go. I was a little timid on get the nose up this time, but once we did, setting the pitch and trim for climbout went much better. I got to enjoy the scenery a little more as I constantly kept looking out for traffic and a potential landing spot in case of emergency.

Ok, we headed for 3500 ft, since this was much higher than before, I knew what the plan was, he was warming me up for stalls. But first, some slow flight and turns with slow flight. Quite different, your turn is very slight, and the bank is very shallow. We got to hold speed while the stall horn was blaring. First time I wasn't watching my heading and altitude very well, Jack pointed that out, and I corrected nicely and was able to do slow turns much better. Plane also wants to yaw again to the left in slow flight because of torque, precession, spiraling slipstream, p-factor, etc. So, more intense right rudder work on those slow turns. Then we did some steep turns, I remember this from my discovery flight (lesson 1), I didn't like them too much then. But this time, it was pretty fun. The turn to the right was hard to do, the nose wants to dive a bit, and the proper correction is rollout of the turn a bit, stabilize, and resume. So, I frequently lost some altitude on the right steep turns. Steep turns to the left, I was able to control a little better. So, not that bad, a lot of fun, I need to do better at estimating my rollout, but I am getting better at keeping my eyes outside the cockpit.

Ok, so Jack had me slow up the airplane a bit. Then he had me reduce power to 1500 rpm to demonstrate a stall. Wow, not too scary, at least the way Jack did it. The stall horn started to blare for a while (so you have to be deaf or really distracted not to hear it), continued to pitch up to maintain altitude, then the plane shook for a second, and then the nose dived. Recovery was pretty simple, get the wings level, slight pitch down to regain airspeed, increase throttle, but not too much you don't want to dive straight at the ground. And then you begin flying again. They key here is to enter the stall with wings level and coordinated flight. If its uncoordinated, one wing will dip more severe than the other, and you can enter a spin. Also very recoverable, but can be very dangerous if you hesitate too long. So, when I tried, I of course failed to keep the plane perfectly coordinated and we when we stalled, we dived with a roll the the left, we entered a spin. Jack helped me correct with right aileron and rudder, wings level, slight down pitch to regain airspeed and lift! The first two stalls we did resulted in about 500 ft lost in altitude. So you can see why we train for these and recognize a pending stall, you lose altitude fast during the stall and recovery. Now this type of stall is relatively uncommon to occur because you normally wouldn't try to fly that slow at such an odd attitude. We tried a more common occurrence, a stall on approach or landing. This also requires quick thinking and action. Here we are in a glide, and suppose we flare a bit too much. We experience the stall, and since we want to minimize the altitude loss, we quickly do full throttle, carb heat in, wings level, retract the flaps quickly, stabilize, next notch of flaps, stabilize, and get a positive rate of climb. So, stalls are too bad, requires quick and decisive action, maybe slightly uncomfortable because you do drop significantly, and there is something a bit unsettling about the nose of the plane pointing straight at the ground for a second or two. But the plane wants to naturally correct itself, just with some minor guidance.

Ok, time to get back, was getting a little late. Dial up weather. Call up tower. We needed to be at 1900 for pattern altitude, so I wanted to start to descend when were 7 miles out. Jack, said I could if I wanted to, but it would be far easier to do a cruise descend, bascially, pitch the plane down slightly, keep our speed up so we get there faster instead of dropping to 1900 and lumbering along at 70 kts. Jack still helped quite a bit on the landing, but I felt I did more this time, he only corrected me minorly a few times. Mid downfield, reduce power, 1500 rpm, pitch for 65-70 kts, 1 notch of flaps. Carb heat on. Turn to base, call up tower (Jack did that, I was still concentrating too much). Then turn to final, I turned a bit early, so I had a sloppy angle on final. Carb heat off. Ok, maintain this attitude, aim for the numbers. Jack said I had a tendency to over correct a bit, I need to relax more. The winds were calm, so I didn't need to deal with a crosswind. Over the numbers, Jack reminded me to reduce the throttle, maintain the attitude. Start to flare, and touch down! Jack helped me get the plane off the runway quick since there was a Northwest Mesaba flight waiting for me so they could take off. I saw them at the hold when I was gliding in for landing, how cool is that!

Off the runway, do our checklists, taxi to parking. Normally we'd switch to ground, but tower had said to stay with him to parking. Did a better job taxing and I think I parked it straight on this time. We reviewed a bit and highlighted things for me to concentrate on. Oh, by the way, the weather was fabulous this morning, smooth as silk, much easier to control the plane today!

Another 1.4 hours in the log book! I just noticed, today marks my 1 year anniversary taking that discover flight a year ago and taking a major step in overcoming my fear of flying! Yah!

Lesson 5: Introduction to the Pattern

Ground Reference Maneuvers, Crab Angles, Pattern Work, Landings

The weather looked questionable all day today.  Although the ceilings were good and no rain or other convective activity was in the area, the wind was a bit unpredictable.  It was variable all day, 5-15 knots, and gusting to as much as 20 knots.  I made a stop at the airport over lunch to sign some paperwork and ran into Jack.  He said he just got back from a lesson, they did a little jaunt over to Menomonie (KLUM), and said they got tossed around quite a bit.   So, we'll watch the weather this afternoon and make a judgement later.  So,  when I arrived, the winds died down just a bit, but was still gusting good to 15-18 knots.  He made it my choice, and I really did not want all my training to be just in calm easy winds, so I said let's do it!

Preflight was pretty routine, I got it done in about 15 minutes.  I am still pretty slow at it, but I am pretty thorough, I walk around the plane with my own customized checklist, going through each part thoroughly.  I got to strain/sample the fuel and check the tanks all by myself this time, so that was nifty.   Funny though, as we were going through the interior checks, Jack asked "Did you get the chocks?"  Ah crap, that isn't on my checklist, hah!  Something to fix on my checklist.   So, we dial up weather, listen and I contact ground.  Looks like we will be using Runway 22 this time instead, although using the same taxiway, just in the opposite direction.    Jack let me control things even more so, which was much more challenging.  Since there were strong winds, I needed to counteract the winds with the ailerons, which meant "steering" the yoke, but the plane's steering is being controlled with the pedals.  Quite a reprogramming task for my brain, turn the wheel not to turn, and use the pedals to turn.  Wow!

So, I did our runup, everything good.  Call up tower, "Eau Claire Tower, Cessna 588BR, at the hold runway 22, ready for takeoff!"  The crosswind was also a challenge for takeoff, again we counteracted the crosswind with the aileron, and use opposite rudder to keep us centered as the nose starts to lift.  I am told this is actually a "slipping" climb, but we don't maintain it for long.  After we get out of ground effect, we crab into the wind, which is a coordinated maneuver, and stay on centerline a bit sideways, similar to a crosswind landing.  

So, off to the southwest to the practice area.  I am starting to get more familiar on how to get there, but still needed Jacks help just a bit.  The Chippewa River is just off the approach course for runway 4, and then bends west.  We basically stay north of the river up towards Elk Mound.  Plenty of fields in case we have an emergency. So, we began with some more ground reference maneuvers, with the wind it was perfect to test my crabbing ability, it needs work.  The rectangular course was ok at best.  Maintaining my awareness of the wind has improved, but I still don't have the right bank angles to make great on course turns in the wind, but I was getting better.  Tried to do turns around a point, I still am not good at that.  When I am in a constant turn, I frequently can't keep my altitude or airspeed consistent (or sometimes both).  I am still learning what a good turn feels like.  I know I am supposed to when I have my wind at my back, make a steeper turn, because the wind will blow me past my target when I turn perpendicular to the wind.  When I turn into the wind, its a normal bank.  When I am facing into the wind, and then I turn, I have to make a shallower turn since the wind will blow me back onto target.  Then onto S-turns, boy this was difficult.  I frequently came out of my turn not lined up straight, I am going to require many hours practicing this.

Finally, it was time to head back, Jack had planned for some pattern work.  Dial up weather first to get winds.  Then radio tower, "Eau Claire Tower, Cessna 588BR, 6 miles southwest, 2000 ft, landing".  Tower responds "Make right traffic for runway 22".  So, right traffic, that was different!  As we entered, the pattern, we started our glide, carb heat, get us to 75 knots, power down to 1500, flaps,  pitch down, trim,  watch that pitch, not too much, we'll pickup too much speed and tear the flaps off!  Make that turn to base, maintain that pitch attitude, use power if we are losing too much altitude.  Turn to final, carb heat off, another notch of flaps, watch that attitude.  Get her over the numbers, pull that throttle, flare, hold it, hold it, angle that aileron into the wind, hold it, touch down that wheel into wind, set the other wheel down.  whew!    We did this two more times, but each other time we did left traffic, and each time I did a little more.  However, Jack could tell I was tense, he told me to relax a couple times.  Landing a plane sure is tough.  After the last one, we taxi to parking.  Shutdown checklist and power down.  Then me and Jack talked in the cockpit for another 10-15 minutes about all of the segments of the pattern, take off, upwind leg, crosswind, downwind, base, and final.  At each stage, what do I need to be doing, and thinking about the next two things that will happen next.  This is going to be a long journey, I felt myself both grow and backslide a bit today. 

And all the concern over the wind, it really wasn't that bad at all, or I am just starting to get used to it and it isn't bothering me as much.  So, another 1.4 hours in the log books.  My ankle is sore from all the rudder work again.  At least I am getting a work out!