Murphy's Training Journal (0 to PPL)

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hazelmurphy

Filing Flight Plan
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Dec 25, 2013
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hazelmurphy
January 17th, 2014

First Flight

KOFP

C172 N9925V

0.5 hours dual



Today was the day. I arrived at KOFP around 3:30 and met with the instructor to talk about why I was there and what I wanted to accomplish. We talked for a while and then he suggested we go fly a plane. I enthusiastically agreed!



We went out and pre-flighted the aircraft. He walked me through the key instruments, explained the controls, and did a basic briefing. He had me sit in the left seat :)eek:) and off we went!



He briefly explained how to steer the plane while taxiing and gave me control. I taxied all the way down to the run-up area where he took over, did the run-up, and got us in the air.



The pattern altitude there is 1006MSL and we climbed through that up to 2000. He then gave me the controls and told me to fly to King's Dominion (about 10 miles to the north). I made a left turn all the way around (we were heading SE) and during the turn he demonstrated how the turn coordinator works and what happens if you let the ball get out of control.. now that's an unsettling feeling!



We covered pitch and how to control speed, what happens when you pull power, how to avoid 'undulating' while trying to chase the horizon, and a lot of turn coordination.



I had a hard time keeping up with pitch and therefore my altitude (yes I know power for altitude pitch for speed, but I was really letting it get out of hand). During turns I'd lose or gain 500' easily. I also refused to trim for some reason and just fought the plane constantly. He had to tell me a few times to relax my 'death grip' on the yoke. The vent was blowing directly on my hands and they were pretty much frozen so I couldn't tell how hard I was gripping it. I wish I had figured that out earlier than I did.



After a bunch of turns and long circles we ended up way downfield and lined up at around 2500' for a very long final. This is the part that left me a bit puzzled... we never entered pattern altitude, did left downfield, turned base, and then final. We just ended up lined up way far out and called long final. Is that an acceptable approach for an uncontrolled airport?



Anyway, I'm trying to arrange another flight tomorrow afternoon. I'm hooked! Goodbye retirement fund!
 
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"death gripping" is a natural occurence with new students, which leads to over controlling.

Tomorrow, try your best to to not grip the yoke with your palm and all fingers. Just place your thumb and a few fingertips on the left horn and use that. If you feel you need more pressure to hold the altitude, use the trim wheel to ease out that pressure.

And remember it this way, you don't want shoulder and elbow motion controlling the yoke, you want wrist and fingertips. Plant your elbow on the elbow rest and velcro it there.

Straight in approach (the one you did) is acceptable if that's the best selection when you enter the airport environment. But you're correct to ask. More often you will join the downwind leg around mid-field and do a rectangular pattern.

Again, it's a good question to ask your instructor. You might impress him a bit that you're reading up on the required knowledge and are observant to how he is doing things.
 
Another way to cure death grip is to weave a pencil between your fingers so it's perpendicular to your fingers.

Try it out at your desk or in the car and you'll see why that's an effective method to know you're squeezing too hard.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Another way to cure death grip is to weave a pencil between your fingers so it's perpendicular to your fingers.

Try it out at your desk or in the car and you'll see why that's an effective method to know you're squeezing too hard.
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Deep breath. Everytime you notice your fingernails turning white, deep breath.

Every time you notice your hand bleeding because you're digging the nails into your palm, deep breath.:goofy:

Death Grip is the normal reaction to an unusual and unknown situation. Once you're more familiar with the airplane, you'll relax and the Death Grip will relax. Just don't try to drive the airplane on the ground with the yoke - doesn't work very well.
 
hazelmurphy, It is going to take dedication on your part and you will have ups and downs. Expect to get frustrated at times just after feeling like you had it figured out. Just keep with it and try to fly as often as you can. If it hasn't been recommended, I would suggest you look into getting your medical before getting to deep into this. Good luck in your journey.


Also, congrats to you momalley!
 
January 18th, 2014
Ground school
KOFP
2 hours ground instruction

Really hoped to go up today but winds were 16G22KT and apparently it was really bumpy up at the pattern altitude so my instructor opted for some ground lessons only.

We did an overview of the FARs and AIM, some ways to study, a syllabus, where to get study materials, sectionals, flying the pattern at Hanover, and a few other fundamentals. Mostly about mindset and how to maintain responsibility and accountability for my progress and learning.

Good stuff, and I have a lot to read now, but I'm looking forward to going up again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
hazelmurphy said:
....Really hoped to go up today but winds were 16G22KT and apparently it was really bumpy up at the pattern altitude so my instructor opted for some ground lessons only.

We did an overview of the FARs and AIM, some ways to study, a syllabus, where to get study materials, sectionals, flying the pattern at Hanover, and a few other fundamentals. Mostly about mindset and how to maintain responsibility and accountability for my progress and learning.

Good stuff, and I have a lot to read now, but I'm looking forward to going up again!...
Click to expand...

don't overlook the obvious lesson you learned today.......making smart decisions as a pilot. Like not going up on gusty days if you're not comfortable or they are above your personal wx limits. Disappointing not to go up, but no one will ever say "I can't believe you didn't fly in those awful conditions". They will, however, question your decision to fly if you went up and got into trouble.
 
hazelmurphy said:
I had a hard time keeping up with pitch and therefore my altitude (yes I know power for altitude pitch for speed, but I was really letting it get out of hand). During turns I'd lose or gain 500' easily.
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I suspect that part of your problem is that you may have been trying to use power to maintain altitude and pitch to do something with airspeed. As you roll into a turn, pull to keep the nose up and maintain the altitude, add power as necessary.

The two are not independent - change either and you change both altitude and speed. But, pitch tends to be more immediate and more obvious so use pitch to control whatever it is that is most important at the moment (either speed or altitude) and follow up with power as necessary. Power for altitude, pitch for speed works well on final because you are trying to keep the speed on a short term target value and make more long term changes in your altitude.
 
eman1200 said:
don't overlook the obvious lesson you learned today.......making smart decisions as a pilot. Like not going up on gusty days if you're not comfortable or they are above your personal wx limits. Disappointing not to go up, but no one will ever say "I can't believe you didn't fly in those awful conditions". They will, however, question your decision to fly if you went up and got into trouble.
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I agree entirely. I can understand the temptation now to make bad decisions.

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
I suspect that part of your problem is that you may have been trying to use power to maintain altitude and pitch to do something with airspeed. As you roll into a turn, pull to keep the nose up and maintain the altitude, add power as necessary.

The two are not independent - change either and you change both altitude and speed. But, pitch tends to be more immediate and more obvious so use pitch to control whatever it is that is most important at the moment (either speed or altitude) and follow up with power as necessary. Power for altitude, pitch for speed works well on final because you are trying to keep the speed on a short term target value and make more long term changes in your altitude.
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I actually didn't touch the throttle at all. He set it before handing over control and then didn't touch it until he took over again on final.

I kept sinking below the horizon while turning. I was too focused on coordinating the turn I think.

Anyway, he told me I was over-analyzing my first 30 minutes in flight and I tend to agree.
 
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...how do you get to Carnegie Hall? :)

Truthfully, landings are one of those things that just 'click'. You're all over the place and then you nail one and you 'get it'. And you come back around and you just keep doing it again and again. Unfortunately, it takes most of us a hundred or so of them to get to that point but if it were easy how much fun would that be?

Good luck!
 
Something that I found puzzling.. (and I know this is debated here).. but I was told that it's fine to apply flaps during a turn for "passenger comfort". I asked if it was ok to do this, and he explained that his instructor back in the day (70s) suggested it for passenger comfort reasons.

What would be a good way to bring this up again? If my understanding is correct, applying flaps when you're not level means that you are changing the lift characteristics of one wing differently than the other, and it could lead to unexpected and sudden changes in attitude.
 
"Flaps for passenger comfort" is a new explanation for me. Check your aeronautical information source, and the exam materials, and it will be explained flaps are used to increase lift and permit a steeper approach. I don't recall passenger comfort being mentioned in this context.

Personally, I much prefer adding flaps when straight and level because you are changing the shape of the wing. In my C182, zero to first notch of flaps creates a significant amount of lift that if I'm not correcting with forward pressure on the yoke, gets me into a climb I don't want. And personally, I don't want to be doing this in a turn.

Have I done it before. Yes. But not for passenger comfort. I did it because I set up the landing wrong way back on downwind because I was too close to the runway to start with or I let the wind blow me close. So now I gotta rush the base leg sequence. Can I do it? Yes. But I'm not thrilled I must do so. So each time I fly, I work to improve sequence and technique.

As they say, it's a license to learn.
 
Not adding flaps for passenger comfort, but doing it specifically during a turn for passenger comfort, to mask the change in attitude as they are already preoccupied with the angle of the turn.

Sounded pretty strange to me.


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hmmmm... I'm not sure the passengers ever notice, except for me reaching for the flap handle and reciting "First Flaps" or "Approach Flaps". I never had a need to "mask" the action.

And no one has said "I'm not comfortable with that, please retract them" :lol:

If I had the pleasure of talking to your instructor, I'd ask him to walk me through that explanation. It's a new one on me.
 
hazelmurphy said:
Not adding flaps for passenger comfort, but doing it specifically during a turn for passenger comfort, to mask the change in attitude as they are already preoccupied with the angle of the turn.

Sounded pretty strange to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Sounds strange to me too.


I wonder if you might be confusing what your CFI was saying? Maybe he was talking about 'not slipping on final' for "passenger comfort".:dunno:
 
redtail said:
I wonder if you might be confusing what your CFI was saying? Maybe he was talking about 'not slipping on final' for "passenger comfort".:dunno:
Click to expand...

Did a lesson with another CFI recently and he was talking about slips to land. He said the quickest way to make your passenger panic is to start slipping on final. Apparently he lost a girlfriend with that!
 
hazelmurphy said:
I actually didn't touch the throttle at all. He set it before handing over control and then didn't touch it until he took over again on final.

I kept sinking below the horizon while turning. I was too focused on coordinating the turn I think.

Anyway, he told me I was over-analyzing my first 30 minutes in flight and I tend to agree.
Click to expand...

OK. You will get it.

Watch the nose on the horizon - pin it to a point as you roll into the turn, don't look down at the ball.
 
Gonna have a write up of my second flight soon, but in the mean time I have a question.

When we turned into the sun I pretty much couldn't see straight ahead due to the scuffs and scratches in the sunscreen. Neither the flip down shade nor my sunglasses helped. It made me very nervous. Is this the type of thing that the FOB should be considering a maintenance item? Should I bring it up?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yes, I would think so. I too just posted about my first flight. It was a blast!!! I had a death grip as well..like mentioned above. haha...keep me posted on your flights and I will do the same.
 
hazelmurphy said:
Not adding flaps for passenger comfort, but doing it specifically during a turn for passenger comfort, to mask the change in attitude as they are already preoccupied with the angle of the turn.

Sounded pretty strange to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
That's bad technique to mask the basic incompetencey of not controlling pitch with the pitch controller which is the elevator yoke.
When you apply flaps the nose will try to rise, but you should apply forward pressure on the yoke at exactly the same rate so there is no perceptible change in attitude.
 
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