Salty
Touchdown! Greaser!
First comment is how much of a joy to land the 182 is. I’ve seen several folks on the site talk about learning in the plane, I think it’s easier to land well than even a 172.
I picked up the plane Friday night so I could start early yesterday from my house (I live in an airport community). Got up and got ready and the plane wouldn’t start. Got a neighbor with a nice ground power unit to help out, but I was 2 hours behind by the time the engine was running.
Took off, climbed through 1000 feet and pulled power back a bit and started to dial the rpms back. All of a sudden the engine stops dead. I pitch down to best glide, verify I can make it back to the runway, and proceed to “undo the last thing I did” I look down and immediately realize my mistake. My 65 mooney had the prop control on the right, and the mixture on the left. I had backed out the mixture thinking it was the prop control and killed the engine. Pushed it back in and the engine lights back up. Whew. (By the way, I’ve already replaced my engine controls during my overhaul and put the cables in the standard order). I was both astonished at how fast the big draggy bird slowed down with no power, and also how calm and collected I remained for the 10 seconds I thought I was going down. I feel better about how I’ll react in a real situation.
Next problem was the comm system. The day was half over before I figured out what switch to hit on the panel so I could talk to my buddy without screaming at him through the headset.
A bit of nasty haze put a damper on the sightseeing, but it was still enjoyable.
Then I dropped my buddy off at Page field in ft Meyers. Controller bitched at me that my transponder wasn’t working. Climbing through 900 under the 1200 foot class c and he gave me a nasty comment that my transponder was off again. I pulled power, trimmed down and screwed with the transponder, only to get yelled at again that I was at 1300 feet. Sigh. Stupid stupid mistake. It takes quite a bit to stop the 182 from climbing. I was less than a mile from the edge of the airspace, and there was nothing going on, but still senseless and stupid.
Then, due to the delay in the morning, I find myself flying home in the dark in a plane I have no idea if it has good lighting. I have a headlight in my flight bag so I could have gone into a well lit towered airport near my house if I had too, but fortunately it had great lighting. Landing at home was no issue.
Learned a lot, including that 20 knots slower makes a big difference.
I picked up the plane Friday night so I could start early yesterday from my house (I live in an airport community). Got up and got ready and the plane wouldn’t start. Got a neighbor with a nice ground power unit to help out, but I was 2 hours behind by the time the engine was running.
Took off, climbed through 1000 feet and pulled power back a bit and started to dial the rpms back. All of a sudden the engine stops dead. I pitch down to best glide, verify I can make it back to the runway, and proceed to “undo the last thing I did” I look down and immediately realize my mistake. My 65 mooney had the prop control on the right, and the mixture on the left. I had backed out the mixture thinking it was the prop control and killed the engine. Pushed it back in and the engine lights back up. Whew. (By the way, I’ve already replaced my engine controls during my overhaul and put the cables in the standard order). I was both astonished at how fast the big draggy bird slowed down with no power, and also how calm and collected I remained for the 10 seconds I thought I was going down. I feel better about how I’ll react in a real situation.
Next problem was the comm system. The day was half over before I figured out what switch to hit on the panel so I could talk to my buddy without screaming at him through the headset.
A bit of nasty haze put a damper on the sightseeing, but it was still enjoyable.
Then I dropped my buddy off at Page field in ft Meyers. Controller bitched at me that my transponder wasn’t working. Climbing through 900 under the 1200 foot class c and he gave me a nasty comment that my transponder was off again. I pulled power, trimmed down and screwed with the transponder, only to get yelled at again that I was at 1300 feet. Sigh. Stupid stupid mistake. It takes quite a bit to stop the 182 from climbing. I was less than a mile from the edge of the airspace, and there was nothing going on, but still senseless and stupid.
Then, due to the delay in the morning, I find myself flying home in the dark in a plane I have no idea if it has good lighting. I have a headlight in my flight bag so I could have gone into a well lit towered airport near my house if I had too, but fortunately it had great lighting. Landing at home was no issue.
Learned a lot, including that 20 knots slower makes a big difference.
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