onwards
Pattern Altitude
So I took my daughter up today for a short flight. I needed the practice, and she changed her mind since our last time and decided she did want to go up with me again (she got queasy the first time around).
Since it was a beautiful day - windy, but pretty and clear - I figured what the heck, time for another visit to Oakland. I've been wanting to go out there since the one time my instructor took me there, many hours and moons ago.
We took off with the typical gusty variable crosswinds that KCCR seems to supply in abundance on clear afternoon days, climbed over the hills, and got on KOAK tower frequency. I did some of my best radio work ever today, with several other planes going around in all directions, but me being the most responsive of all of them, to the point where she was basically sort of using me as an anchor. The best I can explain it is that after a couple of exchanges, she started defaulting to talking to me first before working her way off with the others, like she trusted me more. I'm not sure if it makes sense but it was obvious once it started.
Did a couple quick touch-n-go's - I do really enjoy OAK, the way it is right by the water - and headed back.
I also noticed that at this point, one habit I had to fight hard before my checkride is back and, it seems, never going away - I pretty much always come in just a little high on final. Not much, maybe 50 extra feet or so (the VASI is whitered on white - you know that place where it's just about to change from white to red), but I just feel so much more comfortable (safe) that way. I do always get back to the glide slope about midway through final with no problem, but by that time if the engine quits, I know with certainty that I've made it. Does anyone else do this, or should I work hard to get rid of it?
On the way back I let the little one make a couple turns, but she quickly asked me to take control of the plane again - sensory overload, I'm sure. Got into Concord, did a touch-n-go, and then asked for a full stop.
So the tower asks me if I could switch from 19R - the long strip - to 19L, the short one. Sure, I say, no problem. He thanks me then makes the call to the other incoming plane, switching him over to 19R based on his previous request. Then he asks him to take a wide base (since our approaches basically crisscross each other switching to opposite runways). Three exchanges later, it becomes obvious the other guy is a little more nervous about this instruction than one might expect. I could see him; he was sort of widening his base a bit, but not by much, sort of like turning out and almost immediately coming back in to the normal pattern.
I am in the perfect position to do it, so I cut the throttle off - I like practicing simulated engine failures when I can safely do so anyway - and casually remark on the radio "Concord tower, Cessna XXXX, I'll make mine short to make it easy". Tower, in a surprised voice, asks me to repeat. As I turn in to short final with full flaps and no engine, aiming for the numbers, I repeat. A short pause and he comes back with "oh, thank you for that". You could hear the relief in his voice.
So I'm slowing on the ground after touching down and waiting for my taxi instructions, and tower gets back to me, and thanks me again. And then again once I get off the runway. Even kept me on his frequency instead of handing me off to ground (like he did every other plane) until I got back to the FBO. Sure felt good to be in the cockpit right then!
And then for the awkward moment: I park the plane, and run into no other than the FAA examiner who did my checkride three weeks ago. He remembers me, and we exchange handshakes and a couple quick stories... he seems surprised that I flew out to Oakland. Unexpected encounter. But hey, I might fly with him again if and when I do IFR, you know?
Since it was a beautiful day - windy, but pretty and clear - I figured what the heck, time for another visit to Oakland. I've been wanting to go out there since the one time my instructor took me there, many hours and moons ago.
We took off with the typical gusty variable crosswinds that KCCR seems to supply in abundance on clear afternoon days, climbed over the hills, and got on KOAK tower frequency. I did some of my best radio work ever today, with several other planes going around in all directions, but me being the most responsive of all of them, to the point where she was basically sort of using me as an anchor. The best I can explain it is that after a couple of exchanges, she started defaulting to talking to me first before working her way off with the others, like she trusted me more. I'm not sure if it makes sense but it was obvious once it started.
Did a couple quick touch-n-go's - I do really enjoy OAK, the way it is right by the water - and headed back.
I also noticed that at this point, one habit I had to fight hard before my checkride is back and, it seems, never going away - I pretty much always come in just a little high on final. Not much, maybe 50 extra feet or so (the VASI is whitered on white - you know that place where it's just about to change from white to red), but I just feel so much more comfortable (safe) that way. I do always get back to the glide slope about midway through final with no problem, but by that time if the engine quits, I know with certainty that I've made it. Does anyone else do this, or should I work hard to get rid of it?
On the way back I let the little one make a couple turns, but she quickly asked me to take control of the plane again - sensory overload, I'm sure. Got into Concord, did a touch-n-go, and then asked for a full stop.
So the tower asks me if I could switch from 19R - the long strip - to 19L, the short one. Sure, I say, no problem. He thanks me then makes the call to the other incoming plane, switching him over to 19R based on his previous request. Then he asks him to take a wide base (since our approaches basically crisscross each other switching to opposite runways). Three exchanges later, it becomes obvious the other guy is a little more nervous about this instruction than one might expect. I could see him; he was sort of widening his base a bit, but not by much, sort of like turning out and almost immediately coming back in to the normal pattern.
I am in the perfect position to do it, so I cut the throttle off - I like practicing simulated engine failures when I can safely do so anyway - and casually remark on the radio "Concord tower, Cessna XXXX, I'll make mine short to make it easy". Tower, in a surprised voice, asks me to repeat. As I turn in to short final with full flaps and no engine, aiming for the numbers, I repeat. A short pause and he comes back with "oh, thank you for that". You could hear the relief in his voice.
So I'm slowing on the ground after touching down and waiting for my taxi instructions, and tower gets back to me, and thanks me again. And then again once I get off the runway. Even kept me on his frequency instead of handing me off to ground (like he did every other plane) until I got back to the FBO. Sure felt good to be in the cockpit right then!
And then for the awkward moment: I park the plane, and run into no other than the FAA examiner who did my checkride three weeks ago. He remembers me, and we exchange handshakes and a couple quick stories... he seems surprised that I flew out to Oakland. Unexpected encounter. But hey, I might fly with him again if and when I do IFR, you know?
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