29 June 2008-Flight 50

Finally I had a day start without thunderstorms. The winds were from 360 at 10 knots.

Today was a continuation of checkride prep.

We started off with a soft field takeoff. I finally got the nose up high enough today to make Bob happy. I think that was a first.

We proceeded to the west and started off with some steep turns to the left and the right. I handled those pretty well. Bob did have to remind me once to keep the bank at 45 degrees. I was not quite getting it steep enough. However I did hold my altitude and rolled out on course. We also did a low power stall, which went okay.

We next went into some slow flight. I was doing pretty good, but I still had some difficulty keeping the speed at 60 knots. It tended to go anywhere from 60 to 70, but I kept my altitude. We also did some slow speed turns which went okay.

We proceeded from slow flight to a departure stall to the left. I was still overcompensating with the right rudder and plane rolled some to right when it stalled, but I kept the plane under control lowered the nose and leveled out.

We went into some foggle practice next. We went through a series of straight and level flight, climbs, turns and VOR practice. We went through those just fine. We also did some upset recovery practice. I had been mentally rehearsing this, trying to get my reactions to be a little quicker. It seemed to payoff today. I was able to get the plane leveled out with little delay.

We next practiced S-turns and turns about a point. I had not actually done the rectangular pattern in this situation. However I do it all the time when I am in the pattern. My S-turns and turns about a point went better than before. I was picking my landmarks and managing to steer by them. Bob said they could be a little better, but they were passable.

We next did a rectangular pattern. I had not done this one in this situation, but I do rectangular patterns all the time when I am in the pattern. I had no problems flying a rectangular pattern around a square mile section of road. I compensated for the cross wind properly and followed the road.

We next did an engine out. I remembered to do my checks, but I forgot about the simulated switch to 121.5 and mayday. We had a little excitement while doing this. As I was lining up for my simulated landing in a field, I spotted a helicopter off to my left paralleling our course. So we aborted the simulated engine out and cleared the area. One other thing I need to remember for the checkride is to remember to tell the DE that just for before touching down I would crack open the doors, turn off the fuel, the master switch and magnetos.

We returned to the field where we practiced some more short and softfield takeoffs and landings. I was still late on applying 30 degrees flaps. The soft field takeoffs went well, but the short field takeoffs and landings I think could be better.

Bob also threw in a go around while I was preparing for one short field. I responded promptly this time. I got the throtte and carb heat in and I remembered to get my flaps up. Bob commented I handled that much better.

After I taxied back, Bob said he thought I was ready for my checkride and I could take off Monday and Tuesday if I wanted to. As it turns out, Bob wants to do the annual on his plane tomorrow, so there is no chance of flying Monday. However we will do one more lesson on Tuesday just to make sure I stay sharp.

Next and hopefully final lesson as a student pilot,
1July 9am.

28 June 2008-Flight 49

I woke up this morning to the sound of thunder. I was afraid today was going to be another cancellation. I called Bob and he said to meet him at 10am. We needed to do some oral test prep and get some paperwork done.

At Bobs office, we reviewed the log books again. We also filled out the form 8710-1, which is given the examiner to document how many hours of training I had received and solo time I had completed. While we were doing this Bob asked me various questions about the airplane, FAA regs, airspace, etc. I did pretty well, but there were a few that I did not get right.

After about an hour and a half of paperwork and questions, we checked to see what the weather was like. The storms were to our north and it was overcast where we were at. Still the winds were calm and and the ceiling was more than high enough to get out and do some review.

While I was not doing everything perfectly, I was not being as clumsy in my responses as last time. We started off with steep turns to the left and the right. Both of those I did well. I held my altitude and rolled out on the proper heading.

We next went into some slow flight. I could do a little better on this. I was having some difficulty maintaining speed and altitude. I think I managed to stay within limits, but I could better.

We next did departure stalls to the left and the right. I handled these better than last time. On the departure stall to the left, I overcompensated a bit on holding the right rudder and the plane rolled some to the right. However, I maintained control and recovered from the stall.

We did some low power stalls. I was not doing those too well. I had a tendency to push too hard on the yoke and dive plane. I also forgot to raise flaps once and Bob took my hand off the throttle and put them on the flaps to remind me.

We also practiced forward slips. This was actually the first time I had really had a chance to try them. It did not take too long to get a feel for them.

We went back to SNL to do some short and soft field takeoff and landings. The shortfield and softfield takeoffs went okay. On the shortfield landing, Bob was still not happy with my keeping the nose up. The shortfield landings did not go well at all. I was consistently too high and even with full flaps I had too much airspeed to get stopped in 1000 feet. They were more like normal landings than short landings. I know we will have to hit those some more.

Bod did a couple a power out situations on me. In the downwind pattern, Bob pulled power and said you just lost your engine. I set my airspeed to 70 knots(normally 60, but Bob wanted some safety factor) , confirmed with Bob that he wanted me to immediately turn base and headed for the runway. I made the runway and touched down , but I was a little far down the runway to guarantee a full stop. Bob took the controls briefly to get us back up in the air.

During a soft field takeoff Bob pulled power on me halfway down the runway and said I lost power. I was a little slow reacting since I had not had experienced this scenario. Still there was no other choice, than to put the plane back down on the runway. After the wheels touched, Bob immediately had me apply full power to climb back out before we ran out of runway.

Bob also threw in a go around. I was a little slow on reacting to his initial call to go around, but I managed to get the throttle in, climb out and retract flaps.

I did not feel as bad about my performance as I did the last time I went up, but there is still some more work to do. I hope three more days will be enough.

Tomorrows lesson is rescheduled for 11am, because more storms are expected early in the morning.

27 June 2008 – Flight Cancelled

Not the thing I want to type when I am trying to get ready for next Wednesdays checkride. Thunderstorms moving into the area.
Tomorrows flight is rescheduled for 9am.

22 June 2008 – Flight Cancelled

Bob called and said he was going to have to cancel todays lesson.
The current schedule is
27 June -1 July 9:30 am – Getting ready for the checkride
2 July 9 am – Checkride

21 June 2008-Flight 48

Today was a nice day to fly. There was a light wind from 340 and almost no turbulence. Despite the nice weather, by the time I was done today I was left wondering if I am ever going to be ready to do a checkride.

Bob went over the logs with me today and quizzed me about what inspections were required and how to find them in the log books. He also quizzed me about what other documentation was needed and what other inspections were required.

In the plane, the first thing Bob pointed out was that I was taxiing too fast today. I should be taxiing at a brisk walk. I did not think I was taxiing any faster than I normally do, but I will make sure I take it a little slower. I don’t want to get failed before I even get off the ground!

We started off with a soft field takeoff. Bob pointed out that I need to have the nose wheel off the ground and no brakes before I even get on the runway. It makes sense. If I it was really muddy I would not want to get bogged down before I even got lined up with the runway. I am going to have to be sure I do this. The softfield take off went okay. I made sure I set 10 degrees flaps, I climbed into ground effect and then climbed out after 70 knots.

We departed to the west to practice various maneuvers. We started off with some steep turns. My first turn to the left was not good. I was not keeping a steady altitude and slow rolling out of the turn. My turn to right was a little better, but my next turn to the left was sloppy again. We did a third turn to the left and I finally got that one right.

We next went into slow flight. I was slow on doing things like setting flaps and getting my airspeed down, so Bob was having to prompt me. We went from that into a low power stall. Again I was slow in recovery and Bob was having to tell me don’t dive the plane, get the throttle in,get the carb heat in, get the plane in a climb. I should be doing this stuff instinctively, but I still keep finding myself having to think about it instead of just doing it.

We next did some departure stalls. Again my reactions were slow. On one stall, I did not keep enough pressure on the right rudder. The plane rolled to the left because of torque and P-factor and Bob grabbed the controls to get the plane straightened out.

We next did some foggle practice. I was doing a good job on keeping the plane steady in straight and level flight as well as in turns. When the VOR was added in, I was having difficulty figuring out which way to go. It made me feel like I was doing this for the first time.

We next did an emergency landing practice. I did get my engine checks right. I remembered to do a flow from right to left. However I left out the steps(simulated of course) of going to 121.5, calling a mayday and setting the transponder to 7700. I made it a point to pick a closer landing area and try to fly a standard pattern. However I turned base too soon and would have found myself in the trees. Maybe I should aim for the trees instead and that way I can miss them and land on good spot. If I had thought about it, I probably could have done some S-turns to bleed off altitude or done a forward slip. As we did our climbout from practicing, Bob had to remind me to push in the carb in.

We went into doing some S turns and turns around a point. Again these were really sloppy. I was not doing a good job of picking landmarks to guide myself with.

We next returned to the field to do a soft field landing. I was slow on adding in the final 30 degrees of flaps and Bob had to tell me to add them in. On landing, Bob was saying I was not keeping the nose up high enough when I am on the ground. We next did a soft field takeoff. I remembered to get the flaps up to 10 degrees from 30 degrees, but I forgot to push in the carb heat and Bob had to remind me. The climb into ground effect and climbout went okay.

We next did a short field landing. Again I was slow on deploying 30 degrees flaps on short final and Bob had to say add in 30 degrees flaps. I think my problem with the 30 degrees flaps is that they generate more drag than lift. So I am reluctant to add them too soon in case I need to climb out. I will have to talk to Bob about that.

After we stopped for the short field Bob asked if I wanted to do a few landings on my own, but I felt like my performance was too sloppy today to want to go up by myself. I declined and we taxied back to the office.

Next lesson is scheduled for tomorrow at 9:30. We also scheduled lessons for 9:30am for 27 Jun to 1 July. Hopefully by 1 July, I will be handling all the maneuvers much better than I did today.

20 June 2008-Checkride Scheduled

I got a call from Bob today. He wanted to get the checkride scheduled. It is set for July 2 at 9 am at SNL. Since there is another person doing their checkride as well in the afternoon, I will not have to fly to Wiley Post.

Next lessons are scheduled for June 21 and 22 at 9:30am. I will also be taking off work the following Friday through the July 4 weekend. So I should have plenty of time to get everything ready.

14 Jun 2008-Flight 47

Today was more checkride preparation. It was about 90 degrees and the winds were about 10 knots out of the south. Bob was not going to be around this weekend so I flew with Ted today.

As I pulled in I had another car come in behind. It was a person who had called Bob earlier and wanted to get some pictures of her in the plane because she wanted to do a video for her brother about flying. Ted let her sit in the plane for a bit and I also explained some of the preflight process. It was an opportunity to do a little PR for general aviation and also practice doing a preflight with potential distractions. That is part of the reason I made up my own checklist to make sure I do not forget anything.

I went over with Ted some of the difficulties I had when I soloed last time. We started off with a soft field takeoff. Ted reminded me that I should keep the end of the runway just in view over the nose as I start down the runway and during lift off. When I lift off I need to remember to keep the end of the runway just off the nose and let the speed build up to 70 knots and start climbing out.

We proceeded out to the the northwest of the airport to practice. As we were climbing up to 3000 feet going northwest, I had to momentarily abort my ascent because another plane suddenly appeared in front and above us going east to west. There was plenty of time to see and avoid, but it does demonstrate the limitation of a high wing aircraft. The aircraft was not visible until I saw it through the front windshield. Before that point, it was hidden by the wing. I am not sure if the other plane saw us. It did not seem to react to our presence, but since it was to my right it had the right of way regardless. One mistake I did make was calling out the aircrafts location to Ted. Initially I said aircraft at 12 oclock and I should have said 2 oclock. So I had him looking in the wrong place. I need to be more accurate when calling out positions in a situation like that.

After we arrived to the practice area, we did some slow flight to review what I needed to do there. The big thing I need to remember is to treat this similar to a landing. So flaps at 20 degrees and let the airspeed get down to 60 knots. Normally I would not let my airspeed get down to 60 knots in a landing, but this is practicing an extreme case. I continue to pitch up a little more without stalling, then add some power so I am on the reverse part of the power curve. I need to maintain my altitude during all this. From there I need to make turns with about 5-10 degrees of bank to the left and right. Add power as needed to maintain speed and altitude.

From this point we transitioned to a low power stall. I pulled back on the yoke, the airspeed dropped and the stall horn started sounding. Around 40 knots or so, the plane finally pitched forward. I released the pressure on the yoke, increased power and made sure I established a positive rate of climb. I also need to remember to not retract flaps until I have established a positive rate of climb.

We next went to practice some departure stalls. This is practicing a situation where I am taking off and get into a stall. Ted had me slow down the plane to 60 knots, 0 degrees flaps and then apply full throttle. This is to simulate my takeoff run down the runway. I then start pulling back on the yoke to increase my angle of attack and also reduce my airspeed. I continue this until I get a stall and the nose pitches over. I ease back on the pressure, let my airspeed build up and then begin my pullout. I need to remember to avoid a secondary stall. I have the stall horn sound once during recovery. The plane did not stall, but it came close.

We next proceeded on to review turns about a point and s turns. Even with Ted coaching me, these still felt sloppy.

We next returned to the field for a few soft and short field takeoffs and landings. We did two soft field landings, one soft field takeoff and concluded with short field landing. I think I was wrong about my performance on the short field landing last time. I thought I was not getting stopped in 1000 feet, but I was actually counting the start of the runway as part of the distance. I actually should have been counting from the touch down point. So I actually was stopping in less than 1000 feet. That is also what I did today with Ted.

I was hoping I could take next week off to finish my checkride prep and do my checkride, but winds are predicted to be out the east all week and chances of rain.

I was hoping to solo on Sunday, but neither Bob or Ted will around to get the plane out. I will get with Bob later in the week to get a time scheduled for next weekend.

8 June 2008-Flight Cancelled

No flying again due to winds at 20 to 30 knots out of the south.

7 June 2008-Flight Cancelled

Flying canceled for today. Winds at 20knots and gusting up to 30 out of the south. Bob said he only got to fly one day out of the last week. Looking at the weather forecast for the next week, it is not going to be much better.

A lesson has been scheduled for tomorrow at 10 am, but it looks like it could be a similar situation.

1 June 2008- Flight Cancelled

Thunderstorms are passing through the area today. So no flying.

I asked Bob if we had several days in a row to work on it, how long he thought it would take to finish getting ready for the checkride. He thought two or three days. The weather will not work for this week, but when there is a seven day forecast where it looks like there will be some good weather I think I will take some time off from work to try to get this finished.

The next regular lesson is scheduled for
7 Jun- 10am