AndRotate
Filing Flight Plan
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2020
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- 25
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AndRotate
I just got back home from a flight lesson. We did power on/off stalls and steep turns both without and with trim. I momentarily got out of standards with an altitude gain of about +150 ft on the right-hand steep turn with trim, but otherwise was within standards for all maneuvers. Where I struggled, and I mean really struggled, was with my takeoff. My CFI had to jump in to correct so we didn't have an excursion or LOC.
Here's the setup. We were lined up and waiting on the runway, heading 280. Winds 240 at 5. Full aileron crosswind correction applied. We were cleared for takeoff and I put heels to the floor and accelerated to full power, albeit a little slower than I should have. Maintaining the centerline went very well with rudder control. Airspeed came alive, oil was green/green. I began to decrease crosswind correction as the airspeed came alive. Then at rotation speed, I did not apply enough backpressure. We continued accelerating and eventually came off the ground, but just barely. Immediately, the airplane nosed to the left and we were off the centerline. I wasn't sure if I was overcorrecting on the crosswind or if I was not putting in enough right rudder. I am not entirely sure which correction I applied in which order. I definitely had my attention more on the visual reference of my heading than on my attitude on the horizon and whatever I was doing was not correcting the situation. My CFI jumped in and we made it to a climb successfully. After the brief correction he made, I took over the flight controls again. I had way too much right rudder in now, probably because I just went way off to the left and it was fresh in my head that that is what I might have done wrong. He pointed this out and I looked at the slip indicator and backed my rudder pressure off and looked out the side window to see if I was better. Doing this, I again lost track of my attitude and we gained speed well above Vy. Again, he pointed it out and I started to correct for that. Eventually, I got coordinated, climbed out, and then had an otherwise very successful lesson.
Basically, it was just a massive slop of a takeoff, and unfortunately, that's par for the course for me so far. My takeoffs are scary. I feel like I am doing really well for my low hours once in flight, but the takeoff is way behind my maneuvers in terms of my skill as a student pilot. Besides for the obvious (practicing as much as possible with my CFI), what tips do you guys have? If any of you were really bad at takeoffs initially, what tips/tricks worked for you to make them smooth and not sloppy/dangerous?
Here's the setup. We were lined up and waiting on the runway, heading 280. Winds 240 at 5. Full aileron crosswind correction applied. We were cleared for takeoff and I put heels to the floor and accelerated to full power, albeit a little slower than I should have. Maintaining the centerline went very well with rudder control. Airspeed came alive, oil was green/green. I began to decrease crosswind correction as the airspeed came alive. Then at rotation speed, I did not apply enough backpressure. We continued accelerating and eventually came off the ground, but just barely. Immediately, the airplane nosed to the left and we were off the centerline. I wasn't sure if I was overcorrecting on the crosswind or if I was not putting in enough right rudder. I am not entirely sure which correction I applied in which order. I definitely had my attention more on the visual reference of my heading than on my attitude on the horizon and whatever I was doing was not correcting the situation. My CFI jumped in and we made it to a climb successfully. After the brief correction he made, I took over the flight controls again. I had way too much right rudder in now, probably because I just went way off to the left and it was fresh in my head that that is what I might have done wrong. He pointed this out and I looked at the slip indicator and backed my rudder pressure off and looked out the side window to see if I was better. Doing this, I again lost track of my attitude and we gained speed well above Vy. Again, he pointed it out and I started to correct for that. Eventually, I got coordinated, climbed out, and then had an otherwise very successful lesson.
Basically, it was just a massive slop of a takeoff, and unfortunately, that's par for the course for me so far. My takeoffs are scary. I feel like I am doing really well for my low hours once in flight, but the takeoff is way behind my maneuvers in terms of my skill as a student pilot. Besides for the obvious (practicing as much as possible with my CFI), what tips do you guys have? If any of you were really bad at takeoffs initially, what tips/tricks worked for you to make them smooth and not sloppy/dangerous?