31 May 2008- Flight 46

Bob called last night and said he was going to be out of town. So no mock checkride. Bob did say he would leave the plane out for me to practice with though. The TAF was showing that the winds were going be from 170 at about 15 knots. Bob said not to worry about. It was nothing I had not handled before. I agreed and was out there this morning at 10.

Today was a first because Bob was not even around when I got to the plane. So if anything came up, I needed to decide for myself. Of course with cell phones, Bob is really only a phone call away if I had any questions or concerns. But still it felt a little strange to just be me, the aircraft and nobody else around.

I did my preflight and found no problems. After starting the plane, I listened to the AWOS and the winds were about 15 knots from 180. So maybe 3 to 4 knots of crosswinds, but nothing I could not handle.

I decided to start off with a touch and go. I was not happy with how the first one went. I did not feel like I had a stabilized descent and was continually having to adjust my glide path. So I did a second one and had the descent a little better controlled.

I next departed the pattern to the southwest practice area. I started out with turns about a point. Those one went okay. I next proceeded to steep turns. Again, I think this was the first time I had done steep turns by myself. The first few were not good, but after doing a few more to the left and the right I was staying within limits.

I next went on to S turns. I did about four of those. I was not really happy with any of them. The last one was better than the first, but I am not sure if they would be good enough to pass a checkride.

I decided next I would try to do a low power stall, but as I started reducing the airspeed in preparation for the stall I started getting a lot of turbulence. This made me nervous. I was afraid that I might hit some turbulence that I might not be able to compensate for when I stalled and might go into a spin. I aborted the stall attempt and decided to head back to the airport for some short and soft field practice.

I started out with a normal landing. I wanted to find out what the winds were doing before I tried a short field landing. The normal landing went just fine, so I proceeded to the short field. My first short field landing attempt did not go well. I probably got stopped in about 1200 feet instead of under 1000. After stopping I setup for a short field takeoff. The short field takeoff was no real problem. I did have the stall horm sound once, so I lowered the nose some. Once I was a few hundred feet up I lowered the nose some more to build up airspeed and retracted the flaps at 70 knots.

My second attempt at a short field landing went a little better. I managed to stop right at 1000 feet. Passable, but I have done shorter stops. One mistake I did make on that landing was I put my feet up on the brakes before I was fully down. I was too close to landing to try to put them back down, so I just made real sure I did not apply pressure on them. You never want to have your feet on the brakes until the wheels are down the ground. If you have them locked when you touch down you will blow out the tires. Bob had a student do that once. I do not want to be the second!

I decided to do a soft field takeoff next. The mistake I made here was I did not level off soon enough and got out of ground effect. So the plane settled back down to the ground, before taking off again. When I realized the plane was settling I just maintained a nose up attitude and let it come back down on the main gear like a normal landing. Once I was back in the air, I leveled off and waited for my airspeed to build to 70 knots so I could begin to climb out.

As I was practicing in the pattern I did notice that the landings seemed to be getting tricker. I seemed to be getting a bit more cross wind and I was not staying centered on final. Because of that, I decided not to do a soft field landing which means flying as slow as possible just above the runway before touching down. I decided with the crosswind building I could get pushed off the runway. So I made my last landing a normal landing which I was happy with.

Bob rescheduled tomorrows lesson for 10:30. I will relay to him the difficulties that I had today. We may be better off doing a little more checkride prep rather than a mock checkride.

26 May 2008-Flight 45

The weather today was very much like it was Saturday. Winds mostly out of the south at 10 to 15 knots and overcast. The cloud base was high enough to allow flying. I called Bob before I headed out thinking that 1900 would be too low. However Bob reminded that METARs give the cloud base in AGL, not MSL. So there was plenty of room to stay clear of the clouds. You would think I would remember that after having gone to those aviation weather seminars a few months back!

I showed my soft and short field takeoff and landing steps I had typed up in the previous post. Bob looked them over and said it looked good. I just needed to get out there and practice it.

Bob wanted to go up with me first and watch me practice the soft and shortfield procedures. I was more on top of my game today and handled them better than last time. Bob pointed out that I was late on applying 30 degrees flaps when I did my short field landing. I had waited until I was over the numbers instead of before. After doing one of each, Bob got out and said to practice them on my own.

I started out with the softfield take off. That one went smoothly. I did the soft field landing next. Again no problems. I progressed on to the short field takeoff, followed by a short field landing. I managed to get stopped within 1000 feet.

I repeated the soft field take off. I made a couple of mistakes on the second time. First I let the nose wheel touch the runway briefly. Second, I let myself get out of ground effect a little too quickly and noticed the plane start to settle some. I released a little pressure on the yoke to lower the nose some and let my airspeed build up a little more. Once I had 70 knots I began my climb and retracted the flaps.

I decided to end with a short field landing. I managed to stop withing 1000 feet, but the landing was a little longer than my first one.

Bob says the next lesson will be a mock checkride. If I do well on that, then I will be ready for the examiner. I feel better about the short and softfield takeoffs and landings now. I would say my weakest area is getting the clearances straight in my head for the different classes of airspace. I just need to spend a little time doing some memorization to get those down.

Next lessons are scheduled for
31 Jun-10 am Mock checkride.
1 Jun-10 am. Get my last 30 minutes of solo time done and fine tune anything that needs it.

24 May 2008-Flight 44

In spite of the overcast, we managed to get up today. The winds were from 150 at 12 knots gusting to 19 knots. This gave a crosswind of 4 knots up to 6 knots. Since I am still weak on short and soft field landings and takeoffs we focused on those.

Unfortunately today was one of those days where I seemed to not be able get my act together. The first time, which was a normal landing, Bob wanted to see how I was handling the crosswinds. I was slow on carb heat and pulling back power when even with the numbers. Bob did not say anything. He was probably waiting to see when I was going to wake up.

We next did several soft field landings and takeoffs. Bob also had to refresh my memory on the procedures. For some reason I still can’t seem to want to keep the nose wheel up.
For my own reference I am going type out the procedures-
Soft field take off
1. Flaps to 10 degrees.
2. Apply full power
3. Keep the nose wheel off the ground.
4. Wait for the plane to lift off.
5. Level out while still in ground effect.
6. At 70 knots raise flaps, climb out. Continue to build airspeed.

Soft field landing
1. Downwind mid field, pull carb heat.
2. Downwind even with numbers. RPMS back to 1500. When below 80 knots drop 10 degrees flaps.
3. On base leg, airspeed 70-75 knots. Drop 20 degrees flaps.
4. On final, airspeed 70-75 knots
5. Short final, 30 degrees flaps. Set RPMs for 1500. Take hand off throttle.
6. Let plane descend to runway. Keep nose up on touchdown and afterwards.
7. On roll out. Keep nose up until on solid ground. Adjust power as needed to maintain

Short field takeoff-
1. Hold plane with brakes.
2. Flaps to 10 degrees.
3. Apply full power
4. Release brakes.
5. Rotate and climb at Vx which is 55 knots for the 152.
6. Maintain 55 knots until clear of obstacle. If you hear the stall horn, reduce angle of attack.
100 feet AGL is not a good place to practice stall recovery!
7. When clear of obstacle, lower nose let airspeed increase.
8. At 70 knots bring up flaps.

Short field landing.
1. Downwind mid field, pull carb heat.
2. Downwind even with numbers. RPMS back to 1500. When below 80 knots drop 10 degrees flaps.
3. On base, airspeed 70-75 knots.
4. On final. Aim for the numbers. Airspeed 70-75 knots. Drop 20 degrees flaps.
5. On short final, airspeed 70-75 knots, drop 30 degrees flaps.
6. When runway made, power off. Start flare a little earlier than normal landing to reduce
airspeed as much as possible.
7. Apply brakes as needed to stop within 1000 feet.

After the soft field practice we moved on to the short field. Again it took some prompting from Bob to get it right. Hopefully by typing up the procedures I can finally get this all committed to memory and have it become second nature.

We did have one bit of excitement in pattern. After climbing out from one short field takeoff, I noticed a plane at 12 oclock and moving from west to east at pattern altitude.. I pointed it out to Bob. Bob took the controls brielfy and tried to get the other planes attention with radio and landing lights, but it kept proceeding to the east. We kept an eye on it and it did not take long to realize they were doing a left hand pattern to runway 17. The published pattern for SNL is a right hand pattern for 17. When we got to base leg, I asked Bob if I should extend downwind and he said to maintain the pattern. Shortly after I turned right base, the other plane turned left base. Again Bob took the controls and attempted to make the other aircraft aware of our presence. For some reason they still acted like we were not there. Finally Bob yielded final to the other other plane and turned short of final and paralleled them briefly. I could clearly see them, but the pilot seemed to be totally oblivious to our presence. Bob finally started a climb back up to pattern altitude and handed controls back to me so I could continue practicing.

We stayed up in the air for another 15 to 20 minutes while I continued to practice short field takeoffs and landings.
After the final stop, Bob had me stop by the other plane and he went to talk to the pilot of the aircraft. The other pilot admitted his mistake, said he was having radio problems also and apologized.

No flying tomorrow, but since Monday is a day off for Memorial Day, we scheduled a lesson for 9am.

18 May 2008 – Flight 43

Today was a solo flying day and it could not have been nicer. In spite of my fears yesterday of too much crosswind, the winds were about 9 knots from 350.

Just as I pulled up to the gate I suddenly noticed a bunch of balloons floating up in the air. When I asked Bob, he said it was a Memorial Day celebration. My first thought was, am I going to have to be dodging balloons while I was up there. Of course with the winds blowing about 9 knots, the balloons would be well out of my way by the time I got up in the air.

After preflight was done, I started to taxi out. I had a twin engine jet(not sure of the type) in front of me and Bob’s Cardinal behind me. I made sure I kept my distance from the jet. I did not want to find myself getting blasted off the taxiway.

After I got up in the air, I went to the southwest to practice. I started off with few turns about a point. Those went well. I then progressed into S-turns. Some of those went pretty good and others I was not so happy with. I think most of my time up was practicing the S-turns.

In the meantime it seemed like every plane and helicopter in the area was buzzing around SNL. Probably for the Memorial Day ceremony. There was one plane circling the field at 3000. Some helicopters inbound at 1600. And a few other planes in the area as well. So I moved my practice area a few more miles to the southwest to make sure I was clear of all the traffic. I did have one helicopter pass below me by about 500 feet while I climbing to do my stall practice.

I only practiced the low power stalls. My first one went pretty good. I got a clean break and recovery. I did three more and I could not quite get the plane to enter the stall. It sort of stayed stuck in slow flight or mushed. Hearing the stall horn going off so much was making me too nervous, so I decided not to practice anymore stalls for the day.

By the time I finished my stall practice, the area was pretty much clear around the airport. So I headed back to do two touch and goes and a full stop. Bob suggested I do some short and soft field takeoffs and landings as well. I decided not to. I still do not feel that I have the procedures down well enough to do it on my own. Thinking about it now, I could have at least done the short and soft field takeoffs. Those I do understand, but I did not think about it at the time.

With the winds straight down the runway, the landings went pretty straightforward. The first one was a little hard, but the rest came down nicely. I think the mistake I was making on the first landing was not giving the plane a chance to come down. Sometimes I pull back on the yoke a little too soon which drop mys airspeed too soon and steepens the descent to the runway and makes the landing harder than it should be.

After I taxied the plane back, I left a message for Bob to let him know I brought his plane back in one piece. We will schedule something for next weekend. With Memorial Day weekend coming up, I am hoping I can get three days in.
If that can happen, then maybe a week or two later I can finally do my checkride.

17 May 2008 – Flight 42

Today was the continuation of more checkride prep. The winds were about 9 knots from 210. So that was about a 6 knot cross wind.

After taking off Bob had me start with some steep turns. I handled those well. We then went into slow speed flight. I did fair on those, but my setup to get to 60 knots was not very good. Afterwards we into went into a slow speed stall. I have handled them better. I was a little slow on the throttle and was pushing a little too much forward on the yoke. So Bob had to remind me to not dive the plane, just build up the airspeed and pull out. We also did a couple of full power stalls. Again I was getting a little heavy pushing forward on the yoke. We next went into foggle practice. I did this well. I kept up my instrument scan and kept the plane under control through both level flight and turns. Bob next had me tune in a VOR and turn towards it. This one I handled with no problems. As we returned to the field, Bob had me pull back the throttle to simulate an engine out back to the runway. We were about three miles out and 2100ft AGL. So we had plenty altitude to make it back. I was a little high back to the runway so I had to drop 30 degrees flaps to drop enough altitude to get down without building up airspeed. This worked out just fine.

We next went into soft and short field takeoffs and landings. Since we had about a 6 knot cross wind, these were a little trickier. I do not think I did them very well. I still do not have the procedure committed to memory well enough to feel confident that I am doing the right thing at the right time. This is still a weak area for me. I know I am capable of doing it, I just need to get a little more practice in.

Bob said if the winds cooperate tomorrow, I should do some solo time. I still have two hours left to do. The plan is to practice my S-turns, turns around a point, slow flight and touch and goes. Bob also said I could practice stalls as long as I am at 3000MSL when I do them. I do not think I will try the departure stalls, but I may try to the low speed stall.

The TAF is saying that the winds are supposed to be 250 at 5 knots around 11am. Almost all crosswind. That is a little less than I had to deal with today, so if stays like that I will probably go up. If it gets much higher, I may decide not to solo.

As I go back and read this, it is starting to read like a laundry list. We did this, then we did that, etc. In a way that is good. I need more practice on some things, but at the same time there is nothing really new or unexpected I am running across. The time for checkride is getting close. If the weather cooperates, hopefully not more than a month away.

11 May 2008-Flight Cancelled

The Oklahoma winds are at it again. From 350 at 18 knots gusting to 27 and predicted to get even stronger. So no flying today. I asked Bob how the checkride went for his two students yesterday and he said both of them passed.

Next flights are scheduled for
17 May at 11:30.
18 May at 11:00

4 May 2008 – Flight 41

Today was a continuation of checkride prep. I was flying with Ted today and he asked me what I thought I needed more practice in. I told him that I thought I needed some more practice with short and softfield takeoffs and landings. I wanted to do at least a couple of each. I also wanted to do some more engine out practice because I still was not picking places to land that were in range.

We started out with the short field takeoffs and landings. I made some mistakes on my first takeoff. I forgot to stop and apply full throttle before rolling. I also did not quite maintain 55 knots on climbout and the plane also drifted to right because of the crosswind. The shortfield landing was pretty good and I managed to stop before the first taxiway.

The second shortfield takeoff I did was much better. I remembered to hold the stop and apply full power and I maintained 55 knots on climb out. On Ted’s advice I used the adjacent taxiway as a reference to keep from drifting while climbing out. The second shortfield landing was not as short as the first. I did not get fully stopped until the second taxiway.

We did a couple of softfield takeoffs and landings next. My biggest problem with those is I am still not keeping the nose up. We did two of them, but I keep letting the nose drop. If I were really landing in mud or snow I would risk breaking the nose gear or flipping the plane. So I will do to those a few more times.

We next proceeded to the northwest practice area to do a stalls, slow flight and engine out practice.
The slow flight went well. I was able to maintain a speed of 45 knots and keep my altitude. The stall horn was whining, but I did not stall the plane.

We next did low power and high power stalls. The low power stalls went okay. On the departure stall, I did not keep the plane well coordinated on one of them. When the nosed pitched down, the plane rolled and yawed to the right rather quickly. I recovered, but I was surprised at the suddenness. That is I why I want to continue on with upset and spin recovery training. So I can get some exposure to some of those situations. Of course considering that both of those stalls take some pretty extreme control inputs, it is unlikely I would ever experience them during normal flight.

We next practiced engine out procedures. I keep picking my landing areas too far away. Ted said next time to look below me and see what is available and just spiral down rather than trying to do a long glide. Unfortunately time was getting short, so we did not try another one in the practice area.

We did decide to do a simulated engine out back to the runway. About one and half miles out, Ted had me pull power back and glide the plane the rest of the way in. I made the runway no problem and actually had to add in some flaps to act as a speed brake to drop altitude without building up speed.

There are no lessons planned for next Saturday because two other students are doing their checkrides. Hopefully something can get scheduled for Sunday though.

3 May 2008-Flight Cancelled

Today was supposed be a solo flight today at 4pm. I have two more hours of solo time to complete. The winds had been out of the north at 10-15 knots until about 2:45pm. Then they started started swinging to the west. So that means I would have had to deal with 10-15 knot cross winds. Since the crosswind limit of the 152 is 12 knots and I remember how challenging dealing with an 8 knot crosswind was, I decided that the soloing would be better done another day.