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!