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jsstevens
Well, I'm not trying to stir up debate. Really, I'm not.
Yesterday evening I went up with my current instructor (I have a PP-ASEL) to get familiar with our club's 1963 C-172. I fly our of Orlando Executive, KORL, a frequently pretty busy class D under the Class B shelf of Orlando International (KMCO). At 7:30PM there was no one around, so after a few mild cross wind landings, my instructor said "You've got this. Let's try some simulated engine failures." The tower cleared us for whatever we wanted on any runway (KORL has 7-25 at ~7000x150 and 13-31 at ~5000x100). Wind was 110-120 at 6-10kts.
So, after taking off from 7, at about 450' (a 145hp 172 with full fuel and 500 lbs. of pilots climbs in a leisurely fashion) we turned crosswind and as soon as I lifted the wing to look for traffic, he pulled the power. He said turn immediately toward the airport, which I did. I also dropped the nose after having read about how much you should be ready to PUSH when power fails during the climb out. He said "No. keep the nose in position to slow to and hold 65 mph." So with a 30 degree banked turn and holding 65, we glided back toward the the numbers on runway 25. When we got down to 100' or so it was clear I'd have made the taxiway or the customs parking area but not the runway. He restored power and I flew us down runway 25. I turned for a right crosswind at 500' (25 is right traffic due to the close 900' shelf of class B. Again he pulled the power and I continued my turn and headed for the numbers on runway 7. (I was using moderate bank angles here, somewhere around 30 degrees - I wasn't looking I was feeling what the plane was doing.) I held 65 mph and glided back. At ~200' and maybe 1/10 mile, I pulled all 40 degrees of flaps, turned to line up with the runway and made a normal crosswind landing.
This set of manuvers was very confidence building for me. I've got ~125 hours total time, with 120 or so in C-172's of various vintages. These exercises did not require extraordinary skill nor extraordinary manuvering control. They did require concentration.
As a disclaimer, I did this under the direction of a qualified instructor and we discussed what we were going to do first. We had tower permission. I learned what's necessary (and it was not what I expected - the push vs. hold to slow to target best glide speed). I do NOT recommend that anyone who has not PRACTISED this to use it in an emergency.
Please, no instructor bashing. I'm quite pleased with my choice at this point.
John
Yesterday evening I went up with my current instructor (I have a PP-ASEL) to get familiar with our club's 1963 C-172. I fly our of Orlando Executive, KORL, a frequently pretty busy class D under the Class B shelf of Orlando International (KMCO). At 7:30PM there was no one around, so after a few mild cross wind landings, my instructor said "You've got this. Let's try some simulated engine failures." The tower cleared us for whatever we wanted on any runway (KORL has 7-25 at ~7000x150 and 13-31 at ~5000x100). Wind was 110-120 at 6-10kts.
So, after taking off from 7, at about 450' (a 145hp 172 with full fuel and 500 lbs. of pilots climbs in a leisurely fashion) we turned crosswind and as soon as I lifted the wing to look for traffic, he pulled the power. He said turn immediately toward the airport, which I did. I also dropped the nose after having read about how much you should be ready to PUSH when power fails during the climb out. He said "No. keep the nose in position to slow to and hold 65 mph." So with a 30 degree banked turn and holding 65, we glided back toward the the numbers on runway 25. When we got down to 100' or so it was clear I'd have made the taxiway or the customs parking area but not the runway. He restored power and I flew us down runway 25. I turned for a right crosswind at 500' (25 is right traffic due to the close 900' shelf of class B. Again he pulled the power and I continued my turn and headed for the numbers on runway 7. (I was using moderate bank angles here, somewhere around 30 degrees - I wasn't looking I was feeling what the plane was doing.) I held 65 mph and glided back. At ~200' and maybe 1/10 mile, I pulled all 40 degrees of flaps, turned to line up with the runway and made a normal crosswind landing.
This set of manuvers was very confidence building for me. I've got ~125 hours total time, with 120 or so in C-172's of various vintages. These exercises did not require extraordinary skill nor extraordinary manuvering control. They did require concentration.
As a disclaimer, I did this under the direction of a qualified instructor and we discussed what we were going to do first. We had tower permission. I learned what's necessary (and it was not what I expected - the push vs. hold to slow to target best glide speed). I do NOT recommend that anyone who has not PRACTISED this to use it in an emergency.
Please, no instructor bashing. I'm quite pleased with my choice at this point.
John
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