Brushing off some dust...

[Tomahawk674]

After more than a month without flying (there's a critical deficit in the flying budget), I finally went up today, just for pattern work. What a gorgeous day it was today, calm winds, clear skies, temp on the mid 60s, just excellent. The CFI was not the one I typically fly with, but still ok. He asks me to fly a but differently than I do with the other CFIs, but I can adjust.

I wasn't too rusty, first T&Gs were a bit hard, but last one was sweet. I have the ability to improve a lot within the same flight

Of course tower screwed up again today. They asked us to land on the wrong runway, it would have made for a very funky pattern if we hadn't called them up again to verify...

Ahhh, feels good to get back up there!

 

[jdwatson]

Welcome back to the sky ! In what way did the CFI fly different ?

 

[Tomahawk674]

The CFI that I took up that day is different in some ways that I disagree with, but didn't want to argue with him. I have less than 20h, and he's a CFI...

First of all, he wants me to actually control speed with trim. He is always telling me to use more trim. I always hear trim is used to aliviate pressure on the yoke, not to actually do the flying with it. If I don't feel the need to use it, I won't.

Other thing is he is all about power off approaches, which I can understand. However during my first power off attempt, he insisted I didn't add power, but my airpeed was low and I was low, I didn't like that he had me try to land so slowly, which resulted in a go around when things started looking not so good. The app. speed of the Tomahawk is 70Kt. He "demonstrated" one approach and I saw him go well under 70 much before touchdown, and btw his stall warning was going off much higher than I usually have it go (and he banged that thing hard on the Runway). My opinion is his approaches are too slow. what I did then was fly tighter higher patterns so I could have my 70Kts without power, curiously enough, before my following landings he mentioned "everything's great, you have plenty of airspeed". But I don't think it was plenty, it was just the norma ammount I was taught I should had.

I talked to another CFI who I'm friends with, who flies for the national guard and is a very, very experienced pilot. He seemed to agree with me on most of the complaints I had about the other guy.

On a personal level I like the CFI I had that day and all, but I don't agree with the way he wants me doing things, so I think I'll be flying with my regulars only from now on.

Comments are welcome!

 

[CJones]

I like the idea of using trim in the pattern as long as the physical act of adjusting it doesn't interfere with Rule #1 - FLY THE PLANE! It's probably not as much of an issue in the Tomahawk (I don't know if I touched it much in the 152 I did the PPL in), but in the RV which is much more 'touchy', trim can be a big help or hinderance. I like to keep things trimmed as close to 'neutral control pressure' as possible simply b/c if I 'drop the stick' or for whatever reason I don't pay enough attention to attitude adjustment, the trim being set correctly prevents things from getting hairy very quickly. Even when I set the autopilot, which controls via direct elevator connection and not trim adjustment, every once in a while I will click the A/P off and make sure things are still trimmed as they should be. Clicking the A/P off and having it pitch up or down rapidly makes for a not-so-smooth transition to descent, etc.

As far as speeds in the Tomahawk, I have no clue what the 'norm' is. In the RV (higher performance of course) I shoot for 80kts on final, 70 over the numbers, flare at 60, touchdown 55ish. 70kts seems to be plenty of speed for a light two-place (ie. Tomahawk). Once again, I am basing ideas on my experience in the 152 where actual stall speed is 35-40kts. I have no experiene at all with the Tomahawk, so the speeds could vary greatly.

Most all CFI's, unless pumped through a mass-production 141 school, will vary in their procedures. The trick for you as a student and pilot is to figure out which aspect of each CFI you fly with makes more sense for you and, as long as you have knowledge and theory to back up your decision, take that info as your 'normal procedure'.

/exit soapbox

-Chris

 

[cwyckham]

I find trimming to be really important on the approach. If I have it trimmed properly I won't have as much of a tendency to get slow, for example. If I'm already pulling back on the yoke, I won't notice as easily when I subconsciously pull a bit more. However, if I'm trimmed for zero pressure, I notice when I start pulling. Also with some aircraft like the 172 I find that it takes so much effort to pull the nose up, I have to make sure I'm starting at zero pressure on the yoke or I'll land too flat. Trim's a really good tool.

Chris

 

[midlifeflyer]

I don't know if this applies to this CFI or not, but there are CFIs who recognize that their personal technique preferences are optional and will teach you them to increase your knowledge and options. Then there are others who think it's gospel and will try to force you to fly the way they do.

You tend to learn a lot from the former, but tend to just get annoyed by the latter.

 

[Michael]

I fly my mooney with trim. on final, if i trim all the way back, it nails 80, and i can relax and watch the numbers untill touchdown. usually.