Flight Lesson: 08-12-09

Snaggletooth

Snaggletooth

Line Up and Wait
Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
665
Location
Texas
Display Name
Dustin
Home Airfield
KBYY
Just got back from today's lesson and I'm proud to say..... I'M "OVER THE HUMP!!" Things finally started clicking today. about 50% of my landings were good. So from here on out it's just getting consistent.

We go to hanger and I start preflighting the plane, and I notice my CFI putting on yellow plastic gloves and grabing a can of lysol and some paper towels. Then he says....
"Yeah, I had a guy throw up in here the other day. Just cleaning my wires." So we discussed what all went on then. After I got done with preflighting we hoped in and taxied down to runway three five and started the run up and a first for me, we had one plug "fouled" (not sure if that's the proper term or not). So I put the power to 2,000rpms and leaned the mixture till it got rough then in slightly. After it ran for a bit, we checked it again and all was fine. Off we go!! Woooooo!

My CFI took the controls on climb out and did to first landing so I could "get a mental picture" as he said. Seemed to work last week, and the same held true for today!!

As I said above, about 50% of my landings were good.

He did say he might be getting a 172 soon! Hope he does. I want to fly a bigger plane.

Next lesson is next Wednesday, and I'll be in for more Touch and Goes.
 
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Snaggletooth said:
...After I got done with preflighting we hoped in and taxied down to runway three five and started the run up and a first for me, we had one plug "fowled" (not sure if that's the proper term or not).
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The right term if there were poultry parts impeding the operation. Otherwise, I believe you meant "fouled." ;)

Sounds like things are moving right along. :-)
 
Snaggletooth said:
Just got back from today's lesson and I'm proud to say..... I'M "OVER THE HUMP!!" Things finally started clicking today. about 50% of my landings were good. So from here on out it's just getting consistent.
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Congratulations! You knew it would happen.
Snaggletooth said:
we had one plug "fowled" (not sure if that's the proper term or not). So I put the power to 2,000rpms and leaned the mixture till it got rough then in slightly. After it ran for a bit, we checked it again and all was fine.
Click to expand...
"Fouled" is the term (it's aviation-related, not avian-related :) ) (Edit, looks like Liz and I posted at about the same time!) and it's caused by running the engine too rich, which can lead to lead deposits. What you did by leaning the mixture was to burn them off. It's one reason that you want to lean when taxiing, especially at sea level airports. But you should lean almost to the point where you kill the engine so that if you forget to go to full rich (or takeoff power), the engine will stall instead of letting you do your roll with partial power.

One of the MX guys here can probably explain it better and give all the caveats.
 
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We had the same issue with 71D the other day when it was 94F out and 90% humidity..the density alt at the field (165 elev) was almost 2800. The right mag was horrible. We leaned her out and ran the daylights out of her, but could not unfoul the plug..so back to the hangar..the chief mechanic get in leans her out even more and ran her up to 2600rpm!!!! That cleared it up but I am not sure if I have the 'guts' to do a runup like that and not be afraid of breaking something. Oh and BTW, let me know how exciting it is for you when you get to the point when you takeoff on a short runway 2988ft (we were at 1200 ft elev / temp 96F / humidity 93%) and you are wishing the plane off the ground...LOL cmon baby...cmon baby... and there is some pretty good terrain staring at you in the windscreen!!! Gotta Love It!!

Hey Snags....get checked out in a 172, cmon up to NY when you get your ticket, and you can have 71D for a spin!!
 
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gprellwitz said:
Are you sure you weren't using the Hunt 'n PECK method? :)
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Yup... Yup I am.

DutchessFlier said:
We had the same issue with 71D the other day when it was 94F out and 90% humidity..the density alt at the field (165 elev) was almost 2800. The right mag was horrible. We leaned her out and ran the daylights out of her, but could not unfoul the plug..so back to the hangar..the chief mechanic get in leans her out even more and ran her up to 2600rpm!!!! That cleared it up but I am not sure if I have the 'guts' to do a runup like that and not be afraid of breaking something. Oh and BTW, let me know how exciting it is for you when you get to the point when you takeoff on a short runway 2988ft (we were at 1200 ft elev / temp 96F / humidity 93%) and you are wishing the plane off the ground...LOL cmon baby...cmon baby... and there is some pretty good terrain staring at you in the windscreen!!! Gotta Love It!!

Hey Snags....get checked out in a 172, cmon up to NY when you get your ticket, and you can have 71D for a spin!!
Click to expand...

I've only done one short field take off and we still had plenty of runway left. but I think it was longer than yours. lol
 
We knew you could do it Snag!:thumbsup: It gets more fun as you go:yes:. Short field work, soft field work, ...that stuff is fun.:D

Look'n forward to next week snag, your day is come'n soon.:thumbsup::cheerswine:
 
Remember the old adage...

"There are only 3 rules to making perfect landings everytime....

and no one knows what they are!"

Congrats on your training, and continued good times!
 
Congratulations on your training, but remember, you WILL have bad landings in your future. Take them in stride, and don't get discouraged.

Two weeks before my PPL checkride, I had the worst landings of my life. Then my CFI helped me smooth them out. Fast forward to attitude instrument training for my IR - when you transition from essentially two-dimensional instrument flight back to three-dimensional flight on short final, with outside reference, and I dropped more landings than ever.

For me, flight is kind of like golf - 90% of it happens above the shoulders. It can be a headgame, if you let it.

Good luck.
 
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