Whew - ASI died in flight

"Marc CYBW" wrote:
After 4 hours dual and solo learning how to fly my new fractional
ownership 182S, I decided I needed some solo practice and went out for an
hour of flying the circuit. Started my takeoff run and did the usual checks
(power, engine, airspeed) and after I got up to a little over 50 KIAS,
noticed that the plane wanted to fly off. Odd I thought, seemed a little
low, but up we went and once off the ground (maybe 50') noticed the ASI
going DOWN from 50 to 40 to 30 to ZERO. Great - 4 hours into a plane I have
just learned to land and no ASI.

Same thing happened to me in one of my first flights after soloing
before PPL (bug in tube). My ASI worked fine until I rotated and then
stuck there. All other instruments were green, it was climbing like it
always did, and sounded and felt fine. I had asked for closed traffic,
but radioed that I needed a full stop with no ASI. They cleared me to
land and asked if I'd need help on the runway ... I know they have to
ask that, but my funny first thought was to say, "I'll let you know when
I get there!" Instantly, the glider training kicked in: "don't chase the
airspeed," "fly the pitch", and *listen* to the airspeed. It went fine.

They had covered up the airspeed indicator during training prior to solo
anyway, it's just different mentally when you *know* there's no use in
trying to peek!