kimberlyanne546
Final Approach
On Saturday I was going to - finally - solo the airplane to the practice area. It has been over a month and probably more than 5 flights (mostly cross countries) since I had my first solo and I need 10 hours of solo time total. I only have 0.3 hours from that first "give me three landings and you are a pilot" day.
My instructor already told me that for at least the first two or three solos he would like to first meet with me, fly the plane with me, and then let me go solo.
So we met up on Saturday, at which point it had been almost 2 weeks since I had flown an airplane so I was feeling rusty. It was a really busy day at the airport, though non-towered, and lots of people were on the CTAF.
During the runup I do remember my instructor commenting that the engine sounded rough, but with that bad mag check from a few weeks ago it was sounding great to me in comparison. We paid extra attention to everything on runup and I didn't even notice a noise.
At rotation, in hindsight, it might have taken a few extra feet down the runway to get to 50 knots but nothing so dramatic that I would abort the takeoff. In fact, at the time, I doubt I gave it a second thought. Everything was "normal enough" up until that moment.
After takeoff, however, was a different story. I didn't seem to be climbing as much as I normally do- the objects on the ground were way too close to me. The engine wasn't behaving correctly. I was pitched for 67 knots but seeing 80 and then my CFI said "turn crosswind early". After the turn, the engine made a sputtering noise and my airspeed dropped to almost stalling speed not that high off the ground (no stall horn but I was concerned). I stopped my radio call mid-call, and without saying "I got the plane" he pulled the carb heat out, locked the throttle full power, and announced a "low downwind" (but never the word 'emergency'). Later both he and I admitted we'd thought about doing a 180 back to the runway we just took off of, for fear we couldn't make it back around the pattern without losing the engine. He smelled oil and feared an engine fire, loss of engine, etc... however he reminded me that at an untowered airport there could be planes without radios and it was a busy day so best thing to do was use the normal runway where people will be scanning for traffic on final anyway.
So we're puttering along on a low downwind when a guy pulls out saying "departing runway two niner" but doesn't budge past the hold short line and two more planes are also waiting to take off. In a calm voice my CFI asks him to "please expedite your takeoff, sir, we may have a problem here". The man says he will expedite and he takes off. I hear other planes coming in to land but they are further out and my instructor puts it into (low) final.
The highest we got while trying to climb that whole pattern was only 500 feet (my elevation is 100 so truly only 400 feet). All this time I was silent and 100% off the controls, knowing there was an issue, then on short final he says "hey Kimberly, wanna land the plane?" Of course I say yes and I have a pretty good landing, then I taxi back to the parking area.
We don't push it into place, we immediately start looking for oil. I crawl under the plane and check the struts and underbelly for oil marks, he checks all the visible areas. When we find no signs of anything wrong, he tells me we will have to wait for them to take the cowling off to see what the problem is.
We go inside, call one of the staff mechanics on his day off, and the next day I find out it was a cracked cylinder!
Yikes.
So now I can't solo for a week or two (going to find out today when the plane will be back up and running).
(sigh)
PS - If I was solo that day of course I wonder what I would have done in the same situation. All in all I was not scared and I am sure it was a good learning experience.
My instructor already told me that for at least the first two or three solos he would like to first meet with me, fly the plane with me, and then let me go solo.
So we met up on Saturday, at which point it had been almost 2 weeks since I had flown an airplane so I was feeling rusty. It was a really busy day at the airport, though non-towered, and lots of people were on the CTAF.
During the runup I do remember my instructor commenting that the engine sounded rough, but with that bad mag check from a few weeks ago it was sounding great to me in comparison. We paid extra attention to everything on runup and I didn't even notice a noise.
At rotation, in hindsight, it might have taken a few extra feet down the runway to get to 50 knots but nothing so dramatic that I would abort the takeoff. In fact, at the time, I doubt I gave it a second thought. Everything was "normal enough" up until that moment.
After takeoff, however, was a different story. I didn't seem to be climbing as much as I normally do- the objects on the ground were way too close to me. The engine wasn't behaving correctly. I was pitched for 67 knots but seeing 80 and then my CFI said "turn crosswind early". After the turn, the engine made a sputtering noise and my airspeed dropped to almost stalling speed not that high off the ground (no stall horn but I was concerned). I stopped my radio call mid-call, and without saying "I got the plane" he pulled the carb heat out, locked the throttle full power, and announced a "low downwind" (but never the word 'emergency'). Later both he and I admitted we'd thought about doing a 180 back to the runway we just took off of, for fear we couldn't make it back around the pattern without losing the engine. He smelled oil and feared an engine fire, loss of engine, etc... however he reminded me that at an untowered airport there could be planes without radios and it was a busy day so best thing to do was use the normal runway where people will be scanning for traffic on final anyway.
So we're puttering along on a low downwind when a guy pulls out saying "departing runway two niner" but doesn't budge past the hold short line and two more planes are also waiting to take off. In a calm voice my CFI asks him to "please expedite your takeoff, sir, we may have a problem here". The man says he will expedite and he takes off. I hear other planes coming in to land but they are further out and my instructor puts it into (low) final.
The highest we got while trying to climb that whole pattern was only 500 feet (my elevation is 100 so truly only 400 feet). All this time I was silent and 100% off the controls, knowing there was an issue, then on short final he says "hey Kimberly, wanna land the plane?" Of course I say yes and I have a pretty good landing, then I taxi back to the parking area.
We don't push it into place, we immediately start looking for oil. I crawl under the plane and check the struts and underbelly for oil marks, he checks all the visible areas. When we find no signs of anything wrong, he tells me we will have to wait for them to take the cowling off to see what the problem is.
We go inside, call one of the staff mechanics on his day off, and the next day I find out it was a cracked cylinder!
Yikes.
So now I can't solo for a week or two (going to find out today when the plane will be back up and running).
(sigh)
PS - If I was solo that day of course I wonder what I would have done in the same situation. All in all I was not scared and I am sure it was a good learning experience.
