Flight Lesson: 06/24/09

[Snaggletooth]

Both me and my CFI agree that this was my best lesson to date.

After preflighting the plane and taking off from 17 at Golf and departing to the west we started with power off stalls. The power off stalls went very well with out a hitch. The power on stalls however did not.

I failed to put in enough right rudder which of course caused a sharp Yaw to the right witch i'm pretty sure scared my CFI. so from there on we "did them together" so I could get the feel for them.

After we did a few power on stalls we then made our way to the airport for some touch and goes. the first three were kind rough landings due to me leveling off to high. Upon taking off from my 3rd touch and go my CFI said "Ok, I want you to land doing what you know." This was my first time landing with no verbal/physical help from my CFI. I did everything just as I was taught to and made my best landing yet with NO help of any kind from my CFI!!!! And just to prove it was not just luck I did it again. Slightly rougher but still better than the rest!!

We then taxied back to the Hanger and then got in his car and headed to his office for the debrief.

He told me that I had made huge improvements in everything From the Checklist to landings!

Next lesson is July 1st and we'll be working on Power on stalls and touch and goes.

 

[steingar]

The good news is that after your checkride you won't have to do stalls but once every two years. It does keep getting better. If an utter klutz like me can learn to pilot an aircraft I'm convinced anyone can do it.

 

[t0r0nad0]

Great job!

 

[Ted]

Sounds like a great lesson. I had the same issue with power on stalls, except I know my instructor wasn't scared. Hopefully yours wasn't actually scared either. In my case, about putting the plane in a spin when it happened was enough for me, and we just went back and ended the lesson. Sounds like it didn't phase you as much.

As to your landings - don't worry, you have plenty of time yet to make ones that you'll wonder "How on earth did I not break the plane?" and then others where you can't tell when the wheels touch pavement. Most all of my landings in the Mooney are passable (to me... I set my standards pretty high). I'm still getting them down in the Aztec, but nobody else has complained yet. But I want every landing to be a greaser, which is pretty unrealistic.

 

[Snaggletooth]

I'm not to sure about how close we were to a spin, but Almost the whole windshield was ground, and it yawed hard right. So I'd Say pretty close to a spin.

I did not let it spook me. I knew that the Power On stalls would be hard. A Ag Pilot my dad welds for told him to tell me that "they would tighten your (bleep) up to the seat." So I knew that they would be more..... intense than the power off stalls.

 

[Snaggletooth]

Oh... and I forgot to say that we had a close call on final with a dust devil. Lucky for us it went left rather than over the runway.

 

[roebuck85]

There's no reason to be afraid of stalls - up high. And it's best to see some where you have that yawing action, just make sure to keep the ailerons neutral, and have a thurough understanding of spin recovery, just in case.

No reason to only do them every 2 years either. Nothing wrong with practicing everything you have learned even after you have your certificate. No better way to keep all of your skills sharp and retain a thurough feel for the airplane in all flight regimes.

 

[Ted]

No reason to only do them every 2 years either. Nothing wrong with practicing everything you have learned even after you have your certificate. No better way to keep all of your skills sharp and retain a thurough feel for the airplane in all flight regimes.

Agreed fully. I need to go up and practice stalls and engine outs in the Aztec when I get it back from the avionics shop.