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Winged Chef

Winged Chef

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
11
Location
Boca Raton, FL
Display Name
Display name:
Bert
First lesson after 2 1/2 years:
The day dawned rainy and windy, and I thought my return would be scrubbed. I called just befor leaving for the airport, and we were still a go, my instructor said he was just up and it would be fine, its not as bad as it looked.
So we go thru a short briefing, do the pre-flight and off we go. Thankfully he worked the comm, gave me less to concentrate on. Next time I'm going to be 'live.' Boy was it windy, 20 knt steady and because a cold front just moved thru it was quatering from the 270* to 320*.
We take off and it felt like being a cork dangling on a string, just hanging in the air and blown all over the place. Was the worst T/O I have ever done. Just couldn't keep the nose pointed straight ahead.
We fly out to the practice area and did some basic maneuvers. Slow flight, power on and off stalls, steep turns. He commented that my previous instructor must have hammered me on altitude control, because he thought I was very good at it. Truth was, I was within 300 feet high/low, I never did feel like I was ahead of the plane.
Returned for landing and I never did spot the airport, partially because the sight picture was all backwards. First RWY 23 is a right pattern, a first for me, second, we didn't enter the pattern at a 45* downwind, we were at a heading of 130* so we made headdin for 50* before turning base.
Now here is wher it got exciting. I hadn't done crosswind landings before, and I was 'fighting' for the centerline crabbed into the wind, bouncing all over the place. Truth be known, I didn't know what I was trying to do to get down. Sure didn't feel like a stablized approach.
All in all my instructor felt fairly impressed by my skills. I was mostly within the PTS on most of my maneuvers. His biggest critique was about my lack of use of right rudder most of the lesson. Personally I felt the plane was out of balance, flying straight and level I shouldn't need a touch of right rudder at all times, should I?
This is a journey, a learning experience, I have 3 lessons booked for next week and one the following week. I have lots of studying to do.
Boy is this FUN!!:)
 
Winged Chef said:
Personally I felt the plane was out of balance, flying straight and level I shouldn't need a touch of right rudder at all times, should I?
Click to expand...
That all depends. Some planes have rudder trim, on some the trim is adjustable only on the ground and the proper setting is a compromise, normally set for zero rudder pedal force at cruise speed. Do your maneuvers at less than that "set" speed and you will need to use your foot.
Boy is this FUN!!:)
Click to expand...
Yowza! Have a ball!

-Skip
 
Winged Chef said:
First lesson after 2 1/2 years:
The day dawned rainy and windy, and I thought my return would be scrubbed. I called just befor leaving for the airport, and we were still a go, my instructor said he was just up and it would be fine, its not as bad as it looked.
So we go thru a short briefing, do the pre-flight and off we go. Thankfully he worked the comm, gave me less to concentrate on. Next time I'm going to be 'live.' Boy was it windy, 20 knt steady and because a cold front just moved thru it was quatering from the 270* to 320*.
We take off and it felt like being a cork dangling on a string, just hanging in the air and blown all over the place. Was the worst T/O I have ever done. Just couldn't keep the nose pointed straight ahead.
We fly out to the practice area and did some basic maneuvers. Slow flight, power on and off stalls, steep turns. He commented that my previous instructor must have hammered me on altitude control, because he thought I was very good at it. Truth was, I was within 300 feet high/low, I never did feel like I was ahead of the plane.
Returned for landing and I never did spot the airport, partially because the sight picture was all backwards. First RWY 23 is a right pattern, a first for me, second, we didn't enter the pattern at a 45* downwind, we were at a heading of 130* so we made headdin for 50* before turning base.
Now here is wher it got exciting. I hadn't done crosswind landings before, and I was 'fighting' for the centerline crabbed into the wind, bouncing all over the place. Truth be known, I didn't know what I was trying to do to get down. Sure didn't feel like a stablized approach.
All in all my instructor felt fairly impressed by my skills. I was mostly within the PTS on most of my maneuvers. His biggest critique was about my lack of use of right rudder most of the lesson. Personally I felt the plane was out of balance, flying straight and level I shouldn't need a touch of right rudder at all times, should I?
This is a journey, a learning experience, I have 3 lessons booked for next week and one the following week. I have lots of studying to do.
Boy is this FUN!!:)
Click to expand...
Hey, what do you expect after 2 1/2 years? It sounds like you did fine. When I started flying again after laying of for a couple of decades, I was having trouble with rudder control too. After a couple of lessons, I realized that I was kicking the rudders. In other words, I didn't have both feet planted on the rudders, and I would just kick the one that I needed. It wasn't working well. I made a effort to be sure that both feet were on the rudder pedals, and that I had enough pressure on them that when I pushed one, I could feel it with the other foot. That solved ninety percent of my problems. Check it out next time.
 
Hey Bert, I saw you over on JetCareers, didn't I? Welcome back to aviation, sounds like a fun flight to return on!
 
This sounds like a good idea. I will give it a try!
Thanks



Maxmosbey said:
Hey, what do you expect after 2 1/2 years? It sounds like you did fine. When I started flying again after laying of for a couple of decades, I was having trouble with rudder control too. After a couple of lessons, I realized that I was kicking the rudders. In other words, I didn't have both feet planted on the rudders, and I would just kick the one that I needed. It wasn't working well. I made a effort to be sure that both feet were on the rudder pedals, and that I had enough pressure on them that when I pushed one, I could feel it with the other foot. That solved ninety percent of my problems. Check it out next time.
Click to expand...
 
Good for you! Sounds to me like you did fine, especially considering the wind was tricky for your return to flying.
How many hours did you have prior to your hiatus?
 
rottydaddy said:
Good for you! Sounds to me like you did fine, especially considering the wind was tricky for your return to flying.
How many hours did you have prior to your hiatus?
Click to expand...


I had about 11 hours. I'm feeling somewhat confident that I will solo with=in another 5-10. At least my CFI was already talking about what I need to demonstrate before he signs me off. I never raised the subject at all.
 
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