Back in the air.

Well, it's almost 2 months since I last flew, due to maintenance issues
and a holiday interstate.
I had a lesson today, and was feeling fairly confident that I hadn't
become too rusty, due to constant visualisation and going over stuff in
my head. I was slightly nervous about the a/c as it's wings were only
reattached yesterday, and the prop had also been removed for
re-dressing. I was a little surprised at the prop, because I had
expected the resin leading edge inserts to have been replaced, but they
weren't. They had just re-coated the prop itself with that varnish
stuff, whatever they call it! :-)
We started the a/c, after a couple of tries with and without choke. She
was running very rough, and didn't sound right at all. I shut her dwn
again, and tried again to start it. This time all sounded and felt just
right. Must have just been too much fuel in the previous attempts to
start it.
Taxiied and took off. Pulling back the throttle to begin decent for the
first touch and go delivered another nervous moment. A fairly strong,
unusual vibration was felt. As we were not on the ground, my mouth
instantly did an impression of a cats bum, and gauges were frantically
checked. My instructor suggested that the prop may not be 100% balanced
properly after being re-dressed. Turned out that must have been
correct, as it did it every time we throttled back, and caused no ill
effects other than the unusual vibration.
We did 2 touch and goes and a full stop with the instructor with me,
and then I did 5 touch and goes and a full stop on my own. One of my
aproaches was a little high, so I thought it was the perfect
opportunity to have a go at a side slip. I'd been shown how twice, done
it once with assistance, and done it once or maybe twice without
assistance. Well, I gave myself a little bit of a scare, as it didn't
go quite to plan. Discussions with my instructor once on the ground
revealed that I simply didn't have quite enough rudder applied, but I
was applauded for trying to practice it. I was't happy with any of my
approaches, most of them were too low, and I needed to apply power to
get back on the correct glide slope, and a couple of the landings were
a bit ordinary too, however I did have a bit of a last minute crosswind
to contend with on the last few approaches from about 300 feet and
below. I', now at 1.3hrs solo, and need 3 hours solo before we move on
to the next section of the syllabus.
I'm booked in again for next Saturday morning, so we'll try and whittle
away that time then.

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

Sounds good there CL.

Not4wood

"Oz Lander" wrote in message
...
Well, it's almost 2 months since I last flew, due to maintenance issues
and a holiday interstate.
I had a lesson today, and was feeling fairly confident that I hadn't
become too rusty, due to constant visualisation and going over stuff in
my head. I was slightly nervous about the a/c as it's wings were only
reattached yesterday, and the prop had also been removed for
re-dressing. I was a little surprised at the prop, because I had
expected the resin leading edge inserts to have been replaced, but they
weren't. They had just re-coated the prop itself with that varnish
stuff, whatever they call it! :-)
We started the a/c, after a couple of tries with and without choke. She
was running very rough, and didn't sound right at all. I shut her dwn
again, and tried again to start it. This time all sounded and felt just
right. Must have just been too much fuel in the previous attempts to
start it.
Taxiied and took off. Pulling back the throttle to begin decent for the
first touch and go delivered another nervous moment. A fairly strong,
unusual vibration was felt. As we were not on the ground, my mouth
instantly did an impression of a cats bum, and gauges were frantically
checked. My instructor suggested that the prop may not be 100% balanced
properly after being re-dressed. Turned out that must have been
correct, as it did it every time we throttled back, and caused no ill
effects other than the unusual vibration.
We did 2 touch and goes and a full stop with the instructor with me,
and then I did 5 touch and goes and a full stop on my own. One of my
aproaches was a little high, so I thought it was the perfect
opportunity to have a go at a side slip. I'd been shown how twice, done
it once with assistance, and done it once or maybe twice without
assistance. Well, I gave myself a little bit of a scare, as it didn't
go quite to plan. Discussions with my instructor once on the ground
revealed that I simply didn't have quite enough rudder applied, but I
was applauded for trying to practice it. I was't happy with any of my
approaches, most of them were too low, and I needed to apply power to
get back on the correct glide slope, and a couple of the landings were
a bit ordinary too, however I did have a bit of a last minute crosswind
to contend with on the last few approaches from about 300 feet and
below. I', now at 1.3hrs solo, and need 3 hours solo before we move on
to the next section of the syllabus.
I'm booked in again for next Saturday morning, so we'll try and whittle
away that time then.

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

Taxiied and took off. Pulling back the throttle to begin decent for the
first touch and go delivered another nervous moment. A fairly strong,
unusual vibration was felt. As we were not on the ground, my mouth
instantly did an impression of a cats bum, and gauges were frantically
checked. My instructor suggested that the prop may not be 100% balanced
properly after being re-dressed. Turned out that must have been
correct, as it did it every time we throttled back, and caused no ill
effects other than the unusual vibration.
We did 2 touch and goes and a full stop with the instructor with me,


Oz, I'm trying not to read too much into this, but it seems to me that
you and your instructor should have landed the plane after
experiencing a "fairly strong, unusual vibration".

I've found that "strong, unusual vibrations" usually lead to bad
things happening in airplanes.

Otherwise, glad you're back in the air!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
Oz, I'm trying not to read too much into this, but it seems to me that
you and your instructor should have landed the plane after
experiencing a "fairly strong, unusual vibration".

I've found that "strong, unusual vibrations" usually lead to bad
things happening in airplanes.

Otherwise, glad you're back in the air!
--
Jay Honeck

Hi Jay,
It should be noted, that ANY unusual vibration to me, a student pilot with
only 10.3 hours, is fairly strong. ;-)
My instructor didn't seem phased by it, and I'm sure she would not have let
me go if she was concerned about it, but I do understand your comment.
Crash Lander

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:30:44 GMT, Crash Lander wrote:

My instructor didn't seem phased by it, and I'm sure she would not have let
me go if she was concerned about it, but I do understand your comment.

One must take into account the personality of the instructor. We have an
old codger instructor with thousands of hours as a commercial commuter
pilot.

Despite all this experience, I won't fly with the guy. His "Bold Pilot"
approach to aviation scares the crap out of me.

--
Dallas

"Oz Lander" wrote:
We did 2 touch and goes and a full stop with the instructor with me,
and then I did 5 touch and goes and a full stop on my own. One of my
aproaches was a little high, so I thought it was the perfect
opportunity to have a go at a side slip. I'd been shown how twice, done
it once with assistance, and done it once or maybe twice without
assistance. Well, I gave myself a little bit of a scare, as it didn't
go quite to plan. Discussions with my instructor once on the ground
revealed that I simply didn't have quite enough rudder applied, but I
was applauded for trying to practice it.

Congrats at getting back up. Glad the "vibration" didn't lead to
anything more, but after two unrelated, back-to-back engine problems,
I'm with Jay about making assumptions re the cause while in the air.

Quick comment: a "side slip" is for crosswind correction (lowered wing
into the wind w/rudder to keep the longitudinal axis of the plane lined
up with the runway;a "forward slip" is for losing excess altitude (wing
low w/opposite rudder so as to descend in line with the runway but with
the longitudinal axis exposed to the oncoming air to produce more drag
for descent). It *does* seem like they were named incorrectly.

"Shirl" wrote in message
...
Quick comment: a "side slip" is for crosswind correction (lowered wing
into the wind w/rudder to keep the longitudinal axis of the plane lined
up with the runway;a "forward slip" is for losing excess altitude (wing
low w/opposite rudder so as to descend in line with the runway but with
the longitudinal axis exposed to the oncoming air to produce more drag
for descent). It *does* seem like they were named incorrectly.

My bad! I meant forward slip. We've only learned the one so far. I didn't
know there was a difference, as we haven't covered the other type yet. I now
look forward to learning all about 'side slipping'! ;-)
Crash Lander

My bad! I meant forward slip. We've only learned the one so far. I didn't
know there was a difference, as we haven't covered the other type yet. I now
look forward to learning all about 'side slipping'! ;-)

There is no difference.

It =seems= like there is a difference, only because the perspective of
what you want to accomplish is different. However, as far as the way
the airplane goes through the air is concerned, they are completely
identical. The only difference is the way you think of the airplanes
motion with respect to the ground.

The airplane doesn't care about the ground though.

Jose
--
Humans are pack animals. Above all things, they have a deep need to
follow something, be it a leader, a creed, or a mob. Whosoever fully
understands this holds the world in his hands.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Jose" wrote in message
.. .
There is no difference.

It =seems= like there is a difference, only because the perspective of
what you want to accomplish is different. However, as far as the way the
airplane goes through the air is concerned, they are completely identical.
The only difference is the way you think of the airplanes motion with
respect to the ground.

The airplane doesn't care about the ground though.

Aha! Now I understand. Thankyou.
Oz/Crash Lander

Jose wrote:
[re side slip vs. forward slip]
There is no difference.

It =seems= like there is a difference, only because the perspective of
what you want to accomplish is different. However, as far as the way
the airplane goes through the air is concerned, they are completely
identical. The only difference is the way you think of the airplanes
motion with respect to the ground.

The difference is that when the longitudinal axis of the airplane is not
lined up with the runway centerline (forward slip), there is much more
drag. If you're too high, a side slip doesn't help you lose excess
altitude as effectively as a forward slip. If you're doing an emergency
landing off field, landing on a short strip, or landing with a
crosswind, the difference between the two slips can be quite significant.