simulated engine out – Armstrong Aviation

June 4, 2017June 8, 2017

Third solo – and the leash comes off!

It looked like it was going to be a nice day to fly — low winds, high ceiling, great visibility. I was hoping to get a bit more solo time in, and I wasn’t disappointed.

I did a few laps with my instructor and I was feeling a bit rusty (even though I had just flown yesterday!) My first landing was poor and I plopped it down a bit hard on the runway. We went around a few more times — the landings got better, but I was still making a few mistakes. My CFI pulled the power on me while I was on base during one of the laps, proving the point that I had descended a little too low and I wouldn’t have made the runway in an engine out scenario. That was a sobering lesson.

Just when I was thinking that maybe I wouldn’t be soloing today, my instructor had me drop him off and I was on my own again! I did three trips around the pattern. On the first one, I came in pretty high (my instructor’s lesson on premature descents still fresh in my mind). I didn’t like the way the sight picture was shaping up, so I executed my first solo go-around. I figured that would make my instructor happy!

I snapped a quick pic while I was holding short for some landing traffic. I wish I could get some in-air pics, but there’s just too much going on while in the pattern to even think about distracting myself with a camera. Hopefully when I do some cross country work I’ll be able to get some more interesting shots.

I turned crosswind a little early and started feeling a bit behind the plane…did I just mess up the whole pattern? How was I going to salvage this? Luckily I kept it together and got on a normal downwind and eventually came in for a pretty nice landing.

Second trip around was routine, but on the third things got a little interesting. I was following another Cessna and was just about to turn base. We had a King Air coming in for a straight in on the same runway (26). Tower first asked me to keep a tight pattern behind the Cessna, but when I turned base I guess he realized he wouldn’t have time to get me down before the King Air was on top of me (they had already slowed down to allow for spacing but they were still a lot faster than I was!)

Tower asked me to extend my base and keep heading North. I complied, and after a minute they told me I could make a right turn and follow the King Air in. This was a bit of a new approach for me, but it wasn’t anything mind-blowing…I just followed tower’s instructions and turned in to final once I had the King Air in sight and they had crossed abeam my wing.

I brought it in for a bit of a sloppy landing (the winds were starting to pick up a bit). I probably had enough time for one more lap, but I decided I was done for the day and took the plane back to the FBO.

I debriefed with my instructor and he told me I’m cleared for unsupervised solo flights — he wants me to rack up 4 hours of solo time before I see him again. Wow — the leash is off, and next time I fly it will be completely unassisted! Looking forward to a new challenge ahead!

Below is the CloudAhoy track for the solo portion of the flight — click the image to view it. You can see the extended base and right turns the tower had me take pretty clearly.

Flight time today: 1.6 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total PIC time to date: 1.8 hours
Total flight time to date: 47.4 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 175
Total landings to date: 172

May 28, 2017June 3, 2017

Dodging the clouds

I called the flight school yesterday evening and they confirmed the bald tire on 1727V had been replaced, so I was good to go for today’s lesson! The forecast and weather briefing were positive, but I saw some low-hanging clouds on the way to the airport that gave me pause.

They gave my instructor pause, too. He said I wouldn’t be going up solo today, but we could work on a few things in the pattern. I snapped this picture of some expensive-looking planes on my way out to preflight:

This time I made sure to preflight very carefully, paying extra attention to the two brand new tires that had been installed on the mains.

We went up and I started right traffic for runway 8. Immediately I noticed some strips of clouds right at pattern altitude. My instructor had me fly the pattern at a lower altitude than normal to avoid them, and we requested left traffic for the next laps (the sky was fairly clear on that side of the field).

It was an uneventful lesson, but a good one. We practiced power off approaches, stuck flaps approaches (with flaps stuck at 10°), and short approaches. I still need work on my ground track — I tend to stop thinking about the wind and I don’t keep an eye on where the plane is heading. I also need to pay more attention to the overall picture out the window — terrain, altitude, etc… In one of my power off approaches I would’ve ended up in the trees short of the runway because I had extended my downwind a bit too far.

My landings are definitely getting better — now it seems I have the occasional bad landing with most being decent instead of the other way around. That is encouraging!

I have a lesson booked for tomorrow (Memorial Day), but the forecast calls for rain all day so I don’t think I’ll be going up.

I didn’t record today’s flight on CloudAhoy — in fact, I don’t think I’ll be recording any more pattern flights with my CFI going forward. I’ll continue to record solo flights and any interesting (read: away from Danbury) dual flights we take.

Flight time today: 1.5 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total PIC time to date: 0.4 hours
Total flight time to date: 44.6 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 161
Total landings to date: 157

April 2, 2017April 23, 2017

Today wasn’t the day

I cancelled yesterday’s lesson because the weather was terrible — heavy rain and low overcast ceilings. Plus, it was April Fool’s Day!

Most of the clouds were blown out overnight and it was a bright, clear day out. High ceilings and good visibility. However, it was windy — not crazy windy, but enough that I knew I wouldn’t be soloing today.

I got to the airport and my CFI decided we’d head up and do a bit more practice. As I was preflighting I caught this pic of a cool helicopter being moved out of the hangar. I’d love to fly one of these some day!

Today’s lesson was good — I had a few hiccups in the pattern but nothing too bad. My flares are getting better and better, I had a couple today that felt great. Then I had one where I flared way too high, as if I was doing a full stall landing, which is a no-no on a windy day. We had another simulated engine out and I got the plane down safely.

I paid much more attention to wind direction today — I was putting the proper wind correction in during taxi and takeoff, and I was mindful to crab into the wind around the pattern. Still not perfect, as my crab angles weren’t quite right, but at least the concept is starting to stick. However, I’m still not putting in the proper wind correction after landing — they say you have to keep flying the plane after touching down, and I’m so focused on getting on the ground that I relax and forget that I’m not done yet!

We got a bunch of crosswind landing practice in and it felt easier than last time… it wasn’t much of a crosswind, but I still feel like the experience was helpful and I’m getting more comfortable flying in windy conditions instead of crossing my fingers for a dead calm day every lesson.

My CFI wrote all of my solo endorsements in my logbook — they aren’t signed yet, that will happen in the plane once we get an appropriate weather day. So, literally the only thing standing in my way now is Mother Nature! It’s too early in the week to get an idea of what next weekend will look like, but with a little luck I’ll have a big milestone under my belt.

Oh, and I (once again) forgot to turn on CloudAhoy today, so no track for this flight.

Flight time today: 1.3 hours
Total flight time to date: 36.2 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 124
Total landings to date: 120

March 30, 2017April 3, 2017

Getting the twist out

Same story as last time — went up for a few spins in the pattern and tried to work on keeping the yoke straight during my flare. This time things went much better! I think the key was — I was wearing a light coat instead of a bulky winter one! That’s right, I think part of my problem was my big puffy winter coat was making it difficult to bring my arm straight back. Wearing the lighter coat seemed to make the problem disappear… who would’ve thought my choice in outerwear would have such an impact on my flight?

Not much to report today. We flew left and right traffic for runway 35, did a simulated engine out, and more landing work. I was sloppier in the pattern today compared to last time out — maybe because I’m not as used to the pattern for 35, or maybe it was the higher winds?

Landings are (slowly) progressively getting better… hoping I might actually solo this weekend!

Click the image below for the CloudAhoy track of today’s flight.

Flight time today: 1.7 hours
Total flight time to date: 34.9 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 118
Total landings to date: 114

March 25, 2017April 3, 2017

Getting ready to solo

With my pre-solo checkride taken care of, I just need a signoff from my CFI and a good weather day and I’ll be flying by myself! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, so I wasn’t too upset when my CFI told me today wasn’t the day (it was a bit too windy).

I don’t have an appropriate picture for today, so instead here’s a shot I took of some cool flying machines in the hangar:

We went up for some pattern work and landing practice. My CFI “failed” my airspeed and attitude indicators — surprisingly, I think I flew my best patterns to date without them! I felt ahead of the plane and was really working to make sure I could do this alone without input from my instructor. He threw in a simulated engine out to keep me on my toes — I handled it pretty well (we got on the ground in one piece at least!)

My landings are slowly getting better as well — I feel like my timing on the roundout and flare are improving, but today I developed this annoying habit of twisting the yoke as I pulled aft in the flare. It caused the plane to go off the centerline and my instructor was not happy with this turn of events (no pun intended).

Next time we’ll be doing more of the same and trying to get to the bottom of this new yoke-twist thing I’ve got going on.

Click the image below for the CloudAhoy track of today’s flight.

Flight time today: 1.4 hours
Total flight time to date: 33.2 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 111
Total landings to date: 107

March 12, 2017March 25, 2017

Practicing for the pre-solo checkride

My instructor told me I had to have a checkride with another CFI at the school prior to being signed off to solo. Before doing that, I wanted to go up with my regular CFI once more to practice some of the maneuvers I was going to be quizzed on.

We took off and headed to the practice area to work on steep turns. I haven’t done steep turns in a long time and I had forgotten just how much back pressure you have to put on the yoke to keep from losing altitude. We worked on these for a little bit and I did an OK job — nothing great, but it wasn’t complete crap either. I understand the procedures, I just need to work on my sight picture and control feel to keep from losing altitude in the turns. It should look something like this:

Next we moved on to stall recoveries. This was something I definitely needed a refresher on, since I had pretty much forgotten the procedures. We did some power on stalls (simulating a stall on takeoff) and power off stalls (simulating a stall on approach to landing). Once I had practiced them a little bit I felt more comfortable with them and I think I handled these pretty well.

We headed back to the airport and I got into the pattern. We were cleared for the option and my CFI pulled the power on approach. I practiced a simulated engine out approach and then he called for a go-around at the last minute. I hit full power and off we went! One more trip around the pattern and I came in for a landing with a bit of a crosswind. I think this landing was pretty good — it was a more gentle touchdown than some of my other attempts, although my instructor said I came in a bit flat. I still need to work on flaring properly.

All in all, a pretty good lesson. I definitely feel more ready for my pre-solo checkride (which should happen next week!)

Flight time today: 1.4 hours
Total flight time to date: 30.7 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 102
Total landings to date: 98

March 7, 2017March 16, 2017

Flying in Florida: Part 1

I was scheduled to head down to Florida on business and I decided it would be fun to try and take a flight lesson with an instructor down there. After making a few calls, I scheduled two lessons during my trip with a local CFI who had been recommended to me.

My first lesson was flying out of Orlando Executive (KORL). Executive is a Class Delta airport in close proximity to downtown Orlando and Orlando International (KMCO) — it actually sits right under one of MCO’s Class Bravo shelves.

KORL

I was pretty nervous heading to my lesson as I had never flown with anyone besides my instructor back home. The ridiculous Orlando traffic (thanks to I-4 construction) certainly didn’t help my stress level. I would up being 20 minutes late, for which I apologized profusely! Way to make a good first impression.

I had spoken to the instructor on the phone and told him where I was at with my flying and that I wanted to work on landings. We sat and spoke for a bit before heading out to the plane and briefed how the lesson was going to go. We were planning on staying in the pattern and working exclusively on landings and pattern management.

We headed to the plane and did the preflight check. The plane was a 172R model — this model is fuel injected instead of carbureted, so the engine startup was slightly different. No big deal, though, and soon we were taxiing to the runup area.

I was having trouble steering the plane to the left — I would be pushing the rudder pedal all the way in and the plane would barely be turning to the left. I had to use the left brakes more than usual to keep the plane where I needed it. I should’ve mentioned this right away to my CFI but I thought it was more a pilot/technique issue than anything mechanical! More on that later.

We took off from runway 7 and started our pattern work. It was nice having some different scenery to look at! Our downwind leg took us directly towards the Orlando skyline which was pretty cool. I didn’t take this picture, but this is pretty close to our view on downwind (we were lower and more to the left).

Orlando, FL skyline

I really enjoyed flying with this CFI! He had a good teaching style and he shared the same views on flight instruction that my CFI back home does — namely, all of the information you need to fly the plane is available out the window. He emphasized this by failing almost all of my instruments. I had to climb out to pattern altitude with no altimeter, and when I thought I was there we would check and see how I did. I was coming in consistently low by 500-1,000 feet, but that wasn’t bad considering I was in a new environment for the first time.

We went over energy management techniques to help keep the plane at the right speeds while flying the pattern. We also did a lot of landings! I had one where it felt like everything clicked and I definitely feel like I’m getting closer to “getting it”. I also had some lousy ones, so I’m not there yet!

We also trained on some stuff that was new to me — using slips to lose altitude quickly and simulated engine outs on takeoff (where I had to then manage my energy to land the plane smoothly without nosing it into the runway). I also got a bunch of crosswind work — the winds weren’t as strong as they’ve been back home, but there was a decent crosswind so I worked on holding a proper ground track and keeping the plane lined up on final.

All in all, it was a great experience and I’m really happy I did it. I got to see some cool planes at the airport (the new HondaJet looks very nice!) and got a great view of a Learjet landing while I was in the pattern.

Taxiing back to the ramp I again had some trouble with that left turning, so I mentioned it to my CFI. He took the controls and agreed something felt off and he would mention it to the aircraft owner. I realized then I should’ve mentioned this as soon as I noticed it — what if they thought my wonderful landings had caused the issue?!?

We had a great talk after the lesson — we discussed the flight and flying in general. The instructor had some kind things to say about my flying and level of experience overall. According to him, I’m on track and right where I need to be.

Extra bonus today — the second page of my logbook is now full! On to page 3!

Flight time today: 1.5 hours
Total flight time to date: 27.8 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 89
Total landings to date: 85

March 4, 2017March 6, 2017

More crosswind landing practice

I didn’t think I’d be flying today. When I went to bed, it was windy as hell out and weather reports were showing gusts up to 30kts. I went to bed early anyway, crossing my fingers.

When I woke up, the weather briefing was optimistic. It was currently blowing only 6kts at DXR…the forecast called for much stronger winds as the day progressed, but it looked OK for my 8am lesson so I headed out to the airport.

My instructor agreed it was mild enough to head out and get some practice, although he told me, “you’ll be working today!” I hate it when he says that!

He wasn’t wrong…from the moment we took off, I was working my butt off trying to keep the plane flying the lines I wanted. We started off working the pattern for runway 26, but it wasn’t long before the controller switched the airport to runway 35.

Here I was hoping to get some practice on my roundout and flare, and now I had to practice a whole other set of procedures! Crosswind landings are certainly a different ball game than calm wind landings. Not only is lining up with the runway centerline harder, but it just feels wrong, as you are coming in with one wing lower than the other to compensate for the wind.

It was a good practice day, but one of those lessons where it feels I couldn’t do anything right. I got blown off centerline after takeoff because I wasn’t crabbing enough into the wind. I wasn’t managing power well enough to compensate with the strong updrafts and downdrafts caused by the surrounding terrain. My pattern legs were sloppy because I was misjudging the wind. I wasn’t keeping the aileron input in after landing — as my instructor loves to say, “the wind doesn’t stop once you land!”

Even with all of the problems, I got a few good landings in and some more experience with the tricky runway 35 approach. At one point we were on final and my instructor was talking about engine failure. “Would we be able to glide to the runway from here?” I asked. “Let’s see!” he replied, as he pulled the throttle to idle. Spoiler alert: we made it.

Next time around, he requested a short approach and pulled the throttle while we were on downwind. I headed right towards the runway at best glide speed and once we got over some tricky hills I dumped the flaps to get down in a steep approach. It wasn’t perfect, but it was some great experience with emergency management.

The winds started blowing faster and we saw some snow clouds closing in on the airport, so we called it a day. It was getting a bit too much for me and my low experience level. When we landed, my instructor told me I would have to fly with a different instructor soon for a checkride, a school policy when a pre-solo student racks up 25 hours. We decided we’d keep tomorrow’s appointment as-is, but next weekend I’d schedule with a different CFI.

I remembered to record the ride on CloudAhoy — click the image below to see the details.

Flight time today: 1.2 hours
Total flight time to date: 25.0 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 72
Total landings to date: 68

February 19, 2017March 6, 2017

Beat up by the crosswinds (and first trip to OXC)

Some days you fly the plane, some days the plane flies you…

Today started off promising. It was another unusually warm day (60° F!), a bit overcast but ceilings well above where I needed them to be, and a little wind. DXR was reporting surface winds of 7kts, and today’s destination, Waterbury-Oxford (OXC), was around 4kts. I didn’t think that would be any kind of challenge — we’ll come back to that in a minute.

My instructor was still in the air when I got to the airport, so I went out to preflight the plane. Everything looked good, and I even managed to get an action shot of me testing the fuel!

Testing fuel during preflight — I love the smell of 100LL in the morning!

When my CFI arrived, we briefed our flight plan. This would be my first trip to OXC — it’s only about 17nm from DXR, so it wouldn’t take us long to get there. We planned to use pilotage to find our way, following I-84 and the Housatonic RIver as our landmarks. We got into the plane and started her up, and that’s where the day started getting away from me.

First off, I forgot to start CloudAhoy before the flight, so I have no recording of the day’s events. Not the end of the world, but annoying. Next, while taxiing out to runway 26, the plane got away from me a bit when I got uncoordinated on the rudder pedals/brakes. We headed right for a snowbank before my CFI took control and got us back on track. Embarrassing, and I don’t have any excuse — not sure how I got mixed up but it’s a reminder to be extra diligent during ALL phases of flight, especially those on the ground.

We took off uneventfully and headed over to OXC. Cruise was ok, kept my altitude at 2,500 feet and pointed the plane in the right direction. Radio calls went well and soon we were inbound for a left base to runway 36. Oxford only has one runway (18/36) and the airport is up on a hill, so wind is often a factor. I was about to find out what that meant.

We came in for the first landing and I was focused on the review I did yesterday of how to gauge the roundout and flare height. What I was totally unprepared for were some kicking crosswinds! ATIS said the winds were out of 300° at 4kts, but my instructor (and the windsock) indicated they were blowing stronger than that. Now I had to deal with an unfamiliar airport, crosswind technique (which I haven’t had much practice with at all), AND trying to figure this flare height thing out!

We did a full stop landing so I could get a sense of the airport and taxiway layout, then headed back to runway 36 for some touch and go’s. We made a few circuits around the pattern and it got progressively harder for me to keep the plane lined up on final. I’m not used to the concept of landing on one wheel with the wings tilted, so I kept wanting to straighten the plane out before touching down. I needed quite a bit of help on some of these landings.

I was a little better with my approach altitude, but I was still keeping it too high for some of our approaches. I need to learn better power management — something my instructor has been on me for. I have zero finesse when it comes to the throttle and knowing when to add a touch of power or when I need to back it off more to compensate for a too-low descent rate.

Eventually the winds were got a touch too nasty, so we headed back to DXR. We used pilotage again, and we practiced an engine out emergency. My CFI asked where I would go if the engine quit. I looked around — there weren’t a ton of great options, but I spotted some fields that looked like they would work. “OK,” he said, as he pulled the throttle to idle. “Get there!”

I set up for best glide speed of 80mph and he showed me how the wind was slowing us a bit too much so we would actually be better gliding with a bit more speed. We headed towards the fields and would have just cleared some trees and been able to put it down. I got my engine back at the last second and we resumed our trip back to DXR.

We did a couple laps of the pattern at DXR and here’s where things really started falling apart for me. I kept making stupid mistakes. Here’s the ones I remember:

On downwind, I added 10° of flaps and instead of returning the flaps switch to “neutral” I put it back to “up” and took the flaps right back out.
On a go-around, I thought, “take out 6 seconds (20°) of flaps” — however, that’s when you have flaps fully extended. Instead of bringing the flaps back 10° like I should have, I took them completely out.
Same go-around, after taking the flaps out I instinctually pitched the nose down. I guess I was thinking I needed to build up speed, but that’s the wrong thing to do. I should have immediately started climbing.
Turning on to final, I was completely uncoordinated, putting left rudder into the turn when I needed right rudder.
I kept over-banking my turns in the pattern — this has been a habitual problem for me.
I kept pulling back on the elevator and raising the nose when I should’ve been using power to gain altitude, not elevator.
When my CFI asked the tower to shoot me a light gun signal so I could see what they look like, I let the nose creep up while I was looking outside for the signal. This was because the plane wasn’t properly trimmed.

Not a shabby list for a few loops around the airport! They were all stupid things that I should know better than to do. And they are all things that could get me in serious trouble if I didn’t have someone in the plane watching over my shoulder. If there was any saving grace, it is that all of these mistakes were likely due to fatigue after the intense workload of the earlier crosswind landings. Even so, it underscored that I have a lot more work to do and that I am definitely not ready to solo yet. It also earned me a review of go-arounds on the next lesson since my CFI was not happy with my performance today.

Our time was up at this point, but my instructor would’ve stopped the lesson there regardless of what time it was — I was showing too many signs of fatigue to continue. I would’ve had no problem with that — as it was, my mind was reeling and I was ready to stop for the day. One silver lining — I did remember to use the “pizza slice” to look for my flare height on this flight. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much with everything else that was overloading me today!

I left feeling a bit down on myself, but tomorrow is a holiday so I have the day off and another lesson booked. If nothing else, this has steeled my resolve to study up tonight, mess around on my sim, and absolutely kill it tomorrow.

Flight time today: 1.5 hours
Total flight time to date: 22.8 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 59
Total landings to date: 55

January 15, 2017March 6, 2017

A frustrating lesson

I was back at the airport today for another flight. If yesterday found me leaving the airport with a sense of accomplishment, today was the opposite.

The plan was to stay in the pattern at DXR and practice pattern work and landings again. Unlike yesterday, today there was a bit of wind that had to be compensated for. When you are dealing with wind, your heading has to be adjusted to compensate so you keep a straight ground track. This is especially important in busy airspace like an airport pattern, where not being where others expect you to be can create a very dangerous situation.

From the first takeoff, I felt like I was behind the plane the entire time. I was banking my turns too much for the wind, so my turns wound up being too early or too late. I had trouble keeping the nose on the right point during final — my instructor tries to help me out by giving me visual cues, but I think his sight picture is a bit different than mine so they aren’t helping very much. I’m just going to have to get used to my own visual references. This is one reason using a consistent seat position is important — you don’t want the sight picture changing every time you fly. Luckily, I find the best seat position is fully-raised and as far forward as it will go — this makes it easy to adjust things to be the same for each flight.

We were also doing touch and go’s today, so it was a pretty intense, rapid fire lesson. If my instructor saw I was getting overwhelmed we would do a full stop to give me a chance to collect myself. We also practiced some go-arounds and even a simulated engine-out landing where my instructor killed the throttle while we were on base and I had to glide into an approach to the runway (I actually think this was my best landing of the day!)

We logged six takeoffs and landings before returning to the ramp and shutting down. My instructor told me not to worry, that this takes practice and it will come in time, but I still left the airport feeling very melancholy. In hindsight, my flying wasn’t as bad as I felt it was at the time, but it was incredibly frustrating to keep forgetting when to do certain steps, to keep messing my turns up, and to feel like I was letting my instructor down.

On a positive note, this flight filled up the first page of my logbook!

Flight time today: 1.5 hours
Total flight time to date: 12.8 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 14
Total landings to date: 10