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.
