Well, all went as planned, and 2.5 hrs of flying later
I can fly the C172's at Wings. It was a good flight, and since everything was going well we spent some time with the GPS and tried the AutoPilot,.. now that is slick!
I arrived and filled out the remaining paperwork at the desk and then started down to the airplane at 5:15, before the instructor was even in from his last flight. I sat in the airplane and looked at the instrument panel, trying to get used to the location and layout of everything, and wondering what all that stuff in the Avionics Column is! Actually, I knew, but in comparison to the Single Com/Nav setup I had in the C152, this was a little overwhelming at first.
After I preflighted, the instructor arrived and we talked about a few items, namely the location of all the sumps (yes, I found all 13 of them, and filled my GATS jar to the brim) and the difference between the Fuel Injected models and the earlier models with Carb Heat and a Normal Carborator.
We loaded up, started the plane, which you guys are right, is a little tricky. I kept reaching for the throttle instead of the mixture out of hapit. Started up, turned on the Avionics and watched all the pretty stuff light up. This plane is great,.. wait,.. GREAT! Smooth, nice interior, nice setup, and a lot of power. Taxied down to the runup and followed the checklist. Spun around from "Charlie taxiway" where I did the runup, and off to the end. Normal takeoff and departure out to the practice area SouthWest of Limerick Power Plant.
Flying there, I was just getting used to the controls and feel of the plane. First up, was some Dutch Rolls, to get a good feel of the aileron/rudder coordination to keep the nose on an axis. Then, clearing turns to the left and right and then into slow flight at 55 knots and full flaps. Plane handles nice at this speed and configuration. We did two 90 degree turns while in slow flight, and then into a power off stall. Good recovery I thought, but he had me do two more till that nose barely dropped at all when I caught it with the throttle. Next, Power on Stalls. Those were good, and he had me do two of them, but both were about the same consistancy. OOpps,.. Engine Out time. We are at 3500', so I had plenty of time. I setup over a field at 68 Knots and circled down. I think he was getting nervous on this, as my instructor always had me go all the way in,.. to 500 feet before the Go-Around. I pulled out at 1800,.. was at 1500 feet A-Beam to my target point, and he said Go-Around.... wow,.. didn't even get to play with the flaps or setup on the field. Ok,...
Back to 3000', Steep turns to the left, with a rollout directly into the right, both were good, but you can really feel the difference in elevator pressure needed between the 152 and 172. Just for kicks, he showed me that you can trim the plane with the trimwheel, roll it into a 45* bank, set the power, and the plane pretty much holds it just by itself,... pretty neat to see it do that.
Now, since I was all turned around in circles
he had me find my position on the chart and setup the NAV1 to the Pottstown VOR. Tune, Identify, Twist, Turn,.. and I was on my way. Since I never had a plane with two VOR's, we used the second from East-Texas to fly a radial from Pottstown, and intercept the one from East-Texas, which put me right ontop of Pennridge Aiport. Flying the same heading, he showed me how to use the Autopilot for heading hold and altitude, and how to use the Heading Bug to turn the plane. Neat,... made a AutoPilot right turn and faced Green Lane Res.
Next up,.. landing at a Towered field,.. yes, I'm still getting a checkout.....
Used the GPS to control the CDI off Nav1, setup for Reading. Once that was set, I pulled out my AFD and setup the 4 frequencies into the two radio stacks, active and standby. Approach/Tower, ATIS/Ground, and I was getting ready to call. At 15 out, I called Approach and let them know where I was, and I was inbound with Tango Full Stop. They gave me a squalk, and told me to report at 5 miles. Reported at 5 miles, and recieved the right base for RY 31, report 2 mile final. Crossed over the mountain pass, and entered a right base, turning final at just under 2 miles, Cleared to Land on RY 31. Landing was nice, and a good one for my first in a C172 since October of last year. Taxied back to 31, and departed to head back towards Wings.
On the way back, we discussed the need for me to memorize the V-speeds and get familiar with the panel and the location of items. After some practice, I'll get them engrained in my mind. Went back to Wings, entered from the West onto downwind for RY 24, and performed a soft field landing. Nice and smooth. Next time around, Short field,.. but I was tought to do a short field with a full flaps, flat approach, holding the throttle in to hold my accent rate, and landing right on those numbers. I did, just as I was taught, but he wanted me to try it as if there was a short field with a 50' obstical. Ok,..went around again, this time Short Field Takeoff, to a short field landing. Approach was a little high, setup the way he wanted me with full flaps and 62 knots, helped bring us down a little steeper than normal, landed passed the numbers but it was nice.
Next, takeoff one more time, soft field this time and get into ground effect for 75% of the runway length, then climbout. Did this pretty well, but that 172 really wants to go UP,... and climb we did, even in ground effect and nearly level horizon. ABeam the numbers, engine out time for a landing. I held off on flaps, and turned early, cause I wanted to slip a little. 20* flaps,.. started the Slip and dropped her down. 30* flaps and a nice landing to end the night. "Avoid slips with Full Flaps" is on the placard, but you can in an emergency although he didn't want me to on this approach.
So,.. I'm checked out and a happy pilot! 2.5 Hrs on the Hobbs tonight, but Becky is really going to love these airplanes. Now I have to book our next breakfast run!
