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  |