March 10, 2005
PPL ASEL completed
The first major leg has been completed... yay.
On Monday I went up to IWS and sat for my oral portion of the private pilot exam. I was overprepared, to say the least, but that was a good thing. It took about 3.5 hours all told including a good deal of oldschool stories from Hank which go with the territory. There was a line of TStorms all across the area and things were breaking in the sky, so although there was about 1.5 hours of clear air we could have tried to do some flying in, we decided to hold off on the flight portion of the exam until today.
So we got off the ground at about 10:30am this morning and after about 2.1 hours (which he reminded me constantly included a good portion of me "wasting time") and a lot of sweating, we touched back down the last time at IWS. To be honest when we came in, I was not sure if I had passed. I knew that on every maneuver I had done better in practice than in the actual test performance. My pilotage also got a good beating down, since he took my map and circled one place and said "go here" and it took me a long time to find it - then followed by another circle in an area I'd never been to and "ok now go here"... My first power on stall recovery was absolutely hideous, but I laughed it off (after not spinning the plane of course) and said "man, I've got to do that again that was awful) and I did it again with barely any loss of altitude.
So what do I have to work on? Clearly everything needs more work, and I get the idea now that it is a lifetime of practice to actually get these things second nature. My accuracy landing was not bad, but I did not hold my slip long enough and trust that I'd make it down right on the mark so I ballooned. My soft-field landing was only good because I kept the power in and got off the runway without stopping/braking, but it was not particularly "soft" ... my short-field takeoff/landings were not awful, but I ballooned on the landing again (something about wind free days make me a little weird)... in all those maneuvers, I was chastised for not trusting what I was doing and for being rough on the controls (which I do not think "rough" is really an accurate description)... keep in mind, the examiner has tens of thousands of hours of experience, so although you learn a lot from him everytime you fly you are NEVER GOOD ENOUGH. hah..
Pilotage - definitely needs work, so tomorrow I will probably go back out and fly to Bay City or some other area I've never been into and just mess around with my chart. I have to fly another 2.2 hours to complete the 55 logged hours at IWS. If I had not broken my arm, I'd probably still have a ton of hours to fly out there... so, in a way this is actually better.
Not that I don't enjoy the people and facilities/planes at IWS. It is a fantastic small airport, and makes experience at the large airports seem awful in contrast... but I just am ready to move on. I do wish I had come out of my PPL with more PIC time, but you know what, that would benefit my logbook but the more dual I received actually benefitted by flight abilities so I think it balances out. This is life and death stuff we're dealing with here, not riding a bicycle ...
So now I'm scheduled to start out at Houston Southwest on Monday at 8am (!)... !! .. ! .. this is several days earlier than I had expected to go out there, but I think what is going to happen is that I'll fly up to Dallas with Josie (one of the current Houston Southwest, hereafter KAXH or AXH) and stay in the ATP apartments for a few days to burn off the 30 hours in their 172. Wish they could get that silly plane down here instead. Incidentally, however, this means that I may start flying the Seminole on the trip up and down, depending on how they want to bill me for it. I don't want to waste Multi hours on a cross-country just to get to a single engine plane, as I only have limited hours on each segment to work with. Still, that's kind of neat.
This means that I'm now reading the Instrument books with pretty great fervor, as I'll need to start taking these other knowledge tests as soon as practical. The Instrument rating and Instrument Instructor written exams are based on the same pool of questions, and those are what I have to take first... I also need to memorize all the checklists for the outlined procedures in the Seminole supplement, as well as all the numbers.
Should be interesting... anyway. Hey I'm a pilot now :P
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 07:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 07, 2005
PPL ASEL Oral Exam done..
I sat for the Oral Exam today but the weather was awful... TStorms and low ceillings all around the state..
This took a LONG TIME... I was actually half relieved when I got through this, because it took several hours and was very comprehensive... It was not as deep as it could have been, but I was prepared to answer a lot more than I actuall got asked. I think my confidence in my basic knowledge helped make me feel more at ease about the exam (which was really more like a long conversation about all things VFR) and made my instructor feel inclined to tell TONS OF STORIEs.
At any rate, I'm scheduled to take the flight portion on Thursday. Can't wait to get this milestone behind me.
Did I mention I still love flying!?!
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 08:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 05, 2004
Groundschool:Navigation
Bad weather, but lots to learn. We stay in for an hour or so of flight planning discussion.
I am pleased to say that now I understand how to use a circular sliderule style flight computer (E6-B). It is amazingly simple, if I can just remember what to point the wheel at for different calculations. I'm not too worried about it, though, since I will also bring in my C2-X digital calculator that has all the flight computer functions on it. I am impressed by the compressed genius in the slide rule, but placing the values out by labels on a little lcd screen makes much more sense to me.
Anyway, so, flight navigation planning. There is a lot of stuff to do, but it is very systematic. We planned a short flight (very short!) to College Station (CLL) from IWS based on a phonecall to the flight briefer at 1-800-WX-BRIEF. A lot of information very fast from him, but I got all the key stuff in the right place. Harvey showed me how to put things in, where they go, and what to calculate from them. We whipped out the plotter and sectional and drew a direct path between the airports, picking out visual waypoints about every 10 NM. I'll actually be a lot happier when I become proficient in cross checking VOR radials because making a waypoint like "Hockley" or "Waller off the left wingtip" seems a little loose to me, but with appropriately calculated headings with correction for winds aloft at our altitude, the checkpoints are really just that - points where you check how you're doing in your path.
Using the plane's manual, we could calculate the total fuel used in the takeoff and climb, and on each leg, based on the temperature and cruising altitude. All very well organized and common sense. It was EXTREMELY helpful, though, to have Harvey walk me through this simple plan. I definitely feel like I'll be alright in planning my cross countries.
I've got, as always, a lot to learn with this. I'll be using the GPS simultaneously as a cross-check, since I am supposed to use all the resources I have anyway. Sure, I'd love to be able to fly anywhere with just a stopwatch and the heading indicator/compass, but come on. It is nearly 2005 and you can get a full color handheld airnav GPS for 700$. Anything to reduce pilot workload sounds great to me.
Won't be back until Wednesday.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 11:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 04, 2004
2nd Solo - and neat benefit
I complete my second (and really my third, by time extension) supervised solo flights.
we were going to do maneuvers at altitude today, but Harvey thought it would be more efficient to just send me back out to complete my observed solo pattern work (with the CFI in the office on the radio the whole time). So, we went around 3 times and I felt kind of off, but nevertheless I obviously wasn't damaging myself nor the airplane, just floating a bit, so he sent me off to go around.
I went around for 1.2 hours doing 7 circuits with no go-arounds. A few of the landings were better, a few were worse. I did have a pretty severe ballooning once that almost stalled out on the top but I recovered. I should have added some power so I could maintain my flare attitude and lose some speed. Of all the control flipping I was doing, the throttle should have come on in that one. But anyway, not a bad day. I'm definitely feeling confident behind the yoke alone, now. In the worst case, as long as there is not a terrible crosswind (and when I finally landed the weekend weather started up and it was about 9 knots from the east) I can land just fine. As I was making those last landings with crosswind (whereas before it was fairly dead wind ALL WEEK... calm and variable) there was definitely moisture in the air that was visible at pattern altitude (1100' AGL). Neat.
So what is the benefit? Well, since I finished the supervised solo I can schedule the plane to do pattern practice time on my own. I am not allowed to leave the pattern, but this is definitely another big step!
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 03, 2004
First Solo
Well, I obviously made it back.
Well, today I did it! I knew this was coming after the pattern/landing work yesterday and the hours I've got, but still it was something I will never forget. Like most other people I've heard from, this is how it went for me with a few details:
I got to the airport around 1pm and did pre-flight. Harvey and I went out and I knew we'd be doing more pattern work. Harvey ran through the pre-takeoff checklist at the speed of light and taxi'd us out to the taxiway and gave me the controls. We were going to go around 3 times.
Ok, I take off and I go around. The first landing is actually pretty good. Then I go around again, mediocre landing but not terrible. So when I take off the 3rd time, Harvey pulls his headset and wraps it up and sits there. I know I have to go on my own this time and he is a safety feature I will soon be losing. I made it down alright and he instructs me to taxi to the front of the ramp.
He signs my student certificate and endorses my logbook for solo flight at IWS in C172. He pops open the door, tells me to get back in one piece and have a good time. So off I go for three rounds.
Well, actually the first circle was quite good and a smooth landing (relatively). The second I came in too high and fast, so I elected to go around. Then I did two more full stops and came in to parking, tied the plane down, and entered the building.
Well, West Houston doesnt like to destroy shirts (though I had been careful to wear what I could spare after my wife made me clean out my clothes) but I did get a cool certificate. I know I have a long way to go, but I am pretty pleased with soloing after one week.
I called my grandma and told her I had flown the plane by myself and she said "but your instructor was in there with you" and I said no "BY MYSELF" . A lot of people are under the impression that your instructor basically flies the airplane for the first 10 hours and then you get to handle the controls - this is clearly not the reality that student pilots live with. I called my sister and she asked "did you land?"
Well, obviously.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 02:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 02, 2004
Circling Overland
A routine day of takeoff/pattern/landing
Not much special to talk about today. We did about 6 trips around the pattern with me doing the landings. Harvey mentioned getting me soloing soon, especially if I do well on 3 rounds with him tomorrow.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 02:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 29, 2004
Day 4
More practice of the same essential maneuvres with some good traffic pattern work. I also pick up a headset and give it a go in live flight.
Time Logged: 1.2 daytime VFR (Hank)
Location: KIWS TT: 7.7
Just a relatively short time out at the airport today, gaining 1.2 hours of flight time. The weather today was starting to get a little hazy/cloudy, and this was my first experience with rain showers on the windshield. As we lined up to takeoff (which, by the way, I am much more confident in now. My taxi'ing is not nearly as ... um.. all over the place as it was when I started) and got up to about 350 ft, rain started showing up. I commented "I don't guess this thing has windshield wipers" but in truth, once you get to cruise speed the rain is pretty well pushed out of the way.
At any rate, it was a relief to me that this kind of weather was not a problem for VFR flights and training. We had appropriate visibility and cloud clearance, and the forecast did not have any bad thunderstorms supposed to show up in our area soon.
So, we took off and went out to the practice area. I was feeling much more confident in handling the airplane, though nothing is perfect yet (and definitely not perfect enough for Hank, but that's a good thing I think since he may be my checkride examiner). We did more stalls, slow flight and forced landings. Then Hank asked me which way the airport was, and I started looking for I-10 and tracking slowly southeast. According to the GPS the airport should be just outside my left window, and there it was.
So, here we were to practice the traffic pattern. We entered the pattern and came around, then went around twice more. Each time, my pattern handling improved, my radio handling became much improved, and my actual touchdown was better. The third landing of the day was by no means spectacular, but at least I did my darndest to keep the plane in the air, which made Hank happier though the landing on the whole was not so hot.
Credit for 3 landings, and now I'm off tomorrow.
---
hardware: This morning I went by The Aviator Shop near Ellington to try on and pick up my first headset. I did not want to get too cheap a set since they do get used nearly every day, and likely will be for a long time. I also did not want to get too expensive a set, nor any active noise reduction because they are very expensive and really not necessary for what I'm doing currently.
Harvey had recommended Flightcom's Denali model, and the shop had a pair on display that I tried on. They were definitely lightweight, and easy to adjust the size, but the seal was not as perfect as I'd expected. I then tried on Peltor 7000 pro GT. The cups are a little fatter on this, and it is very slightly heavier than the Denali, but the seal was VERY GOOD and they were much quieter than the Denali even when just using speech as the comparison audio source. So, I was quite happy with them and bought them. They come with a very nice protective bag and a lifetime warranty (the big selling point of the ASA sets).
So, this flight used them, and I have to say they are great. They cost less than the Denali also, slightly, so in the same price range I would recommend that if you're shopping with the Denali in mind, give the Peltor 7000 Pro GT a try. It may just be a matter of head shape and size that made the difference, but I really was glad that we still have a specialty shop around here that let me see that first hand instead of taking a risk ordering blind (deaf?) online.
http://www.theaviatorshop.com
http://www.peltor.com/peltor.com/comm_detail.cfm?prod_family=Aviation%20Headset&ind_prod_num=7000%20PRO%20GT001
http://www.flightcom.net/site/headsets/denali.php
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 01:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 28, 2004
Day 3
Today we start talking about approaches... this is much more difficult than the take-off.
Time Logged: 2.2 daytime VFR (1.2 Harvey / 1.0 Hank)
Location: KIWS
TT: 6.5
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The first flight of the day was with Harvey. We went back out to the practice area and performed some more power-off stalls. (We practice power-off stalls more because there are several important steps in the procedure that are not present/necessary in power-on stalls. Remember that power-off stalls simulate approaches, and so you have to deal with power changes, trimming to the max glide speed, flap changes, and all these same things in reverse. It is critical, for example, to remember to flip up the flaps immediately after full power is applied on the recovery.)
We talked about the traffic pattern, and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with my orientation over and around the airport area. The GPS with its direct bearing is useful in locating home base, but I'm able to find the airport now just by orienting myself with I-10 and finding out where I'm at. Generally you want to enter the downwind leg of the pattern at 45 degrees, but since we were coming from the west into a left pattern on runway 15 (150 degrees) we planned on entering the pattern on the crosswind leg.
There is a lot going on inside the traffic pattern, even at an uncontrolled airport. Radio calls are coming in and being made on every turn. You've got to constantly be looking for traffic in all the legs, or coming in "illegally" and ignoring the pattern/going backwards or straight in on approach. In the meantime, you've got to orient yourself with the runway, make power changes, trim to glide speed, put in flaps, and concern yourself with maintaining that airspeed ABSOLUTELY while also making sure your altitude is in the pattern (in this case 1100 feet) until that speed is reached, and then concern yourself with losing altitude at an appropriate rate (flaps, power adjustments, etc) to follow the glidepath right down onto the runway. Not to mention crosswindws and slipping down are way different (but more manageable) in reality than in flight simulator.
So there's a lot going on in the landing approach. We made one approach where I flew low tracking the runway, and then went around the pattern again and touched down for full stop.
---
With Hank today we really spent our time talking about emergency procedures and forced landings if, for example, the engine went out. We flew around looking at different terrain to see what would make the best possible landing site that would keep us safe, and the plane from being ripped apart. To simulate a forced landing, you pull the throttle to idle and immediately pitch up (without losing an inch of altitude hopefully) to the best glide ratio speed, which happens to be 65 knots on this airplane. If you had not already done so, decide on your emergency landing spot and map out your flight path to a landing pattern based on your current altitude.
What really was surprising about this to me was how close we came to the ground during the simulation. We had to come a good 50 feet or closer to the ground before putting on full power, setting the flaps up and climbing. I had no idea that this was even legal, but since in unpopulated areas you just have to stay 500 feet away from anything (people, buildings, vehicles) you don't have any lower limit on your height above ground level! So, we were basically buzzing farmland and I guess the cows were the only witnesses.
I wonder, however, why I have never seen light aircraft doing these practice maneuvres? Obviously I do not live in the country, and there is nowhere good around here to make a forced landing (except for the football stadium maybe, but with the aerial obstructions I'm sure a local field woud be preferred)... One could never practice this over a populated area anyway with the altitude requirements.
We also practiced landings and I ended up getting credited for 2. In neither one was Hank happy about how quickly the plane set down! The lesson here is that you have to basically pull and pull on the stick to make it maintain altitude for as long as physically possible, and it will come down on its own. Tomorrow's landings will surely be better.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 27, 2004
Day 2 - Two Flights
My second day of flying, now with two flights and two different instructors.
Time Logged: 3.3 daytime VFR (1.3 Harvey / 2.0 Hank)
Location: KIWS
TT: 4.3
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I flew 1.3 hours with Harvey, reviewing take-offs again (still dealing with that ornery left-turning tendency battery and the requisite right-rudder response). We also covered constant speed climbs and descents.
As we were going to head back to the airport, he asked me if I had any questions. Well, I said, yes I did. For 29 years I'd been afraid to fly small aircraft/learn to pilot because of my father's description of his brief Army pilot training which he quit after he especially did not like the dreaded stalls. I had always been under the impression that, based on his description, the sensation of the stall would be massive G forces worse than a rollercoaster. You do, after all, fall several hundred feet (if the stall is held) in just a few seconds.
Well, earlier in the flight he had flown into the wind and had the plane hovering in midair for a good 5-7 minutes, with the stall horn going off the whole time (we looked like a helicopter frozen in space! weird!) so we were almost there, so he said "here let me do a few for you." So, he did a power off stall, simulating a landing approach. pulled back pulled back pulled back, horn, stall, and... well, basically nothing. We probably lost about 30 feet in that stall because he immediately recovered (which is the ideal response anyway) and the only scary feeling was how the wings started shaking just a bit as the last bit of air sticking to them tried to hang on. Ok, i thought, no problem. Then he did a power-on stall. I thought this would be worse because you were going into it at a much greater initial speed/and the forward thrust also would give you the opportunity to have the angle of attack much much higher.
Ok, part of that was true, it did seem like you could get the angle of attack higher (pointed more "up") but the power-on stall is even less intimidating. First, there are less steps in the maneuvre. second, all you really have to do is immediately recover from the stall and level off. if you just get a little speed (nose down a bit) you get lift and begin flying again.
So. Stalls. Well, I wish I had found this out a long time ago. A huge concern was lifted from my brain at that point, and I knew I'd be doing stalls soon myself.
---
As a matter of fact, I'd be doing them in the afternoon. Today I flew with Hank for the first time. This is the chief flight instructor at West Houston, the one flying since 1943 (as noted before). He's an extremely nice man, but has a decidedly different teaching style than Harvey. Harvey is much more laid back, but Hank reminded me of Rod Mochado's voice in the flight simulator (microsoft) flying lessons. Hank works with some very effective instant calling out of mistakes in altitude, heading, pitch, speed. This guy is sharp as a tack and probably knows the airplane better than it knows itself. We had a pretty good flight, though it was a lot more stressful for me than with Harvey simply because I did not really know what to expect.
We covered rectangular pattern tracking and turning about a point on the ground, then went up to try them out. The real problem I had here was a misunderstanding of which points and tracking lines we were using for the rectangle. If I were deciding on them myself and not having to communicate them to anyone, I think I'd do alright. Communication is extremely important - QUICK and accurate. If I say too may non-specific words, we've already past the desired point and still have no shared understanding. It's really important to adoping a uniform and precise vocabulary for cockpit communication. The turning around a point was actually better, though I overshot my path in general because I still was not very comfortable making continuous steep banked turns. I did maintain altitude quite well, though, once I got warmed up.
Hank did not like the way I did my turns very much. We did some control use practices where he would hold the ailerons stable and I would perform a turn using just the rudder, and vice versa. The key point he wanted me to learn here is to lead off on turns with the rudder and add appropriate aileron to keep it coordinated. In general, he wants me to learn to turn more with the rudder which introduces a banking motion (to which ailerons are added) rather than just doing a hard bank in the direction of desired flight. on the other hand, when he does his turns it is hard to tell what he is leading with because no matter how steep they are, he has them well coordinated.
Then he had me climb up a bit and pull back the airspeed to minimum controllable (riding the low end of the green arc). This is around 55 knots or so. The controls are much looser at that speed, and the pitch requires a lot of trim to keep the pressure required down to a comfortable level. He then had me start performing power off and power on stalls. These were actually very educational. First, they reinforced that there was nothing to be afraid of or even spooked about. They're very simple so long as you keep the nose straight at the top and don't spin the plane. Second, you have to REALLY GO OUT OF YOUR WAY to make the wings stall. You really have to pull HARD to get the speed down quickly enough to be noticeable, and then hold it there until you feel the light shudder on the wings and a little fall. Yes, it's ideal to stall about .5" over the runway on a perfect landing, but at that point you've already kept an eye on your airspeed and pitch to make it safe. The point being, it would be a really difficult thing to have an "accidental" stall. They don't happen accidentally. The pilot either forces it to happen as a maneuvre, or the pilot was not paying attention and ran out of airspeed (on an approach for example).
After 2 hours in the air, the plane was parked and tied down. (I did actually get credit for one landing today, though Hank was NOT happy about my letting it touch down so quickly. He also was not happy about ever seeing my right hand on the control stick! !)
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 26, 2004
First Day - First Hour
The weather held out and I was able to actually complete my first day including meeting my primary instructor, some ground discussion, and actual time in the air.
Time logged: 1 hr dual instruction daytime VFR.
Location: KIWS (West Houston)
Well, today was the day alright. I arrived around 9:40am for my 10am appointment, and met my instructor Harvey. He's only a year younger than I am, and has been flying for 10 years / instructing for 6. Super nice guy and very comfortable in the plane.
We preflighted the C172R we were going to use (I'll be doing this on my own from now on) and went back inside for a while. On the ground we talked primarily about the left turning tendencies (which I had just re-read about the night before) and then went out and started up the plane.
Immediate observations: this thing is way smaller once you're in it than it appears on the outside, and even smaller once you're off the ground. I was shocked that it started to feel that we were in a motorcycle sized vehicle zipping around the pattern. I was also somewhat surprised at how maneuverable it seemed - especially relative to any expectations I had... which leads to the first of this kind of thing: REALITY vs FlightSimulator.
Buckling in and starting up the plane was both identical to the C172 in flightsim and absolutely unlike flightsim. As we got in and I did the preflight checklist (checklists are very important, and key to overall safety) I knew where almost all the switches were based on my experience with MSFlightSim. A few things were in different places. However, there were some serious differences....
First, complete peripheral vision and available 360 degree view without a goofy hat switch. The upside to this is obvious, the "downside" is that the view out the left seat window can be pretty shocking. On shallow turns (10-20 degrees) it felt like I was looking straight down at the ground. I'd hate to see (or feel) what some of my high quality single monitor flightsim flying has been like in a real plane.
Second, even when I had it running through my home studio I never had the FS sound turned up to match the loudness of the real engine. I was a little surprised at how loud I had to talk to get the intercom to pick up. Not uncomfortable, just very lawnmower like... (amplified by the avgas and oil I got on my hands during preflight...)
I thought it was neat, however, that the panel (including the radio stack) was nearly identical to the FS version.
Ok, so now what procedures did I actually begin learning today.
1) Taxi'ing. Honestly this was the hardest thing I have done in a long time.... I have rudder pedals at home, but only now that I've used real pedals will I have an idea of how they're supposed to feel. Turning with the rudder alone is pretty rough unless there's some decent momentum already going... working the throttle constantly to maintain a fast walking pace while driving with your feet and having your instructor tell you to put your silly left hand under your leg because you keep trying to "drive" it like a car is scary and amusing... the brakes must be "squeezed" rather than stomped... If you do get the magic formula right, however, of throttle, rudder, differential braking the C172 can turn on a dime. I really did not expect it to be so agile. Unfortunately, I am not really that great yet at keeping on the taxi line. This will come in no time, though.
2) Take-offs. I did probably 4 takeoffs (after Harvey did the first) followed by exiting the runway, taxi'ing back to runway 15, centering on the line and repeating. This was my first time in a plane this small and it was both exhilirating and frightening when we first picked up off the ground (even under his control). It's one thing to see your position on the attitude indicator inside flightsim and say "oh ok i need to be pitched at around 13 degrees" and another thing to overcome your natural automobile driver's concern that not only does this make me feel like i'm falling backward but I CAN'T SEE OVER THE WINDSCREEN!... I'm pretty tall, at least for these aircraft, and I will even need to lower the seat next time to get full motion on the aielrons (they kept banging my knee).
My take offs got better as we'd return and I'd do it again (Harvey was flying the pattern and landing). The neat part, and very new, was how the left turning tendencies we'd just talked about were all conspiring just as they had been advertised. There's no secret here. I got used to keeping right rudder pressure, but I'm not quite able to keep just that right amount immediately yet. There was also some wind activity just about 20 feet about the treeline (the runway altitude is 111 feet, so probably around 75-100 ft)... It was pretty unusual feeling. I hate to say "Scary" you know, which in a way it was, but more like surprising. It was really juggling to remember to keep the rudder depressed, keep the wings balanced, and keep the attitude adjusted to 79 knots. The controls became extremely sensitive once aloft, another thing that I'll just need to acquire some handling experience in to get smoothly.
3) Beginning to learn confidence in the airplane and in my instructor, and finally in myself. This is not a 777. This really has a rough and ready feel to it, and there are a million things going on. Being in the air is not natural for us, and it is going to take some time getting used to the vertical accelerations (*cough* rollercoasters and I have a love hate relationship).. It will take time getting used to looking out and seeing things below me, tall buildings around me, and other flying craft (today we saw banner draggers flying around downtown to the east...). It is a new world up here that will take some serious internal adjustment. i've said the word serious about 50 times so far.
It was neat to see Harvey really actively making the plane go where he wanted to go. He's a very hands-off instructor, too, meaning that he'll let me make a lot of my own mistakes while making sure neither we nor the craft are in any actual danger. I'm going to have to get more carefully aggressive, especially on the throttle, and make sure to be maintaining "positive control"... It means literally that: not letting the thing get out from under you EVER.
What did I learn today? It's harder than it looks. This is a real case where good pilots make it look easy. On the other hand, some things were easier than in flight simulator. (Keeping it pitched to an airspeed was much easier than in FS).
It's also a great deal of fun. It was actually way better than I expected it could have been, even though it was kind of weird also. Today I flew a plane. Maybe I did not fly it very far or do much with it but take off and ascend, but nevertheless it was a really gratifying start to a long road. I felt like I was walking on air as I drove out of the airport.
Final verdict: To all you flightsimmers, especially the ones that are way better than I am (which doesn't take much), do yourself a favor and take one of the 50$ intro flights at your local airport FBO. It will really change how you feel about flight simming, and what flight simming is actually doing. And maybe what it is actually supposed to do. Anyone that can afford flight sim can afford to do this, even if just the one time. I am still feeling the sudden "whoosh" after rotation when the rear wheels came up and the runway bumps disappeared. It was really amazing, and the best part is I get to go back in 11 hours (God and weather permitting). So I'd better go read some more about taxi'ing and stalls.
Posted by Chris Mitchell at 10:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack