The Tower
I was greeted today with a welcome surprise. "Would you like to tour the tower?" my instructor asked. Of course I would. My instructor had just given a lesson the previous hour and decided to solo his student. I arrived a little early and was invited to join my instructor in the tower to check things out and watch the student solo for the first time. After bidding the student good luck, we made our way up the narrow staircase that led to glass room atop the tallest building around. Inside the tower this evening was one controller, manning clearance, ground and tower duties. It was slow enough that she could. She issued out clearances and held a decent conversation with us at the same time. It gives me even more respect for what they can do. It is also nice to see the face behind the person I talked to every day when I go flying.
What would happen if...
We performed a downwind departure today in search of clearer skies to avoid the smoke and marine layer that left visibility down to 7 miles. After leveling off at 3 thousand, my instructor had me perform a few clearing turns before presenting me with my first situation of the day. He yanked the throttle out and declared, "You have just experience a power failure, what do you do?" I remembered what he told me in ground school and when through my ABCDEs. Airspeed: Best glide. Best place to land: A flat fiend into the wind. Checklist: 7up and emergency power failure checklist. Doors: Opened and unlocked. Egress. Of course I did not complete the last two items but the entire situation was simulated. Next came the electrical fire emergency. We shut off all the electrical equipment in flight and snuffed out the pretend fire by cutting off all vent. (That fire better go out quickly or I might suffocate myself) The last simulation we did was another power loss, but this time, my checklist revealed that carb ice was to blame as power magically restored itself when I turned on the carb heat. (Or my instructors hand)
Under da Hood
En route back to the airport, my instructor handed my a pair of vision blocking goggles, enabling me to lose my peripheral vision. With my outside vision blocked I was told to maintain course and altitude as we approach the airport. With my experience in flight simulation, this part of the flight was a breeze. As long as I maintained my scan and had the plan trimmed correctly, I could fly just fine. Even constant vertical speed altitude changes with turns were simple while using the artificial horizon as my outside world. After a few minutes under the hood, I made my first completely unassisted landing today, with a much smoother flare. I didn't hold it up long enough, but I touched down with the wheels straight and just enough vertical speed.
Flight Time Logged: 1 Hour
Total Flight Time: 6.8 Hours
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