Sorry for the vibration and low quality. Most of the work was performed by my instructor as it was a very tight squeeze into the field.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Feeling discouraged
Having finished the requirements necessary for the FAA to administer a check ride for my private pilot certification, my feelings are ambivalent. In one respect, I am thankful to have successfully reached 40 hours. Yet when I stop to think about how much I have learned, and the remaining check ride, I begin to feel discouraged.
There are two parts to the check ride. The first part consists of an oral exam wherein the examiner will test my general aviation knowledge. These are the types of tests I am accustomed to after spending 3 trying years in graduate school. On the other hand, I am not so confident with the practical part of the test, especially after today's flight.
Although my performance under the hood went well, even in rather turbulent flight over some hilly terrain, I thought I would be able to land on my own at Clyde Valley. Not being able to do so made me question my own abilities as a pilot. Granted the airstrip is tiny and holds some interesting terrain to negotiate, I felt I should have been able to get us on the ground without any assistance from my instructor.
I believe the major impetus for my discouragement arises from a discomfort with forwards slips to landing. With many accidents resulting from an overshoot of the base turn to final, I find myself concentrating on maintaining shallow COORDINATED turns as I come in to land; not deliberately uncoordinating my turns as is performed in a slip.
As we returned from Clyde Valley Airport to Hickory I called tower 9 miles out and gave the typical position report and requested a full-stop landing. Tower came back and told me to report mid-field, right downwind for 19. I responded with a request for 24 in order to obtain some crosswind landing experience. Tower accepted my request and I removed the foggles 1.5 miles from the airport and called my mid-field downwind for 24. Abeam the numbers, my instructor asked what flap setting I would use for this landing. Due to the slight breeze I said that one notch would be fine. After saying so he pulled the throttle and said, "engine failure". I ran though my ABCs. (A) Airspeed for best glide, (B) best place to land, hickory airport and (C) checklist. Keeping an eye on the runway I made my base turn such that I would be a little high on final.
I had already mentally prepared myself for a forward slip to landing while day dreaming at work. In this dream we were on final to land; not on base-to-final as we were yesterday. As I turned from a right-base to final my instructor told me to slip. Two things immediately came to my mind. One, we have never performed a slip from base to final while trying to turn, and two an uncoordinated turn from base to final is rather dangerous if airspeed is not maintained above the stalling speed of the aircraft. At this point, I was fighting to keep my left foot on the left rudder pedal, and not on the right pedal. We were now trying to maintain a turn mid-slip. My mind was working and telling my what to do, but muscle memory governed my intellect.
After working the controls with my instructor through the slip, I landed the plane using an uneventful side-slip to counter the southerly crosswind. After exiting the plane, many what-ifs began to arise in my mind. What if the examiner asks me to do this of that, will I be prepared enough to successfully accommodate their request? I hope so, but until then I will continue to practice and study the oral exam guide.
Now, my mental preparation will be focused on a new aspect of forwards slips, and will consider the other aspects of flight where I can utilize the forward slip. With the majority of slip training encompassing slips using left aileron and right rudder, (due to the ease of pushing the stick left, if you are right handed) I had limited my scope to straight flight. I will now be more open to using this slip and its counter part to lose altitude in turns before turning final.
As I have learned, the skills that we acquire may not be limited to one responsibility. I encourage anyone learning to fly to think about all of their skill sets and how they maybe used outside of the box. However, I do not encourage anyone to try anything without first talking to their flight instructor.
There are two parts to the check ride. The first part consists of an oral exam wherein the examiner will test my general aviation knowledge. These are the types of tests I am accustomed to after spending 3 trying years in graduate school. On the other hand, I am not so confident with the practical part of the test, especially after today's flight.
Although my performance under the hood went well, even in rather turbulent flight over some hilly terrain, I thought I would be able to land on my own at Clyde Valley. Not being able to do so made me question my own abilities as a pilot. Granted the airstrip is tiny and holds some interesting terrain to negotiate, I felt I should have been able to get us on the ground without any assistance from my instructor.
I believe the major impetus for my discouragement arises from a discomfort with forwards slips to landing. With many accidents resulting from an overshoot of the base turn to final, I find myself concentrating on maintaining shallow COORDINATED turns as I come in to land; not deliberately uncoordinating my turns as is performed in a slip.
As we returned from Clyde Valley Airport to Hickory I called tower 9 miles out and gave the typical position report and requested a full-stop landing. Tower came back and told me to report mid-field, right downwind for 19. I responded with a request for 24 in order to obtain some crosswind landing experience. Tower accepted my request and I removed the foggles 1.5 miles from the airport and called my mid-field downwind for 24. Abeam the numbers, my instructor asked what flap setting I would use for this landing. Due to the slight breeze I said that one notch would be fine. After saying so he pulled the throttle and said, "engine failure". I ran though my ABCs. (A) Airspeed for best glide, (B) best place to land, hickory airport and (C) checklist. Keeping an eye on the runway I made my base turn such that I would be a little high on final.
I had already mentally prepared myself for a forward slip to landing while day dreaming at work. In this dream we were on final to land; not on base-to-final as we were yesterday. As I turned from a right-base to final my instructor told me to slip. Two things immediately came to my mind. One, we have never performed a slip from base to final while trying to turn, and two an uncoordinated turn from base to final is rather dangerous if airspeed is not maintained above the stalling speed of the aircraft. At this point, I was fighting to keep my left foot on the left rudder pedal, and not on the right pedal. We were now trying to maintain a turn mid-slip. My mind was working and telling my what to do, but muscle memory governed my intellect.
After working the controls with my instructor through the slip, I landed the plane using an uneventful side-slip to counter the southerly crosswind. After exiting the plane, many what-ifs began to arise in my mind. What if the examiner asks me to do this of that, will I be prepared enough to successfully accommodate their request? I hope so, but until then I will continue to practice and study the oral exam guide.
Now, my mental preparation will be focused on a new aspect of forwards slips, and will consider the other aspects of flight where I can utilize the forward slip. With the majority of slip training encompassing slips using left aileron and right rudder, (due to the ease of pushing the stick left, if you are right handed) I had limited my scope to straight flight. I will now be more open to using this slip and its counter part to lose altitude in turns before turning final.
As I have learned, the skills that we acquire may not be limited to one responsibility. I encourage anyone learning to fly to think about all of their skill sets and how they maybe used outside of the box. However, I do not encourage anyone to try anything without first talking to their flight instructor.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The last 0.8hr of training
Sometime this week I hope to finish the remaining 0.8 hours of my private pilot training. During this time, I will be working under the hood and hopefully flying over to 3NC0 http://www.airnav.com/airport/3NC0. This is a tiny field located about 1 mile from my in-laws house in Morganton, NC. Flying into 3NC0 will provide another opportunity to practice short field landings and take-offs; with the added challenge of negotiating substantial terrain. At the end of runway 34 are powerlines while the opposite end is fenced in by a small hill topped with 50' trees. It seems that the only way around the trees is through a small pass to the right of the end of the runway. Stay tuned for updates about this flight...I have yet to receive full approval from my instructor. I have attached an image highlighting what I believe to be the departure route from runway 16.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Airworthiness Directives
In an effort to ensure the aircraft you operate is current with respect to airworthiness directives, I have added a link to the FAA's AD site. Here, you can search the make of aircraft you fly, the appliance in question, and even the AD number if you know it.
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