Flying Blind

Yesterdays flight was almost all about hood work. We did our normal takeoff and proceeded to the practice area. It wasn't soon after I turned for the downwind departure my instructor handed me the hood and instructed me to wear. This was the beginning of the more boring part of my flight training to date.

Where are we going?
Nowhere as usual. It is just I couldn't tell with my head focused on the instruments. My instructor gave me heading call outs and altitude call outs as I blindly navigated around the skies. Left to... climb to... turn right AND decent to ... left 360...and on it went. Finally after 25 minutes of this he had me pull off the hood. First thing I heard on the radio. "Cessna 4963G, be advised, oncoming traffic at 12 o'clock, 2 miles at 4000." I was a little anxious looking for the traffic until I remembered, we were 1000 feet below and the traffic passed harmlessly above. What? Me doubt my instructor? Never...

Landing number 6. Why not 7 and 8 while were at it.
With eyes to see, we headed back to the airport for some pattern work. Each time, my landing improved a little bit but was still off. My biggest problem was flaring too high. Looking at the runway, it seems a bit unnerving to continue nose down towards the runway as it gets closer. I would slowly flare up soon after passing the threshold, and I would end up level at 10 ft above the ground. The ensuing drop as the plane lost speed was not the most comfortable land. On the third and final time, my instructor forced my to continue the decent to the runway and flare just above the ground. I will have to say the landing this time was much smoother. My instructor claims I was hiding smirk on my face after that landing, but I didn't notice. I played it off real cool. ;-)

Flight hours logged: 1.2
Total flight hours: 8.0

You have just experienced a power loss!

After a small hiatus from flying for the fourth of July weekend, I returned today to master a new skill, and something I already have experience in: Emergency procedures and instrument flying.

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

A new plane for number 5

Just before my flight yesterday, I got a call from the flight club say 63G will be out for maintenance, so they scheduled me in one of their newer Cessna 172SPs. Fine with me, as long as I don't go broke.

Differences in the SP from the N
My preflight highlighted some of the main differences between the two models: An alternate static source, 13 fuel sumps instead of 2, pressurized fuel for the fuel injection, and landing light positioned on the wings instead of the cowling. The inside of the cabin looked much nicer with the instrument panel somehow oddly familiar and identical to the panel I fly with in the sim. (end sarcasm) Starting the aircraft also requires a different procedure for priming the engine. Instead of the hand pump used in the N model, the SP has an electric fuel pump to prime the engine with. Other then all that, the laws of physics dealt exactly that same with the two aircraft.

Ground Reference Manuevers
The flight lesson was incredibly fun for the primary reason that yesterdays maneuvers were all done at 1000 ft AGL. Being this close to the ground, it was probably the first time I got to check out the scenery and look down, especially since the maneuvers required that I look at the ground instead of the horizon. Unfortunately, my next lesson will probably be quite the opposite.

The primary goal for this lesson was to learn how to keep the ground track of the aircraft where I wanted the plane to go regardless of the wind. We started with a rectangular pattern around an agricultural field. Next we flew to a large water tower and flew circles around it. Lastly, from the tower we flew to the highway and practiced S-turns.

Flight Time Logged: 1.2 Hours
Total flight time: 5.8 Hours

Numero Quatro

At a time when the wind was blowing and the sky's were brown, I went flying. I also received my student pilot certificate after going though the shortest doctor visit of my life, the flight physical. Apparently I was kicked out of the doctors office for being too health. (Damn, I am starting to sound like Rod Machado and his lame jokes, boy does that guy get annoying).

A square in the sky
The primary objective of yesterday's lesson was to practice the traffic pattern. After an uneventful takeoff and departure(except for the very long hold for landing and departing traffic), we made our way out to the agricultural fields of Nipomo. Along the way we practiced all the basic maneuvers learned through the previous three lessons: Turns, climbs, descents, constant altitude speed changes, and proper trimming techniques. These were all things that would be very useful for the pattern maneuvers.

My instructor picked a straight road through an agricultural field to use as a pretend runway. The wind was right down the road so it worked out great for practice. Starting from traffic pattern altitude, we intercepted the downwind at a 45 degree angle. the GUMPS check was performed. (Gas both, Undercarriage down and welded, Mixture rich, Power as needed, and Safety lights and seatbelts) Using an intersection as the numbers, I announce my position over the radio to a fake tower, and started my decent. Throttle at 1700, trim 80, and flaps 10. Turn to base was performed with the touch down point 45 degree behind. Throttle at 1500, flaps 20 and trim 70. Check for traffic and turn final. Then trim 65 and 30 degrees flaps.

Surprising me, we descended pretty low, probably scaring the only truck on the road as we descended to 500ft, maybe below. At the appropriate time my instructor announced go around and with performed the go around procedure. I did this several time to get familiar with pattern procedures.

So where is the runway?
All the pattern practice didn't apply to my landing this day.We we number 3 to land by the time we were abeam of the number so we extended our downwind few miles. By the time the tower called for us to turn base, I had lost site of the runway. It was just that smokey. I turned back towards the airport on the runway heading and we performed a straight in approach. I can say my landing a little better this time, but I ballooned quite a bit on the flare. Oh well, there is always next time to practice the landing.

Flight time logged: 1.5 hours
Total flight time: 4.6 hours

3rd Flight

The weather for my afternoon flight wasn't the best of conditions. The sky was hazy and brown from the 800+ small brush fires somewhere in Northern California. A 20 kt wind from the north west with gusts to 25 would make the departure and arrival quite bumpy. The level of concentration for this flight was much higher and I felt drained by the end of the hour flight.

You want me to talk?
I made the preflight today without a peep of instruction from my watching instructor. This detailed and seemingly long process(especially when I am eager to fly) has become routine and smooth. After the plane was preflighted and the engine started, my instructor turned to me and asked if I wanted to request clearance to taxi. I will have to admit this is my biggest fear of flying. (I get mic fright flying online) :-S But hey, I need to start some time. With a script, I got clearance from the tower and we were off and flying for the day.

Mushing along
Our flight today put us back over Avila Bay. Our other training area over Morro Bay was out of the question due to flight restrictions from military helicopter exercises. Slow flights was on the itinerary for today. We started by doing slow flights at 50 knots, full flaps. We did very shallow turns that made a standard rate turn seem steep, otherwise we would stall. Then we pulled out the throttle completely and stalled the aircraft. My first stalls lost a ton of altitude, but when I improved my technique, I could recover with minimal height lost. Lastly we did some power on stalls. With full power in we increase our climb until the plane stalled. I know it is easy to get distracted on a climb out but the sensation of nearly lying on my back as we pitched up to stall is hard to ignore. Hopefully this means departure stalls are easy to avoid, but I still need to be careful.

Without warning...
I landed. That's all. I landed, but it is still pretty damn cool. I made the standard 45 degree entry into the pattern and expected my instructor to take control as we flew abeam of the numbers. Instead he started giving me instructions. Throttle back to 1700, flaps out 10 degrees,trim to 70kts, make the turn to base, flaps to 20 degrees, check for traffic on final, turn and line up for the runway, keep the numbers in the same spit, cut the throttle, flare, fly the plane though the roll out. Congratulations, you just landed the plane. I did pretty well except for the last part. As I cut the throttle, I let the altitude drop to much. My instructor quickly righted my mistake and helped my make a decent flare. Thing is, I don't remember touching down. I think I had a bit of fright from the bad flare, and got amnesia of the touchdown. But oh well, I was excited to perform my first landing, albeit I had some help with the controls.

Flight time logged: 1.1 hours
Total time logged:3.1

My First Flight, Training that is.

I started my real world flight training today. I cannot imagine how long I have been waiting for this day and the days to follow, for I cannot remember at what age I first looked skyward. I see my self quite fortunate that my current situation allows me the opportunity to receive my pilots license. I am going to keep a log of my experiences on this blog and will try to keep as current as I can. I am quite sure the rest of my post will not be nearly this long, as this was my first flight.

Introductions
The weather was incredible in San Luis Obispo for today flight. The weather was warm, the wind low, and the sky's clear except for the haze generated by the fires in Northern California. I met my flight instructor at Pig's Can Fly Aviation and we started my training. After a few introductions, we went over the flight plan for the day. The flight was very basic and would only consist of straight and level flight, climbs and descents, and normal rate turns. The physics of flight were briefly reviewed, and my experience as a aerospace student and flight sim hobbyist shined greatly in this knowledge; however, during this briefing, by instructor gave one word of caution about my flight sim experience. Resist the urge to look at the instruments. VFR flying is all about looking out the windows, feeling the plane in the seat of you pants, and listening to the sounds an airplane makes. While my sim can create the allusion of some of these senses, it really is a completely different experience, as I learned fly the SNJ-5.

The Plane
My level of excitement rose as we walked up to the Cessna 172N. It didn't matter that the aircraft clearly showed its age. This would be the very plane that I would get my license in. The preflight revealed its experience. The seams of the door stuck out a bit. The flight control surfaces were slightly warped from overzealous preflight inspections. The leather seats were dry and cracked.

Away we go
With the preflight done, and the engine started, we taxied out to the end of the runway and performed the engine runup. With everything satisfactory and permission from the tower, it was time to take flight. The takeoff from runway 29 went smoothly and we departed out to the west aiming our small aircraft for the large, but hidden rock(At this point I fully realized how smokey the air was) that defined Morro Bay. This would be the flight training area for the day.

The instructor had me practice climbs, leveling off, descents and leveling off again. Shallow turns were made back and forth across the bay, as I practiced maintaining level flight in turns and keeping the plane level. Proporly trimming the aircraft was greatly stressed because once it was done, the plane just flew itself. Before I knew it, the hour whizzed by and we needed to return to land. I made the approach into the airport, but because it was just the first flight, the landing was left completely up to my instructor while I observed. Landing was uneventful and I help secure the aircraft back on the ramp.

Total flight time logged: 1 Hour

And so concluded my first instructed flight. Many thanks to my flight instructor, and I can't wait for my next lesson this weekend.