Wow....what a morning

[SkyHog]

I woke up this morning at about 4:00 and headed out to the airport. I had an instructor and the Arrow from 5:00 - 8:00. It was cold this morning, like 45 degrees or less. Yikes!

So I get out there and wait for the instructor (who was late...no big deal, but he was). I preflight the Arrow and we head off. First stop is Los Alamos, NM (KLAM). One way in, one way out, no pattern due to restricted air space. That was a really neat flight. I love going up in that area, because I never really get the opportunity very often.

After landing and turning around, we took off the opposite way and decided to go to Taos, NM (KSKX). That was fun, too. I'd NEVER been up that way before in the air. Uneventful landing and takeoff there, and we decided to head back to Double Eagle (KAEG). At some point, the normal runway (4/22) was closed, so we had to land on 17/35 (which is under construction, but open for the day because 4/22 was closed).

There are NO markings on that runway right now, not a single one! I could not believe how hard it was to judge how high I was over the runway without any markings. I flared high and we dropped a good 10 feet, if not more. Everything was ok, but that scared the hell outta me.

CFI said that everyone's been doing that, even him, and that he's not worried.

I now have a new personal limitation. I will not fly into unmarked asphalt strips. NEVER!

Either way - great morning. 2.3 on the hobbs, only need like 3.5 more or so before I'm ok to fly the Arrow solo. Woohoo!

 

[Missa]

Sounds like your back is doing better.

Man, I wish I could get the plane that early. My FBO just isn't into early mornings and I love the mornings. Sounds like a good flight.

Missa

 

[Greg Bockelman]

I now have a new personal limitation. I will not fly into unmarked asphalt strips. NEVER!

Never say never. There is not that much difference between that and a grass strip.

At least on a hard surface strip there is some consistency on the width. Grass can be almost anything from 20' to 300' wide. Talk about difficulty judgining height.

 

[EdFred]

Don't worry Nick, that judgement in height vs width will come eventually. I found that going to as many different width strips as possible helped me. I never look at the width anymore, just take a glance out the side as I'm getting close, and when I see the texture at a certain scale that's when I start the flare-ish part. Been doing it enough in the Cherk, that I don't even think about flare height anymore.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Sounds like fun, except for dropping in over 10 feet is not good in any normal circumstances... Among other things, have your CFI (sounds like he needs a review too) review soft field landings/haze illusion LDGs (eyes focus on infinity) and check out glassy water LDS as the seaplane analogy.

I woke up this morning at about 4:00 and headed out to the airport. I had an instructor and the Arrow from 5:00 - 8:00. It was cold this morning, like 45 degrees or less. Yikes!

So I get out there and wait for the instructor (who was late...no big deal, but he was). I preflight the Arrow and we head off. First stop is Los Alamos, NM (KLAM). One way in, one way out, no pattern due to restricted air space. That was a really neat flight. I love going up in that area, because I never really get the opportunity very often.

After landing and turning around, we took off the opposite way and decided to go to Taos, NM (KSKX). That was fun, too. I'd NEVER been up that way before in the air. Uneventful landing and takeoff there, and we decided to head back to Double Eagle (KAEG). At some point, the normal runway (4/22) was closed, so we had to land on 17/35 (which is under construction, but open for the day because 4/22 was closed).

There are NO markings on that runway right now, not a single one! I could not believe how hard it was to judge how high I was over the runway without any markings. I flared high and we dropped a good 10 feet, if not more. Everything was ok, but that scared the hell outta me.

CFI said that everyone's been doing that, even him, and that he's not worried.

I now have a new personal limitation. I will not fly into unmarked asphalt strips. NEVER!

Either way - great morning. 2.3 on the hobbs, only need like 3.5 more or so before I'm ok to fly the Arrow solo. Woohoo!

 

[gismo]

Never say never. There is not that much difference between that and a grass strip.

At least on a hard surface strip there is some consistency on the width. Grass can be almost anything from 20' to 300' wide. Talk about difficulty judgining height.

And all you need is a little more practice at such a landing and you will learn the peripheral vision cues that you're missing now. Then it will be easy.

 

[SkyHog]

yeah, its weird. Usually, different size runways don't bother me anymore, but for some reason, coming in on a brand newly paved, shiny, non-marked runway just was too much. Grass was different, because you could see the texture of the grass moving below us as gastons. There was no sensation of movement in the asphalt itself today.

I'd say I'd like to practice, but I don't like dropping 10 ft. Especially on a retract!

 

[AdamZ]

Nick sounds like a good time. I hope you were careful in Taos with all those spiritual vortices there. They are probably what interfered with your landing

 

[HPNFlyGirl]

Did you set the ELT off Nick? Just kidding. I did that once during a go around. NO FUN!!!!! I retracted the flaps then added full power. Needless to say I learned from that mistake.

 

[BobS]

It's important to learn to land without any markings. Sooner or later, if you fly at night, you'll have to land with your landing light burned out. Plus there are plenty of cool places without lights, or without pavement for that mater!

It's really not hard to land by Braille if the runway is long enough. I come down normally, using either VASI or a glide slope if available for vertical guidance, and get close to the runway; then I keep between the landing lights, flare and add a little power to keep the nose up and to slowly descend until it touches down. Then ease power, hold the nose up until the speed bleeds, and slowly let the nose down. Kind of like a soft field technique.

 

[SkyHog]

It's important to learn to land without any markings. Sooner or later, if you fly at night, you'll have to land with your landing light burned out. Plus there are plenty of cool places without lights, or without pavement for that mater!

It's really not hard to land by Braille if the runway is long enough. I come down normally, using either VASI or a glide slope if available for vertical guidance, and get close to the runway; then I keep between the landing lights, flare and add a little power to keep the nose up and to slowly descend until it touches down. Then ease power, hold the nose up until the speed bleeds, and slowly let the nose down. Kind of like a soft field technique.

That's another strange thing. I have no problem landing at night without the landing light (I've had one burn out on me, and have done a few simulated).

Maybe it was just a fluke, but either way, for at least a while, I will avoid the unmarked fields (except grass).