practice what you've learned

It's been sunny and nice here for days, and today was a good day to fly. I checked the weather, as always, but no surprises there: some clouds at 25,000, a NOTAM for rocketry tomorrow, and that's it.

When I got to the airport, Tim had left to go to KACK (Nantucket) all day, and Sean was off. I checked in with Bill, and headed out in 976. The winds are calm, so I have my choice of runways. I go out on 5 (the default anyway) and head to the east. This time, unlike last week, I remember to set my transponder correctly before going to the line.

Above 1500 feet, everything is perfectly smooth. I haven't yet had a flight like this. Even the ponds and small hills go under me without even a small bump. I level out at 2500, heading 090, right on the nose.

As I get to the coast, I pull carb heat and the power back to 1900 RPM, pull back to hold altitude, and trim up for 80MPH. Then I drop in 20 degrees of flaps. A few seconds later, I drop back to 1700, trim up for 70, and put in 30 degrees. Then I trim down to 60 MPH. I'm in slow flight, just like with Sean, and my altitude is the same.

I do some slow clearing turns, then do my first power-off stall. The horn comes on and I keep the pressure coming. It takes effort not just to pull the elevator, but to keep my eyes outside on the nose to keep the plane right on course with the rudder. The horn starts to get more insistent and I feel the nose dropping, so I push in full power, establish climb attitude, and let my speed build back up to 80.

That's one successful stall. When I put the power back in, I didn't push enough on the rudder, so I'm now flying around 080. I turn back a bit, then do two more stalls.

Next, I did some maneuvering. First, I do a right turn to 180. Then 270. On that second turn, I blow through to about 290, because I'm paying too much attention to a deviation in airspeed. Next, after I realize what I'd done wrong there, I turn to 360 and nail it straight on. I take out the flaps, bring up airspeed, and retrim. Then a turn to the left back to 270.

Now I set up for a power-on stall. I establish a climb at around 80 MPH, then keep the elevator coming back. It's much harder to hold the nose in place, but I know I have to do it and watch the clouds for reference. Finally, after what seems like a long time, the horn starts to come on, and I wait for it to get a little more annoying, then drop the nose back to a normal climb and recover.

That's enough for one day, so I radio LWM and head back. The tower gives me a straight-in for 23, so I fly along the river until I'm lined up with the Cat-in-the-Hat water tower. As I'm coming in, three Mooneys are doing run-ups, all for departure on 23. The air's getting a little rougher as I get below 1500 feet. I'm at the 2 mile checkpoint, so I call the tower, and I'm cleared for 23.

I'm trying to fly the plane by reference to the outside. That means putting the nose where it looks like it should be, then just glancing at the instruments to make sure the airspeed is what I expect it to be. I drop in my last bit of flaps and get myself stable at 70. I cross the numbers just below 70 and get in level flight. I slowly pull out the last bit of power, pulling back, and I hear the stall warning come on as the wheels touch down. It's a fairly smooth landing, and just a few inches to the left of the centerline.

The tower tells me to turn off when able and to park with him. I could possibly get off by Echo, but I'd have to brake a little hard to do it, and I'd rather not lose control due to a braking problem after such a good flight. I motor my way up to Delta, and those Mooneys will just have to wait a few seconds.

I pull in to park, and I'm right on the yellow line. As I secure the plane, I note just 0.6 on the Hobbs. I could have gone a bit more, and gotten some pattern work out of it, but this was a successful day just the same, and cheap fun at $66. I'm getting a good bit more confident. I don't think I'm quite near ready for a practical test, though. I'm at about 40 hours, and have a few more things on my checklist to get done, but it's really the consistent practice that I need.

Posted at 10:43AM Apr 18, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  |  Comments[2]

stalls and the nose

As promised, I went up with Sean again today for some remedial work. Yesterday was a perfect day, and this morning the clouds were coming in at 11,000 feet with an afternoon storm on the way. The skies were crowded with people enjoying the last few hours before the weather turns.

We took off from runway 5, ahead of a Saratoga that was taking a longish while on run-up, and headed to the east. Sean seems to like to imitate ATC vectoring the student around, which isn't bad in terms of practice. Fly 090, reduce speed to 80. Now turn left to 360, climb to 3000, and add 30 degrees of flaps. Last time, I was doing each instruction one at a time, now I'm trying to combine them as requested.

We went through several clearing turns and slow flight practice, first at 80, then 60 MPH. Then he had me do some power-off stalls. I mushed the first one, as I left in too much power and had only a weak stall going with the elevator all the way back. He asked me to recover, and I didn't hold altitude. The second one was a bit better.

We went around a bit in a few more circles, and then he had me do a power-on stall. I got a bit of a better break this time, and he pointed out that I need to watch the nose of the plane so that I can detect the smallest amount of yaw, and correct right away with my feet. The clouds make a pretty good reference point, so it's good it wasn't so clear.

Next is an emergency landing practice. He first asks me to describe the "we're on fire, and we need to get down NOW" procedure, so I do. He then pulls the power and says, "ok, show me." I set up at 80 MPH and drop in 40 degrees of flaps. I have to push over pretty far to hold airspeed, and then trim up. He asks where I'm going. I point to a nice, flat-looking patch of ground at about my one-o'clock position. He asks me about Plum Island. I have to admit that I'm not sure where I am in relation to it, so I don't know if I could make it.

He takes the controls and does a dramatic all-I-see-is-dirt 45 degree (or more) turn around towards Plum Island, and points out that, as the stewardess says, "the closest exit may be behind you." He asks where we should go, and I correctly point out that we should head to the runway, and not fly a pattern. He notes that people have lost it trying to do that, so I got that one right.

After climbing back out, we head back to the pattern over LWM. The tower has me enter a left downwind for runway 5, which is pretty much dead ahead of me. Sean asks, and I point to exactly where I'm going; I have the field, runway, and pattern in sight. For some reason, he always leaves me wondering whether *he* thinks I answered his question correctly, though (at least for this small part of the flight) I know what I'm doing.

I set up and make my calls. Sean is asking me to identify the traffic, and the increased workload (and burn-out from the exercise) causes me to make mistakes there. I've got the traffic in sight, but I'm not correctly identifying it against the instructions I'm overhearing from the tower.

We ask for a touch-and-go, and I'm second in trail behind what looks like a newer-model Skyhawk. The wind is light, and I don't pull enough power, so I end up high on final. He asks what I'm going to do about it. I don't hesitate. I tell him and the tower that we're going around. Later, on the ground, he criticized that move on two points: first, I should initiate the go-around *before* saying anything, because it's "aviate first." Second, I didn't apply full power initially. I know I didn't do that because with 30-40 degrees of flaps, the nose pitches up dramatically with power, and with all the extra altitude I had, I didn't want that. But I wasn't following procedure.

We go around again, and on final he asks if I'd make the field if my engine cut at that point. I say I'm not sure, but it doesn't look like it. Actually, I've been low this whole pass, mostly as I'm at least trying to correct for being too high the last time. He pulls my hand off the throttle and idles the engine. I set up for best glide (well, I was there already), and the intercept looks to be a good 50 feet short of the runway. Power back in, and lesson learned: don't be so low you can't make it. It's at least embarrassing to miss the runway from pattern.

The landing that follows is just awful. My speed is good -- perhaps a little low at 65. The winds are variable, and when I touch down, they're quartering from the left. I don't correct the right way, and I'm unsteady on the runway. I end up in a not-good state and asking for help to recover before we end up in a ditch. This is the first time I've had to deal with that kind of wind.

In the briefing after the lesson he recommends: (1) that after I get the license, I should take an emergency procedures course to practice unusual attitude recovery (I'd planned on that anyway), (2) next week I should go out solo and practice slow flight and stalls, (3) I have to get it in my head that I'm in charge, and I have to do all the flying; I can't delegate if I get in trouble.

Posted at 04:24PM Apr 11, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

back to basics

It's a severe clear day in the Northeast, and I went up with Sean (CFII) because I asked for some practice in landing, and for him to beat me up a little. He seems to make me more nervous than Tim, but I also seem to get more out of it, so as long as he's willing to fly with me, I'll take it.

We started in the pattern on runway 23 with winds about 10kts reported to be from 260. I climbed up, leveled off right at pattern altitude, and got to work. I trimmed on the way up and I thought I was doing a good job holding runway heading -- keeping the right rudder in there during the climb and taking it out as I throttle back.

I ask for the option, and we're number two behind a full-stop. As usual, I end up landing a bit left of the centerline and have to bleed off some speed before touchdown. I clean it up and get back off the ground.

As soon as we're airborne, Sean pulls out a map, unfolds it, and drapes it over the instrument panel. I can't see anything but look out the window. I point out that I'm a bit nervous not knowing my airspeed or my altitude. He says that I should just climb the way I did before and watch the nose instead. For altitude, I should turn crosswind at the same point I did last time, and then pull the power back at the same point.

He asked if there were any regulations about pattern altitude. I said I've read them all, but I didn't know of one; it's a safety issue. We take a peek, and I'm at something more like 1800 feet rather than 1200 feet. Again around the pattern, but I'm doing a slightly better job keeping it square because (with a map of the ocean in my face) I'm looking out the window more.

We go a couple of more times around like this, with Sean trying to instill in me a lack of fear about trimming. You just set the trim, and that's the speed you'll go, even if you turn. I _know_ this, but I just don't know that I do.

We take off for the east, towards Plum Island, and he has me go into slow flight. First, 70MPH and 20 degrees flaps. Then 60MPH and 30 degrees. We do some maneuvering around and then take a long slow trip back to LWM at 60.

About 10 miles out, he tells me to let go of the yoke. If I touch it, I owe him a coffee. I'm to steer with my feet alone and control my altitude with the power. It's a bit nerve-wracking. It's a slightly windy day -- winds are now up to 14kts on the ground -- and we're going over the Merrimack river at 2000 feet and descending. Every bump makes the plane pitch up, lose airspeed alarmingly, pitch back down, and then settle.

I'm supposed to be getting it in my head that the plane works for me: set the pitch where I want it, and then assume that the natural stability will do the right thing. Over the VOR (around 2 miles to the touchdown), he lets me use the yoke. I do, but I keep using my feet to steer. I touch down almost exactly on the center line, and I even (for the first time ever) got the stall warning to go off during flare.

We double-time taxi out to Delta, because there's a rocket on our tail, and then head in to park.

Sean says that if he were my primary instructor, he wouldn't have soloed me, because he doesn't think I have enough of an instinct for pitch and power yet. I didn't say so, but I think I was probably on the low end of performance today. I know I can do a bit better, but he's quite right that I'm not configuring the plane right all of the time.

I set up another lesson with him next Friday to do some more slow flight and perhaps some stalls. If nothing else, I need to be confident in these maneuvers for the practical test.

Posted at 02:24PM Apr 03, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

c'mon horse, run!

I got to do my 150+nm trip today.

The weather was perfect. As with other good days, it's just in advance of a storm we're supposed to get tonight. Barnstable/Hyannis (KHYA) had winds at 17 gusting to 23, but forecast to drop to 10 before I got there. That's good enough for me.

I took off a few minutes late out of KLWM, but with about a 14 knot tailwind. I called Bridgeport over the RCO and opened my flight plan, then, after leveling off at 2700 feet, called Boston Approach. The northern part wasn't busy, but they warned me of traffic near Norwood. A good part of the trip was spent just telling Boson that I had their traffic in sight.

I flew my heading towards the Cape and was handed off to Cape Approach. Both the ATIS and the RCO are out at KHYA and have been for a while, so I picked up Otis (KFMH) ATIS instead. The winds were still up around 15 knots, but pretty close to the runway heading at KHYA, so I pressed on. I flew over the northern coast of Cape Code until I had the airport in sight. They gave me an extended left base into runway 6 as expected.

I descended to pattern altitude and headed in towards the airport. I was a little low in the pattern, probably because I was having trouble judging the distance from looking at an unfamiliar field. I touched down at about the right speed, but with tough winds holding one wing up. I rode it out and eventually got all the way down, but it felt sloppy on the ground. I taxied off to Griffin to stop, close my flight plan, and make a few calls.

The guys at Griffin Aviation are great. When I eventually get my license and we go out there for vacation, I'll likely want to stop there -- though the security procedures at that airport are a bit strange and annoying.

I then took off from KHYA and headed out to Mansfield (K1B9). It was tough holding any kind of heading out of there, and a bit bumpy over land, but better at the coast. Cape Approach handed me off to Boston Approach, who eventually told me he had no radar contacts out that direction, and to have a nice day. About five miles from K1B9, I started to hear traffic, and a lot of it. There had to be at least five planes taking off at once out of that one small airport, along with several planes in the pattern doing touch-and-goes. I slowed myself up to match the rest of the traffic, then I flew the upwind, crosswind, downwind, and base rather than attempting a straight-in. I figured it was more polite that way.

My final stank. I was a bit too high, but speed was ok, so I tried to slip it in. When I took the slip out, I let the nose drop, and now I was too fast. I should have gone around right there, because this is a short and narrow runway. I didn't. I tried to hold it off and set down, but I bounced. Twice. I realized I was in trouble and I put in the power and slowly climbed above the trees at the other end of the runway as I took out flaps -- maybe a little too fast. That had to be the slowest, most intense climb I've ever had. And I'm sure it looked just as great to the other pilots watching.

I got back up in the pattern with several other planes. I went around and did a longer final, noting that the winds were much less than expected, and got in ok. I still didn't feel right about the landing. I found a place to stop (it's a very busy little airport), made some calls, and then went right back out.

The trip back was mostly uneventful. I was in touch with Boston Approach the whole way, and KLWM was busy but at least landing on my favorite runway (5), and as I was coming from over KBED, that made it a straight-in approach.

I talked with both Sean and Tim afterwards, especially about the trouble in Mansfield. After discussing other ways I could have handled the problem (just about anything would have been better), I asked Tim to give me some more dual time with complicated landings. I know I need a lot more practice with those, and the cross-country time just stresses the things I can already do fairly well -- plan and talk.

The total trip was about 2.6, so I have another 0.7 left to do on cross-country. Maybe after practicing landing (and unlearning as many bad habits as I can), I'll head up to KEEN.

Posted at 11:16PM Mar 18, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

welcome, spring

Welcome, Spring! Which, in this part of the world, means "Welcome, Fog!"

I planned out my 150nm, three-leg, solo cross-country trip last night. My plan was to go to Barnstable (KHYA) via Bedford (KBED), Norwood (KOWD), and Plymouth (KPYM), then, after a short stop there, go to Mansfield (K1B9), and then return home. It's about 160nm straight-line distance, with one good 72nm leg, so it's well over the 61.109(a) requirements. I called Griffin at KHYA and checked on the tie-down fees ($12) and other logistics (they're right at the end of Delta, across from Rectrix).

Things were looking great on the weather last night. We have a storm coming in this afternoon, but the morning is nice and calm with clear skies. Imagine my surprise when I call 800WXBRIEF and I'm told "VFR not recommended" and "AIRMET for that region." I look out the window -- some cirrus, but blue skies above. The briefer insists that KLWM has 2nm visibility in mist, as does KHYA.

I head out to the airport, and my plan is to call flight service again and get an update. Surely, it has to be just a little bit of morning fog, that's gone away by now, right? Going up 133 to 125, I can see the airfield and the tower from the road because they've cleared out the trees that once stood there. The beacon is on. Hmm. That's not good.

Once I turn into the airport, I can see why they're IFR. There's a bank of clouds right over the Merrimack river, with mist covering the runways. The tower and everything to the south is in clear air, but the rest is muck. I stand outside and watch a twin take off into the mist on IFR from runway 5, and disappear at maybe 200 feet.

If only the airport were more conveniently located directly _on_ Sutton street.

Tim and I did some talking about the planning I did, and about my plans as we head towards getting a license. He seemed impressed that I didn't take the easy way to get the cross-country time (Barnes and Keene would be much simpler), but agrees that I can do it. I probably have around 10 hours to go -- more or less depending on how much I can practice my specialty takeoffs and landings.

We checked the weather again, and KPYM now has a 1400 foot ceiling. We do some checking, and everything along the coast (except KHYA) has clouds. That really makes a mess of my plan to follow the coastline from the 260 Marconi radial in order to stay out of the restricted area. I might not be able to _see_ the coast.

Oh well. It looks like I'll have to wait two weeks to try again. Next week, I'm off to Philadelphia for IETF. Not as PIC, though.

Posted at 11:05AM Mar 07, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

steep turns

Today was yet another perfect day ahead of a coming winter storm. The forecast is for several inches of snow tonight and very high winds. This morning, though, was calm wind and perfectly clear skies. I think I'm sensing a useful pattern here. ;-}

I took off from runway 5, and headed out to the practice area near Plum Island, climbing to 2500. I then did two clearing turns, and then practiced some steep turns to the right and then to the left. It's been a while since I last did these, and I'm obviously rusty. I was able to roll out within 5 degrees of my target heading (entered at 090, then rolled out on 085), but holding altitude is much harder. I lost about 200 the first time, then ballooned out on the next one. There's a lot of coordination involved in rolling back and pitching down at the appropriate time, as well as reminding myself that I need more back-pressure once I get past 30 degrees of turn.

After doing four of those, I headed back to KLWM. The tower gave me a right downwind entry for runway 5, and I had no problem entering properly. I remembered my previous attempts, and realized that I needed to keep my distance so I wasn't too pushed in. Unfortunately, I turned to base far too early. Part of the problem was just sighting the 45 correctly, but a bigger part of the problem was that there was no wind -- I'm used to having a good steady headwind on final, and calm winds mean that I end up too high.

I realized I was way too high and needed to lose both speed and altitude with little room to do so. I pushed in the power and started a go-around. There's no reason to dive at the field if I'm not on fire. I called the tower and told him what I was doing, and he told me to go into a left pattern.

This was a bit more to plan. I was about 100 feet low in pattern (not good; a result of the work from the go-around, I think) when I called midfield, but was right on at the numbers. I pulled power, carb heat, and put in 10 degrees of flaps and trimmed for a descent. I didn't turn as early, but I was still a bit high on final. I pulled the power way back and settled in at about 75 across the numbers. I made the first-turn off at Delta.

I taxied back, and did it twice again. There were two other planes leaving for weekend vacations between my passes, so I ran up the Hobbs a bit waiting for them to go. No problem; I'm not in a hurry. My last landing was quite nice, though a little on the fast side, and I made the turn-off on all of them.

After I'd taxied off the runway on my last landing, the tower asked what conditions were like out there. "Absolutely beautiful!" I replied. He said I should enjoy it while I can, because it's going to turn ugly soon. I know we're not supposed to use the airwaves for chatter, but it was nice to get a human response in a case where we're usually all business.

I talked to Tim after securing the airplane. In addition to the three-leg cross country, I need to get some more dual time on engine-out procedures, and then a bunch of specialty landings. He said that from here on out, I should be doing all of my landings as short field, soft field, crosswind, or some other kind of practice. The next set of lessons will be practice for the practical test, so when it comes up, I should be completely ready.

I'm a little low on hours (33.2 so far), so I also feel like a few more of these basic practice days couldn't hurt, too.

Posted at 03:35PM Feb 29, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

biddeford

It's been a while since I've flown. The weather has been off and on, with either high winds or low ceilings, and last week I was out sick.

Today was finally the right time. This morning, they were predicting gusting winds up to 21 knots between 1 and 2 PM, but the rest of the time right around 9 or 10. I decided that, worst case, I might have to wait out the wind or divert somewhere, and it just wasn't going to get any better, so I went.

I arrived at the airport at 10:30 and discussed my flight planning with Adam, a new guy. He and I went over the details of my flight, and then at around 11, we went to talk to Tim, and he signed me off. I was supposed to open my flight plan at 11:15, but I didn't get out of there until about 11:45, so I'll have to remember that for next time.

After departure, I asked for a frequency change and then tried to contact Bridgeport radio on 122.1, listening Lawrence VOR. Nothing. I called three times, and got nothing. So, I leveled off at 3500 and called Boston Approach. They gave me 5152 to squawk, and I was on my way. I kept my altitude at 3700 so I wouldn't interfere with Portsmouth.

It's a clear day, and I could see the VOR radio sites on the ground, and that made it a lot easier to get my heading squared away. I guess it's cheating a bit, but I'll call it "pilotage" and leave it at that.

I started my descent based on a radial from Concord, and went back to VFR. I got down to 1500 around 5 miles from Biddeford.

Finding Biddeford was a cinch. Sanford is a huge landmark, as is the highway and the town of Biddeford itself. I noted the water line where Portsmouth Class C starts, and turned to the right to descend to TPA (995) and enter on the downwind. I made my calls and slowed to descend. On turning base, I noticed I was too close and just continued to turn final. On final, I pulled the power back and got to 30 degrees of flaps and settled in. I was around 80 across the numbers, and it made me float a bit, but I eventually touched down and then back-taxied to the ramp.

Getting to Biddeford was a good feeling. Not only was I in the right place, but I made that landing that I was so worried about.

I was half expecting to see a friend of mine drop by there, but I guess he couldn't make it. I sat in the FBO for a good 30 minutes, talking with the guys there and just relaxing from the stress.

I then went back out to the plane, and called flight service to open my flight plan. No more messing around with the semi-functional RCO. I set things up, and taxied out to take off. I departed directly to the southeast and climbed up to 4500 for the return trip. Around E. Berwick, I called Boston and got back on radar. The trip back was quick and mostly uneventful -- other than some bumps around Portsmouth that seem to be there all of the time.

My landing back at Lawrence wasn't exactly my finest, but I didn't bounce it, and I was prompt enough about getting off at Delta. I went back to Eagle East, did a lame job of parking, and secured the plane.

I have to practice the fundamentals for the test, and I need to plan a three-leg cross-country trip for my next big exercise.

Posted at 03:15PM Feb 21, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

shifting winds

Another perfectly clear day with light winds ahead of a predicted storm. Looking out the window right now, it seems hard to believe that any of those predictions could be right -- the sky is clear and blue.

I took off this morning for the practice area. Again, as last week, I climbed to 2500, then did some practice slow flight (80MPH), descent, and turns to make sure I could trim and be ready for pattern work.

I then headed back to Lawrence. The ATIS said the wind was 260 at 10kts, and they gave me a straight-in for 23. It's not exactly straight, but with no traffic around it doesn't much matter. I caught sight of the cat-in-the-hat (water tower in North Andover with a flag painted around it that looks more like the famous hat), and used that to aim myself into intercepting the approach at about 2 miles out.

I radioed in and got clearance. During my descent, he updated me on the winds, which were now 280. That's essentially on the line, and 23 is a better runway, so I continued and made a reasonable landing from a crab. My speed across the numbers was exactly 70.

As I taxied off, the tower directed me to taxi back to the 23 approach end. I pointed out to the tower that the winds seemed to be shifting, and I'd prefer to switch to 32. He approved it and directed me to 32. While I was taxiing, I heard a jet on approach for 23, and the tower switched him to 32 and advised that he was switching the active runway due to the winds. I felt a bit good about having called this one right and perhaps even helped someone else out a little, as the winds were now 290 at 11.

I made right traffic out of 32. There was no bump over the river, probably because of the low (-3C) temperature. There was another plane making left traffic into 32, and the tower first asked me to do a short approach. I reported "unable, student pilot," and he had me extend my downwind. I pulled back to 1900RPM, slowed up, then applied 20 degrees of flaps to reach 80MPH. I saw the other plane on final, and radioed the tower.

After I passed him, I turned base. My nose dropped and I sped up to 90, but I corrected it back gently. I then turned final. This was a tough approach and not stable. 32 is tough when crossing route 125 to begin with, and I ended up low and slow due to the extended downwind. I pushed the nose down and added power to get to the runway. I came in a little fast, a bit under 80, and floated some. That's not helpful in a crosswind at all, but I made the landing and remembered to turn right at delta.

I taxied back to the approach end of 32 and went up again. This time, I did a bit better controlling my speed, and I tried to get a bit of slip into the wind to get a better landing. That didn't really work out, as I was having trouble setting the right amount of slip, and had to revert to a crab. The touchdown wasn't so great, as I left myself drifting a bit after that slip attempt. I taxied back to the ramp and tied down.

Tim and I talked about my Biddeford trip, and talked about the options I should plan for, including going to Portland as an alternate (though fees may be involved), calling the FBO there to find out what they require, going to lunch in the Biddeford area or making a short trip to Sanford on the way back, and then heading home. He signed my book for the next 90 day solo period (my time was up 2/7), and I'm good to go after some planning. The only question is the weather.

Posted at 11:43AM Jan 31, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

on the ball

After several missed plans -- either low ceilings, rain, or high wind -- I finally got another good day for flying.

We are supposed to have light snow later today (the aviationweather.gov horoscope says noon), but in advance of that, the winds were light and from the west, with few clouds at 6500 and 10 miles visibility. Perfect weather.

After my last botched attempt, I posted on rec.aviation.student and got quite a few good opinions from the folks there. (Thanks again; you know who you are!) I also talked with Sean, one of the Eagle East CFIs. He pointed out that the transition from office work to pattern work would be a big jump, and, like the r.a.s postings, said that next time I should go out to the practice area, try some slow flight, and then come back to the pattern.

I headed east out to the Plum Island area. Because I knew I'd be dipping below 2000 feet, and I'd lose Boston (I can hear them, but they can't hear me), and because I would be returning soon anyway, I opted to listen to both Lawrence and the CTAF. I called out on the CTAF, just in case there was someone in the area, but all I heard were non-local calls (an annoying misfeature of untowered airports).

I climbed to 2500, then put on carb heat, pulled the throttle to 1500, and went full-rich. I held my altitude until the airspeed came down to 80MPH. I then established a 500 fpm descent and trimmed for that, and practiced two right turns -- simulating downwind, base, and final. It worked perfectly. Unlike my usual all-over-the-place approach, I was right on 80 the whole time.

I climbed back up to 2000 and headed west. I picked up the ATIS for Lawrence. Uh oh. The ATIS was broken -- it kept repeating "information Papa, winds 240 @ 10" -- no other data. I told the tower I was 8 miles out with partial information Papa, and that the ATIS seemed to be broken. He promised to check into it and gave me a straight-in for 23.

I flew over Haverhill to intercept the approach, descended to 1500, and turned to the airport. I made the 2 mile call, got clearance, and landed pretty neatly with normal flaps. I was able to trim this time, and that gave me more room to concentrate on getting down near 70 MPH as I crossed the numbers. There was just about zero float. I didn't remember to hold the back-pressure after touchdown, though.

I got off at Delta, and taxied back. Another plane landed, and I waited for him. Then I took off for a right pattern. I called in midfield, and did a fair approach. I'm happy that I was able to get the airspeed and trim a lot more stable. I wasn't in a fully stabilized approach, though, as I ended up under the glide slope (probably due to headwind and a too-long final), and had to add power. But I landed at about 72 MPH (give or take; it's not that precise an instrument), and held the back-pressure properly.

The tower told me he had no other traffic, and authorized me to do a 180 if I wanted. I did that, and set up to go again. My second pass was about the same as the first, and it felt like the wind was picking up a little. He again gave me a 180 back to the approach end, and I went up for a third time.

This time, I told him I'd head to the ramp. I made a nice, clean approach, held off landing until I was very slow, and taxied off at Delta. I even parked right on the lines for the tie-down.

This was a very good day. A couple more like this, and I'll have enough confidence to do that solo trip to Biddeford. I want to be sure that I can land accurately and consistently enough that it won't be a serious concern at that smaller airport.

Posted at 11:50AM Jan 24, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

better part of valor

Tomorrow's weather looks awful, so I checked the forecasts and DUATS for today. Things looked good, so I called the school. All three planes were available; I could just drop in. I called the ASOS and winds were from 300 at 10kts, so things sounded good.

I got to the school and called one of the CFIs to get the sign-off needed. No problem; winds are low enough and not far off the runway. "Have a good flight."

I picked out 13081, as that's the one I used for my first solo, and I wanted to fly it again since it'd been out of commission for quite a while. I took off from 32 and started a pretty good climb. I was ready for it, but there wasn't much of a bump going over the river.

I turned crosswind, and the tower asked me to check my transponder. I did, and turned downwind, with a pretty sloppy turn. He said he was getting a reply but no altitude. I fiddled with the knob; something must be loose. I reported midfield and set up for a landing.

I controlled my airspeed more than usual, but had trouble trimming and getting stable. At least the usual turbulence coming into 32 wasn't there. I got down and floated for a while. Once bounce, and then slowed to taxi without running out of runway, but it was anything but graceful. Then I realized how far behind the plane I was -- I got off at Foxtrot rather than Echo. The tower called to ask my intentions, and told me he'd direct me back.

It was a long taxi back to the runway, having blown that turn. I got clearance and took off again. The crosswind and downwind were a little better this time, but -200 feet at midfield. I set up to land and realized that I was actually doing worse than last time. Airspeed started to pick up, and I was too low too far out. I pitched up and applied some power to get in. I touched down better, and was able to make it to taxiway Delta after a fashion, but, again, not at all clean.

So, I taxied back to the ramp and called it a day. Just 0.5 on the Hobbs. I know I need more practice on pattern work, but obviously not if I'm having a day that's this far off.

Posted at 02:09PM Jan 10, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  | 

on my own

I was expecting to go up with Tim today and do some more hood work, but that's not what happened. Instead, he suggested that I should do some more solo work and get more used to operating the airplane.

I planned out a trip to Beverly, for practice landing there, and then headed up north towards Plum Island. (Though not landing at Plum; I'm not ready for that.)

Once I got to that area, I did a few practice turns, and then called Boston Approach for traffic reports. They had me squawk 5154 and ident, and I got to work. Since I was up there myself, I noticed more things. First of all, the top radio works better than the bottom, and I don't know why. Second, it can be really hard to understand what ATC is saying when there's static. Hearing my tail number but all else with difficulty, I felt like the dog Ginger in that Gary Larson comic -- "blah blah blah GINGER blah blah blah."

First, I tried doing some steep turns. Then I spotted some ground objects and, at 2500 feet (so I could stay in contact with Boston), tried some turns about a point. The winds were much stronger than when I did my first dual practice, so these were more like attempts at turns about a point and sometimes _over_ the point. Oh, well.

I tried both left and right turns while trying to hold my altitude steady. This takes more concentration than it should, so I guess I'll be practicing just that for a while. I headed over to I95 and started an S-turn. Boston called and reported traffic to the north. I couldn't see it, but told them I'd look. After a second report of traffic, and seeing nothing, I finally caught a glimpse of a beacon.

There was a layer of haze over Portsmouth at around 2-3000 feet. Nothing where I was, but it obscured traffic over there. I reported back to Boston that I had the traffic in sight. I probably should have reported the haze so that they knew what I was seeing. I'll kick myself for that now. ;-}

After a few more turns, Boston told me that there was traffic headed my way from the north, and it was another pilot doing airwork. It was over an hour at this point, so I turned due west, and told Boston I was headed back to Lawrence. They terminated radar service, and I switched over to Lawrence ATIS and tower.

At first, it sounded like I'd get a straight-in for 23, as I was expecting. But then they switched to a left base. No matter; I just drifted a little further south, and then turned up towards Lawrence.

As I descended from 2000 to 1200 (TPA), I hit a lot of mechanical turbulence. It was very distracting and it kept me from making a nice base to final turn. I made my call and got clearance. I was too high and too fast, so pitch up, throttle back, and more flaps.

I ended up landing much further down the runway than I wanted, and certainly not stabilized at all, but I was on the centerline and aligned with the runway, and made the taxiway I wanted, so that's good.

While parking the plane, I managed to find the tiny ditch for the tail tie-down and put my nose wheel in it. It wouldn't budge. I shut down and got one of the A&Ps to help move it by hand. Boy, is that embarrassing.

Tim has signed me off now for solo cross-country, so I'm supposed to plan that out, and when conditions are good, I'll go.

Posted at 02:28PM Jan 04, 2008 by carlson in Aviation  |  Comments[3]

third solo

Finally! A good day. Yesterday was light rain, mist, and then low temperatures with ice forming overnight. This morning, the dew point and temperature were just two degrees apart, and I expected to see advective fog.

But that didn't happen. The sky cleared and the winds were relatively light, at 5 to 8 knots from 260. Last night, Tim called and asked me to go early with Doug. I could tell that Doug was very much interested in getting me in foggles again and practicing unusual attitude recovery, but I just couldn't let this opportunity for a third solo go by.

So, we went up and did five landings, along with a couple of go-arounds. I find it harder to match what Doug wants me to do, because he's used to flying by Navy rules, which are quite different from Eagle East's. For one thing, he doesn't fly a rectangular pattern, but instead wants to see a 180 -- going directly from downwind to final, and putting the first 20 degrees of flaps in on the downwind.

Removing that base means that I don't have time to look at the field, try to judge my position, and then figure out where my turn to final should be. It has to be right from the downwind. I think that's quite a bit harder, so I did most of the approaches the way I learned instead, and talked my way through them so that Doug knew what I was doing.

With the wind at 20 degrees off to the right on takeoff, I had to do a bit of correcting -- maybe 5 degrees on each turn. I then flew a longer crosswind so I could set myself up for a longer base. This worked. I had some trouble controlling airspeed on final, mostly because I'm trying to get the speed down in order to flare better. This means paying more attention when it goes away on me and pushing the nose down.

On the last pass, I had a slightly rough landing. I was going a little too fast, so I pulled up to correct it, but by too much, and dropped quickly down on the runway. Good enough, though, and Doug got out to watch from the side.

Going on my own, I first did things the way I learned -- 10 degrees flaps on downwind, another 10 on base, and the last 10 on final. A decent landing, and then taxi back. The next time around, I try it Doug's way, and completely blow it. I'm far off to the right, and not at all stable on my airspeed. That's it -- power in, going around. I call the tower to let them know what I'm up to.

The next time around, I try the same thing again. This time, I drop right in, with airspeed somewhere between 70 and 80 as I cross the numbers. The plane settles gently and I punch one fist in the air. This is a good one.

The last time around, I'm getting a little tired. I just focus on a smooth landing. In fact, I focus on that so much that I end up drifting to the left and landing awkwardly. I'm down, though, and done for the day.

The next time I have scheduled is next Friday. I'm not sure what will be on the program then, but Doug suggests that I get more time practicing approaches, and I don't disagree. They're harder than they look.

Posted at 01:55PM Dec 28, 2007 by carlson in Aviation  | 

foggles

Perfectly clear sky today, but the winds were tough. This morning, the winds were light at perhaps 7 kts. By the time I got up there, 18 knots gusting to 24 or so at the ground, and then (as we learned later) 46 knots up at 4500 feet.

That meant today was another bad day for a third solo. We headed up towards Kennebunk instead. I took my time during the run-up, and set up my VOR frequencies, as well as Boston Approach for traffic advisories and ATIS for Portsmouth. When I was finally ready at runway 23, I was lucky and the winds were fairly steady, though strong.

We climbed up and I turned right to my heading of 046. I continued my climb up to 2000 feet, where Tim had me level out and trim, and then put on the foggles. That's a bit of a shame because I can see that it's a beautiful day, we can see for just about forever, with the coastline stretching out on the right.

With the foggles on, I start my climb up to 3500. Tim switches us over to Boston Approach, and I make the call. They come back quickly, which is a good sign, as it means they're not too busy. I set out what we're doing -- tracking the Pease VOR, thence Kennebunk, and return, request traffic advisories. Squawk 5147, maintain 3500 or higher. We're on our way.

I make my altitude 3600 and start trying to track PSM. I have to do a bit of hunting around, as the wind was more than I got on the forecast (30 knots), but it's also later in the morning. Tim sets up the second nav so that we can intercept a radial so I know when I'm a few miles from Pease. After a bit of flying, I see the radial, and then flag drop on the VOR, and I punch the button to switch to ENE.

With the goggles on, it's easy to see which way you're going and how you're banking, but much harder to tell altitude and climb/descent. I'm spending a lot of my time trying to get my nose straightened out, which has two effects. First, I'm getting way off in my altitude. Second, I'm getting distracted from the VOR and need larger corrections than I want in order to get back on course.

En route to ENE, Tim has me climb to 5500 to look for some smoother air. He lets me know that I'm right below the clouds. All that I can tell is that the air here isn't smooth at all, and I'm getting knocked around much more. I descend back to 3500. The flag drops, so we're right over ENE, and Tim asks me to fly to Biddeford -- a bit of a surprise. I look at my notes, and see that it's 86 degrees from ENE, and I set my heading and the OBS to fly from ENE. A few minutes later, Boston lets us go, and Tim has me take off the goggles.

"Find the airport. When you have it, we're going to do a simulated engine out, so pull it all the way back and establish best glide." I'm working hard to keep the airspeed steady and make left traffic into 24. Someone else is taking off, but we don't see him. He says nothing about turbulence. I get abeam the numbers and bang! the airspeed drops away, and we're headed for a stall. Tim says NOSE DOWN in his CFI voice, and we get our airspeed back. I start turning towards the runway, knowing that the wind is going to blow me towards it.

We're descending into the airport, and about 500 feet above the ground, another upset with the plane looking at the ground. Tim rescues the landing, which I'm sure I could not have made. I pull off the runway and gather my thoughts and reset the radios.

Taking off out of Biddeford is mostly uneventful. I had to force the nose down to get some airspeed, rather than climb through the turbulence above the trees. He has me pick up the Pease VOR and figure a course from the map. I get a rough heading, and at 2000 feet, the foggles are back on. The trip back to Lawrence is very slow and bumpy. Tim asks if maybe piano lessons instead are looking better now.

As advertised, Lawrence Tower gives me a straight-in for runway 23. Tim has me practice another engine-out from 4500 feet starting at around 9 miles out. I get it to roughly 80 MPH, and start gliding in. Lawrence notes my altitude and asks me if we're going to descend to land, and I radio back that we're set up for the approach. He asks me to report over the VOR. I probably should have told him that we were simulating an engine out, but that probably also became obvious when our ground speed dropped to 40 knots or so.

It takes forever to get to LWM. Eventually, the flag drops, and I report crossing the VOR. 61976, cleared to land. Cleared, 61976. It becomes obvious that I'm going to land around a mile short of the runway. Without a headwind, that should have been an easy landing, but nothing about this trip was easy. On short final, the winds start shifting around on me, and I get all botched up. Tim takes the controls again, and demonstrates a good cross-wind landing.

That took a lot more out of me than I expected. My left arm ached on the way home, because I was all nerves, and gripping that control. Tim says I did pretty well for a first time under the hood, and the winds were as bad as he's seen them. I still wish I were less surprised and more in control of the situation.

I'm not on the schedule for later this week, but just penciled in, in case someone cancels. The weather isn't looking too great, but if there's a gap, I'll do that elusive third solo. Otherwise, it might be more engine-out practice.

Posted at 03:04PM Dec 24, 2007 by carlson in Aviation  | 

hi, I'm here to reschedule

Another winter day with nothing good happening. Winds are light, but with the ceiling at 1300 and PIREPs for icing at all the nearby airports, there's no point in me going anywhere. Tim suggested that we could go, and let me make the call. I half expect he was waiting for me to say "yes," just so he could show me how wrong I was. In any event, I don't want to go on purpose at 100 feet from the clouds at pattern altitude, so it's a scratch.

I stayed for a bit, rescheduled for Christmas Eve, and briefly talked over Doug's assessment. He gave me a written page with Doug's notes and comments, and this was really helpful. I think his comments are pretty much right on, and said that I wasn't too thrilled with my performance at PSM, because I know I can do better than that.

Then we discussed this recent AOPA article:

A pilot challenges conventional wisdom

His take on it is that though establishing control first is the important thing, a 180 will still get you out of increasing bad weather while climbing will not. There's no way to know how high it goes, whether you can get there, or if that's the right thing to do. In particular, if you pop up into the clouds, the right thing to do is get level and trimmed (though you should already be there), take out 100-300 RPM, and descend back to where you can see.

It's also good to know where you are. Flying around here is easy, because if you're at 2000 feet, there's really nothing to hit besides other planes. Nothing is that high as long as you're east of Mt. Monadnock. Things would be different in the Berkshires or up in Vermont.

We also talked about options for my next flight. The ever-present third solo is on the list. Another possibility is flying up north and doing some hood work, if the winds don't cooperate.

Posted at 12:29PM Dec 21, 2007 by carlson in Aviation  | 

portsmouth

Tim was busy this time, so I went up with a new instructor -- Doug. He's an ex-Navy pilot, and commutes up here from Maryland in order to teach.

We spent an hour on the ground first talking over all things aeronautical. He's flown a large number of different planes, but not the 172 that I fly, so this is something new for him, too.

I did the pre-flight and he followed me around. He wants me to tell him what I'm doing and why, which is good because it gives me some practice explaining myself, which I'll likely need for the practical test. We get in, get started, pick up ATIS and start taxiing out to the run-up area near runway 23. It's all ice, so I'm going fairly slowly. It's tough to stay on a center line that isn't visible, but at least there's no traffic here.

We start doing the run-up, and the oil temperature isn't yet in the green, so we sit and talk over a few different scenarios. What if there's an engine out? What if you see smoke? What do you do if you're lost? His approach is a bit different from Tim's. Where Tim wants to focus on one thing and get it right, Doug wants to talk through the various scenarios to make sure we have a plan for each one. I'm a bit nervous, so I don't know that I get all of them right. But I do set up the radios and nav before we call for clearance.

We take off and turn towards our heading. I'm watching the VOR, and we're getting blown to the east -- the wind is much stronger than forecast, so I start going to the left 5 degrees at a time, trying to crab into it. Eventually, I get my bearings straight and I see Exeter, so I pick up Portsmouth ATIS, write it down, and switch to tower. I call the tower and tell them only that I have information Juliet. Not where I am or where I'm going. Oops. I realize my mistake when the tower calls back and asks me to ident, and I go fumbling for the button. He might as well have said, "gee, nice to hear from you; but who and where are you?"

He tells us to report a two mile left base into 34. I can see the large body of water near PSM, but I can't really identify the runway. At least I know where it is, so I head towards where I think it ought to be. I'm a bit close on my base, but I make the call. I descend in, and it seems to take forever to get rid of my airspeed and land. It's a good thing that the runway is over 11000 feet long. I have room to land clumsily and even stop and go, with room to spare.

The wind is much stronger here than I expected. I take off and am immediately drifting across the runway because I forgot to turn into the wind as I should have. Doug briefly takes the controls to prevent us from touching down again and spinning or rolling over. But we're up again, and the tower asks for my intent. I ask permission to stay in the pattern, and he tells me to make a left pattern and report my base.

This time around, I'm not making enough correction for the wind, so I call wings-up on my turn to base, and keep going around to final. I'm far enough off the centerline, too fast, and too high, so I just push in the power and go around, telling the tower what I'm doing. The next time around, I crab out much further, and I get what looks like a somewhat stable approach. I do a forward slip to land, but Doug tells me I'm going too fast and need to pay more attention to airspeed. I'm not sure he noticed the slip. We do it one more time and then head back to Lawrence.

Doug wants to go to Beverly, but I hadn't planned on that and, fortunately, it was getting too late now, so we just head back home. After I land he asks me about the approach speed -- and we realize that he'd memorized the speeds in knots, but this instrument is marked in MPH. That relieves at least one of the mistakes.

We talk over the flight afterwards and the notes he'd jotted down during the trip. It seems I did ok given my level of experience, but I'm not thrilled with that performance, particularly completely spacing out on the initial contact to PSM.

I have time scheduled Monday, but that's probably going to be a miss, as there's a storm coming in with high winds forecast. Another session is set for Friday. I'm still hoping for calm (or near-calm) winds so that I can get that third solo. I definitely need some time where I can just practice those approaches and get more stabilized more often.

Posted at 09:47PM Dec 15, 2007 by carlson in Aviation  |