February 2008 Archives

First a couple of housekeeping items. I went back through my log and updated my number of landings from my first lesson. I then created an account on a web-based logbook that was written by a member of my flying club. So, rather than list landings and time for my lessons, I will just provide a link at the end of page so that you can look at my progess.... this link will provide all the pertinent information and more detail and it will give you, the reader, a look at the type of information that is contained within a logbook.

As for today, we did landings. But I have to say, I was pretty relaxed the whole time. I've noticed that when I start a lesson I usually get really tense on my first few landings and then loosen up after that. My instructor has pointed this out to me several times. Today, for whatever reason, I was pretty relaxed from the first landing to the last... and pretty much every one of my landings were good.... and again, I didn't really do any standard landings, they were all short-field, soft-field and slips.

My CFI told me that next time we would get more "hood" work in, to satisfy the 3 hours of IFR training requirement. We rescheduled our time next week to 7pm to try to get in our night time work. This is because we believe my medical certificate issueance is emminent and we want to get the night stuff out of the way before daylight savings time kicks in on March 9. Otherwise, we have to go at closer to 9pm.

Next lesson: Wednesday, March 1.

Updated Pilot Log

We're doing landings again, but not normal ones. Now we're doing slips, short-field, and soft-field landings over and over and over again. The idea is to demonstrate control and stability in performing these different types of landings. My instructor is requiring me to be pretty precise about this stuff, which is good, because when I do the FAA checkride, I'll need to be precise.... also, it's safer to be precise. We've only recently started actually logging my landings so I'm introducing a new statistic to the info I put at the bottom of each post, but just know that I've done many more landings than I've actually logged.

Also, now would be a good time to go over the requirements for a private pilot. These requirements only include the "flight" requirements. There are age, medical and written test requirements as well.

• At least 40 hours of flight time, to include
  • At least 20 hours of flight training from an instructor, including
    • 3 hours of cross-country flight training in a single-engine airplane
    • 3 hours of night flight training in a single-engine airplane, to include
      • 1 cross-country flight of over 100 nautical miles total distance
      • 10 takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport.
    • 3 hours of flight training in a single-engine airplane on the control and maneuvering of an airplane solely by reference to instruments, including straight and level flight, constant airspeed climbs and descents, turns to a heading, recovery from unusual flight attitudes, radio communications, and the use of navigation systems/facilities and radar services appropriate to instrument flight
    • 3 hours of flight training in preparation for the practical test in a single-engine airplane, which must have been performed within 60 days preceding the date of the test
  • At least 10 hours of solo flight time in a single-engine airplane, to include
    • Three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating control tower.
    • 5 hours of solo cross-country time
    • One solo cross-country flight of at least 150 nautical miles total distance, with full-stop landings at a minimum of three points, and one segment of the flight consisting of a straight-line distance of at least 50 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations

Next lesson: Wednesday, February 27.

Landings logged this lesson: 12

Total Landings (since Jan 9, 2008): 38

Time logged this lesson: 1.2 hrs

Total Time: 16.6 hrs

My doctor said he would send some additional medical info to my FME (FAA Medical Examiner) that pertains to my medical certificate -- something I must have before I can solo the plane -- and he did not follow through. My FME requested this info on 11 January and my regular doctor flaked out. I spent the last month waiting for 30 days to pass so that I could submit a waiver to the FAA about my eyes regarding the corrective surgery and I took care of the stuff I needed from my regular doctor so I would not have to wait any longer after the eye thing... then this crap happens... Long story short, I called my doctor's office and left them a nasty message... explaining that they had over a month to provide this information and because they did not follow through, things are becoming very inconvenient for me. The day did not end totally screwed up, I had a good lesson and when we landed I saw a message on my cell phone left by my doctor's assistant apologizing for the mistake and that they would expedite the paperwork.... we shall see.

On to the lesson, we just did landings. All of them were pretty much good. Some were better than others. After awhile we started doing soft-field landings, short-field landings, and slips. These three types of landings I have to master before my FAA checkride. Here's the quick skinny on the three. Soft-field landings are done with full-flaps at about 70 knots... as you come down to the field and start your flare, you add a little bit of power to stay light and touch down easier... and you keep the nose up to prevent the nose wheel from touching the ground as long as possible. Short field landings... you're simulating clearing a 50ft obstacle at the end of the runway and getting down on the ground as quickly as possible. So, for this one, full-flaps, airspeed of about 60 knots and carrying enough power to clear the obstacle, then cutting power and flaring as soon as the obstacle is cleared. Finally, slips. No flaps, bring the nose up enough to slow the plane to about 70 knots, and then use full rudder and opposite full aileron, so that you end up on the centerline so that the longitudinal axis of the plane is at an angle to the centerline. When it's time to start flaring, you straighten the nose out and touch down.

One of the interesting moves, we were asked to make a short approach, so my instructor told me to start my slip on the downwind leg, so I basically made the plane slip and turn 180° while in the pattern. One of the advantages to doing a slip is that it creates drag which brings the plane down a little faster. Another advantage is it allows you to line up with the runway when you're off the centerline without banking the plane too much, which can lead to a stall-spin just above the ground. It can also be helpful to employ when landing in a crosswind.

My CFI did tell me, as we were doing the special landings, "if you had your medical certificate, I would have soloed you about a half-hour ago." His confidence in me makes me feel good, but that situation frustrates me.

Next lesson: Sunday, February 24.

Time logged this lesson: 1.0 hrs

Total Time: 15.4 hrs

It has been over a month since my last lesson. A very frustrating month. A month which saw lessons canceled because of medical issues (the first week after my eye surgery), scheduling issues (other people having the plane rented), maintenance issues (the aircraft was in for it's regular 100 hour maintenance for 5 days), and weather (either too windy or IFR conditions prevailed). Finally, the stars aligned and I was able to fly.

That isn't to say that I did not learn anything during that month. On the contrary, I have been taking a ground school class to help with passing the FAA written test, I have also attended some club functions that involved learning about landing and weather and other important topics. Finally, even when your CFI cancel a lesson due to weather, you're learning something... that is, you're being taught good decision making with regard to when it's safe to fly and when it isn't.

Anyway, we started out doing landings and had a pretty good crosswind going. There was, however, a twist. we had a passenger in the back seat along for the ride who was getting a demo flight. This changed the CG (center of gravity) in the plane enough to make landing different. Pulling back on the yoke cause the nose to go up much more easily than when it's just me and my instructor, so when I came down and started my flare, I tended to float up a bit and travel further down the runway than I wanted to. Eventually, I started made several good landings in a row and we went off and did some turns about a point and some a couple of stalls (both power on stalls and power off stalls). After that, we returned for my finally landing, which, after several good landings earlier, I royally screwed up.... I didn't carry enough power on final approach and dropped down too much then over corrected in trying to make the runway and my instructor had to help me. It was a disappointing way to end the lesson, but I learned something from it... these sorts of experiences get stored in your memory so that you remember them and don't repeat the problem. Overall, the lesson served its purpose, I was able to shake a lot of rust off and get used to being in the left seat again.

Next lesson: Wednesday, February 20.

Time logged this lesson: 1.2 hrs

Total Time: 14.4 hrs

Thursday (Jan 31) was set to be my first lesson after successful laser eye surgery. I am seeing well and was excited to get back in the cockpit and see if I remembered how to fly. The weather was not cooperating, however....

METAR KTKI 312153Z 30025G37KT 10SM FEW047 OVC075 03/M06 A3001 RMK AO2 PK WND 29039/2142 SLP175 T00281061

While there is no stated limitation from the manufacturer on how much crosswind a Cessna 172 can land in, they do state that a pilot with average technique should be able to safely land with 15 knots of direct crosswind.

Today's wind was just about as direct a crosswind at mckinney as you can have and it was blowing steady at 25 knots with gusts of 37 knots. My instructor said, "We could go up, but I'm afraid I may end up doing most of the flying."

Next lesson: Wednesday, February 6.

Time logged this lesson: 0.0 hrs

Total Time: 13.2 hrs