masloki
Pattern Altitude
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,041
- Display Name
Display name:
Nunya
Soloed on Friday and here is how it went down...
Checked weather and had the first uh-oh. My tiny airport, 5k6, doesn't have weather so we triangulate between others. KBUU had OVC014 and KENW had clear. Well, hoping that weather would magically head west for me, headed on over to the airport, about an hour away. Checked weather 10 minutes out, and KBUU obliged by going to OVC012. A sinking feeling started in my stomach but I pressed on.
Greeted the instructor and asked I was ready to go. Sure, but the clouds look a bit low. Not to worry, he had just come back in and the clouds were 018, and pattern altitude is 017, so we can go. Cool! We did a lot of work including soft field take off, paved and then snow covered grass
, short field take off from the paved, engine out landing twice for good measure. Winds started up, so we switched runways in the pattern, and we were brushing up against the now broken 1700' ceilings. After a few good landings, he asked if i could keep it up on my own. I said with '85% chance, sure, and otherwise I am just going to go around.' He got out, I had my grin plastered on my face, and took off.
Sure enough, came around the first lap, everything happens twice as fast it seems. I was PIC. Watching for traffic, making calls, all the work paid off I was going to do it _right_. Came in a little high and slow and final, which was easy enough to swap for good height and speed. Touched down a tad soon but good. Next, high and fast and that turned into a go around. Next two landings were better and best
. He got video for all but the best, so without any evidence, it was a total greaser.
Notes from my training for your training. Use that damn right rudder on take off and _landing flare_! No winds actually make things a little harder. Anticipate the changes you make with flaps and throttle will need control input. Throttle out = pull nose up. Flaps in = push nose down. Putting in the last set of flaps will make a high situation worse Stall horn when 5' off the ground is a good thing, though it surprised me the first few times. With a 30' wide runway, it took me a while to sort out that rudder was primary for maintaining centerline, and ailerons were secondary to rudder. You need both, but the rudder is your friend on landing. With a 2700' long runway, and a displaced threshold to boot, I learned to get my attention span to caffeine enhanced levels; power set, altitude maintained, descent maintained, pitch, flaps, pattern distance, check and adjust, check and adjust.
Logbook
28.2 hr Total, 0.5 hr PIC, 88 landings
Checked weather and had the first uh-oh. My tiny airport, 5k6, doesn't have weather so we triangulate between others. KBUU had OVC014 and KENW had clear. Well, hoping that weather would magically head west for me, headed on over to the airport, about an hour away. Checked weather 10 minutes out, and KBUU obliged by going to OVC012. A sinking feeling started in my stomach but I pressed on.
Greeted the instructor and asked I was ready to go. Sure, but the clouds look a bit low. Not to worry, he had just come back in and the clouds were 018, and pattern altitude is 017, so we can go. Cool! We did a lot of work including soft field take off, paved and then snow covered grass
, short field take off from the paved, engine out landing twice for good measure. Winds started up, so we switched runways in the pattern, and we were brushing up against the now broken 1700' ceilings. After a few good landings, he asked if i could keep it up on my own. I said with '85% chance, sure, and otherwise I am just going to go around.' He got out, I had my grin plastered on my face, and took off.Sure enough, came around the first lap, everything happens twice as fast it seems. I was PIC. Watching for traffic, making calls, all the work paid off I was going to do it _right_. Came in a little high and slow and final, which was easy enough to swap for good height and speed. Touched down a tad soon but good. Next, high and fast and that turned into a go around. Next two landings were better and best
. He got video for all but the best, so without any evidence, it was a total greaser.Notes from my training for your training. Use that damn right rudder on take off and _landing flare_! No winds actually make things a little harder. Anticipate the changes you make with flaps and throttle will need control input. Throttle out = pull nose up. Flaps in = push nose down. Putting in the last set of flaps will make a high situation worse
Stall horn when 5' off the ground is a good thing, though it surprised me the first few times. With a 30' wide runway, it took me a while to sort out that rudder was primary for maintaining centerline, and ailerons were secondary to rudder. You need both, but the rudder is your friend on landing. With a 2700' long runway, and a displaced threshold to boot, I learned to get my attention span to caffeine enhanced levels; power set, altitude maintained, descent maintained, pitch, flaps, pattern distance, check and adjust, check and adjust.Logbook
28.2 hr Total, 0.5 hr PIC, 88 landings
