Cross Country (return to HKY)

...During the preflight before returning to HKY I noticed the oil was running slightly low. After adding some more oil (cold) I started the engine with a little throttle added. Immediately the plane began shaking unlike any shake I had previously experienced while idling the engine. After pulling the mixture and turning off the magnetos, I started engine a second time with the same result. Rather than cycling again, I decided to throttle up to 1700 rpm and let it run for a while. After about a 30 seconds I pulled the throttle and let it idle. For whatever reason this ameliorated the rough idle. I am currently researching reasons for observing such violent tremors. My current hypothesis considers the colder oil shocking the warm engine.

With confidence that I had cured the previous sutuation, I taxiied to the active runway and departed 35A for the 50 minute trip back to HKY. I reached an average speed of 85kts with the assistance of a quartering tailwind. Atlanta Center provided the intial flight following before transferring me to CLT approach who eventually transferred me to HKY tower for a smooth landing. An angled view of the landing can be found in the video links to the left. The pitching you observe is my teasing the plane in an attempt to grease the landing. I recommend turning down the volume to prevent the stall warning horn from blowing your ear drums. Other videos from this flight, including one on the ground at 35A can also be found with the landing video. A .kml file can also be downloaded to view my route in Google Earth. Way point 1 is a test point...I did not go that far off course.

When I come up with a better explanation for the tremmoring plane I will be sure to update the blog.

Cross Country II continued

On Saturday, April 25th, I traveled from HKY to 35A (Union County Airport) in South Carolina.  I departed around 7:45 am to very calm winds on the ground.  My preflight weather briefing indicated a high pressure system on the coast of NC.  High pressure systems naturally rotate in a clockwise direction.  Therefore, a high pressure system centered on the eastern part of the state would expose the western part of the state to the trailing end of the high pressure system.  As a result, the winds at 3500-4500' were coming out of the south, and directly against my flightpath to 35A, at around 12-15 kts.  This headwind increased my ETA from ~53min to 1.25hr.  and increased the cost of the flight by about $30.  The ride back was a little more time efficient and impacted my wallet a little less.   

For the most part my flight was rather uneventful.  I contacted ATL Center on the ride down for flight following and they sent my to CLT approach as I was a little closer to their airspace. As I approached 35A they had me switch to the advisory frequency (that frequency used for air-to-air communication) and terminated my flight following.  The airport in SC  did not have any type of in-flight weather radio weather services. However, I was able to listen to a surrounding airport to and determine their winds and altimeter setting.  To confirm that these winds were comparable, I flew over the field to check the windsock before landing.  I will be updating the page later this week with video of the union county airport and some commentary....

for now, I have to get going to work.  I will publish the events of the return trip later today or tomorrow!

Cross Country II tomorrow

I will be making my second solo cross country tomorrow, flying from KHKY to 35A in South Carolina.  Departure time is 7AM.  Click on my SPOT messenger link on the right hand side of the page to track my progress!

Super Sport Cub

Coming next month to the HKY airport: http://cubcrafters.com/supersportcub/default.aspx
Unlike the sport cub, the plane I am training in, this little beast has nearly twice the horse power. At Sea Level, she will climb at a rate of 2,100'/min. At 10,000' the climb rate is cut in half, yet is still twice the climb rate of the sport cub. Stalling Speed is around 32mph. I am assuming this is full flaps, as this is the same stalling speed in the sport cub when full flaps are used. Hopefully my job will have me in town so I can watch the demo and maybe even have an opporunity to take a ride! Have a look at their video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AhUkjjpSOs

Working Under The Hood

Today began and continued nicely. My instructor and I spent about 1.2 hours flying around to finish up working "under the hood" i.e. instrument flight only. I did fairly well and was significantly less stressed. I doubt I will be able to shake all of the butterflies, but this is a good thing and keeps me on my toes. In order to help limit my view outside of the cockpit, we had to MacGuyver my sunglasses using a bit of duct tape.

All I needed to go along with this get-up was a penciled in mustache. During our time in the air we completed several basic maneuvers including power on and off stalls, slow flight (i think I observed 27kts = 31mph at one point), standard rate turns using only the compass and a stop-watch, and some "VOR" tracking. VOR is in quotes b/c we were using the GPS, as the cub is not equipped with a VOR receiver. After tracking the Barrett's Mt. VOR we headed back to HKY.

The ride back was uneventful. I had to navigate to runway 24 using the GPS and instruments. Things are a little trickier when you can't see outside. My instructor was directing me through the altitudes to descend to. At about 9 miles out I called HKY tower to inform them I was inbound for a full-stop. During this transmission I neglected to tell the controller my location relative to the airport. Apologetically, I informed her that I was North of the airport. When should couldn't find me on the radar she asked me to ident the trasponder. After doing so she corrected my position report, informing me that I was more to the North-East. Lesson: ATC would like to know more detail. I called back at 3 miles out and received my clearance to land. After a 1.5 more miles my instructor allowed me to remove my "foggles". After removing them runway 24 was right in front of me.

A slight cross wind coming from my right greeted me as I made my way to the runway. For some reason I wanted to apply left aileron and right rudder, rather than right aileron and left rudder. This switch of controls must have been muscle memory from forward slips to lose altitude.

All-in-all today was a good day; even at work. I was less nervous and significantly more confident. Next flight: Solo x-country part two...

Flight Lesson

Since it had been 90 days since my flight instructor had ensorsed my logbook for solo flight (See FAR/AIM § 61.87 (n) (2)) I needed to show him my proficiency in order to attain another 90 day endorsement. Prior to this flight I had completed my first solo cross country. This flight took me from KMRN to KMWK to KGSO and back to KMRN. The first leg of the flight from MRN to MWK was rather uneventful and quite pleasent. I had opened my flight plan with FSS and contacted Atlanta Center for flight following. I must say that there is an added comfort in knowing that there is a second pair of eyes helping watch for aircraft in your vicinity; even if they are on the ground and trained on a monitor. Arriving into MWK was uneventful I crossed the field to check the windsock and made a tear drop back to enter the left downwind for runway 18 at a 45 degree angle. I landed safely and taxiied to the ramp to call my flight instructor and check in with my wife. 

Having taken care of my ground responsibilities, I taxiied back to 18.  On departure, I called ATL Center for flight following over to GSO.  Arriving into GSO was very eventful.  I received several vectors from GSO Approach that would eventually set me up for a clearance to land on 23L.  While I was being vectored, ATC was also vectoring another aircraft for a landing on the same runway.  Upon receiving my clearance to land, I heard ATC inform the aircraft behind me that he was 10kt faster than me.  Being in such a smaller and slower airplane, I was causing a small traffic jam on 23L.  This traffic jam would ultimately result in the trailing aircraft making a missed approach.  Once I landed and taxiied to the ramp, I got out and went into the Landmark FBO to grab a drink and check the weather.  Knowing that the winds were to pick up within the next two hours, I decided that an immediate departure was necessary to avoid any discomfort on the ride home.  To speed up the departure, ATC allowed for me to depart without taxiing to the end of the runway.  After taxiing onto 23L via K3, I throttle up and to my surprise was met with a crosswind as the plane lifted from the ground.  Without any cross wind correction, this little bit of wind lifted my left wing; thus dropping my right wing.  Luckily the gust wasn't significant and I was able to apply corrective action and depart GSO safely.  Once out of GSO airspace, I contacted ATL Center for flight following back to MRN.  At 6500' I encountered a significant headwind which slowed my progress to that being made by the vehicles traveling on I-40 below.  Needless to say, I could have drove from GSO to MRN and made it in the same time it took me to fly there.  

As I neared MRN and descended from 6500' through 4500' the turbulence began to pick up and remained with me through landing.  On my final approach into MRN I believe I flew through some wind-shear which made the nose of the aircraft turn one way while the tail went in the opposite direction.  Not knowing what to do in this situation, I made peace with Jesus really fast while continuing to aviate.  Once on the ground I thanked God and collected myself before getting out of the plane.      

Following this flight I decided to test my meddle against some fairly brisk winds.  Although these winds were only 10kts, each gust made its presence felt to the green pilot at the controls. On my downwind leg for runway 03 at KMRN I decided that flying for that day would be ceased once on the ground. Turning final for 03 I was greated by a nice little crosswind. Prior to going out that day I had mentally rehearsed side-slipping the airplane in the event of such a circumstance. To my surprise, I handled the wind very well and safely landed the plane. Although I decided to shorten the flight as a result of my own discomfort, I was able to walk away with a sense of accomplishment in knowing that I had properly applied the the necessary flight controls to combat the crosswinds that day.

Since these two flights, my instructor has moved his operations from KMRN to KHKY.  I could not be more pleased with this decision.  For one HKY is 5 minutes from my house.  Also, the airport is slightly busier and is towered which will provide me with an opportunity to hone my radio skills and prepare me for landing/operating at larger airports.

With the previous flight's winds still vivid in my nervous imagination, me and my flight instructor went out for an hour ride and made a couple of short field landings and take-offs. There was some turbulence that day which quickly brought back the memories of the previous two flights.  I am not sure why I have become so uncomfortable with turbulence and wind, but I would like to get over that so I can fly in comfort.  I have approximately 3 hours left until I take my checkride with the FAA examiner.  Two of these hours will be spent under the hood learning to fly using the cub's instruments while the remaining 1 or so will be spent flying my second cross country. 

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