Lesson 2
I skipped lunch today and flew instead. The weather was very nice today, with lots of sun and not too much wind. However, up at 2000 feet or so, it was kind of choppy, which made me work a bit to keep the plane level and pointed in the right direction. My instructor, Jimmy, said that this was good practice for me, and it agree.
Jimmy taught me how to use trim (to neutralize the elevator) and we also did climbing and descending turns, power off gliding, clearing turns, and mock landing approaches with flaps.
However, the best part was Jimmy let me fly to the airport pattern, enter it, and line up with the runway while descending. I did everything but set the plane down. A few more of those and I'm thinking that I might be ready to try the touchdown.
As usual, Jimmy was quick with compliments and he told me it's more fun to teach when the student is intuitive. I'm having a lot of fun and hope that I can stay ahead of the curve.
Next lesson is scheduled for the 16th of May (Friday) but it's supposed to be pretty windy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but so far the weather forecasts have been maddeningly accurate.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Airspeed Velocity.
I had to settle for "ground instruction" today because the hurricane force winds won't give me a break. Either this is the windiest spring I can remember or I'm noticing it because it affects my training.
Right now I'm back on the schedule for Wednesday and Friday from 11:00-12:30. I'm curious to see how flying during lunch hour works.
Right now I'm back on the schedule for Wednesday and Friday from 11:00-12:30. I'm curious to see how flying during lunch hour works.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Stick time
Lesson 1
Well my student pilot training got off to a bumpy start but it's all behind me now. I went up today with my new instructor and I had a blast! Also, I learned some things.
Preflight
Since I had gotten very detailed training on preflighting the 152, my instructor (I'll call him "Jimmy") handed me the 'tin' and the fuel strainer and told me to preflight the airplane. So with my checklist in hand, I went over the plane like he showed me, and it was pretty easy with the checklist in hand. I did find some sediment in the right hand fuel tank which Jimmy complimented me on. When I was done, Jimmy double checked my preflight (do you blame him?) and we got in.
Point of No Return
We did our runup and when we got to the checklist item for testing the right and left magnetos, I held my breath. The other 152 had failed this test and we had been forced to scrub our flight. This time, though, there was barely a flutter in the RPMs and we proceeded onto the runway.
Pilot in Command
Jimmy shoved the throttle to the firewall and we were soon airborne. We climbed up to 1500 (~500 AGL) and turned south to the practice area. He explained some things to me, like how you have to "pull up" when you are turning and apply rudder to counteract skids and slips. He then turned the controls over to me and had me bring us up to 2K ASL. We did some shallow turns, with Jimmy making sure I was keeping altitude and turn coordination. Then we did some medium turns, some climbing, and he showed me how to maintain attitude and altitude by using outside references, which I found to be much easier than I expected.
At that point Jimmy did a 45 turn to show me what the plane was capable of. The g-forces were a bit disorienting at first, but I adapted quickly and it wasn't a problem. I suspect that Jimmy was try to see how my body reacted to higher g-forces. One cool note is that up until that time I was not at all tempted to try to find my house (as the practice area is right over my house) but when we did the high-g turn I looked straight down and saw a grass airstrip that a farmer has about 2 miles from my house. That was it for familiar landmarks, the rest of the countryside looks all the same from the air.
"Flight Simulator Promotes Bad Habits"
My flight instructor pointed out a number of times that my ability to hold a course and maintain altitude was very good for a beginner, and asked if I'd ever flown before. I said "not a real plane, only flight simulator". He said that some students were more naturally comfortable with the mechanics of flying, and others it was a lot harder. I've been using various combat and regular flight sims since I was 15, and I think that has given me an advantage. So I would have to say that although MSFS is not a substitute for real pilot training, it certainly gets you familiar with the basics of flying an airplane and it definitely helped me. As Jimmy said, it's probably going to save me a few hours of training.
Wrap Up
Jimmy let me fly the plane to the downwind leg of the pattern and turn the base leg. He said he'd let me fly the approach but the whole part about using attitude to govern speed didn't sink in fast enough and he took over for the final approach. Landing was uneventful and we debriefed a bit before I headed home.
All in all, it was a great flight. I learned a lot, I did a good job flying, my instructor is very good at what he does, and I had a lot of fun. Best of all, I have .9 hours of flight logged in my book now. I fly again on Monday!
Well my student pilot training got off to a bumpy start but it's all behind me now. I went up today with my new instructor and I had a blast! Also, I learned some things.
Preflight
Since I had gotten very detailed training on preflighting the 152, my instructor (I'll call him "Jimmy") handed me the 'tin' and the fuel strainer and told me to preflight the airplane. So with my checklist in hand, I went over the plane like he showed me, and it was pretty easy with the checklist in hand. I did find some sediment in the right hand fuel tank which Jimmy complimented me on. When I was done, Jimmy double checked my preflight (do you blame him?) and we got in.
Point of No Return
We did our runup and when we got to the checklist item for testing the right and left magnetos, I held my breath. The other 152 had failed this test and we had been forced to scrub our flight. This time, though, there was barely a flutter in the RPMs and we proceeded onto the runway.
Pilot in Command
Jimmy shoved the throttle to the firewall and we were soon airborne. We climbed up to 1500 (~500 AGL) and turned south to the practice area. He explained some things to me, like how you have to "pull up" when you are turning and apply rudder to counteract skids and slips. He then turned the controls over to me and had me bring us up to 2K ASL. We did some shallow turns, with Jimmy making sure I was keeping altitude and turn coordination. Then we did some medium turns, some climbing, and he showed me how to maintain attitude and altitude by using outside references, which I found to be much easier than I expected.
At that point Jimmy did a 45 turn to show me what the plane was capable of. The g-forces were a bit disorienting at first, but I adapted quickly and it wasn't a problem. I suspect that Jimmy was try to see how my body reacted to higher g-forces. One cool note is that up until that time I was not at all tempted to try to find my house (as the practice area is right over my house) but when we did the high-g turn I looked straight down and saw a grass airstrip that a farmer has about 2 miles from my house. That was it for familiar landmarks, the rest of the countryside looks all the same from the air.
"Flight Simulator Promotes Bad Habits"
My flight instructor pointed out a number of times that my ability to hold a course and maintain altitude was very good for a beginner, and asked if I'd ever flown before. I said "not a real plane, only flight simulator". He said that some students were more naturally comfortable with the mechanics of flying, and others it was a lot harder. I've been using various combat and regular flight sims since I was 15, and I think that has given me an advantage. So I would have to say that although MSFS is not a substitute for real pilot training, it certainly gets you familiar with the basics of flying an airplane and it definitely helped me. As Jimmy said, it's probably going to save me a few hours of training.
Wrap Up
Jimmy let me fly the plane to the downwind leg of the pattern and turn the base leg. He said he'd let me fly the approach but the whole part about using attitude to govern speed didn't sink in fast enough and he took over for the final approach. Landing was uneventful and we debriefed a bit before I headed home.
All in all, it was a great flight. I learned a lot, I did a good job flying, my instructor is very good at what he does, and I had a lot of fun. Best of all, I have .9 hours of flight logged in my book now. I fly again on Monday!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Cocked. locked, and ready to...
The ways of this world can be very mysterious. I have chosen what is considered by many to be the premiere flight school in the seven county metro area. The first hurdle I faced in actually flying was weather related, which, considering where I live (frozen Midwest) and considering how weather dependent flying can be, is not surprising or improbable. The second time I selected a time for my first flight, I came to the flight school and found out that my flight instructor is not checked out in the Cessna 152 that I'm signed up to fly in. The flight school supervisor insisted that he'd get checked out quickly and I could be in the air lickety split. Fine.
That was Saturday, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning went by without a word. So, "screw it" I said and drove over there. I walked in and explained my situation to the dispatcher and as I was talking, the supervisor walked out to get a cup of coffee. He didn't even look at me - he just said "Ok Keith, go ahead and yell at me." I walked over and said "Bill, I'm not here to yell. I'm here to learn. What is the situation and how can we fix it?" The short version is that they did what they should have done to begin with...they assigned me another instructor and scheduled me for a flight at 1430 this afternoon. Excellent!
I get to the flight school and the new instructor helps me preflight the 152 and go through the checklist for everything. We get into the plane, fire everything up, and taxi to the runway. We turned into the wind and began our engine run-up, and the checklist says to switch the magneto selector from "Both" to "R" and then "L". "R" (right) is ok but "L" makes the engine drop 300 rpm and run very rough. My instructor tried running it at 1700 RPM at full lean to clear a fouled plug but nothing he could do made it run better. So we taxied back to the school and he says "well I'll preflight the other 152 real quick and we'll get in the air yet today".
Well, we met the other 152 heading out to the runway so that was the end of that. The good news is that I'm on the schedule for tomorrow again and their 152's don't get a lot of heavy use so it shouldn't affect my training much.
But I remain confident that someday I will fly a plane...
That was Saturday, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning went by without a word. So, "screw it" I said and drove over there. I walked in and explained my situation to the dispatcher and as I was talking, the supervisor walked out to get a cup of coffee. He didn't even look at me - he just said "Ok Keith, go ahead and yell at me." I walked over and said "Bill, I'm not here to yell. I'm here to learn. What is the situation and how can we fix it?" The short version is that they did what they should have done to begin with...they assigned me another instructor and scheduled me for a flight at 1430 this afternoon. Excellent!
I get to the flight school and the new instructor helps me preflight the 152 and go through the checklist for everything. We get into the plane, fire everything up, and taxi to the runway. We turned into the wind and began our engine run-up, and the checklist says to switch the magneto selector from "Both" to "R" and then "L". "R" (right) is ok but "L" makes the engine drop 300 rpm and run very rough. My instructor tried running it at 1700 RPM at full lean to clear a fouled plug but nothing he could do made it run better. So we taxied back to the school and he says "well I'll preflight the other 152 real quick and we'll get in the air yet today".
Well, we met the other 152 heading out to the runway so that was the end of that. The good news is that I'm on the schedule for tomorrow again and their 152's don't get a lot of heavy use so it shouldn't affect my training much.
But I remain confident that someday I will fly a plane...
90 minutes.
My first flight is in 90 minutes. I will explain all in my next post. Stay tuned...IF YOU DARE.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Ground school.
While I'm waiting to get some flying time (I'll explain later), I've started my "learn at home" ground school program. This is huge because I don't have time to go to ground school class at the airport twice a week for eight weeks. I've been given an excellent set of CD's as part of my flight training that I can study on my own time and the results are automatically transmitted to the flight school.
While I'm disappointed about the delay in getting in the air, it's nice that I can work through the ground school course in the meantime and read the Operating manual for the Cessna 152. My instructor did go through a pre-flight of the airplane with me so when it's time to fly it shouldn't take long at all to get going.
While I'm disappointed about the delay in getting in the air, it's nice that I can work through the ground school course in the meantime and read the Operating manual for the Cessna 152. My instructor did go through a pre-flight of the airplane with me so when it's time to fly it shouldn't take long at all to get going.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Confusion and delay.
Mother nature does not wish me to fly today. That is the bad news. The good news is that the next few days look very good for weather so it shouldn't be too long before I'm in the air. In the meantime I'll begin the ground school courses and wait for the weather to clear.
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