Third Supervised Solo

6/21/2010

On Monday morning I had my third supervised solo. We have to meet in the morning, because North Carolina this week is in the high 90's with high humidity. That sort of weather makes flying in the pattern with Sky Pig uncomfortable to say the least. I finally took a few pictures of the beast, here she is.

I did two landings with Hal (one of which the side latch of the door popped open again) and then he sent me off on my own. The first landing was good except after I touched down I was swerving all over the runway and realized my foot was on the right side brake too soon. About this time a snide little voice comes over the radio questioning whether there was a deer on the runway I was avoiding...

Two more landings and it is getting really warm in the Cherokee, there is no fan and nothing but hot hair coming in the vents. Hal tells me to keep going, so up I go again. By now the sweat is running down my face and I have had enough, one more good landing and I head back in to get out of the sweatbox.

So now I have three solo flights in and ten solo take offs with their corresponding landings in my logbook along with the endorsement to go out to the airport and practice on my own. Hal and Lorin both say that things will go fast now and we are going to start work on cross country navigation. My cross country solo will be the next really big step. I am hoping to finish up and have my license by the end of August.

Second Supervised Solo

June 15, 2010

I had my second supervised solo today. I met Hal at the airport at 10am and it was already hot. Jeff came up to the airport to, because according to him, if he didn't see me solo it never really happened.

I did a few landings with Hal on board and then dropped him off at the FBO. The density altitude was 2000' by the time it was my turn to go at it alone and it really does make everything feel different. I could tell right away it took longer for the plane to get up and the plane just flew different all around. I also had to leave more power in and get up higher in the pattern because the Cherokee was sinking faster than normal otherwise.

I did two takeoffs and landings, and on both landings I was porpoising. The FAA Airplane Flying Handbook says this about porpoising: "In a bounced landing that is improperly recovered, the airplane comes in nose first setting off a series of motions that imitate the jumps and dives of a porpoise - hence the name. The problem is improper airplane attitude at touchdown, sometimes caused by inattention, not knowing where the ground is, mistrimming or forcing the airplane onto the runway." Sounds fun huh?

After the second not-so-graceful landing, Hal called me back in so he could go up with me and as he put it, "get you calmed back down." He quickly determined the problems. First of all I was pushing the nose over (forcing the airplane onto the runway) rather than just letting her come down. And second I wasn't looking down the runway. Think about how you drive a car, as you go down the road you look out ahead of the car, down the road. If you look right over the hood of the car it makes it difficult to judge exactly where you are. The same is true of landing a plane, if you look right over the front of the plane it is hard to judge where you really are. You see the ground coming at you and either want to push the plane down or pull back and flare to soon. You have to look down the runway a bit to get the timing right.

So I did one or two landing with Hal and he gets back out and I taxi back out to try again. I give it full power hit 60 mph and rotate. As soon as I begin to feel the plane lift off, about 4 feet off the ground I hear this big rush of air and see sunlight streaming in around the door. Great, the door came unlatched. It didn't open all the way, the top was locked, but the latch on the side had popped open. I had a second of uncertainty and confusion, but knew I had plenty of runway to land. I pulled back the power, felt a little bounce and then heard Hal say "hold her off", I did and the Cherokee came right down. Ironically the best landing so far of the day.

I taxied back to the FBO, we checked the door and made sure it was shut properly this time. Jeff and Hal at first thought the engine had quit, fortunately that was not the problem, but I am guessing it gave them a good scare.

Not to be done in by the previous landings and attempted take-offs of the day, I taxi back out for one more. After checking the door several times, I finally take off and end the day with a pretty decent landing and my second solo under my belt, not to mention some emergency landing practice.

First Solo Flight

First Solo Flight
Friday June 11, 2010

I met with Hal for my flight lesson this morning. Nothing out of the ordinary, winds were at about 4 knots and it was a beautiful day. He discussed the proper way to perform a go-around and mentioned that we needed to work on some s-turns. I did the pre-flight and we proceeded to runway 5 and took off.

Shortly after I turned downwind for my first landing Hal says what do you do if you loose power now and he pulls out the throttle. Crap! I haven’t practiced an emergency procedure for weeks. A gentle reminder from the right seat, establish proper glide speed, look for a place to land… it’s all coming back to me now. We increased the throttle and got back on our downwind, turned base, and then final for runway 5.

As I am getting close to touching down Hal says there’s a deer on the runway, you need to go around. We increase power and once the Cherokee is climbing I incrementally let out each notch of flap and climb out over the invisible deer. I do two more landings and Hal says, “I think you're ready to solo.” So I’m thinking I’ll probably be soloing next week. Next I hear from the right seat, “Taxi of to the hanger I need get my hand held radio so I can talk to you.” Uh, he means I am going to solo now!

We get over to the hanger and he fills out the endorsements in my log book, after several reminders to watch my airspeed and altitude and to just be careful, Hal gets out of the plane, gets his radio and signals me to go.

By this time I am pretty nauseated. I’m not exactly scared, just sort of sick to my stomach. I taxi back out to the runway and keep telling myself, “I can do this, I can do this.” I do a run-up and make my radio call that Cherokee 8354W is departing runway 5 and then taxi onto the runway. I sit there for a few seconds to breathe and double check everything and then I go.

O.K., I’m up, I’m all alone, and so far everything is cool. At this point the sick feeling in my stomach is gone and I have a fleeting moment of joy, which is quickly replaced by the thought that I actually have to land this thing by myself now. I keep waiting to hear Hals voice over the radio, but there’s nothing and all I can think of is Tom Cruise in Top Gun saying “Talk to me goose, talk to me.” Seriously, that really was what I was thinking!

At this point I am on the downwind leg and I know I have to start thinking about the steps I need to take in order to land. At midfield I make sure the fuel pump is on and I turn on the carb heat. Now I’m at the numbers so I put in a notch of flaps and trim to the proper speed. Time to turn base, speed looks good, altitude is good. Another notch of flaps and I begin my turn to final. I add the last notch of flaps, check my speed, and then finally, I hear from Hal. He reminds me to check my speed, I tell him it's good and I continue the descent.

The rest is sort of a blur. I did three full stop landings. I remember there was some porpoising on at least one of them and the voice over the radio told me to hold it off and I got her down. The last one was a pretty good landing I think. It really does sort of blur altogether and it was over before I knew it. I taxied back to the hanger and Hal opened the door with a huge smile, shook my hand, and told me congratulations.

My Uncle is a pilot also and is currently riding his bike across the country. On his blog, The Longest Ride, he said his knees were shaking after his first solo and wondered if mine were too. No, Sam, my knees weren’t shaking. When I got out of the plane both my legs from top to bottom were shaking.

I feel like a real pilot now and was invincible for the rest of the weekend, because I soloed; I can fly.

Time Flies

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've written anything.

I have been training in my borrowed Cherokee 180 since it has come out of annual. I really enjoy flying her and love having a low wing plane. Currently we are working on landings. Once I, and my instructors, are comfortable with my landing abilities, it will be solo time!

I was to practice landings today with Hal and all was going well until we were at the end of the taxi way doing the run-up. As I switched to the left mag there was a big drop in RPM's, not good. The right mag seemed fine, so Hal tried running the RPM's up to clean the plug and the left seemed better, but then the right mag was dropping off and the engine was running rough. We tried several more times to clear it. You do this by switching back to both mags, leaning out the engine, and giving it lots of power. We couldn't clear it up so we taxied back to the ramp and tried a few times more with no better results. At that point we taxied over to the mechanic that is on site to get it checked out.

"Stretch" pulled the bottom plugs. The plugs in the no.1 and no.3 cylinders were gummed up causing the problem. This probably happened from the last several flights being in the pattern, working on touch-and-gos and not being able to lean out the engine. He also pulled the top plugs just to check, but they were fine. The spark plugs were cleaned, put back in, and within an hour the Sky Pig was running strong again.

Of course by that time Hal needed to be back home to paint his windows, so no flying for me today. The up side is that I got to see under the cowling and learned a lot about the engine and all the other stuff under there. It was also a good lesson on the importance of going through your check lists and performing a proper run-up.

Jeff has been working on his IFR training with Lorin and I have been going along. I'm learning how to read the approach plates as I sit in the back, and I take a lot of pictures of clouds. It was gray and chilly here earlier in the week and it was so cool to get up above the clouds and into the sunshine!

Here is one of my favorite pictures from that day.

Under the clouds: gray and yucky.


Above the clouds: blue sky and sunshine!





Here is another neat shot...

If you look at these clouds you can see a rainbow-like circle, the dark image in the center of it is a shadow of our Piper Lance.






The sun casts a shadow of the plane on the cloud layer and the water in the clouds makes the rainbow effect. The closer we got to the clouds the bigger it got. I hope I can get a better picture of it another time.

First Stall

I had another lesson on 2/27 in the Cherokee. The wind had finally died down for the day and it was a beautiful day to fly. Scattered puffy clouds at about 5000' and Carolina blue sky. We went as high as 8000' and worked on flying headings, keeping my airspeed constant, and holding altitude.

Before my lesson Lorin talked about doing some stalls, not exactly what I wanted to do that day. As we were working on airspeed he began to pull back the throttle to show me how the plane felt as there was less power. "Notice how mushy feeling it gets?" he said. It wasn't long before the red light in the cockpit was flashing and I realized what was really going on; my first stall. We bobbed around as I tried to keep my composure and finally asked, "Can we stop this now?" He put the power back in and happily I was back to straight and level flying again. It really wasn't all that bad and I am actually glad he sort of surprised me with it rather than telling me we were going to do it. Thinking about the stall is much worse than the stall itself.

I think I mentioned in my last blog that the Cherokee only has toe brakes on the pilot side. That being said on landing I may have left a little bit of rubber on the runway this time...

Calm Winds and a New Plane to Fly

I have very carefully NOT followed my own advice from my last writing as to flying frequently and so it has been over a month since I have had a lesson.  It has been, however, less than perfect weather in North Carolina over the last month or so. Record cold temperatures, snow, and gusty winds have prevented most people at our local airport from flying very often.

I will say that I have made good use of my non-flying time however. I've been working diligently on SheFlies.com, looking for great products, adding articles, and improving the site overall, so keep checking back to see the changes as they develop. And yes, I've been riding Bugs.

The other exciting thing that has transpired during this time is that a friend who is not able to use his plane right now has loaned me his 1965 Piper Cherokee 180c for my training.  I acquired the necessary insurance, she just came out of annual last week, and is now parked in a hanger at my home airport KLHZ. 

Today was my first flight in her.  Lorin, my instructor, was a tad nervous as the Cherokee only has brakes on the left. Needless to say we spent a considerable amount of time on the ground taxiing and making sure I could stop. We also used ground time to get familiar with the instrumentation and go through the check lists.

Finally it was time to take off. I taxied up to runway 23, did the run-up, and then continued on to the runway for take off. We hit 60 and I rotated, it seemed like it took forever for her to come up, (all in my head), and we were climbing steadily as we left the pattern.

We climbed to 3500 and flew a few basic maneuvers to get the feel of the Cherokee. The air was smooth and she was really nice to fly.  For some reason I feel more comfortable in the Cherokee than I ever did in the flight school's Cessna. I am guessing it is because my husband's Piper Turbo Lance, which I am the right seat fixture in, is a low wing, as is the Cherokee.

Lorin had me descend to 1500 and we flew above a long line of power lines, following the path they cut through the landscape below, working on flying straight and level. The wind was pushing us a little so I learned how to give it some rudder to the right and the some left aileron to keep on course, we turned around and followed them back the other direction and logically, this time I needed left rudder and some right aileron.

We turned a heading back toward the airport and entered the pattern on a 45 for landing. Lorin helped out with the throttle and trim, I turned base, then final and found that she came right down were she needed to be. A little help from Lorin and a little flare and we were on the ground. I taxied back to the hanger where my now relieved husband was waiting and completed my first flight in a plane almost as old as me.

I tended to over correct today when I was losing or gaining altitude. I have to remember to make small corrections and give the plane a chance to settle in before I correct again. I did do a fair job at maintaining my altitude during turns though.

They are calling for snow here in our area again tomorrow, so I will probably be grounded. But, now that I don't have to try to squeeze into the flight school schedule to rent their Cessna I will be able to fly much more often and look forward to flying again this week.

Back in the Saddle

What do horses and planes have in common? More than I would have thought.

I have a horse that I keep at a friends barn, Bugs is a sweet animal, but likes to be lazy. I try to get over there once a week to ride. If I miss a week I can feel it in my legs because I really have to push him to get back to where we were weeks before. My balance isn't as good and I tend to tense up which he feels, and then I have to push him and fight him more. He responds better if I am light on he bit. And I need to anticipate his next move. For example I know that when I ride up the far side of the ring, for some unknown reason, he likes to cut over the to the left and cut through the jumps. I have to start pushing him to the right before he gets to that spot to keep him going in the right direction. The more consistently I ride the more relaxed I am and the better he responds.

On Wednesday (1/13/10) I had my third flying lesson in the Cessna. The first thing I learned that day was if you are taking lessons try to keep them consistent, at least weekly, you forget stuff really fast early on in the training process.

Since my last lesson in the Cessna (12/4) I have flown back and forth with Lorin, our CFI and my husband (Jeff) to Cincinnati, Ohio twice in our Piper Lance. And also to Mt. Airy, NC, and Harstville, SC with my husband. So while I learned a lot about the Lance such as using the GPS and working the radio and how to trim out the plane and lean the engine, it felt like I had never been in the Cessna before.

Before we took of we talked about angle of attack (AOA) and how it relates to airspeed. For more on this topic see the article at Sheflies.com.  We also discussed turns around a point and s-turns. The plan for the day was to go up and do few maneuvers, fly down to Wilson, NC for touch and go's, practice turns around a point and the s-turns, and try to find my house.

The taxiing thing is surprisingly not as easy to master as I would have thought. The trick is small and frequent corrections, stay ahead of the plane. So we took off and climbed to about 3000, there was a little wind which in the Lance you wouldn't hardly notice, but in the 172 it was pushing me around a lot. It was a bit of a challenge to fly straight and level. Lorin obviously picked up on the death grip I had on the yoke and tried to get me to relax and use one hand on the yoke. I also realized the tension in my legs while working the rudder. Next lesson learned - relax, relax, relax.

My husband shared a trick he learned during his training. Take a pen and put it under you middle finger and over your first finger and ring finger, hold the yoke with that hand, the pressure the pen puts on you finger forces you to relax your grip. Do that a few times and the death grip will go away.

We climbed up to about 5000 and took a few minutes just to fly and worked on getting comfortable. Near our airport there is miles of power lines so Lorin had me fly over the path they cut through trees below to practice flying straight and level. That line runs near my house so I was easily able to find it and flew two circles around a point using the house as a reference. That went well and Lorin said if I had done that on my check ride I would have passed.

Next we headed down to Wilson for a touch and go. Quite honestly, the whole landing is a blur. I remember lining up with the runway and seeing the ground getting closer and closer.  Lorin took care of the throttle and before I knew it we were back up and he was saying, "good job, you did it." It was a great feeling, scary and exciting at the same time. By then we needed to get back to our home airport, so we made the short trip back to Louisburg (KLHZ) and had another good landing.

I logged 1.7 hours that day and when I got out of the plane my legs and arms felt like I had just got of my horse. So what do horses and planes have in common? They both need a light touch for one. Anticipate your next move, relax and make small frequent corrections. Fighting them only wears you out and you end up trying to catch up with them by making big corrections and you are all over the place. Also, it is important to practice consistently. It keeps what you learned and the feel of the plane and/or horse fresh in your mind.

I keep trying to review the flight in my head and remember what I learned. Next week I will focus on making small and frequent corrections to stay ahead of the plane and relaxing, and getting back on track with my ground school so I can get ready to take my written exam next month. I also need to go ride Bugs...