8/3/2002
Jeff
C-172 99348
Hobbs: 1.7 hours
1.7 Dual
Preflight +WX: 12:30-1:00pm
Overcast + several scattered cloud layers + thick haze
This was an awesome flight. Took off around 1pm from OAK via 27L (which I requested) and towards Mt. Diablo. Towards the Oakland Hills, Jeff had me fly thru a cloud - I didn't freak out, but could see how some would. Only 20 sec or so checking instruments mainly - it was very cool. After the clouds, we were over the main ridge and around 3000'. The haze over the valley was pretty bad - couldn't even see Mt Diablo in the distance for a while. Did steep turns, slow flight, and both went pretty well - Jeff was happy with them. Went in to LVK after a NOTAM or AIRMET of 'small weapons fire' over a campsite (sat dish on the chart) up to 2500'. On the whole flight to this point, even with the good maneuvers, I was feeling rusty. I got us into the pattern, but due to LVK's crazy traffic - Jeff did much of the comm for me.
LVK
On the first approach, I was a bit shaky, but we were on glideslope with a strong XW with gusts to 15 or 19kts. A combo of wind gust and me being rusty took us off centerline by 1/4 of the runway width so I did a good go-around. The second approach had a good landing at the end of it! The XW didn't get in the way of me making a good wing-low landing, on centerline. Jeff was happy with this, but they were really busy - switched us to the second tower freq for the left runway, and Jeff had me request a downwind departure.
We went over to Byron - which I found based on the chart North of a lake. Making a large loop to the SE of the field to give room to parachute activity, parachute plane taking off downwind, and a glider getting towed off the angled runway. Called on CTAF: position, entering 25, etc... and on the first approach made a great XW landing. According to Jeff - this was near the XW limits of the C172, and he was really pleased with my XW landings. With the heavy XW and traffic, we headed back to OAK.
All the normal stuff, except with the low vis and haze, there were three other planes nearby - a cub above us, a C152 to the S-SE, and another 172 I think. It was comedy on the radio as Bay Approach asked each in turn: '99348 do you have the cub in sight' - 'negative 99348 - looking' - and this proceeded with all of the other planes and same answers! One by one we were transferred to OAK tower 118.3 except the S-SE plane going to HWD I think. For sequencing we made a turn to the left (S-SE) for a bit, then lined up wtih 27L straight-in. There were 3 directly ahead of us all straight-in.
#1 landed really long and was held on Papa (couldn't cross 27R, so holding short 27L). #2 landed and got off the runway (either short/U-turn or very long). #3 landed halfway down and was taxiing. ATC cleared us to land if we could land short! while another plane was still on 27L! I was surprised, but responded something confident like '99348 making short landing and the back taxi'. Came in with a moderate (15kts I think) XW a made a sweet short landing - braked a little too much w/o keeping the nose up so got a little buffet (skid?) but nothing too bad. Started the turn to taxi off on Bravo and the controller said 'Good Job 348' + 'taxi clear on Bravo and... 121.9'.
That basically sums up the flight - started a little rusty but built up the radio and maneuver confidence. Monday is a planned unsupervised solo to SP.Bay - will meet Jeff to go over the weather beforehand. Can't wait!
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Journal #15 - First Solo!!!
First Solo!!!
7/24/2002
CFI: Jeff
C-172 99348
Hobbs: 1.7 hours
1.4 Dual
0.3 PIC
Preflight +WX: 6:30-7:00pm
Takeoff OAK 33 to Petaluma 'O69' "Oscar"-69.
Mostly routine flight, cruising at 75% power for a fast arrival at Petaluma.
Announced Petaluma Traffic at 10 miles, 5 miles, overflying the field at 2000', and the left u-turn to the 45 Came in for one good landing, one high go-around, another go-around (way-high from a simulated engine out on downwind), and then a really nice landing (somewhat long).
Taxied off of 29 and back to the start of 29 - Jeff did some paperwork (endorsements), gave me a mini-brief, and climbed out of the plane! He took my camera, and to my surprise, didn't have a radio. For that matter, he simply left everything in the plane (I would be back soon :).
Taxied and did a left 360 in the runup area looking for traffic, called taking the active after another plane called 5 mile final, and lifted off. Wow - all alone! strange eh! Really exciting - and without the safety blanket feeling of having a CFI with me, I could see why Jeff always wants to stay near the field in case of engine failure. I had to push myself to get all the way to 800' before turning crosswind. Called out each leg, and after running thru all the good procedures (check gauges, flow check, check final, etc).
Did a very nice landing on the first try. Just past the numbers, nice flare, smooth touchdown. I just knew what to do after all of the practice and training - although I probably double-checked everything I was supposed to do (flow+gauges+rich etc).
The second landing (approach) had an OK approach, but the slight crosswind took had me drifting off center at about 50' - so I went around - no problem, and called it out on the comm. All the while, by this time, more people were entering the traffic - all with NAV+Strobes+landing lights on, and the sun was really in my face (near setting), so I decided to make this the last one so we could get back to OAK.
Pattern was fine - saw a cool view of a Piper making a right u-turn to the 45, and called my turn + having him in sight - which they repeated and had me in sight :).
The last landing was a fine approach, but I started to roundout way too early - this probably had a high stall/flare, and one bounce - simply didn't push forward, but held back. Jeff didn't seem worried at all, and was happy I came back before going for the third landing.
Taxied off the active - calling on the comm, taxied to Jeff, shut-down, he hopped in, and we were on our way back to OAK. Jeff flew the takeoff and climb to give me a break, and it was just after sunset for incredible views of the East-Bay, San Francisco, cities lit up incredibly. I did the calls to approach & oakland-tower no problem, and we were cleared 27L. Because all of the taxiways across 27R are closed, Jeff asked for short approach + back taxi - this went really well & was fun.
WhooooooOoooooo!
Tomorrow it's time for my first unsupervised solo - from OAK to the San Pablo practice area, and back. Can't wait. Soo many thoughts, soo little eloquency at this point. I'm incredibly happy that I finally got myself to do this.
7/24/2002
CFI: Jeff
C-172 99348
Hobbs: 1.7 hours
1.4 Dual
0.3 PIC
Preflight +WX: 6:30-7:00pm
Takeoff OAK 33 to Petaluma 'O69' "Oscar"-69.
Mostly routine flight, cruising at 75% power for a fast arrival at Petaluma.
Announced Petaluma Traffic at 10 miles, 5 miles, overflying the field at 2000', and the left u-turn to the 45 Came in for one good landing, one high go-around, another go-around (way-high from a simulated engine out on downwind), and then a really nice landing (somewhat long).
Taxied off of 29 and back to the start of 29 - Jeff did some paperwork (endorsements), gave me a mini-brief, and climbed out of the plane! He took my camera, and to my surprise, didn't have a radio. For that matter, he simply left everything in the plane (I would be back soon :).
Taxied and did a left 360 in the runup area looking for traffic, called taking the active after another plane called 5 mile final, and lifted off. Wow - all alone! strange eh! Really exciting - and without the safety blanket feeling of having a CFI with me, I could see why Jeff always wants to stay near the field in case of engine failure. I had to push myself to get all the way to 800' before turning crosswind. Called out each leg, and after running thru all the good procedures (check gauges, flow check, check final, etc).
Did a very nice landing on the first try. Just past the numbers, nice flare, smooth touchdown. I just knew what to do after all of the practice and training - although I probably double-checked everything I was supposed to do (flow+gauges+rich etc).
The second landing (approach) had an OK approach, but the slight crosswind took had me drifting off center at about 50' - so I went around - no problem, and called it out on the comm. All the while, by this time, more people were entering the traffic - all with NAV+Strobes+landing lights on, and the sun was really in my face (near setting), so I decided to make this the last one so we could get back to OAK.
Pattern was fine - saw a cool view of a Piper making a right u-turn to the 45, and called my turn + having him in sight - which they repeated and had me in sight :).
The last landing was a fine approach, but I started to roundout way too early - this probably had a high stall/flare, and one bounce - simply didn't push forward, but held back. Jeff didn't seem worried at all, and was happy I came back before going for the third landing.
Taxied off the active - calling on the comm, taxied to Jeff, shut-down, he hopped in, and we were on our way back to OAK. Jeff flew the takeoff and climb to give me a break, and it was just after sunset for incredible views of the East-Bay, San Francisco, cities lit up incredibly. I did the calls to approach & oakland-tower no problem, and we were cleared 27L. Because all of the taxiways across 27R are closed, Jeff asked for short approach + back taxi - this went really well & was fun.
WhooooooOoooooo!
Tomorrow it's time for my first unsupervised solo - from OAK to the San Pablo practice area, and back. Can't wait. Soo many thoughts, soo little eloquency at this point. I'm incredibly happy that I finally got myself to do this.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Journal #14
7/23 (Tuesday eve)
N99348 (172)
Khaled *pre-solo checkride CFI*
Hobbs: 1.5 Hrs
pre-solo quiz & ground instruction: 5-6
flight: 6-8 approx (less preflight and fuel etc)
This was a great day - good weather, moderate winds, unrestricted visibility. Met Khaled in the clubhouse - times like this I'm really glad to have a clubhouse - can meet people, ask questions, - in other words: being early doesn't suck.
We discussed several things: reading the charts, airspaces, Echo & Golf airspaces (mostly useful for IFR) make more sense now. Spin entry and recovery procedure (*not* a developed spin, just the initial and recovery from a stall/spin). One good piece of knowledge: if radio fails, first troubleshoot - if it failed for example over golden gate fields while departing from OAK, it's probably safest and most controlled to return to OAK while squaking 7700. If (as I first guessed) one were to fly to NAPA-APC squaking 7600, they would keep upwards of 3 ATC centers confused, busy, and they would still not know where I was going. If one squaks 7600 and returns to OAK, the bay-approach ATC would already have had me on radar, and know exactly where I was headed - simply flying to the mormon temple, then towards OAK north field, and somewhere near a good pattern entry circling above normal TPA looking for light-gun signals from the tower (as obvious: solid green for cleared to land).
I had already received the weather from WX-brief for OAK-APC-OAK, but Khaled decided to go to Livermore. He also recommended using PIREPs (informal- from other pilots etc) as the most accurate and useful near real-time reports. We departed OAK, turned to 050, and while climbing thru approx 1500' had another cessna on a nearly head-on course descending from the temple. ATC did warn us of them, but we reported 'looking' and never 'in sight' it was pretty close, and once I spotted them I entered a right downward turn (they were at least 100-200' above us. Calling out the traffic to Khaled, he continued the turn (more extreme + dive) and cut the engine to near idle. This all made sense, and while I did nothing wrong, it's ok here to make more extreme moves for safety. I'm 99% sure that we saw the other cessna long before they saw us, as we were in the diving turn before they even started their right-turn.
Ok - now for maneuvers - got over near Mt Diablo for some steep turns (pretty good), MCA/slow-flight, stalls, etc and all went very well. Then spins (initial+recovery). These were not all that scary at all, but Khaled pointed out that the skyhawk is very tame in this regard. Much like a stall recovery - do basically the same thing, except let the nose drop and cut the throttle to idle. We did an engine out procedure, and after ABCD (still at least 1000' AGL) Khaled had me recover and head to LVK. We did a few 360s while getting ATIS, then called our vector position from LVK. (note: vectors often much easier than cities/VFR reporting points etc). Went in for the first landing - a 'normal' 30 degree flap landing which was decent, the second was the same, until I chose to go-around - was a little low on airspeed, and slightly below glidepath. We practiced a no-flap landing, I think a 10 degree flap landing, and they all went well! I was much less focused on hitting the exact 'numbers' and more on the V-speeds, ground effect roundout, and centerline. The last landing was pretty nice - 20 or 30 degrees of flaps for a soft touchdown in the first 1000' (probably less) of runway.
One maneuver I left out was 'unusual attitude' recovery. These didn't throw me off too much, but I need to do things in the correct order:
1. Nose high: Full Power + pitch down + correct roll
2. Nose low: Idle Power + correct roll + pitch up
Back to OAK - everything went well - cool new stuff: OAK (or approach) asked us to 'maintain our current forward speed' so even though descending, we were at approx 60% power and 120-125kts (smooth air). All of the taxiways off 27L were closed, and we were straight in, so we were to land long. Worried about running out of runway, I came close to landing (roundout) but Khaled had me add power and stay in ground effect - it was pretty cool! we simply floated down the runway at approx 75 kts with 10 degrees of flaps (I think) and finally as I could see the end of the runway, we flared for a decent landing.
N99348 (172)
Khaled *pre-solo checkride CFI*
Hobbs: 1.5 Hrs
pre-solo quiz & ground instruction: 5-6
flight: 6-8 approx (less preflight and fuel etc)
This was a great day - good weather, moderate winds, unrestricted visibility. Met Khaled in the clubhouse - times like this I'm really glad to have a clubhouse - can meet people, ask questions, - in other words: being early doesn't suck.
We discussed several things: reading the charts, airspaces, Echo & Golf airspaces (mostly useful for IFR) make more sense now. Spin entry and recovery procedure (*not* a developed spin, just the initial and recovery from a stall/spin). One good piece of knowledge: if radio fails, first troubleshoot - if it failed for example over golden gate fields while departing from OAK, it's probably safest and most controlled to return to OAK while squaking 7700. If (as I first guessed) one were to fly to NAPA-APC squaking 7600, they would keep upwards of 3 ATC centers confused, busy, and they would still not know where I was going. If one squaks 7600 and returns to OAK, the bay-approach ATC would already have had me on radar, and know exactly where I was headed - simply flying to the mormon temple, then towards OAK north field, and somewhere near a good pattern entry circling above normal TPA looking for light-gun signals from the tower (as obvious: solid green for cleared to land).
I had already received the weather from WX-brief for OAK-APC-OAK, but Khaled decided to go to Livermore. He also recommended using PIREPs (informal- from other pilots etc) as the most accurate and useful near real-time reports. We departed OAK, turned to 050, and while climbing thru approx 1500' had another cessna on a nearly head-on course descending from the temple. ATC did warn us of them, but we reported 'looking' and never 'in sight' it was pretty close, and once I spotted them I entered a right downward turn (they were at least 100-200' above us. Calling out the traffic to Khaled, he continued the turn (more extreme + dive) and cut the engine to near idle. This all made sense, and while I did nothing wrong, it's ok here to make more extreme moves for safety. I'm 99% sure that we saw the other cessna long before they saw us, as we were in the diving turn before they even started their right-turn.
Ok - now for maneuvers - got over near Mt Diablo for some steep turns (pretty good), MCA/slow-flight, stalls, etc and all went very well. Then spins (initial+recovery). These were not all that scary at all, but Khaled pointed out that the skyhawk is very tame in this regard. Much like a stall recovery - do basically the same thing, except let the nose drop and cut the throttle to idle. We did an engine out procedure, and after ABCD (still at least 1000' AGL) Khaled had me recover and head to LVK. We did a few 360s while getting ATIS, then called our vector position from LVK. (note: vectors often much easier than cities/VFR reporting points etc). Went in for the first landing - a 'normal' 30 degree flap landing which was decent, the second was the same, until I chose to go-around - was a little low on airspeed, and slightly below glidepath. We practiced a no-flap landing, I think a 10 degree flap landing, and they all went well! I was much less focused on hitting the exact 'numbers' and more on the V-speeds, ground effect roundout, and centerline. The last landing was pretty nice - 20 or 30 degrees of flaps for a soft touchdown in the first 1000' (probably less) of runway.
One maneuver I left out was 'unusual attitude' recovery. These didn't throw me off too much, but I need to do things in the correct order:
1. Nose high: Full Power + pitch down + correct roll
2. Nose low: Idle Power + correct roll + pitch up
Back to OAK - everything went well - cool new stuff: OAK (or approach) asked us to 'maintain our current forward speed' so even though descending, we were at approx 60% power and 120-125kts (smooth air). All of the taxiways off 27L were closed, and we were straight in, so we were to land long. Worried about running out of runway, I came close to landing (roundout) but Khaled had me add power and stay in ground effect - it was pretty cool! we simply floated down the runway at approx 75 kts with 10 degrees of flaps (I think) and finally as I could see the end of the runway, we flared for a decent landing.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Journal #13
7/18 (Friday eve)
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.4 Hrs
5pm-7pm
note: on 7/17 (thurs) was to do pre-solo phase check incl. oral exam, but he was late and it was getting IFR quickly... murphy's law again.
got the weather, dispatch, and started the preflight on my own. Met Jeff @ Kaiser. We went to Livermore LVK for just a couple of T&Gs, did maneuvers (power on, and off stalls, steep turns) over the Mt. Diablo practice area (south of it, north of LVK). Did a really good ABCDE engine-out procedure - got to double check with the checklist, and although it would have been a strange teardrop turn from downwind to final, Jeff simply had us recover with a "good job" on the whole proc.
finding LVK for the first time, I mistook a very small body of water just South of LVK to be the much *much* larger body of water to the North-East of LVK (probably 8 miles) and we were only 5-6 miles from the field. not soo much embarassing, but frustrating - reading charts & relative sizes etc...
ok: landings at LVK - beyond a couple of mis-statements to the friendly LVK tower, we were in right traffic for 25R. I said all kinds of garbage on the radio there: "27L", kept saying "number 2" when we were cleared & number 1 for landing/t&G. There was a 16kt head/crosswind coming from 290 (coming from 40 degrees to the right). Basically - I came in high from the pattern, and got low every time. I thought I had everything worked out as far as downwind, base, final, power settings, sight picture - the thing I didn't do here was: think about physics. With a 16kt headwind, simply going from memory on sight picture and power would have us short every time. The glidepatch doesn't move for the wind, so with wind, I need to compensate to stay on glidepath (at 70kts in 348 with 10deg flaps).
This was reason # 1 today to (a) fly the airplane, and (b) think of physics
On the way back at 2500' past the 680/580 interchange, past dublin, I was busy looking at charts when Jeff spotted a low wing aircraft on head-on course, probably less than a mile away. They had already started their right turn making them much easier to spot, but it was uncomfortably close (for me). Jeff didn't wait for me to make the right turn and simply started it. He had already commented on this being a high traffic area. In retrospect, flying towards a hazy bay-area, just a couple of hours from sunset, and already pretty certain that we were out of LVK's class-Delta, I should have been scanning and looking outside. Probably could have found a good reporting point from the great view!
This was reason # 2 today to (a) fly the airplane.
Got some extra-harsh comments from Jeff that my power settings on final were all over the place and usually too low. Sounded like solo potential for next week may be limited, but hey - I'd rather learn safely, than have a thrill ride and bend some gear, land short, or generally screw up. This is still awesome!!!
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.4 Hrs
5pm-7pm
note: on 7/17 (thurs) was to do pre-solo phase check incl. oral exam, but he was late and it was getting IFR quickly... murphy's law again.
got the weather, dispatch, and started the preflight on my own. Met Jeff @ Kaiser. We went to Livermore LVK for just a couple of T&Gs, did maneuvers (power on, and off stalls, steep turns) over the Mt. Diablo practice area (south of it, north of LVK). Did a really good ABCDE engine-out procedure - got to double check with the checklist, and although it would have been a strange teardrop turn from downwind to final, Jeff simply had us recover with a "good job" on the whole proc.
finding LVK for the first time, I mistook a very small body of water just South of LVK to be the much *much* larger body of water to the North-East of LVK (probably 8 miles) and we were only 5-6 miles from the field. not soo much embarassing, but frustrating - reading charts & relative sizes etc...
ok: landings at LVK - beyond a couple of mis-statements to the friendly LVK tower, we were in right traffic for 25R. I said all kinds of garbage on the radio there: "27L", kept saying "number 2" when we were cleared & number 1 for landing/t&G. There was a 16kt head/crosswind coming from 290 (coming from 40 degrees to the right). Basically - I came in high from the pattern, and got low every time. I thought I had everything worked out as far as downwind, base, final, power settings, sight picture - the thing I didn't do here was: think about physics. With a 16kt headwind, simply going from memory on sight picture and power would have us short every time. The glidepatch doesn't move for the wind, so with wind, I need to compensate to stay on glidepath (at 70kts in 348 with 10deg flaps).
This was reason # 1 today to (a) fly the airplane, and (b) think of physics
On the way back at 2500' past the 680/580 interchange, past dublin, I was busy looking at charts when Jeff spotted a low wing aircraft on head-on course, probably less than a mile away. They had already started their right turn making them much easier to spot, but it was uncomfortably close (for me). Jeff didn't wait for me to make the right turn and simply started it. He had already commented on this being a high traffic area. In retrospect, flying towards a hazy bay-area, just a couple of hours from sunset, and already pretty certain that we were out of LVK's class-Delta, I should have been scanning and looking outside. Probably could have found a good reporting point from the great view!
This was reason # 2 today to (a) fly the airplane.
Got some extra-harsh comments from Jeff that my power settings on final were all over the place and usually too low. Sounded like solo potential for next week may be limited, but hey - I'd rather learn safely, than have a thrill ride and bend some gear, land short, or generally screw up. This is still awesome!!!
Journal #12
7/16
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.5 Hrs
9-noon
348 was down for maint. last week when I was to fly (wed) and thinking about solo. We did about 12 T&Gs, with 2 or 3 go-arounds (2 by me I think, 1 asked for by tower for traffic on the runway 27L)
Wind was (atis) 190 @ around 7 - although we had left quartering tailwhinds the whole time (different gusts etc). Most landings were with 10degrees flaps - and much *much* better this time! landing with a tailwhind was tricky, but cool... wing-low method works really well, but I need to get used to trimming (not the trim wheel) the plane one glidepath with the approx amounts of rudder and aileron to keep the centerline and also aimed straight down the centerline. We did a short approach or two (two simulated engine failures) that went pretty well.
"sight picture" x 3 - rememeber this to keep the turns moving in the pattern (not looking at the attitude indicator too much).
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.5 Hrs
9-noon
348 was down for maint. last week when I was to fly (wed) and thinking about solo. We did about 12 T&Gs, with 2 or 3 go-arounds (2 by me I think, 1 asked for by tower for traffic on the runway 27L)
Wind was (atis) 190 @ around 7 - although we had left quartering tailwhinds the whole time (different gusts etc). Most landings were with 10degrees flaps - and much *much* better this time! landing with a tailwhind was tricky, but cool... wing-low method works really well, but I need to get used to trimming (not the trim wheel) the plane one glidepath with the approx amounts of rudder and aileron to keep the centerline and also aimed straight down the centerline. We did a short approach or two (two simulated engine failures) that went pretty well.
"sight picture" x 3 - rememeber this to keep the turns moving in the pattern (not looking at the attitude indicator too much).
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Journal #11
7/9
N99348 (172)
CFI: Jeff
Hobbs: 2.0 Hrs
5-8pm
Another awesome day.
Did interior & exterior pre-flight of 348 - handled all comm except one change-runway request at Napa (to 24 from 18R) We flew from Oak to SP Bay at 5,500' (with Bravo clearance to 6K) - Did engine fire drill, then engine out drill I flew for a field and attempted to glide for a landing 'on the numbers' - with the numbers being a beige strip across a long green field. Jeff didn't think we'd make it, but we squeaked over it with little room to spare - then recovered etc. Flew to APC for T&Gs - started with no-flap landings, using slips (wow! these felt really extreme the first few times) to lose altitude instead of flaps. This was really tough - but one of them was nice, and one decent. Then we did a 20deg flap landing - not great at all - just getting used to the different way the aircraft floats in ground-effect & flare. On the 20 degree flap landing I landed short for the first time - was lighgly scolded to 'never' do this.
Finally - back to Oakland (bay approach over SP bay to the temple and right traffic to 27L). Jeff asked me for a landing on the 2000' markers that I couldn't see at all - so I was set-up to land just beyone the 1000' markers and had another not-great landing... oh well. Straight into the sun at 7:30pm has pretty poor visibility.
All in all - a great learning day - good maneuvers, probably my best engine-out drill (would definitely have walked away, perhaps the plane too), and the landings, while not great, are improving. Tomorrow may be 'the day' !
N99348 (172)
CFI: Jeff
Hobbs: 2.0 Hrs
5-8pm
Another awesome day.
Did interior & exterior pre-flight of 348 - handled all comm except one change-runway request at Napa (to 24 from 18R) We flew from Oak to SP Bay at 5,500' (with Bravo clearance to 6K) - Did engine fire drill, then engine out drill I flew for a field and attempted to glide for a landing 'on the numbers' - with the numbers being a beige strip across a long green field. Jeff didn't think we'd make it, but we squeaked over it with little room to spare - then recovered etc. Flew to APC for T&Gs - started with no-flap landings, using slips (wow! these felt really extreme the first few times) to lose altitude instead of flaps. This was really tough - but one of them was nice, and one decent. Then we did a 20deg flap landing - not great at all - just getting used to the different way the aircraft floats in ground-effect & flare. On the 20 degree flap landing I landed short for the first time - was lighgly scolded to 'never' do this.
Finally - back to Oakland (bay approach over SP bay to the temple and right traffic to 27L). Jeff asked me for a landing on the 2000' markers that I couldn't see at all - so I was set-up to land just beyone the 1000' markers and had another not-great landing... oh well. Straight into the sun at 7:30pm has pretty poor visibility.
All in all - a great learning day - good maneuvers, probably my best engine-out drill (would definitely have walked away, perhaps the plane too), and the landings, while not great, are improving. Tomorrow may be 'the day' !
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Journal #10
7/8
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.6 hrs
5-8pm
An Awesome day!
light winds - takeoff from 33 - over Oakland request unrestricted climb to 6000' - after a delay, Bay Departure cleared us into Bravo & 6000' max. Over SP bay did a simulated engine fire: 45 degree bank turns and 110 kts speed with engine at idle - pretty exciting! (drop really fast). After that, and around 2500' we proceded into the simulated engine out - came in for what would likely have been survivable & savable forced landing, but I wouldn't have wanted to try it!
Then climbed and did steep turns - both right into our wake turbulance - right from a Left to a Right, and altitude very close (within 80' on the first, 20' on the second)
Then - some slow flight (45 kts - we used to do this at 50kts) - still really good (Jeff was surprised I think!) power off stalls, then a power on stall - maintained direction and bank much better with rudder only. Nice.
somewhere in there we did turns around a point (pier off point richmond) and S-turns around train tracks. They were pretty decent on the first try (not perfect!) but darn close.
We headed over to Gnoss - I did all of the non-towered comm. Tuned the CTAF freq. and Jeff listened to AWAS(sp) there. *crazy!* crosswinds and turbulance - later this will be easy, but it really threw me off. We had density altitude of almost 2000' (1800 I think) and this made groundspeed faster, climb slower, etc... Three go-arounds total, one pretty darn close good (wing-low) crosswind landing, and one bouncy T&G that we did a go-around. The wing-low went pretty well! Back to Oakland where we were asked to land on 33 (not on solo!) and Jeff said ok. It's a *very* short approach.
TPA was 600' I think. Had to stay North of 27L, (and 27R if it was active) and was still turning almost to the numbers. Came in a lottle hot, but kept a smooth roundout for a half-decent landing. Jeff slowed us down with the brakes to make the close taxiway (Mike) where a Airborn Express 767 "abex" was nearly blocking Mike-->normal taxiway to kaiser. Jeff took the wheel after ATC cleared us to taxi past, and we did... clear of the abex the whole time, but they flipped out (made an official sounding radio call about hazard or something) but we were already past-clear of them. Tower came back with an official sounding call (Jeff tells me this is so they can claim no responsibility) about tower not seeing this "no movement zone". Anyhow - Jeff apologized on the radio for freaking them out and off we were...
random: *wow* climbing to 6000' for the first time in a light aircraft... for that matter any aircraft where I'm flying, even just the view - looking 'down' on all the mountains in the bay area - on all of san francisco, marin, etc... clear to the ocean. You can't call this a view or a vista - that's what you get on land. This was looking down on the beauty of the earth. I can't imagine night flight that high, or higher or at dusk - awesome!
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.6 hrs
5-8pm
An Awesome day!
light winds - takeoff from 33 - over Oakland request unrestricted climb to 6000' - after a delay, Bay Departure cleared us into Bravo & 6000' max. Over SP bay did a simulated engine fire: 45 degree bank turns and 110 kts speed with engine at idle - pretty exciting! (drop really fast). After that, and around 2500' we proceded into the simulated engine out - came in for what would likely have been survivable & savable forced landing, but I wouldn't have wanted to try it!
Then climbed and did steep turns - both right into our wake turbulance - right from a Left to a Right, and altitude very close (within 80' on the first, 20' on the second)
Then - some slow flight (45 kts - we used to do this at 50kts) - still really good (Jeff was surprised I think!) power off stalls, then a power on stall - maintained direction and bank much better with rudder only. Nice.
somewhere in there we did turns around a point (pier off point richmond) and S-turns around train tracks. They were pretty decent on the first try (not perfect!) but darn close.
We headed over to Gnoss - I did all of the non-towered comm. Tuned the CTAF freq. and Jeff listened to AWAS(sp) there. *crazy!* crosswinds and turbulance - later this will be easy, but it really threw me off. We had density altitude of almost 2000' (1800 I think) and this made groundspeed faster, climb slower, etc... Three go-arounds total, one pretty darn close good (wing-low) crosswind landing, and one bouncy T&G that we did a go-around. The wing-low went pretty well! Back to Oakland where we were asked to land on 33 (not on solo!) and Jeff said ok. It's a *very* short approach.
TPA was 600' I think. Had to stay North of 27L, (and 27R if it was active) and was still turning almost to the numbers. Came in a lottle hot, but kept a smooth roundout for a half-decent landing. Jeff slowed us down with the brakes to make the close taxiway (Mike) where a Airborn Express 767 "abex" was nearly blocking Mike-->normal taxiway to kaiser. Jeff took the wheel after ATC cleared us to taxi past, and we did... clear of the abex the whole time, but they flipped out (made an official sounding radio call about hazard or something) but we were already past-clear of them. Tower came back with an official sounding call (Jeff tells me this is so they can claim no responsibility) about tower not seeing this "no movement zone". Anyhow - Jeff apologized on the radio for freaking them out and off we were...
random: *wow* climbing to 6000' for the first time in a light aircraft... for that matter any aircraft where I'm flying, even just the view - looking 'down' on all the mountains in the bay area - on all of san francisco, marin, etc... clear to the ocean. You can't call this a view or a vista - that's what you get on land. This was looking down on the beauty of the earth. I can't imagine night flight that high, or higher or at dusk - awesome!
Monday, January 10, 2005
Journal #9
7/3
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.5 hrs
9-12noon.
We were waiting for the weather and talked a bit about the pattern at OAK / weather, looked for airports nearby but without overcast getting there. There was a good wind (around 15kts at APC and 10-15 at OAK), so we could have done ground maneuvers, however just getting out of OAK was tough (clouds at 1000 or less, but clearing up). Made the choice to try and get T&Gs on 27L (normally good, but this summer 27R is closed so they don't always do it). The TPA is only 600', and the turns are more oval-track like to stay well north of 11/29 (big jets). It was hard at first to keep making 30 degree bank turns at only 600' while controlling altitude and reaching 600' mid-turn on departure/crosswind. Reported the United Hanger if not already cleared to T&G etc.
We did 12 T/Os and LDGs - some bounced, some good, and one... Great!!! A complete greaser like Jim (sr. CFI) had demo'd two weeks ago. One of the other 'great' approaches and I thought I was headed for greateness, but my roundout/approach left me with too much energy/speed, so on the flare I bouyed up (did this a few times). Had to add power once - can do this probably without asking, but asked anyhow... next time just do it to save the landing gear etc... from a hard landing.
All in all - awesome.
Now I know what "cleared for the option" means - and that we can confirm to the ATC that we plan on: short approach, stop-n-go, go-around, etc... (can always go around). Also, did several short approach power-off landings. One thing to note: one approach looked great, but I got well off centerline and was making up/down corrections too much - Jeff asked for a go-around which was the way to *really* save the landing - I got to be able to do that more often/get used to it, and also avoid bad landings as much as possible.
random: yesterday's short-approach went very bad. Today's short approaches went very well. power off the whole way. The thing is to stabilize on a glideslope - perhaps not perfect, but a stable one. Instead of correcting up/down a lot, just get it stable (not descending too fast) and around 60 kts (for: 348). I've been often going faster than 60 for fear of stalling, but with a good CFI and Vso around 49, I should just go for 60(+) and roundout in ground effect.
Things to do pre-solo:
Ground Ref Maneuvers... probably not a problem
Test/Quiz (either when bad weather, or just schedule some time before a flight)
Emergency Practice - engine out etc. ABCDE
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.5 hrs
9-12noon.
We were waiting for the weather and talked a bit about the pattern at OAK / weather, looked for airports nearby but without overcast getting there. There was a good wind (around 15kts at APC and 10-15 at OAK), so we could have done ground maneuvers, however just getting out of OAK was tough (clouds at 1000 or less, but clearing up). Made the choice to try and get T&Gs on 27L (normally good, but this summer 27R is closed so they don't always do it). The TPA is only 600', and the turns are more oval-track like to stay well north of 11/29 (big jets). It was hard at first to keep making 30 degree bank turns at only 600' while controlling altitude and reaching 600' mid-turn on departure/crosswind. Reported the United Hanger if not already cleared to T&G etc.
We did 12 T/Os and LDGs - some bounced, some good, and one... Great!!! A complete greaser like Jim (sr. CFI) had demo'd two weeks ago. One of the other 'great' approaches and I thought I was headed for greateness, but my roundout/approach left me with too much energy/speed, so on the flare I bouyed up (did this a few times). Had to add power once - can do this probably without asking, but asked anyhow... next time just do it to save the landing gear etc... from a hard landing.
All in all - awesome.
Now I know what "cleared for the option" means - and that we can confirm to the ATC that we plan on: short approach, stop-n-go, go-around, etc... (can always go around). Also, did several short approach power-off landings. One thing to note: one approach looked great, but I got well off centerline and was making up/down corrections too much - Jeff asked for a go-around which was the way to *really* save the landing - I got to be able to do that more often/get used to it, and also avoid bad landings as much as possible.
random: yesterday's short-approach went very bad. Today's short approaches went very well. power off the whole way. The thing is to stabilize on a glideslope - perhaps not perfect, but a stable one. Instead of correcting up/down a lot, just get it stable (not descending too fast) and around 60 kts (for: 348). I've been often going faster than 60 for fear of stalling, but with a good CFI and Vso around 49, I should just go for 60(+) and roundout in ground effect.
Things to do pre-solo:
Ground Ref Maneuvers... probably not a problem
Test/Quiz (either when bad weather, or just schedule some time before a flight)
Emergency Practice - engine out etc. ABCDE
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Journal #8
7/2
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.5 hrs
5-7pm.
Went to preflight the aircraft while Jeff was finishing up with another student. Of course: Murphy's law, the checklists were missing from the binder and aircraft, and after searching for them, I found the less-complete 25yr old dusty checklist in the glovebox. With only 2 hrs (had to be back at 7pm), we chose to do maneuvers (refresh) over SP bay. Went pretty well, except that my steep turns to the left were really not-great! I did experience our own wake turbulance on almost all of them though! That was pretty cool.
As weather cancelled two flights in the past week, and the week prior Jeff was on vacation, I was rusty. We came back for a landing at OAK that was probably the most ugly of my flying time thus far - even worse than the first day. Anything more (or even that bad) and Jeff would really have to take over.
random: we were asked for a short-approach, but had to taxi to the far (non-closed) taxiway Papa. This was a very *very* short approach (for me) - we flew basically straight to the end of 27L, turned right still over it, and landed probably 1000'-2000' before Papa. This threw me off - soon I'll get the picture of a good final approach.
N99348 (172)
Jeff
Hobbs: 1.5 hrs
5-7pm.
Went to preflight the aircraft while Jeff was finishing up with another student. Of course: Murphy's law, the checklists were missing from the binder and aircraft, and after searching for them, I found the less-complete 25yr old dusty checklist in the glovebox. With only 2 hrs (had to be back at 7pm), we chose to do maneuvers (refresh) over SP bay. Went pretty well, except that my steep turns to the left were really not-great! I did experience our own wake turbulance on almost all of them though! That was pretty cool.
As weather cancelled two flights in the past week, and the week prior Jeff was on vacation, I was rusty. We came back for a landing at OAK that was probably the most ugly of my flying time thus far - even worse than the first day. Anything more (or even that bad) and Jeff would really have to take over.
random: we were asked for a short-approach, but had to taxi to the far (non-closed) taxiway Papa. This was a very *very* short approach (for me) - we flew basically straight to the end of 27L, turned right still over it, and landed probably 1000'-2000' before Papa. This threw me off - soon I'll get the picture of a good final approach.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Journal #7
Monday, June 24 5-8pm
2hrs hobbs
99348 (172)
Back to Jeff as CFI - did sim engine out over hamilton afb (closed/abandoned airport) flew OAK->few maneuvers over SP (San Pablo) bay, slow flight, stalls etc... then sim engine out then on to Petaluma (non-towered) airport for rounds in the pattern and calling out traffic via CTAF the last two of (??? 5?) landings were great - wearing contacts really helped (with sunglasses) demo'd my ANR lightspeed 15XLs on/off and it was a huge difference - keepers!
Back to Oakland for a pretty decent landing, then while taxiing off the active 27L, called ground several times with the full info (who, where, what... etc) and we couldn't hear their reply. eventually, switched back to tower freq and were cleared to taxi to chevron, but the cool thing (I missed) is that they used light gun signals to tell us we were approved for taxi - I'm definitely going to study them seriously now. Also - over SP bay (northern end) used VORs to triangulate our position, and the bearing to OAK. This was cool, although one of the VOR instruments was not working properly. Used OAK and Scaggs...
2hrs hobbs
99348 (172)
Back to Jeff as CFI - did sim engine out over hamilton afb (closed/abandoned airport) flew OAK->few maneuvers over SP (San Pablo) bay, slow flight, stalls etc... then sim engine out then on to Petaluma (non-towered) airport for rounds in the pattern and calling out traffic via CTAF the last two of (??? 5?) landings were great - wearing contacts really helped (with sunglasses) demo'd my ANR lightspeed 15XLs on/off and it was a huge difference - keepers!
Back to Oakland for a pretty decent landing, then while taxiing off the active 27L, called ground several times with the full info (who, where, what... etc) and we couldn't hear their reply. eventually, switched back to tower freq and were cleared to taxi to chevron, but the cool thing (I missed) is that they used light gun signals to tell us we were approved for taxi - I'm definitely going to study them seriously now. Also - over SP bay (northern end) used VORs to triangulate our position, and the bearing to OAK. This was cool, although one of the VOR instruments was not working properly. Used OAK and Scaggs...
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Journal #6
Tue, June 18th, 2002
9am-noon
1658F (172, 180hp)
hobbs: 1.5
Flew with CFI/chief: Jim from OaklandFlyers - while Jeff was away for a week. It was good to get the experience / comfortable flying with different CFI. He showed me engine-out, slips, go-arounds, and all 'without warning' - he set up the situation, and either pulled out the throttle, or said 'go around' at the last minute of an approach with 1658F's 40 degrees of flaps in. Also showed how well you can trim a plane (even 1658F) and fly with just rudder peddles alone - which helped on my flight next week with Jeff (handling radio/etc was much less stressful in a well-trimmed aircraft).
9am-noon
1658F (172, 180hp)
hobbs: 1.5
Flew with CFI/chief: Jim from OaklandFlyers - while Jeff was away for a week. It was good to get the experience / comfortable flying with different CFI. He showed me engine-out, slips, go-arounds, and all 'without warning' - he set up the situation, and either pulled out the throttle, or said 'go around' at the last minute of an approach with 1658F's 40 degrees of flaps in. Also showed how well you can trim a plane (even 1658F) and fly with just rudder peddles alone - which helped on my flight next week with Jeff (handling radio/etc was much less stressful in a well-trimmed aircraft).
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Journal #5
June 12, 2002
7pm-9pm
hobbs time 1.3 hours
N20117 (c172 - cheaper one)
Took off from Oakland Runway 33, obtained clearance for vfr to Hayward (incredibly close, just across and south of Nimitz/880). Passed from Oakland Tower (ATC?) directly to the Hayward Tower - called up with negative ATIS, did the left pattern into runway 24L for T&Gs - the tower was really nice. Other people were around, but mostly no factor - spaced out well etc. Crappy weather, little bumpy approaches, but working for sure on the flare thing.
Also - the "sight picture" is very important. With little guidance from Jeff (on this one part) he had me fly for the sight picture, while the airspeed was covered up. This worked! I was within 3mph (this plane was mph, not nm/ph) on each leg, without having an airspeed indicator! That was probably better than when I was looking at it. With a crosswind from the right, I crabbed right down to the flare each time - not too far from the centerline, and had some ugly and some less-ugly landings. The flare is really tough - starting too soon, or immediately upon the roundout was my main problem - often bouying back up for a mini-climb, or not dissapating enough energy in the roundout/flare so that after touchdown I would bounce up again. ok - enough self-analysis... they weren't *too* bad - nothing was damaged, and Jeff didn't seem too worried.
Flying back to Oakland, passed from Hayward tower to Oakland Tower - the woman there was really rude. We couldn't see the runway at all (it was approx 15 min after sunset, and it was hazy - actually foggy to the north (far past OAK). The landing lights were not on, and the controller didn't seem to care! After Jeff asked her to turn 'em on, she finally did and sarcastically said "there: can you see the runway now!". I couldn't believe it. Also - she said that we were lined up for runway 27L, when we were about 20 degrees off the centerline (maybe 1/4 of the way to runway 11!)
Had not-too-bad a landing on 27L, taxied back - handled the majority of the radio work with Oakland Ground - think I might have asked for fries or something (metaphorically speaking) at one point, but they understood me and were very helpful.
7pm-9pm
hobbs time 1.3 hours
N20117 (c172 - cheaper one)
Took off from Oakland Runway 33, obtained clearance for vfr to Hayward (incredibly close, just across and south of Nimitz/880). Passed from Oakland Tower (ATC?) directly to the Hayward Tower - called up with negative ATIS, did the left pattern into runway 24L for T&Gs - the tower was really nice. Other people were around, but mostly no factor - spaced out well etc. Crappy weather, little bumpy approaches, but working for sure on the flare thing.
Also - the "sight picture" is very important. With little guidance from Jeff (on this one part) he had me fly for the sight picture, while the airspeed was covered up. This worked! I was within 3mph (this plane was mph, not nm/ph) on each leg, without having an airspeed indicator! That was probably better than when I was looking at it. With a crosswind from the right, I crabbed right down to the flare each time - not too far from the centerline, and had some ugly and some less-ugly landings. The flare is really tough - starting too soon, or immediately upon the roundout was my main problem - often bouying back up for a mini-climb, or not dissapating enough energy in the roundout/flare so that after touchdown I would bounce up again. ok - enough self-analysis... they weren't *too* bad - nothing was damaged, and Jeff didn't seem too worried.
Flying back to Oakland, passed from Hayward tower to Oakland Tower - the woman there was really rude. We couldn't see the runway at all (it was approx 15 min after sunset, and it was hazy - actually foggy to the north (far past OAK). The landing lights were not on, and the controller didn't seem to care! After Jeff asked her to turn 'em on, she finally did and sarcastically said "there: can you see the runway now!". I couldn't believe it. Also - she said that we were lined up for runway 27L, when we were about 20 degrees off the centerline (maybe 1/4 of the way to runway 11!)
Had not-too-bad a landing on 27L, taxied back - handled the majority of the radio work with Oakland Ground - think I might have asked for fries or something (metaphorically speaking) at one point, but they understood me and were very helpful.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Journal #4
6/10/2002
Cessna 152: N4938P
hobbs time: 2.3 (approx 6pm->8:30pm)
Flew from OAK to APC (Napa) for T&Gs - started with the tower (before 8pm) and after that - one or two rounds with the CTAF.
Did most of the radio/comm work, but Jeff jumped in there when they didn't hear me etc...
Approx 4 T&Gs (me flying) at APC, with a tendancy for a long base having to line-up final a little. Also: still a tendency to flare/roundout early - should wait until ground effect for flare, and roundout into the ground-effect.
The landing at OAK was awesome! Crabbed a little for a slight crosswind, but didn't attempt to Crab/Slip the landing so we touched down to the side of the centerline. Nice flare, no major jolt on the touchdown - cool...
The views today were awesome again - very strange / funny to see SF, "I can see my house from here!", when it's actually soo small. Somehow, the combo of being ~2-3 thousand feet, plus all the way in Napa, is much more distance than I imagined. The city looks like a satellite photo on a slant.
Cessna 152: N4938P
hobbs time: 2.3 (approx 6pm->8:30pm)
Flew from OAK to APC (Napa) for T&Gs - started with the tower (before 8pm) and after that - one or two rounds with the CTAF.
Did most of the radio/comm work, but Jeff jumped in there when they didn't hear me etc...
Approx 4 T&Gs (me flying) at APC, with a tendancy for a long base having to line-up final a little. Also: still a tendency to flare/roundout early - should wait until ground effect for flare, and roundout into the ground-effect.
The landing at OAK was awesome! Crabbed a little for a slight crosswind, but didn't attempt to Crab/Slip the landing so we touched down to the side of the centerline. Nice flare, no major jolt on the touchdown - cool...
The views today were awesome again - very strange / funny to see SF, "I can see my house from here!", when it's actually soo small. Somehow, the combo of being ~2-3 thousand feet, plus all the way in Napa, is much more distance than I imagined. The city looks like a satellite photo on a slant.
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Journal #3
6/5/2002
Hobbs time 1.6hr
Flight from Oak to San Pablo Bay
Cessna N1658F - 180hp lycoming, and stored in hangar (drooped wingtips)
Another awesome flight. Jeff took me thru a number of maneuvers today.
For the takeoff - taxied from "port-o-port" to runway 33 [not for solo?]. This plane took a lot of down elevator to stay on the ground, and basically took off itself around 55-60knots. Climbed *very* fast - around 1000fpm, and overtook the piper now long below us - tower sounded humerous as they said we were overtaking them very high - not a factor.
Once at San Pablo bay, ran thru many maneuvers.
"AAA" - Altitude, Clear Airspace, Airspeed.
For the slow flight, airspeed was around 50 knots (Vr).
For the tight turns - this time above 45deg I think, maneuvering speed (Va) at 95 knots.
We tried slow flight, power off stalls, power on stalls (whoo!), tight turns, and for slow flight did a climb, and some turns. Last time did slow flight and turns, so now for stalls.
Stalls. Hmmm - mostly more "mellow" than I thought they would be. Each one, Jeff demo'd and then I tried to execute something like it. Main things to remember - about slow flight, and all transitions of power, is to adjust carb heat. If below 2.1K rpm, have carb heat on. For flight around 3k feet, and doing slow flight maneuvers, mixture was full rich (I think).
Ok - power of stall - just like a textbook. The interesting thing is that the nose doesn't drop much. The aircraft simply drops a little (in pitch and altitude), and if you add power (off with the carb heat) the airplane will be climbing in no time.
Power on stalls - with the 180hp Lycoming engine, and the drooped wingtips, was tricky, but we got it. Keep using the rudder to adjust for P-factor. The trick is to be very near Vso (stall speed) before adding max power. Once adding power, just keep pulling up until speed falls below Vso (in this case the meter was down to 20knots), and blam! you really feel it. In both of Jeff's demo'd power on stalls, the plane yawed to the right for a quick drop, but always recovered before you could really get scared - probably within 100feet (I guess). And again - don't have to pitch down at all - just level to the horizon.
All the maneuvers went well, then I listened to ATIS and wrote down the info on my new kneeboard (no prob). Called Bay approach, Called Oakland Tower. Jeff had to repeat for Bay Approach (They were having problems), but Oakland Tower I handled. The landing was a little high, then about right, and talked thru the landing, I flared a little too much and too early, but not as bad as the "not pretty" landing on day-1. Jeff took the last 1/2 second and it wasn't bad at all.
Comments: while maneuvering, don't forget to use AAA - and always do a flow check from L-R + gauges etc. And as for one "a" - altitude - maintaining this within 100feet was easy for the turns and slow flight, but tough for the stalls. My steep 360deg turn would have passed a checkride! whoo!
Hobbs time 1.6hr
Flight from Oak to San Pablo Bay
Cessna N1658F - 180hp lycoming, and stored in hangar (drooped wingtips)
Another awesome flight. Jeff took me thru a number of maneuvers today.
For the takeoff - taxied from "port-o-port" to runway 33 [not for solo?]. This plane took a lot of down elevator to stay on the ground, and basically took off itself around 55-60knots. Climbed *very* fast - around 1000fpm, and overtook the piper now long below us - tower sounded humerous as they said we were overtaking them very high - not a factor.
Once at San Pablo bay, ran thru many maneuvers.
"AAA" - Altitude, Clear Airspace, Airspeed.
For the slow flight, airspeed was around 50 knots (Vr).
For the tight turns - this time above 45deg I think, maneuvering speed (Va) at 95 knots.
We tried slow flight, power off stalls, power on stalls (whoo!), tight turns, and for slow flight did a climb, and some turns. Last time did slow flight and turns, so now for stalls.
Stalls. Hmmm - mostly more "mellow" than I thought they would be. Each one, Jeff demo'd and then I tried to execute something like it. Main things to remember - about slow flight, and all transitions of power, is to adjust carb heat. If below 2.1K rpm, have carb heat on. For flight around 3k feet, and doing slow flight maneuvers, mixture was full rich (I think).
Ok - power of stall - just like a textbook. The interesting thing is that the nose doesn't drop much. The aircraft simply drops a little (in pitch and altitude), and if you add power (off with the carb heat) the airplane will be climbing in no time.
Power on stalls - with the 180hp Lycoming engine, and the drooped wingtips, was tricky, but we got it. Keep using the rudder to adjust for P-factor. The trick is to be very near Vso (stall speed) before adding max power. Once adding power, just keep pulling up until speed falls below Vso (in this case the meter was down to 20knots), and blam! you really feel it. In both of Jeff's demo'd power on stalls, the plane yawed to the right for a quick drop, but always recovered before you could really get scared - probably within 100feet (I guess). And again - don't have to pitch down at all - just level to the horizon.
All the maneuvers went well, then I listened to ATIS and wrote down the info on my new kneeboard (no prob). Called Bay approach, Called Oakland Tower. Jeff had to repeat for Bay Approach (They were having problems), but Oakland Tower I handled. The landing was a little high, then about right, and talked thru the landing, I flared a little too much and too early, but not as bad as the "not pretty" landing on day-1. Jeff took the last 1/2 second and it wasn't bad at all.
Comments: while maneuvering, don't forget to use AAA - and always do a flow check from L-R + gauges etc. And as for one "a" - altitude - maintaining this within 100feet was easy for the turns and slow flight, but tough for the stalls. My steep 360deg turn would have passed a checkride! whoo!
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