How Bumpy Was It? / Near Flock-Strike [xpost]

[spiderweb]

Is was so bumpy, that an airliner (Lufhansa something or other) had to advise ATC that they would be deviating plus or minus 200 feet. They were at my altitude for a lot of that time, and I can assure you, I was getting my a@@ kicked in the Skyhawk today. I actually started to feel sick to my stomach, and that never happens to me! Funny thing was, the winds on the ground weren't so bad--just gusting to 17.

It was FDK-OKV-FDK. All my landings were fine today, except the last when I couldn't believe how black my forward vision was getting: a flock of black birds took off as I was 50 feet AGL, and then ANOTHER flock took off when I was in the flare. I just never saw the other flock on the runway. There were so many birds in the first bunch (maybe 200), and they all took off together, I never would have thought there would be another, similarly-sized bunch. In the flare, I added power, leveled off, began a turn to the left of the runway, and just said to myself, I can't maneuver any more than this or it will get dangerous. The second flock cleared shortly, though, and I flared, ballooned (probably because I had too much airspeed), reflared, and then settled down nicely.

Then I went to the bathroom and peed a long time.

 

[wsuffa]

No fun at all in those conditions....

I went about 200 miles across NM and Arizona like that one day, fierce winds out of the west. Disconnect altitude hold on the autopilot, and accept some deviations.

 

[spiderweb]

That is interesting. I was thinking that I wouldn't engage the autopilot. For a brief moment, I thought I'd try it out. The plane I flew today, though, doesn't have an alt hold. So, then I thought that it would be better practice for me anyway to just fly the durn thing. I even did some slow flight after I cancelled. I didn't fly below 50 KIAS, though, because with the bumps, I was having multiple mini-stalls.

 

[Steve]

I was over Heber Springs, AR yesterday at 6500 and had to break right to avoid a large flock of what looked like canadian geese flying opposite direction. The birds on the left side of the vee broke right and dove about the same time as I maneuvered. I wish I had had the camera. Don't they know the regs for cruising altitudes??? !

 

[wsuffa]

Ben, in real bumpy conditions you often get better control by not having the A/P on. However, in real bumpy conditions, you may want to use the heading or nav-mode of an autopilot to give your arms a rest or to write down IFR clearances, etc.

I would not use altitude hold, however, in conditions where I expect lots of severe vertical deviations. V-Hold can over-correct, it can leave you uncomfortably nose high or low, etc. V-Hold will see a serious drop in altitude as being too low, and correct by putting nose-up (and vice-versa). If the limits are not set right, you could end up in a stall. IMHO, it's better to fly the attitude and accept the altitude deviations.

 

[spiderweb]

Ben, in real bumpy conditions you often get better control by not having the A/P on. However, in real bumpy conditions, you may want to use the heading or nav-mode of an autopilot to give your arms a rest or to write down IFR clearances, etc.

I would not use altitude hold, however, in conditions where I expect lots of severe vertical deviations. V-Hold can over-correct, it can leave you uncomfortably nose high or low, etc. V-Hold will see a serious drop in altitude as being too low, and correct by putting nose-up (and vice-versa). If the limits are not set right, you could end up in a stall. IMHO, it's better to fly the attitude and accept the altitude deviations.

Thanks! That's what I'd been taught, too.