Added an endorsement

[jsstevens]

A convergence of events made it possible for me to earn my complex endorsement a couple of Fridays ago.

I belong to a flying club which has 2 C-172s on leaseback. Our mechanic owns a very nicely maintained 1969 PA-28R-180. About 3 weeks ago the chief instructor sent out an email that one of the C-172s is getting an engine rebuild and during that time the Arrow would be available (had to move it out of the hangar to make room for the Skyhawk) for those wanting a complex endorsement.

We did two flights for a total of 3.4 hours (I had 2 hours of complex from several years ago so it wasn't completely from scratch).

First flight: out to the practice area, covered systems, power management, did one set of steep turns (nailed them both ways! I've always enjoyed steep turns). Then back in for 4 stop and goes in the pattern.

Second flight: out to the practice area, up to 4000 feet and learned to lean using the engine monitor EGTs, manage the auto-pilot (simple wing leveler or follows the heading bug). The one thing I kept forgetting with the A/P was reaching through the yoke and turing the heading bug-when the A/P starts to react it catches my arm. Took about three tries before I remembered to reach around the yoke. He had me do an ILS back into KORL (home plate). I used the A/P until we picked up the localizer. I could get used to an auto-pilot.

I flew the ILS without getting more than a 1/2 dot out either horizontally or vertically. Then 7 stop and goes with a couple of go-arounds and we were done.

Unfortunately I don't know if I'll be able to fly the plane solo yet. And it will go home to Orlando-Apopka when the Skyhawk is done so I probably won't have access to a complex plane for a while, but I really enjoyed it.

Maybe I'll win the AOPA Debonaire! Yeah, that's the ticket.

John

 

[Cpt_Kirk]

.

Unfortunately I don't know if I'll be able to fly the plane solo yet. And it will go home to Orlando-Apopka when the Skyhawk is done so I probably won't have access to a complex plane for a while, but I really enjoyed it.

Maybe I'll win the AOPA Debonaire! Yeah, that's the ticket.

John

Eligible or capable? The Arrow is fun to fly.

It's always advisable to put the gear down just as many times as you put it up.

 

[jsstevens]

Eligible or capable? The Arrow is fun to fly.

It's always advisable to put the gear down just as many times as you put it up.

My current instructor said the point of complex training is to put the gear down 100% of the time and not 99.997%. My former instructor had his own version of GUMPS:
G - Gear down?
U - Undercarriage down?
M - Make sure the gear is down.
P - Put the gear down.
S - Sure the gear is down?

His was somewhat less printable, but that's the gist...

I'm at 100% so far...

John

 

[MAKG1]

Yeah, it's real important.

I like to check the gear in different ways each time.

Handle position, sound, indicator lights, visual (if possible), performance numbers.

 

[frfly172]

Gear down and locked,three in the green. No audible warnings.

 

[skynewbie]

Also practicing emergency landing gear extension is fun too. In the C172RG it takes a lot of elbow grease to get that sucker down. Then check visually. I use GUMPS on downwind, base and final to verify gear comes down so three checks to avoid issues.

 

[jordane93]

Nice! I recently got my complex endorsement in an Arrow also for my Comm. training. My instructor also ingrains the GUMPS check. He always tells me even if I think I did it enough, do it again. The first thing I noticed about the Arrow when landing is that its a pig. If you pull the throttle back to idle it WILL drop like a rock. Does your Arrow have a 430 or any other GPS in it?

 

[skynewbie]

I'm doing my complex in a Cessna 172RG wish our club had an Arrow though. Same with the 172RG as soon as you drop the gear it's a pig as well and you really need to flare carefully for a soft touchdown on landings as the landing gear is not as robust as that of an Arrow.

 

[jsstevens]

Nice! I recently got my complex endorsement in an Arrow also for my Comm. training. My instructor also ingrains the GUMPS check. He always tells me even if I think I did it enough, do it again. The first thing I noticed about the Arrow when landing is that its a pig. If you pull the throttle back to idle it WILL drop like a rock. Does your Arrow have a 430 or any other GPS in it?

This one does not have any GPS.

It does drop with the throttle pulled. I kept it at about 1500, prop full forward until actually flaring, then pulled it gently to idle. Instructor suggested a slight power bump just before touchdown to ease it on, but I was able to get a greaser without it. (Just not every time. But then neither could he...)

John