inav8r
Line Up and Wait
I'm in high gear for the check ride still. I know I need practice, and since I'm trying to fly at least 2 hrs per week and I didn't get to fly Thursday (weather) I decided to go out solo on Saturday (CFI was out of town) and do some practice.
The weather and winds were perfect. I wanted to practice the items that my instructor and I had done on our last lesson, so I set out to do some short / soft field take offs and landings as well as practice some steep turns and slow flight solo.
I departed my home field w/ a soft field take off. After doing some practice a couple of weeks ago in real grass I now have a better picture of where the plane should be as I climb up into ground effect. I feel I did really well with this one.
As I climbed out of the pattern, I turned due south and climbed up to 3000 ft. After getting out of the class D airspace, I slowed a bit to about 90 kts and did some clearing turns, for some reason I also checked my sectional to make sure I wasn't near an airway! After the clearing turns, I did 2 steep turns to the left. These seem easy to me. I entered at 3000 ft and 90kts and rolled out right on course at 3000 ft and 90 kts.
After the left, I did 2 turns to the right. These seemed more difficult for me to hold altitude. On the first I rolled in at 3000 ft and 90 kts and rolled out on course at 2900 ft. On the second I again entered at 3000 ft and this time I only lost 50 ft rolling out at 2950 ft. Within standards, but I still need practice. I think it has to do with the position of my wrist which makes me psychologically feel I have to apply more control input (when in reality it's almost the same). I'll do some more practice with these, I know they'll get better.
After doing the turns, I turned towards UWL (New Castle) and headed that way for some practice landings. As I started to listen into their CTAF I heard 3 planes in the pattern. I decided to approach from the north east (long way around) and do the standard 45 deg entry for RY 9. After announcing my intentions very clearly, I slowed down 90 kts, turned on my landing light and headed towards the pattern.
One thing my instructor beats me to death about is ANNOUNCING where I am and what my intentions are (well, along with who I am). I noticed these other planes in the pattern were sporadically calling their positions. And not even the same reports each trip around the pattern. It took me a little while, longer than I would have liked, to locate each of the planes as I entered the pattern, but it wasn't so bad. I worked my way in and did 2 touch and go's. I wanted to practice short/soft but with the planes in the pattern I didn't want to dilly dally around and mess them up.
While my landings are very consistent, my instructor and I had a long conversation after my last lesson on my transition to power out (off) as I enter the round out and flare. I was letting the plane nose over ever so slightly (maintaining unnecessary speed) which caused me to touch down (usually) just as the stall warning was starting to sound (i.e. too fast) - which led to obvious problems that I'm sure you're all going to point out!
This time, I consciously tried to apply his wise insight and advice for pitch / power management for the round and and flare and to my surprise, all of my landings were near perfect (in my book). No bounce, stall horn blaring, nice easy touch downs. I was elated to finally be able to consistently nail the proverbial good landing. (I'm sure now that I typed this my next landing is going to be horrific...
).
After the T&G's at UWL, I headed back to my home field to practice landings there. On the way back I decided to do some clearning turns and practice some full flap slow flight. I did a normal "approach to landing" slow down while holding altitude and adding flaps as I slowed down. My target speed as 60 kts. As I was getting down to 60 kts and adding power to maintain my altitude I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to my airspeed as my slow flight practice became stall practice. I recovered at the first indication (the stall horn) and set up to try again, but by that time I noticed some other traffice that I wanted to avoid and it was near time to call up the tower.
After getting back to KAID I practiced short field approaches (i.e. trying to touch down on / close to the numbers) but instead of braking and turning off, I applied power and made the landings touch and gos due to other students being in the pattern.
I found that a stable (no futzing with the power) trimmed approach was key. If I can get the trim / power set as I roll out on final it is a lot easier for me to make the fine adjustments necessary to get down where I want vs trying to play catch up with the plane when I get down close (suddenly pulling power, varying speeds, etc).
It was some good practice, and I only hope that the next time I fly w/ my instructor I can do just as good for him!
The weather and winds were perfect. I wanted to practice the items that my instructor and I had done on our last lesson, so I set out to do some short / soft field take offs and landings as well as practice some steep turns and slow flight solo.
I departed my home field w/ a soft field take off. After doing some practice a couple of weeks ago in real grass I now have a better picture of where the plane should be as I climb up into ground effect. I feel I did really well with this one.
As I climbed out of the pattern, I turned due south and climbed up to 3000 ft. After getting out of the class D airspace, I slowed a bit to about 90 kts and did some clearing turns, for some reason I also checked my sectional to make sure I wasn't near an airway! After the clearing turns, I did 2 steep turns to the left. These seem easy to me. I entered at 3000 ft and 90kts and rolled out right on course at 3000 ft and 90 kts.
After the left, I did 2 turns to the right. These seemed more difficult for me to hold altitude. On the first I rolled in at 3000 ft and 90 kts and rolled out on course at 2900 ft. On the second I again entered at 3000 ft and this time I only lost 50 ft rolling out at 2950 ft. Within standards, but I still need practice. I think it has to do with the position of my wrist which makes me psychologically feel I have to apply more control input (when in reality it's almost the same). I'll do some more practice with these, I know they'll get better.
After doing the turns, I turned towards UWL (New Castle) and headed that way for some practice landings. As I started to listen into their CTAF I heard 3 planes in the pattern. I decided to approach from the north east (long way around) and do the standard 45 deg entry for RY 9. After announcing my intentions very clearly, I slowed down 90 kts, turned on my landing light and headed towards the pattern.
One thing my instructor beats me to death about is ANNOUNCING where I am and what my intentions are (well, along with who I am). I noticed these other planes in the pattern were sporadically calling their positions. And not even the same reports each trip around the pattern. It took me a little while, longer than I would have liked, to locate each of the planes as I entered the pattern, but it wasn't so bad. I worked my way in and did 2 touch and go's. I wanted to practice short/soft but with the planes in the pattern I didn't want to dilly dally around and mess them up.
While my landings are very consistent, my instructor and I had a long conversation after my last lesson on my transition to power out (off) as I enter the round out and flare. I was letting the plane nose over ever so slightly (maintaining unnecessary speed) which caused me to touch down (usually) just as the stall warning was starting to sound (i.e. too fast) - which led to obvious problems that I'm sure you're all going to point out!
This time, I consciously tried to apply his wise insight and advice for pitch / power management for the round and and flare and to my surprise, all of my landings were near perfect (in my book). No bounce, stall horn blaring, nice easy touch downs. I was elated to finally be able to consistently nail the proverbial good landing. (I'm sure now that I typed this my next landing is going to be horrific...
).After the T&G's at UWL, I headed back to my home field to practice landings there. On the way back I decided to do some clearning turns and practice some full flap slow flight. I did a normal "approach to landing" slow down while holding altitude and adding flaps as I slowed down. My target speed as 60 kts. As I was getting down to 60 kts and adding power to maintain my altitude I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to my airspeed as my slow flight practice became stall practice. I recovered at the first indication (the stall horn) and set up to try again, but by that time I noticed some other traffice that I wanted to avoid and it was near time to call up the tower.
After getting back to KAID I practiced short field approaches (i.e. trying to touch down on / close to the numbers) but instead of braking and turning off, I applied power and made the landings touch and gos due to other students being in the pattern.
I found that a stable (no futzing with the power) trimmed approach was key. If I can get the trim / power set as I roll out on final it is a lot easier for me to make the fine adjustments necessary to get down where I want vs trying to play catch up with the plane when I get down close (suddenly pulling power, varying speeds, etc).
It was some good practice, and I only hope that the next time I fly w/ my instructor I can do just as good for him!
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