Learning to fly

[Chairboy]

I suspect that delivery method might disturb the toppings.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by Chairboy
I suspect that delivery method might disturb the toppings.

 <-first laugh of the day is always the best!

Seriously, you can do it. If you're flying your plane properly with coordinated turns it should not be a problem. Did you ever see an aerobatic performance by the legendary ace, Bob Hoover? He did a demonstration with a camera in his cockpit - the one where he has a jug (oops - pitcher) of water, which he pours into a glass on top of the combing (<-unsure of spelling). He was able to barrel roll the aircraft while pouring the water, and because he kept it in positive G, no water was spilt.

I saw Bob Hoover perform at the 1991 EAA Convention at Oshkosh. He did an amazing display in his twin engined Shrike Commander - and then he did the same thing with one engine out...

...and then he did it with NO engines!

[Habu]

Chairboy what happened to the restaurant? Did it not work out?

[Chairboy]

The restaurant is doing fine, making a profit too now that we've paid off the loan and own it outright.  The restaurant is here in Springfield and my wife runs it.

[Straiga]

Over water a piece of cake.

Depart KLAX climb to 33k two hours into the flight climb to 39k after 5 hours flight time decend into KHNL and land. The next day depart KHNL climb to 34k direct to sydney and land. Then fly it back shooting a CAT III aproach to minimums into KLAX. Piece of cake, real men at work flying a B-767-300ER. Fly two of these trips a month and kick back the rest of the month.

Straiga

[jigsaw]

Originally posted by Straiga
Over water a piece of cake.
 

Ya'll using INS or GPS?

One of my classes next semester is "Air Traffic Control." Should be fairly easy, but now you've got me wondering how ATC works for flag operations.

[Golfer]

Ya'll using INS or GPS?

One of my classes next semester is "Air Traffic Control." Should be fairly easy, but now you've got me wondering how ATC works for flag operations.

I'm not sure of the ISBN now, but I've got books and books and books about International ops.  Took "High Alt/Intl Ops" two semesters ago and it went over the whole shebang in great detail.  Slightly lacking in GPS technology, but the book was a few years old at the time.  Great stuff on Inertial Nav and so forth.  Also lots of detail on JAA, flying in Europe, Pacific and Asia.

I could send em to ya to borrow for only shipping if you need em for the quarter.  I just need to dig em up.

Lemme know.  I can compare ISBNs and prices on Amazon.com (where I order all my books now) as I recall they were fairly cheap in the $30 range.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by Straiga
Over water a piece of cake.

Depart KLAX climb to 33k two hours into the flight climb to 39k after 5 hours flight time decend into KHNL and land. The next day depart KHNL climb to 34k direct to sydney and land. Then fly it back shooting a CAT III aproach to minimums into KLAX. Piece of cake, real men at work flying a B-767-300ER. Fly two of these trips a month and kick back the rest of the month.

Straiga

Hey great! Big automatic plane which flies itself. WTG!

[jigsaw]

Originally posted by Golfer

Lemme know.  I can compare ISBNs and prices on Amazon.com (where I order all my books now) as I recall they were fairly cheap in the $30 range.

Thanks for the generous offer Golfer. I'm not sure what the textbook is yet, but I'll let you know once I find out.

[Chairboy]

Hi guys!

Just got back from a great holiday spent with my family up in Oregon, so it's time to start flying again.  

Today, we did an hour of ground school, then went flying.  I did my first tower call to request take off ("Santa Monica Tower, Cherokee 8258S holding short runway three request takeoff with left downwind departure.") I took off, then flew through a canyon to Chatworth, west of Van Nuys.  There, I dropped to 1,800MSL, about a thousand feet above the ground, and did S-turns back and forth over a road.  When we were done, my instructor said, and I kid you not, 'Just like typical Ben flying, you aced it on the first try.'  Gotta like it!  That was a great thing to hear, and I was very careful not to pooch up my next maneuver after he said that.  During the S-turns, I was able to control my altitude precisely, watch for traffic, keep my airspeed within 5 knots, everything.  It's all starting to feel like second nature, and I'm getting a lot more comfortable at scanning inside and outside regularily so I have no surprises.

After this, he put me under the hood again (so I couldn't see out the window) and had me do a number of maneuvers like changing altitude, heading, and both at the same time.  Something he did differently this time that I noticed was he started piling a few things on me at once, gradually increasing the number of tasks to complete.  He never overwhelmed me, and it helped me gain confidence in my cockpit management skills.

As I completed my descent checklist, I scanned for traffic every few seconds and saw a twin converging with us at altitude.  I immediately pointed it out to my instructor and he took the controls and maneuvered us behind him.  The scanning pattern really works for finding traffic, and he commended me.  We watched the twin do some erratic maneuvering, it looked like a student pilot who didn't do a clearing turn before making a big turn.  We split off from him and headed into Santa Monica for a left hand pattern approach.  Because of the wind, we got vectored in to the VA hospital near Wilshire, then into the pattern heading to the ocean.  There was a jet coming in, so the tower asked us to do a real short approach and get on the ground quickly.  My instructor took the controls and brought us in real quick.  While he was maneuvering, tower told the jet to continue a mile past the shore before turning back to give us time to land, then canceled that saying 'That Cherokee did a real nice job setting up for landing, cancel that and turn left at shoreline.'  My instructor laughed, and said 'I think I just got a compliment!'.  He handed back the controls to me and I brough it in and landed it.  I flared a little high, I need to work on getting my perspective of the runway down, but that just meant I landed a little long.

When we were off the runway, I called to ground control and requested taxi, then parked the plane.  

It was a great lesson, and it really felt good that I didn't forget everything during my multi-week hiatus.

I'm back flying every morning this week, then hopefully I'll do double lessons on the weekend.

[slimm50]

Originally posted by mars01
LOL,

The Warrior is by far a much easier plane to fly than a High wing.

A high wing airplane will go into a spin if you stall it and the ball is not centered.

The warrior doesn't even really stall ( it just msuhes along) let alone spin.  If you do all your training in a Warrior make sure you go out and learn stalls and spins in a 152 or even in a 172.  If your only expirience with stalls is in a low wing you may get yourself into trouble if you ever fly a high wing.

A friend took me up in his Aviat Husky (a high-wing plane) and let me stall it by easing the nose up and backing off on the throttle. It was the most docile thing. Now, I admit the ball was centered and wings level. It just mushed over in a nose-down attitude and picked up speed very quickly and I was in controlled flight again. It barely even shuddered when it stalled. Was a thrill for a non-pilot like me.

[Chairboy]

Another lesson today, converted more cash into lift.

I preflighted, then we took off and flew up to Malibu again.  On the way, he had me transition in and out of slow flight.  I get nervous down at 60 knots, as flying the sims has taught me that 'e is life'.  My instructor briefed me, then had me do some more power off stalls to review.  I've gotten a lot better at recovering, I really need to stomp on that rudder and avoid trying to use my ailerons.

Then we did something new, we did power ON stalls.  Basically, I'd throttle back to descent, pull back the yoke until the stall horn started buzzing, then I'd throttle up to 2100 RPM, which is right around cruise.  Then I extend the nose even higher until buffeting started, and when it stalled, I'd recover.  I did this like 5 times because I had a real bad habit of trying to use ailerons, but my instructor rapped my knuckles on it long enough that I got it down finally.

Next, he simulated an engine failure for me.  We were out by Malibu again, so he set the best glide speed (in this plane, 73 knots), identified the field at Pepperdine University as his landing spot, and then walked through the troubleshooting checklist.  After going through the troubleshooting, he simulated calling radio w/ Mayday (121.5mhz, if I recall) and then set up an approach to the field.  As we came in over the shoreline, he applied power and we pulled away.  If I was on the ground, I would have been paying real close attention, because I'm sure we looked like we were in trouble!

We flew back to Santa Monica and he let me do all the planning, checklists, and radio calls to the tower.  I landed it on my own, then pulled off to the side of the runway and prepared to call to taxi back to parking, but he told me to request taxi for another take off.  So I did, and we took off again with a closed left hand pattern.  This time, he had me call the tower to request 'The option', which sounded mysterious.  Dutifully, I called 'Santa Monica Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra requesting the option'.  Tower responded clearing me for it, then the instructor filled me in on how 'The Option' means that I can either land, touch and go, or just do a low pass.  When I lined up and was about to touch down, he had me initiate a go-around and throttle up.

I dog-legged over the golf course like usual (I wonder if the people below appreciate all the effort the pilots go through to be quiet for them) and turned left at Lincoln again, then did another Left hand pattern approach, this time with clearance to land.

Most of my other landings, my instructor has been helping with the controls a bit and sort of overriding me.  This time, I asserted myself and told him I had it, then brought the plane in for a really smooth landing.  As we touched down, he seemed real pleased, so I'm looking forward to doing more on my own.

One area I've got to pound into my head is how big the runway is.  I tend to flare a little early because I'm used to narrow runways in my simulators & Aces High.

It was a good lesson, I parked the plane and did a little ground school.  I bought my first map, the LAX area one, and I'll be studying it tonight.

Tomorrow morning, another lesson!

[jigsaw]

Cool beans. Nice to see you progressing.

As you're setting up for power on stalls and adding back pressure, hold it in when you go to add power.  That will make the stall happen earlier and more smoothly.

A common thing is to let the nose down a bit just before you add power. That raises your airspeed and prolongs the stall, making the nose go higher before it breaks. Not an overly big deal in trainers, but as you get into bigger planes you can end up going ballistic before getting to a pretty harsh break. Better to develop a good habit now.


Golfer: ATC class doesn't require a book. Just a current AIM. Thanks again for the offer.

[Golfer]

Golfer: ATC class doesn't require a book. Just a current AIM. Thanks again for the offer.

No problem, mon.

I caught in another thread you're in advanced aerodynamics...whats the text?

Even though it may not be used for your course, I suggest:

"The Illustrated guide to Aerodynamics" by H.C. "Skip" Smith
ISBN 0-8306-3901-2

Good read and its not as dry as an aerodynamics book should be.  Those are almost as fun as that blue 'Aviation Weather' book..ugh!

[jigsaw]

Thanks for the tip Golfer. I'll check it out.
Was in the pilot shop by my old flight school one day and a guy working on his private asked me what I thought about the book "Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators." I recommended him getting down the basics first.

Not taking Advanced Aero this semester. Haven't decided on my fall classes yet, but that one will probably be fall or next spring. I'm taking summer off for a change, though.

edit- Oh yeh, I just had to buy another copy of the "Weather" and "Weather Services". Yeehaw!