grattonja
Line Up and Wait
I started this one under Pilot Training, as the time spent was sure training for my wife and I.
We both turn 40 this year. Instead of a party, or a cruise or something, we decided to take a bit of jet training. I say a bit because it was all we could afford. We found the Jet Warbird people out of Santa Fe NM on the web and advertising in AOPA and liked what they seemed to offer. www.jetwarbird.com. After some emails with Larry, we got set up for three days last week. We arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday and did our ground school. Then two rides apiece on Thursday and one on Friday before we returned to my in-laws and our daughter in Colorado.
We elected to try and fly the L-39 Albatross, a Czech jet trainer and sometime close support warbird that is said to be one of the more modern and popular trainers in the US at the present. For two pilots with less than 500 hours total time, it was pretty intimidating to climb into that cockpit for the first time, to sit and look around. I had never logged time in a front/back trainer before, so that alone was weird. And I have never flown anything with a bubble cockpit either, so that also was a strange sensation.
On thursday, Janet won the coin toss and got to fly first. This just enhanced my nervousness, as I got to not only watch everything from the ground but hang around also. I went out and followed along the pre-flight, and then got out of the way as they lit the Safire unit, the fan that starts the engine turning before ignition. It was amazing to watch the thing light up, and to hear it spool up.
Janet taxied out, itself complicated, as the breaking is differential on the rudder pedals, but the brake itself is a hand grip on the stick, much like a bicycle or motorcycle brake. It took some real getting used to. She took off, rotating up 10 degrees at 90 knots. You pull the gear up at positive rate of climb and the one notch of flaps comes out around 120-130 knots. Then you accelerate at 107 percent power to 180-200, and pull power back to 103 percent. That is basically cruise climb. When you level at cruise, you pull to 99 percent and work it up to 250 knots indicated, which Larry told us is around 310 true at the altitudes we were working at, anywhere from 14500 to 17500. Janet came in about an hour later and did touch and goes, and one very impressive go-around, with the plane absolutely roaring.
When she lifted off, I tried to watch her to the practice area. In less than one minute, she was a speck so small that I could not track her, despite my best efforts. This from a field that is at 6300 plus feet MSL! Just watching her climb out left me feeling intimidated.
She got to .68 or .69 mach on her trip, did an aileron roll, which she did not like, stalls and slow flight, as well as pattern work.
Then it was my turn. Starting the engine was very simple, using the Safire unit to get the engine turning and then hitting the start button for 3 seconds. You watch for an excessive EGT spike which requires immediate shutdown (that happened to me in the pm). Otherwise, you let it settle into a screaming idle. Then you pull the knob, pressurize the canopy, and taxi off. The forward view has got to be close to 300 degrees in every direction except straight down, and forward vis is amazing! You wear the thing like an old sport's car, literally you strap it on the way you put on a shirt. You get really comfortable in that small space really fast, too.
We climbed out and I quickly found that speed is not an issue. You simply do not feel like you are going fast. The plane is obviously made to be docile at speed, and the pressurized cabin was maybe half as noisy as the skyhawk I usually fly.
Stick control was of the three finger variety. But with the right hand, as the left is the throttle. 45 and even 60 degrees of bank came with no effort at all and the aircraft was extremely manueverable. You point it and it goes there. Very pitch sensitive though, and it took some doing to not be climbing or descending. Climbs and descents with a VSI that would routinely show a 4000 fpm rate either way were pretty exciting.
Stalls were a non-event with a rumble and just a touch of right wing drop. Recoveries were slow. You do most power off procedures at 80 percent power, as spool up from idle to full power is a 10 second nail biter (especially on a go around, more about that in a bit).
I found that I will probably not be an aerobatic pilot, despite my interest. I HATED negative gs. We did a steep full power climb to 17500 to get the descent space for a high speed run, and when I was told to level, my head grew four sizes and went up and hit the roof, I swear. It really made me uncomfortable and I did no major negative G manuvers after that. I think it was the fact that the cockpit is so far out in front of the wings that made the feeling so strong, but I would love to know what others here who do aerobatics do to deal with negative Gs.
The aileron roll was uncomfortable the first time, and I was not sure that I would do it again. The high speed descent was another non-event. It just didn't feel that fast, and the plane was so maneuverable that it felt comfortable with all of the above.
Patterns were ok, helped by the fact that the main runway at SAF is long. Come in at about 160-180 knots, slow to 140 with one notch of flaps, turn base and a 2 mile final, 2nd notch of flaps and 120 and ride that down to over the fence, then pull the throttle back from 85 percent to idle and ride the runway to touchdown. Rudders in the middle and steady pressure on the handbrake to full stop. Brakes are anti-lock and anti-skid but we tended to coast down as much as possible to save heat on them.
A touch and go is the same, but nose down and full power as soon as you touch down, then wait for the engine to develop 100 percent, rotate 10 degrees up, and you are outta there. The delay to 100 percent power was the only scary part. You just had to trust it would be there. The second it was there, you were again flying, but that delay on the runway was interesting.
The second flight was better for me, I got comfortable with the aileron roll, and flew my speeds better. Janet's best flight was the next day, when she conquered the roll. The magic to dealing with the roll is to look straight forward, and focus on the horizon. Do not look around or it becomes disorienting to your body, fast.
My last flight, on Friday, was great. We did a simulated flame out pattern, where, from 10 miles plus from the airport, we pulled power to 85 and flew to the airport. One 360 to lose some altitude, and we flew upwind over the runway, reported what is called "high key", then turned crosswind mid-field and made a constant 180 from upwind to downwind. At the numbers, we were at proper altitude and did another 180 from downwind to final. Touch down point was 1/3 the way down the runway, and we made a clean touch and go just beyond that. Larry was really happy with my speed and power management on that one.
On the last trip around the pattern, we had been dealing with a coyote on the runway. He had made me sit twice waiting, and I wanted a bit of revenge. Plus, the tower had seemed a bit humorless. Larry, the CFI in the back, had been doing the radio calls and I wanted to make just one. Plus, I had told my wife if the coyote was there what I was going to say. "Uh, Tower, what's the status on Wiley E. Coyote down there, is he still a factor?" Dead silence from the tower and the CFI. Oh crap, glad I didn't give a tail number. "Mr. coyote seems to have gotten his lunch and gone elsewhere, he is no factor". "Thanks". From the back seat, in best CFI deadpan over the intercom, "very good". A nice final landing and Janet and I are agreed, we want to go back and burn more Jet-A.
For all of you who fly jets, I now understand why. Too bad it is so expensive. But you only turn 40 once. Done right, once is enough. Anyone need a back seat in a jet? We are there for you
Cheers. Jim G
We both turn 40 this year. Instead of a party, or a cruise or something, we decided to take a bit of jet training. I say a bit because it was all we could afford. We found the Jet Warbird people out of Santa Fe NM on the web and advertising in AOPA and liked what they seemed to offer. www.jetwarbird.com. After some emails with Larry, we got set up for three days last week. We arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday and did our ground school. Then two rides apiece on Thursday and one on Friday before we returned to my in-laws and our daughter in Colorado.
We elected to try and fly the L-39 Albatross, a Czech jet trainer and sometime close support warbird that is said to be one of the more modern and popular trainers in the US at the present. For two pilots with less than 500 hours total time, it was pretty intimidating to climb into that cockpit for the first time, to sit and look around. I had never logged time in a front/back trainer before, so that alone was weird. And I have never flown anything with a bubble cockpit either, so that also was a strange sensation.
On thursday, Janet won the coin toss and got to fly first. This just enhanced my nervousness, as I got to not only watch everything from the ground but hang around also. I went out and followed along the pre-flight, and then got out of the way as they lit the Safire unit, the fan that starts the engine turning before ignition. It was amazing to watch the thing light up, and to hear it spool up.
Janet taxied out, itself complicated, as the breaking is differential on the rudder pedals, but the brake itself is a hand grip on the stick, much like a bicycle or motorcycle brake. It took some real getting used to. She took off, rotating up 10 degrees at 90 knots. You pull the gear up at positive rate of climb and the one notch of flaps comes out around 120-130 knots. Then you accelerate at 107 percent power to 180-200, and pull power back to 103 percent. That is basically cruise climb. When you level at cruise, you pull to 99 percent and work it up to 250 knots indicated, which Larry told us is around 310 true at the altitudes we were working at, anywhere from 14500 to 17500. Janet came in about an hour later and did touch and goes, and one very impressive go-around, with the plane absolutely roaring.
When she lifted off, I tried to watch her to the practice area. In less than one minute, she was a speck so small that I could not track her, despite my best efforts. This from a field that is at 6300 plus feet MSL! Just watching her climb out left me feeling intimidated.
She got to .68 or .69 mach on her trip, did an aileron roll, which she did not like, stalls and slow flight, as well as pattern work.
Then it was my turn. Starting the engine was very simple, using the Safire unit to get the engine turning and then hitting the start button for 3 seconds. You watch for an excessive EGT spike which requires immediate shutdown (that happened to me in the pm). Otherwise, you let it settle into a screaming idle. Then you pull the knob, pressurize the canopy, and taxi off. The forward view has got to be close to 300 degrees in every direction except straight down, and forward vis is amazing! You wear the thing like an old sport's car, literally you strap it on the way you put on a shirt. You get really comfortable in that small space really fast, too.
We climbed out and I quickly found that speed is not an issue. You simply do not feel like you are going fast. The plane is obviously made to be docile at speed, and the pressurized cabin was maybe half as noisy as the skyhawk I usually fly.
Stick control was of the three finger variety. But with the right hand, as the left is the throttle. 45 and even 60 degrees of bank came with no effort at all and the aircraft was extremely manueverable. You point it and it goes there. Very pitch sensitive though, and it took some doing to not be climbing or descending. Climbs and descents with a VSI that would routinely show a 4000 fpm rate either way were pretty exciting.
Stalls were a non-event with a rumble and just a touch of right wing drop. Recoveries were slow. You do most power off procedures at 80 percent power, as spool up from idle to full power is a 10 second nail biter (especially on a go around, more about that in a bit).
I found that I will probably not be an aerobatic pilot, despite my interest. I HATED negative gs. We did a steep full power climb to 17500 to get the descent space for a high speed run, and when I was told to level, my head grew four sizes and went up and hit the roof, I swear. It really made me uncomfortable and I did no major negative G manuvers after that. I think it was the fact that the cockpit is so far out in front of the wings that made the feeling so strong, but I would love to know what others here who do aerobatics do to deal with negative Gs.
The aileron roll was uncomfortable the first time, and I was not sure that I would do it again. The high speed descent was another non-event. It just didn't feel that fast, and the plane was so maneuverable that it felt comfortable with all of the above.
Patterns were ok, helped by the fact that the main runway at SAF is long. Come in at about 160-180 knots, slow to 140 with one notch of flaps, turn base and a 2 mile final, 2nd notch of flaps and 120 and ride that down to over the fence, then pull the throttle back from 85 percent to idle and ride the runway to touchdown. Rudders in the middle and steady pressure on the handbrake to full stop. Brakes are anti-lock and anti-skid but we tended to coast down as much as possible to save heat on them.
A touch and go is the same, but nose down and full power as soon as you touch down, then wait for the engine to develop 100 percent, rotate 10 degrees up, and you are outta there. The delay to 100 percent power was the only scary part. You just had to trust it would be there. The second it was there, you were again flying, but that delay on the runway was interesting.
The second flight was better for me, I got comfortable with the aileron roll, and flew my speeds better. Janet's best flight was the next day, when she conquered the roll. The magic to dealing with the roll is to look straight forward, and focus on the horizon. Do not look around or it becomes disorienting to your body, fast.
My last flight, on Friday, was great. We did a simulated flame out pattern, where, from 10 miles plus from the airport, we pulled power to 85 and flew to the airport. One 360 to lose some altitude, and we flew upwind over the runway, reported what is called "high key", then turned crosswind mid-field and made a constant 180 from upwind to downwind. At the numbers, we were at proper altitude and did another 180 from downwind to final. Touch down point was 1/3 the way down the runway, and we made a clean touch and go just beyond that. Larry was really happy with my speed and power management on that one.
On the last trip around the pattern, we had been dealing with a coyote on the runway. He had made me sit twice waiting, and I wanted a bit of revenge. Plus, the tower had seemed a bit humorless. Larry, the CFI in the back, had been doing the radio calls and I wanted to make just one. Plus, I had told my wife if the coyote was there what I was going to say. "Uh, Tower, what's the status on Wiley E. Coyote down there, is he still a factor?" Dead silence from the tower and the CFI. Oh crap, glad I didn't give a tail number. "Mr. coyote seems to have gotten his lunch and gone elsewhere, he is no factor". "Thanks". From the back seat, in best CFI deadpan over the intercom, "very good". A nice final landing and Janet and I are agreed, we want to go back and burn more Jet-A.
For all of you who fly jets, I now understand why. Too bad it is so expensive. But you only turn 40 once. Done right, once is enough. Anyone need a back seat in a jet? We are there for you
Cheers. Jim G
