solo x/c for commercial (followup)

I just thought I'd follow up on my post a couple of weeks ago about
starting on my commercial.

I did come to the conclusion that because my long x/c time was not
"solo" that I had to do some more flying. I chose to fly the following
route:

Palo Alto, CA (KPAO) to Klamath Falls, OR (KLMT)
to Arcata, CA (KACV),
to Mendocino, CA (O48)
to Palo Alto

All in all, it was about 6.8 hours of flying in a 180 hp Cherokee --
the most flying I've done in a single day. I did the whole trip, VFR,
which made it interesting, as it was a day with various layers of cloud
cover. I've got to say that flying past Mt. Shasta was really pretty
thrilling -- though there was some serious turbulence coming off that
thing. It was a trip that really mixed in a little of everthing, low
and high altitude, day and night, mountains and seashore, scattered
cumulous (and far-off cumulonimbus) and low stratus, rain and sun.

I was truly exhausted when I got home.


Anyway, now I've started taking instruction again, getting checked out
in a Cutlass and learning the commercial maneuvers. For some reason I
thought that learning these maneuvers would be an easy slam dunk
considering how much "precision" flying I had done for my instrument
rating. Well, for me at least, these maneuvers are all challenging! I
feel like a sloppy student all over again, screwing them up, or at
least "manhandling" the plane rather than finessing it when they look
passable.

(As an aside, I find the commercial maneuvers themselves very
interesting. In one sense, they're ridiculous, having nothing at all to
do with flying aircraft from point A to B. On the other hand, I can see
how they develop (or maybe better said, "indicate") more overall feel
for the aircraft in all regions of flight. Which, so far, apparently I
don't have. )

It's good to be taken down a peg, I guess.

-- dave j
-- jacobowitz73 -at- yahoo -dot- com


PS - Eights around pylons make me airsick! Any tips? The only other
time I've ever felt ill in an aircraft was practicing spiral emergency
descents.

On 2005-06-10, wrote:
PS - Eights around pylons make me airsick! Any tips?

I was about to say, "wait until you try the steep spiral!" but I see..

The only other
time I've ever felt ill in an aircraft was practicing spiral emergency
descents.

In my plane the spiral point is under the wing which I find really
disorienting. On the other hand, I suspect that from the right seat it
is almost impossible to really judge the maneuver...

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Excellent post, and hard to really add anything to it. You've pretty
much nailed the idea of the Commercial... add some additional
requirements which tend to hone the piloting skills.

Sounds like your X-country was a good one. I think it's best to
look at that one as a way to gain something instead of thinking
of it as an unecessary burden. We can all learn something from
every flight, especially from one that takes us into uncharted
territory.

Keep working on the manuervers it will eventually all fall into place.
They aren't quite as simple to perform as they initially appear... )
but then that's why you will be a commercial pilot Vs. a private
pilot when you pass the checkride. Good luck...