lesson report

The sky was pure blue for most of the morning, with not a breath of
wind, or a wisp of cloud to speak of. My flight was booked for 3pm, but
I called earlier, and was told I could fly at 2:30 if I wanted.
I arrived in time, and after general chit chat about how perfect the
weather was for flying, I was handed the keys and told to go fly.
By this stage, there was some scattered white cloud around, but it was
all well above 5000ft.
As I was exiting the office, I was told that another student would also
be heading out to the same area that I was, and it was to be his first
area solo. This was my second time solo in the training area. I was
given a brief rundown on what he had been told to do, and we were both
told to watch out for each other, as "no-one survives a mid air
collission!".
Confidence instilled, I headed out to my trusty Gazelle. The young
Asian student followed, and we both began our pre-flight inspections.
The Gazelle, was closest to the runway i use, which today was 25, and I
was ready to fire her up first, as he had to wait for the instructor
for some reason. I suspect they decided to do one dual circuit with
him, to give us more separation in the training area, as I head him
call a full-stop instead of following me after I was leaving the
circuit.
I made my calls, and taxiied to the run-up area, and did those. The
Gazelle had been in the air all day. I had heard it on the scanner all
morning, and afternoon. It took no time at all to reach running temps
and I was free to fly.
I took off, and remembering my blunder a few weeks ago when I departed
to the right against normal circuit direction a little early, I instead
began a normal circuit, until I reached 1500ft, then broke away and
headed towards the training area.
Along the way, I made a point to have a bit of a look down, and see if
I could find a few spots I knew from the ground. I found my old house,
and the new shops etc, and allowed myself to relax and just enjoy the
flight. There was no cloud anywhere near me, as it was all a few
thousand above me. I pushed the throttle, and climbed to a new maximum
height for me. The big 4000! Never been that high before, and I have to
say, things really start to look small from up that high!
I was heading back over to where I live to do a few steep turns over
the house. I dropped down to about 2500 to do them, and was able to see
the wife, kids and Mother in Law all standing out in the street,
'checking out Dad!'
Several steep 360 degree turns later, I headed back down the coast, for
my trip back to do a few circuits. Along the way, I thought I'd better
practice something else, not quite as fun as steep turns, so I pulled
the carb heat, and the throttle, and raised the nose for a few practice
stalls. She slowed nicely, and got sloppy, then the stall horn scremed
at me. I pushed the nose down slightly, and watched the airspeed climb
to around 55kts, then slowly reintroduced the throttle, and levelled
her out. Nicely done. Did another with similar results. I forgot to
take note of how much altitude I lost, but I'm certain it was not much,
and within requirements.
I headed back to the airfield for 3 or 4 circuits. There were a few
small scrub fires around today, so I was able to really see what the
wind was doing. The short answer was 'not much at all', but it still
suggested runway 35.
Here is where my one and only stuff up for the day happened, mind you,
I beg for lenience, as I was also experiencing a slight in flight drama
at the same time.
I overflew the airfield at the required 1500ft, to check the wind sock,
and enter the circuit. As I made my call, the radio sounded like it was
screaming, and I could not hear my own voice like I normally can. I
tried several times, and was rewarded with a call from another a/c,
saying "Station calling! Too much feedback in your last transmission!
Please repeat!"
Fan-bloody-tastic! I was flying over the airfield at 1500, and unable
to tell anyone I was there!
I quickly took off the headset, and grabbed the passenger headset, and
put that on. Then I retransmitted using the push to talk button on the
right control stick. (The Gazelle has a control stick in front of the
pilot and the passenger, rather than a yoke). So, I'm flying the plane
with my left hand, and having to take my right hand off the throttle,
to operate the right hand side push to talk button! This saw me turn
slightly to the left, and, trying to figure out if I had radio or not ,
I got overwhelmed for a brief second, and began my decent to 1000ft to
join the circuit, on the live side of the airfield, about half way down
the downwind leg! What I should have done is stay at 1500, make a high
circuit to the dead side, and then get down to 1000ft, and join on the
crosswind. I realised it as soon as I levelled out at 1000ft on the
downwind. Still unsure as to whether I was being heard, I repeated the
cak-handed operation of the right side PTT button and called the
airport for a radio check. Report came back as loud and clear. The
problem must have been the pilot side PTT button, or his headset. (I'm
betting on the PTT button.)
Anyway, I did not want to end my days flying just because of a PTT
button problem, that I had worked a way around, so I decided I would
continue as planned, and do a few touch and go's.
All in all, I did 4 touch and go's, before a full stop. All but the
last landing were absolute greasers, with the last throwing me a very
slight yaw to the left just a few metres above the ground. Here's the
weird part. Once I landed, and did the shut down check list etc, I
noticed that the wind had swung around, which explained the slight
crosswind behaviour on the last landing, but the wind was coming from
the East, and the a/c yawed to the West as I landed. I would have
thought that a breeze from the right would point the nose to the right
as it hits the tail plane. Anyhoo, it was not a stiff breeze by any
stretch of the imagination. I'd guess at barely 8 - 10kts. Perhaps the
wind was a bit all over the place as it had only just changed direction
and was still straight down runway 35 on the previous take off.
I was instructed to put the a/c back in the hangar as I taxiied off the
active, and was met there by my instructor. I infThe sky was pure blue
for most of the morning, with not a breath of wind, or a wisp of cloud
to speak of. My flight was booked for 3pm, but I called earlier, and
was told I could fly at 2:30 if I wanted.
I arrived in time, and after general chit chat about how perfect the
weather was for flying, I was handed the keys and told to go fly.
By this stage, there was some scattered white cloud around, but it was
all well above 5000ft.
As I was exiting the office, I was told that another student would also
be heading out to the same area that I was, and it was to be his first
area solo. This was my second time solo in the training area. I was
given a brief rundown on what he had been told to do, and we were both
told to watch out for each other, as "no-one survives a mid air
collission!".
Confidence instilled, I headed out to my trusty Gazelle. The young
Asian student followed, and we both began our pre-flight inspections.
The Gazelle, was closest to the runway i use, which today was 25, and I
was ready to fire her up first, as he had to wait for the instructor
for some reason. I suspect they decided to do one dual circuit with
him, to give us more separation in the training area, as I head him
call a full-stop instead of following me after I was leaving the
circuit.
I made my calls, and taxiied to the run-up area, and did those. The
Gazelle had been in the air all day. I had heard it on the scanner all
morning, and afternoon. It took no time at all to reach running temps
and I was free to fly.
I took off, and remembering my blunder a few weeks ago when I departed
to the right against normal circuit direction a little early, I instead
began a normal circuit, until I reached 1500ft, then broke away and
headed towards the training area.
Along the way, I made a point to have a bit of a look down, and see if
I could find a few spots I knew from the ground. I found my old house,
and the new shops etc, and allowed myself to relax and just enjoy the
flight. There was no cloud anywhere near me, as it was all a few
thousand above me. I pushed the throttle, and climbed to a new maximum
height for me. The big 4000! Never been that high before, and I have to
say, things really start to look small from up that high!
I was heading back over to where I live to do a few steep turns over
the house. I dropped down to about 2500 to do them, and was able to see
the wife, kids and Mother in Law all standing out in the street,
'checking out Dad!'
Several steep 360 degree turns later, I headed back down the coast, for
my trip back to do a few circuits. Along the way, I thought I'd better
practice something else, not quite as fun as steep turns, so I pulled
the carb heat, and the throttle, and raised the nose for a few practice
stalls. She slowed nicely, and got sloppy, then the stall horn scremed
at me. I pushed the nose down slightly, and watched the airspeed climb
to around 55kts, then slowly reintroduced the throttle, and levelled
her out. Nicely done. Did another with similar results. I forgot to
take note of how much altitude I lost, but I'm certain it was not much,
and within requirements.
I headed back to the airfield for 3 or 4 circuits. There were a few
small scrub fires around today, so I was able to really see what the
wind was doing. The short answer was 'not much at all', but it still
suggested runway 35.
Here is where my one and only stuff up for the day happened, mind you,
I beg for lenience, as I was also experiencing a slight in flight drama
at the same time.
I overflew the airfield at the required 1500ft, to check the wind sock,
and enter the circuit. As I made my call, the radio sounded like it was
screaming, and I could not hear my own voice like I normally can. I
tried several times, and was rewarded with a call from another a/c,
saying "Station calling! Too much feedback in your last transmission!
Please repeat!"
Fan-bloody-tastic! I was flying over the airfield at 1500, and unable
to tell anyone I was there!
I quickly took off the headset, and grabbed the passenger headset, and
put that on. Then I retransmitted using the push to talk button on the
right control stick. (The Gazelle has a control stick in front of the
pilot and the passenger, rather than a yoke). So, I'm flying the plane
with my left hand, and having to take my right hand off the throttle,
to operate the right hand side push to talk button! This saw me turn
slightly to the left, and, trying to figure out if I had radio or not ,
I got overwhelmed for a brief second, and began my decent to 1000ft to
join the circuit, on the live side of the airfield, about half way down
the downwind leg! What I should have done is stay at 1500, make a high
circuit to the dead side, and then get down to 1000ft, and join on the
crosswind. I realised it as soon as I levelled out at 1000ft on the
downwind. Still unsure as to whether I was being heard, I repeated the
cak-handed operation of the right side PTT button and called the
airport for a radio check. Report came back as loud and clear. The
problem must have been the pilot side PTT button, or his headset. (I'm
betting on the PTT button.)
Anyway, I did not want to end my days flying just because of a PTT
button problem, that I had worked a way around, so I decided I would
continue as planned, and do a few touch and go's.
All in all, I did 4 touch and go's, before a full stop. All but the
last landing were absolute greasers, with the last throwing me a very
slight yaw to the left just a few metres above the ground. Here's the
weird part. Once I landed, and did the shut down check list etc, I
noticed that the wind had swung around, which explained the slight
crosswind behaviour on the last landing, but the wind was coming from
the East, and the a/c yawed to the West as I landed. I would have
thought that a breeze from the right would point the nose to the right
as it hits the tail plane. Anyhoo, it was not a stiff breeze by any
stretch of the imagination. I'd guess at barely 8 - 10kts. Perhaps the
wind was a bit all over the place as it had only just changed direction
and was still straight down runway 35 on the previous take off.
I was instructed to put the a/c back in the hangarormed her of what had
happened to the radio, and she told me it was good thinking to attempt
to work around it like I did.
I told her of my wrong circuit entry, and she listened to my answer as
to how I should have done it, and she agreed that I was correct with my
answer of how it should have been done.
Next time, I want to do some more practice forced landings, and a few
prec searches.
Total time now is 17hrs out of a minimum 20hrs.

--
Oz Lander.
I'm not always right,
But I'm never wrong.

("Oz Lander" wrote)
Next time, I want to do some more practice forced landings, and a few prec
searches.


What's a prec search?


Montblack

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("Oz Lander" wrote)
Next time, I want to do some more practice forced landings, and a few
prec searches.


What's a prec search?


Montblack

Precautionary search. 3 passes over the ground with less altitude with each
pass to check suitability for a landing on any surface that is not an
official runway.
Crash Lander

Oz Lander wrote:

Along the way, I thought I'd better
practice something else, not quite as fun as steep turns, so I pulled
the carb heat, and the throttle, and raised the nose for a few practice
stalls. She slowed nicely, and got sloppy, then the stall horn scremed
at me. I pushed the nose down slightly, and watched the airspeed climb
to around 55kts, then slowly reintroduced the throttle, and levelled
her out. Nicely done.
Hi Oz

We have to actually stall the aircraft in various configs. In all cases
I've been taught to check forward positively and then go to full power
to get airspeed and pitch back up ASAP. Of course you need to put in
rudder at the same time to control a potential wing drop developing. Now
I know you did not stall just when the horn went off, but a weak
response in a real stall could fail the PPL (I've been told). Is this a
microlight difference? Do you do wing drop stalls?

Cheers MarkC
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"DR" wrote in message
...
Hi Oz

We have to actually stall the aircraft in various configs. In all cases
I've been taught to check forward positively and then go to full power to
get airspeed and pitch back up ASAP. Of course you need to put in rudder
at the same time to control a potential wing drop developing. Now I know
you did not stall just when the horn went off, but a weak response in a
real stall could fail the PPL (I've been told). Is this a microlight
difference? Do you do wing drop stalls?

Cheers MarkC

Hi Mark. The Gazelle is such docile a/c, that it does not drop a wing when
stalling. We are yet to cover advanced stalls, but my instructor said we'd
'try' to get it to drop a wing to do the lesson.
Crash Lander

On May 14, 7:17 pm, "Crash Lander" wrote:
"DR" wrote in message

In all cases
I've been taught to check forward positively and then go to full power to
get airspeed and pitch back up ASAP. Of course you need to put in rudder
at the same time to control a potential wing drop developing. Now I know
you did not stall just when the horn went off, but a weak response in a
real stall could fail the PPL (I've been told). Is this a microlight
difference? Do you do wing drop stalls?

Cheers MarkC

Hi Mark. The Gazelle is such docile a/c, that it does not drop a wing when
stalling. We are yet to cover advanced stalls, but my instructor said we'd
'try' to get it to drop a wing to do the lesson.
Crash Lander

Hi Oz, I'll _bet_ it will drop a wing fast if you have power on and
full left rudder (you probably shouldn't do this as it may be way too
violent -just a little left rudder should be enough), but you have to
stall -not just take it to the point where the stall warning goes
off. But, do you actually stall or only just slow to near Vs -your
description did not sound like a full stall?

Cheers MarkC

The_navigator wrote:

On May 14, 7:17 pm, "Crash Lander" wrote:
"DR" wrote in message

In all cases
I've been taught to check forward positively and then go to full
power to get airspeed and pitch back up ASAP. Of course you need
to put in rudder at the same time to control a potential wing
drop developing. Now I know you did not stall just when the horn
went off, but a weak response in a real stall could fail the PPL
(I've been told). Is this a microlight difference? Do you do wing
drop stalls?

Cheers MarkC

Hi Mark. The Gazelle is such docile a/c, that it does not drop a
wing when stalling. We are yet to cover advanced stalls, but my
instructor said we'd 'try' to get it to drop a wing to do the
lesson. Crash Lander

Hi Oz, I'll bet it will drop a wing fast if you have power on and
full left rudder (you probably shouldn't do this as it may be way too
violent -just a little left rudder should be enough), but you have to
stall -not just take it to the point where the stall warning goes
off. But, do you actually stall or only just slow to near Vs -your
description did not sound like a full stall?

Cheers MarkC

Hey Mark!
If the fpm shows a loss, that's a stall yes? It started to show below
level, at which point I lowered the nose. The horn had been activated
for a few seconds already. The Gazelle stalls at about 45kts, and I was
definately not doing anymore than that, so I'd say it was an actual
stall. Next lesson is supposed to be advanced stalls so I'll get more
practice in then.
You may be right about it dropping a wing with full power and full
rudder. I was originally told it would not do it, but I guess that was
with a power off stall.

--
Oz Lander.
I'm not always right,
But I'm never wrong.

If the fpm shows a loss, that's a stall yes?

No. Not necessarily. A stall is when the airflow separates from the
wing (it generally happens piecemeal). Lift can deteriorate even before
that happens.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Jose" wrote in message
...
If the fpm shows a loss, that's a stall yes?

No. Not necessarily. A stall is when the airflow separates from the wing
(it generally happens piecemeal). Lift can deteriorate even before that
happens.

Jose

OK, thanks. I'll spend a bit extra time on stalls then when they do advanced
stalling.
Crash Lander

Oz Lander wrote:

Hi Oz, I'll bet it will drop a wing fast if you have power on and
full left rudder (you probably shouldn't do this as it may be way too
violent -just a little left rudder should be enough), but you have to
stall -not just take it to the point where the stall warning goes
off. But, do you actually stall or only just slow to near Vs -your
description did not sound like a full stall?

Cheers MarkC

Hey Mark!
If the fpm shows a loss, that's a stall yes? It started to show below
level, at which point I lowered the nose. The horn had been activated
for a few seconds already. The Gazelle stalls at about 45kts, and I was
definately not doing anymore than that, so I'd say it was an actual
stall. Next lesson is supposed to be advanced stalls so I'll get more
practice in then.
You may be right about it dropping a wing with full power and full
rudder. I was originally told it would not do it, but I guess that was
with a power off stall.


Hi Oz

No, a loss in altitude is not necessarily a stall demonstration. You
have to try to maintain height by pulling back more and more and the
stall will show itself as a sudden nose drop -you may be at full back
stick before the drop occurs. This is because the center of lift
suddenly moves back as flow separates. In the PPL you are expected to
hold altidude accurately until the abrupt nose drop. The actual stall
speed depends on loading and the POH figures should be for MTOW. If you
are not up to MTOW, the stall will be below Vs (remember bank increases
wing loading). Height loss could be as little as 50' if you do it well.

For the wing drop 1/2 power and small left rudder should be enough -you
don't want it to snap into a spin! The wing drop exercise gives you
experience in immediate reactions needed to stop a spin developing. I'd
say it is probably the most dramatic manouver I've done so far (recovery
from unusual attitudes under IF seemed less dramatic -maybe because I
couldn't see the ground!).

I hope you've covered the spin break method -PARE (and remember you must
pull back rather than forward if you've become inverted :-( ). I'll
admit I've not had the confidence to do a full wing drop while flying
solo so far -even though my recoveries to all 3 stalls have been quite
good (IMHO). It can't be due to the 'confidence prop' in the right seat
can it??? By the way, on my checkout for soloing to the training area I
managed to drop a wing a bit during an advanced stall. My immediate
rudder action killed the problem and I got my first compliment :-) -so
training does seem work -even though I'm still finding good rudder
coordination elusive... only 10Hrs to go before PPL minimums... Tomorrow
is low flying lesson 1 -I'm really looking forward to that one after 5
hours under the hood!

Cheers MarkC