How long between flights are you still safe?

[fgcason]

Who flies a pattern at 50 kts mph?

Actually I've done it before. I did a whole BFR flight like that once. Fun stuff.

Yes, I use a checklist in the pattern. After takeoff and before landing only. No descent or approach.

The pattern when you're bored on downwind is one thing. He forgot the carb heat during a touch and go, not lowering the landing gear at midfield downwind.

The way I learned touch and go's, you touch down and while rolling you push the carb heat back in as you power up for the lift off. To put the carb heat in as a written checklist item at that point, you have to grab the checklist while rolling down the runway just below stall speed and start reading fine print. If that's not the script for strolling off into the weeds while solo, I don't know what is.

Checklists have their uses. They are not however the end all be all solution to everything at all times. Sometimes, like while rolling down the runway at 3/4 of stall speed, they can cause far bigger problems than not using them.

 

[Captain]

Actually I've done it before. I did a whole BFR flight like that once. Fun stuff.



The pattern when you're bored on downwind is one thing. He forgot the carb heat during a touch and go, not lowering the landing gear at midfield downwind.

The way I learned touch and go's, you touch down and while rolling you push the carb heat back in as you power up for the lift off. To put the carb heat in as a written checklist item at that point, you have to grab the checklist while rolling down the runway just below stall speed and start reading fine print. If that's not the script for strolling off into the weeds while solo, I don't know what is.

Checklists have their uses. They are not however the end all be all solution to everything at all times. Sometimes, like while rolling down the runway at 3/4 of stall speed, they can cause far bigger problems than not using them.

I would never in a kabillion years advocate reading a checklist while bouncing down the runway on a touch n go. I don't think that's what was being discussed, but if I missed it my bad.

btw, isn't carb heat required for takeoff AND landing?

 

[denverpilot]

I'll sure try the thumb push method. Hadn't ever tried that before. Thanks.

I like it, but not everyone has big hands. (No jokes on that one. Haha.)

I also like to not "grasp" the throttle. Too many rearward sliding seats in Cessnas. If the seat heads aft, I don't want to instinctively be holding onto the throttle to try to stop myself, pulling it out.

Palm flat on the back or grip is around the outside where a sudden rearward acceleration of my torso will allow my hand to slip off rearward, never tightly held around or over the handle forward.

And one instructor beat into me about "guarding" the throttle during power-critical moments like takeoff or landing. He loved to reach over and pull it out if your hand wasn't up there and it was safe to do so. Or push it up.

I forgot to mention those moments in the "Have you ever aborted a takeoff thread"... Bastard! I learned to say, "My throttle!" and whack his hand. Then decide if I could safely continue or if his little move had just changed my plans drastically.

Which is exactly what he wanted.

 

[Jim Logajan]

btw, isn't carb heat required for takeoff AND landing?

Bad idea on takeoff, good idea on landing.

 

[denverpilot]

Bad idea on takeoff, good idea on landing.

Unless you launch into something that chokes your induction system and your alternate induction air comes from carb heat...

Ice, heavy dirt/dust, etc... plugging up that big old filter on the nose... Might as well give the carb heat handle a gentle pull if the engine is coughing...

Assumes your carb heat does this double-duty. Not all do. See POH.