tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329627212024-03-14T06:45:17.899-04:00Pilot in trainingWanna hear a girl talk about learning to fly? Read on! This blog is primarily a way for me to process what I'm doing as part of digesting, critiquing, and growing with each experience.khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comBlogger204125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-65945290984457407712017-12-14T15:10:00.001-05:002017-12-14T15:14:28.008-05:00Instrument rated!Guess who fell down on the job of blogging about flights? You know, life is busy with two elementary-aged boys and their activities and the home and the dog and working 3/4-time and trying to train. But I offer this as consolation:<br />
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Instrument rating check ride<br />
December 12, 2017</span></div>
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The morning started at 5 am with another briefing of the weather for the day and updating the flight plan I had been assigned: KBMQ to KHOU using an arrival. It was a purely VFR day in all of Texas with the lowest freezing level at 12,000’, and the only detractor weather-wise was 30-kt winds at altitude and a Tango airmet for moderate turbulence below 8,000’. I printed a few charts, printed the weight and balance for our flight (as well as my flight over there, just in case), and got everything organized.</span></div>
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My checkride started with a one-hour flight into the wind from the flight school at KAUS over to KMBQ. The transition from surface to about 3000’ was pretty bumpy with pleasant smooth air on top. My weather briefing had shown stronger and gusty winds during mid-day, so I was a touch anxious about trying to nail headings and altitudes on approaches while getting bounced around, but it was what it was and I would do my best. I did the GPS 01 approach for giggles and landing at KBMQ was uneventful.</span></div>
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I’m a small person and parking the airplane is sometimes problematic for me. I can push it easily, but I’m not heavy enough to depress the tail far enough to get the nose up and redirect the plane during pushback, so it’s a complicated back and forth and trying to press a rudder pedal to steer with one foot while pushing with the other on the ground. Hilarious to bystanders, I’m sure. After a few tries I went into the KBMQ blue FBO building, introduced myself to the DPE, and asked for help to get within reach of the tie-downs! His first impression was probably either “this applicant can’t even park?” or “this applicant asks for help when needed.”</span></div>
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Inside, we made small talk for a few minutes while getting a cup of coffee and getting organized. The DPE is a friendly guy and is easy to be around, and that was a blessing to my nerves. He got his paperwork in order and I presented the required documents: photo ID, pilot’s certificate, medical certificate, logbook, aircraft registration and airworthiness certificate, and maintenance logs. Once it was proven and recorded that both the plane and I were airworthy, we got to the oral exam.</span></div>
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He started by emphasizing that the role of the examiner is to be a fair judge of knowledge and ability. He sincerely wants applicants to do well. The FAA is not looking for perfection, and he has discretion to let some mistakes and minor deficiencies slide so long as overall safety and competence are demonstrated. Gaping knowledge holes would be a reason to disapprove (which means stop the exam, get more training, then come back and try again within 60 days). During the practical flight, any intervention from the examiner for safety or timely response to ATC communications or instructions would be a reason to disapprove. A discontinuance, on the other hand, is when applicant or examiner proactively decides to end the exam because of sickness or weather that causes discomfort or other justification. </span></div>
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To begin the exam portion, he asked for the flight plan I had prepared for the hypothetical flight to KHOU and asked open-endedly about all of the preflighting and planning that went into it. I talked about the time of year and the concerns of winter flying, checking different weather charts and products, drilling down into forecasts for departure, destination and fields along the way should we need them. I talked about why I chose the BLUBELL3 arrival, the CWK ILEXY transition, 7000’ en route altitude (as well as mentioning the MEAs and OROCAs), what I might expect from ATC (like letting us skip CLL), what I would anticipate happening when we got to the Houston Class B airspace, which runway we’d expect to land on with which procedure (local winds, airplane equipment, fitting in with airlines and large traffic, etc). Overall he seemed satisfied with the preparation.</span></div>
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Since I had mentioned turbluence and winds in the day’s forecast, he asked about how passengers would play into the flight and decisions. We discussed being a good steward for aviation by involving passengers in the go/no-go decision, briefing them and checking on them during the flight, and also about managing distractions and changing plans in-flight with uncomfortable passengers.</span></div>
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Next we talked about how the flight would be different if instead of a beautiful VFR day we had solid IMC with low ceilings the whole way. I talked about personal minimums and evaluating whether the flight could be made safely and whether delaying or rescheduling would be a good idea. I talked about other weather products I would have at hand and knowing how to get to VFR if there was any reasonably nearby. I talked about higher demands at the destination as well as the need for an alternate and what it would have to provide. He asked a few regulatory questions about approaches and minimums for an alternate to check knowledge.</span></div>
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Next he introduced a comm failure into the hypothetical flight and asked me to evaluate. ATC had cleared the flight as filed and we were just past ILEXY on the arrival in IMC, no VFR nearby, and we had already done all the trouble-shooting to ensure comms were truly down. I squawked 7600 and talked through the process for selecting route and altitude in this case and what ATC would be expecting, and how our choices would either promote or compromise safety in the system. In talking out loud and looking at options using ForeFlight, I got stuck at the transition from the last arrival waypoint to the airport, a distance of over 40 nm that would ordinarily be directed by vectors through Class B to an approach. I was fumbling around with a plan to go direct to an IAF at an expected time as the process dictates but voicing my concerns about how all that other traffic was getting hosed by our situation and that it didn’t feel safe. This was the point where he asked what you should do if the safety of a flight is in question. That shifted my mindset to emergency decision-making, so I started backing up along the arrival to see where it might make sense to divert. Given that we were at ILEXY, there were several nearby airports, and we conferred together that the best choice would be KCLL, which was just ahead and immediately adjacent to a point on the arrival AND has IAPs AND has services.</span></div>
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After that he asked me to pull up a few IAPs and asked some questions about them, to assess my ability to read and interpret the plates. All fine. We talked about proficiency v. currency and staying sharp.</span></div>
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The oral was actually over more quickly than I thought it would be! It was about 2.5 hours from small talk to the end of the oral exam. At that point, we took a bathroom break and then discussed plans for the flight portion of the test. He explained what he’d be looking for and we talked about which approaches and maneuvers needed to be done. He assigned three approaches (KILE VOR-A missed with hold, KILE GPS, KBMQ GPS) for me to brief, but after I stated the GPS in N652MA was non-WAAS he changed the plan to include a non-GPS precision approach, the closest of which was the ILS at KTPL. The new plan was KTPL ILS missed with hold, KILE VOR-A, KBMQ GPS. With no tower or GCO/RCO near Burnet, he asked me how I could pick up the clearance; I told him either in the air VFR or by calling flight service.</span></div>
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It was 11:30 by this point, so he grabbed a sandwich and I ate the lunch I had packed while planning, briefing and filing. As I briefed, I found that the TPL VOR was out of service as of 9am, which meant the missed couldn’t be done as published, and that an FDC NOTAM had gone up during the oral exam describing an alternate missed procedure. I called Flight Service for a quick confirmation about the NOTAMs and asked about any other hazards or issues that might affect the flight; the guy was helpful and I don’t think it hurt that as I was talking to him on speakerphone, the DPE came back into the office and overheard that I was thoroughly doing my homework. The NOTAM’d hold put us quite close to an IAF for the GPS 33 at KTPL, so I took the plan to him of doing the KTPL ILS, missed with hold and then the KTPL GPS 33. He liked that idea and said to plan and file for those, followed by cancelling IFR on the way back toward KBMQ to do unusual attitudes, and then he’d give mock ATC instructions for executing the KBMQ GPS 19 with circling to land 01. Also he instructed that most of it would be under the foggles and that unless he told me to take off the foggles, to treat it as though we were still in IMC and make decisions appropriately.</span></div>
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The surface winds at KTPL were predicted to be 13G22, which is just beyond my personal limits, but they were aligned with the 15/33 runway and we weren’t actually planning to land so I just made a mental note to anticipate control challenges during the low approach and missed procedure. I made a plan for which points to load in the flight plan and the GPS, when I’d need to switch to different nav sources, filed for 12:30, and preflighted. There were a few minor delays, with his afternoon checkride applicant showing up really early and me needing to add oil (I had noted it was just at 6 in the cold at KAUS so brought a quart just in case; checking during this preflight showed 5.5). After the runup, I configured all of the avionics and radios, and he liked that rather than plugging in our filed flight first thing, I configured for an immediate-return-to-field scenario should there be trouble on departure.</span></div>
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We were off by 12:40 and it was so so bumpy climbing up. The DPE gave mock ATC instructions to get us headed the right direction while I was trimming and stabilizing, then I called Houston Center to get our clearance; done. They eventually handed us to Gray approach who vectored us over to the ILS 15. I tuned the localzier on nav1 and the ACT VORTAC (for the missed procedure) on nav1 and identified both. The mag compass had been pretty unstable, varying 20 degrees at times in straight and level flight in smooth air. Upon syncing the heading indicator for what seemed like the 20th time in 30 minutes, I told Gray we weren’t confident of the heading and asked if we needed to adjust; I was feeling a little flustered about the mag compass and fearing the ACS tolerance of +/- 10 degrees on heading! Gray was not too picky and super helpful (probably used to the DPE’s constant flow of applicants doing these things!), and in the debriefing after the flight he said I demonstrated good use of ATC as a resource, with this being one example. I tuned the AWOS, noted the winds, and made a comment about in the real situation we’d either use the ILS 15 to circle or the straight-in GPS 33 since the winds favored 33.</span></div>
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Someone else was doing the practice ILS also so he vectored us out for a pretty long approach. The DPE asked me about my descent from our current altitude and how I planned to manage the descent. I consulted the plate for glideslope intercept altitude and replied that ATC would be lowering us to intercept from beneath the glideslope, and then I stated the printed glideslope angle, noted that we’d have a tailwind, estimated our groundspeed, and flipped to the table in the dTPP (ForeFlight Documents FTW!) to select a descent rate of ~600 fpm and would use the movement of the glideslope needle to adjust as necessary. Gray eventually turned us in, lowered us and cleared us for the approach. He gave instructions for climb out and I confirmed that we would be doing the NOTAM’d alternate missed procedure.</span></div>
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Despite the bouncing and wind changes on descent along the glide path, I kept the localizer needle within one dot and did NOT go below glideslope, though I did go almost two dots above it at one point. At DH he had not said to remove the foggles so I initiated the missed. On climbing out, ATC asked if we were with him, and it dawned on me that he had never instructed us to change to advisory frequency at the airport, which is a busy airport given that it has two runways, five approaches and no tower, especially on a VFR day. The DPE had said at the start that he would do all traffic spotting and clearing, but my stomach seized a little when I realized we hadn’t been listening to local traffic calls for VFR planes. Once we were established in the climb and I had briefed the holding procedure and entry and made the plan for the following approach, I noted that we had not been instructed to change frequency and that you never change frequency without instruction. He agreed that we were in a dangerous situation given that particular airport (and my heart sank because that sounded disapproval-worthy), but that in actual IMC we would have been the only plane in the airspace and the wise pilot would be monitoring the local frequency on comm2. That was a light-bulb moment, and I admit that I had been so busy with the workload of aviating and navigating on approach, I didn’t have the mental cycles to consider that aspect of the communicating.</span></div>
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The NOTAM’d missed had a straight ahead climb to intercept the 181 radial from ACT and hold at CONRA/40 DME. I forwarded in the flight plan in the GPS to go direct CONRA in OBS mode and nav 2 was already tuned to ACT (nav1 was on the ILS). On the 181, ATC instructed to make left turns with 10 mile legs (what a relief! That would build in time to comfortably brief the GPS 33 approach again without fiddling with the clock and figuring out 1-minute inbound!), EFC and time now, let him know if we wanted to start the approach before then. When we reached CONRA, I made a standard-rate turn to the left, confirmed the GPS was giving DME to CONRA, already had the inbound radial dialed into OBS2, and set us up to track a reciprocal heading outbound. Almost immediately upon leveling, he said to tell Gray whenever I was ready for the approach, no need to complete a circuit in the hold. It took until about 9 DME to finish briefing and getting the GPS cycled to the next waypoint in the flight plan (FBURG, the IAF I had chosen for the approach), remembering to resume leg mode. </span></div>
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I called Gray, he asked how I wanted to do the approach and intentions after (FBURG, low approach, back to KBMQ). He asked if I wanted to get to FBURG by a right or left turn since I was headed the opposite direction on the outbound hold leg (a standard right-hand hold would have put us close to FBURG). I responded that I preferred right (would give a little more time between events) but could do whichever worked best for his traffic management. Right turns and vectors toward FBURG followed. After a few minutes he came back and cleared us to cross something that sounded like it started with an R at 4000 and that we were cleared for the approach. I asked for clarification, stating that we expected FBURG and could he spell the fix. He said it was FBURG so I just looked a little silly, but after getting set up the DPE said he also heard something that started with R, so good that I had clarified. After turning inbound on the final approach course, Gray approved the frequency change so I switched and announced positions; we were coordinating with another plane and a helicopter at this point.</span></div>
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On this approach, I made sure to get down early to the step-down altitudes and level off 100’ high, then use the remainder of the distance to the next fix to plan the next segment and descend the last 100’ close to the fix. After eventually getting through the segments and down to the MDA, he stated that we were still solidly in IMC and would not be able to land. I acknowledged and recited the missed approach instructions that we would be using after crossing the MAP at the runway threshold; I had the feeling that he was checking to see that I would in fact fly to the MAP before going missed.</span></div>
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After passing the threshold (judging by DME to the RW33 waypoint on the GPS) I initiated the climb over the runway, began the turn to the assigned heading of 240, announced to the Temple traffic what we were doing and switched back to Gray approach. After a short time the controller handed me off to the western Gray controller (120.07), but being bounced around and trying to aviate and navigate again, I mis-dialed 127.70 into the radio. No response. I switched back to the previous Gray frequency and asked for the frequency again. This time I dialed in 127.07 and again got no response. A quick glance at the GPS plate I had just executed showed the Gray control as 120.07 and I felt like an idiot. Proof of workload dragging down the details. Proper frequency dialed in, and this time got a response. The DPE had instructed me to cancel IFR but stay with them for flight following back to KBMQ since we’d be doing unusual attitudes and needed the freedom, so that’s what I did and thanked the controller for his help.</span></div>
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At this point we had a bit of time before getting into the Burnet area, so he let me take the foggles off and just look around. There was a fire burning to the northeast and based on the abrupt flat top to the smoke we talked about a temperature inversion, which is also associated with some of the lower turbulence I had been fighting.</span></div>
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Soon enough the foggles went back on and I closed my eyes with my head down while he took the airplane into an unusual attitude. The first was an extreme climbing turn, and when I looked up the first thing I saw was airspeed dropping below 60 kts, so I put the throttle to the max and lowered the nose, then leveled out and started back to the original altitude and heading. He took the controls again and this time it was an extreme diving turn. I could hear the engine roaring and when I looked up instantly snapped my eyes to the airspeed, which was near the top of the yellow arc (!!!!), so I pulled out the throttle, leveled the wings and pulled up, which was fighting me and that’s when I realized the trim had been set way nose low so I spun that wheel. My heart was definitely thumping after those two.</span></div>
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Next he gave me vectors to JIBAJ, the IAF we’d use for the circling GPS 19 approach back to KBMQ. I briefed it, listened to the ASOS, and got the GPS set up. I talked through the step downs and was set up on the approach course. I don’t remember what we talked about, but some conversation distracted me briefly and when I resumed focus on the approach, I mistook where we were, thinking we had already passed DLORA (IF) when in fact we were not yet to it. After DLORA the altitude goes from 3500 to 2600, so I started down and was repeating my next steps for the FAF ahead. He let me descend a few hundred feet before asking me where we were (“hint, hint, you’re screwing up”), and immediately I looked at the GPS, realized we weren’t to DLORA yet, so put in full power and pitched up and said “My kids!”, flashing to a real-life consequence of going below altitude with my family in the plane. We were back at 3500 in the blink of an eye, but he made a comment that it was a shame that the checkride had gone so well up until now. I was convinced that as of that moment I had failed; the examiner had to intervene for safety of flight. Regardless, I had to suck it up and complete the approach. </span></div>
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The rest of the approach went as planned, down to circling altitude of 2000’, at which time he told me to take off the foggles. There was 19 perfectly in front of us, and I announced that we’d shift right to enter a left downwind for 01. I kept it in tight, knowing that for circling we had to maintain visual reference to the runway. Abeam the numbers (19), he looked out his window and commented about how close that hill with towers was. I glanced and acknowledged; I was more focused on compensating for the strong wind trying to blow us over the runway and planning for that with my circle-to-land. At the far end we circled and were lined up well on the runway, but high. We wouldn’t need all of the 5000’ runway, so I said I was going to bring us down and try but would go around if it didn’t feel right, which ended up being the case. As I cleaned, crammed and climbed, he said to do a right pattern for 01 this time. Then it dawned on me: there’s an ODP for 01 about obstacles to the left of the departure end (the hill and towers) and 01 has right traffic. Bad, bad, bad planning! He instructed me to treat it like a circle-to-land and this one went better. We still landed long, but it was one of my better landings and we were able to make the earlier turnout so at least it ended well.</span></div>
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After taxiing to the tie-down spot, he was very brief in saying to do whatever shutdown I needed to do and meet him inside. As soon as the passenger door closed, I withered. It was a really good checkride until the last five minutes when I had two big mistakes! I was positive I had earned a disapproval and was dreading the debrief.</span></div>
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Inside, we talked. He applauded the interactions with ATC, the planning and the abilities in the aircraft. We went over a few points and finally got to the last approach. Regarding the loss of situational awareness, he was not going to withhold approval since I did not descend not below the MDA, I aggressively corrected the error, and it was a good learning experience. Regarding the poor choice of circling paths, he was not going to withhold approval since I kept in so tight to the runway and stuck to the MDA; it was safe but also a good learning experience that the circling plan should maximize the safety margin by utilizing airport and obstacle information. He reiterated that at this point the FAA is not expecting perfection, and that overall I demonstrated good aviating and decision-making skills that would make me a safe pilot in IMC.</span></div>
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And with that, I became an instrument-rated pilot! It was a happy flight home to KAUS.</span></div>
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khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-81142510196699831822016-12-19T10:54:00.001-05:002016-12-19T11:07:35.707-05:00Learning from failures, learning from mistakes<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another canceled flight. This time ultimately because of my oversight. Here's what happened and what I learned.</div>
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I was up at 5 this morning to get going and get to the airport by 6:45 for the 7 am flight lesson in 2MA with Mark.</div>
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PIC failure #1: I didn't inspect the "reservation change" email alerting that the lesson had been changed to 4AF. When I scheduled, I hadn't been able to add Mark to the reservation in the system and so he added himself; when I saw the subject in my mail app on my phone, I assumed the change email was about him adding himself to the flight and never opened it.</div>
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I got the keys from the desk for 2MA and signed it out. On the ramp, it was 24 degrees and there was a 10kt wind down the runway. It was cold, but no clouds or humidity to warrant canceling. There had been patches of ice on the sidewalk and ice on the plants out front. The plane was frost-free. </div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VtYtYXpLB1M/WFgCEE3qjtI/AAAAAAAAQ0k/j0ydGL_eUXEyVo-zd4r1H75MXy8TGsk6ACLcB/s1600/IMG_0454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VtYtYXpLB1M/WFgCEE3qjtI/AAAAAAAAQ0k/j0ydGL_eUXEyVo-zd4r1H75MXy8TGsk6ACLcB/s320/IMG_0454.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I did a very cold but thorough preflight. Right off the bat some residue on the ground below the left brake caught my attention, but it didn't look fresh and visual inspection of the brake system didn't reveal any drips or breaks or accumulation. There was a bit of old-looking grime on the rim of a plate below the brake, but the right side had the same grime (and no spots on the pavement). I finished the preflight (did I mention how cold it was?) and when Mark arrived I asked him about the brake, and his assessment was similar to mine. So we continued inside and filled in the Hobbs log.</div>
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PIC failure #2: The entry above mine, the only one for yesterday, was struck through. I did notice the note "No fly" on the line, but did not read the note scribbled off to the side. Every note on the side I've seen has been about adding adding oil, and while it's inexcusable to not take the two seconds to read the note, I had checked the oil already and it was good to go. This note will be important later in our story. </div>
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Cold, right? Prime a little extra, clear prop, crank attempt #1 fails. Prime a little more, crank attempt #2 fails. Open the throttle a little more, crank attempt #3 fails. Consult the POH for any other cold-weather startup tips. No big deal, just run-of-the-mill cold-weather engine challenges. After resting the starter for a few minutes, another crank got it going. It was a rough start, but it caught and took and despite my pressure on the brakes, we were moving slowly and drifting right! At this time, there were enough <b>obvious</b> clues to warrant a brake check, which Mark did while I was getting my Halo headset on, and there was no action coming from the left brake. Puzzle complete.</div>
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Shutdown, push back. Wrap up the Hobbs log. Ohhhhhhh... That note from the crossed-out flight said the left brake was leaking and they were canceling their flight because of it. Damn. I looked at the brake again, just for giggles. This big red drip of brake fluid (on the bolt at the right) was not there during preflight; we must have squeezed it out in holding and testing the brakes. I looked at the right side again, too, and it wasn't quite as grimy, but still grimy.</div>
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Lessons from this lesson:</div>
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- Read the flight-school reservation emails. All of them. I've canceled flights before because of being switched to a plane I didn't like. I should know this. But I made an assumption about the content of the change email based on what I was expecting, and that assumption made an a.... made a something out of me this morning.</div>
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- Pay attention to the log. What's stupidly funny about this is that I was questioning whether the previous (executed) flight had written down the Hobbs/tach correctly, and I spent extra time inspecting that entry, totally skipping over the canceled flight that would have saved a ton of time and effort. (Turns out both measures had x924.y in their readings, and I was in the wrong column so it looked like the previous flight was off by .4 or so; easy mistake, caught and corrected upon inspection.) Why oh why didn't I read that note? I had even thought in my head about yesterday's weather, and figured they had likely canceled because of the strong and gusty winds, not considering any malfunction.</div>
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- Aside from those pre-preflight oversights, preflighting did its job: I found an unknown (to me) and unexpected condition that would prove to impact the safety of the flight, so we paid attention and eventually canceled for safety. Fly another day.</div>
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There is one thing that irks me, though. The keys to a disabled plane were at the desk for checkout. Had the keys not been there, I would immediately have checked my reservation to verify the tail number I should be asking for. That would have short-circuited the frigid waste of time and we would have gotten to do the lesson (provided 2AF checked out)! More than that inconvenience, however, is liability. We cranked up with a bad brake that straight away showed it was unsafe. What if we hadn't been able to brake and had rolled right into the next row of planes? What if we had enough control that we didn't abort the flight, but upon landing had critical brake failure? I assume that the flight school's insurance would be dreadfully unhappy about the situation. As PIC, the responsibility would ultimately have been mine, but I'm a student and obviously the communication process is not foolproof for ensuring a faulty plane was not flown; removing the keys would have guaranteed the plane was not flown.</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-49719076314272612342016-12-09T18:28:00.002-05:002016-12-09T18:28:47.458-05:00Jepp I/C 5: maneuvers full/partial panel, compass and timed turns, plus ILS 35R<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We had a very cold but pleasant start to the morning, with 34 degrees and a 12kt crosswind. I proved pretty much right off the bat that 3.5 weeks between flights is enough time to build up some dust. Notably, I failed to drain the nose sumps and didn't catch that my seatbelt was unbuckled until pre-takeoff check! Good gravies! Checklist checklist checklist!</div>
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17R/35L was closed today, so all the planes were on 35R. We followed a Southwest jet and a Gulfstream down the taxiway, with a reminder from Mark to use proper crosswind inputs while taxiing -- dive away from a wind from behind, up and into a wind from ahead. I did our runup, and we were cleared to depart. It was a very brief time before being handed over to departure, and she almost immediately gave us the freedom of own navigation. That's when the foggles went on...</div>
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Level at 3000' we began maneuvers. Constant rate descents and ascents, using the VSI as primary for pitch and aiming for 500 fpm (and accounting for the +100 error on the needle) and any speed we wanted (so ASI was primary for power, keep it in the green). Those are fine, just need more practice to get the right pitch/power settings more directly.</div>
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Turns by mag compass. Mark failed the vacuum system, which takes out the attitude indicator and the DG. This is why the mag compass is required equipment on all planes. :) It's really just fine as long as you remember COSUN -- compass overshoots south, undershoots north. So when turning right to a heading of 180, you actually turn roughly to indicated 210 because of compass error; once you roll out, it swivels back. Roughly speaking, it's a 30-degree overshoot for a desired heading of 180; 20 degrees for headings of 150 and 210; 10 degrees for headings of 120 and 240; and right on target for due east and west. It's the same gradients for turning to the north except it's an undershoot situation; if you want a right turn to a heading of 360, you turn roughly to 330, and when you roll out it keeps swiveling a bit. This varies by latitude and those numbers actually apply for 40N; we're at 30N so the error is a tad less. But those easy-to-remember rules get you pretty close and then the minor correction needed to capture the desired heading is easy.</div>
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That's how the mag compass behaves in a turn. The other thing to know about compass error is how it behaves during straight-and-level flight, meaning holding heading and altitude. Unaccelerated, it's solid! Accelerated, ANDS -- accelerate north, decelerate south. When holding altitude and heading, adding throttle to accelerate will induce a temporary indication of a turn toward the north; pulling back on the throttle induces a temporary indication of a turn to the south. NBD.</div>
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Next was timed turns, which I hadn't done before. The idea here is that a standard rate turn, easily achievable using the turn coordinator (provided you don't have electrical failure), which means at the proscribed bank you'll complete a full 360-degree turn in two minutes. That's 3 degrees per second. If you need to turn 60 degrees, roll into the turn and time for 20 seconds. When making smaller turns, say less than 15 degrees, you use a half-standard rate turn (1.5 degrees per second); a 15-degree turn would take 10 seconds. That's all well and good, just requires a little mental nimbleness. I also had two areas to improve that will help make the timing method result in rollout closer to desired heading: roll in faster and keep the ball centered. The first turn was the worst, and I was about 15 degrees short of my target because of lolligagging into the turn and not using enough rudder. Subsequent timed turns were better.</div>
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All of the turns were fine, but I need to keep my scan going a little faster. I wavered on my altitude, but kept it usually within 100'. I find I have a tendency to climb during turns and need to work on that.</div>
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We did combinations of these maneuvers on partial panel. It's fine, just needs practice! </div>
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Recovery from unusual attitudes on partial panel was fine, too. For this exercise, you look down, optionally with eyes closed, the idea being to become completely detached from the state of the plane while the instructor puts it into any type of configuration. Then you look up, take the controls, and recover. If the plane is descending, first you level the wings, then stop the descent, then return to assigned heading and altitude. If the plane is climbing, first you level the nose (don't want to be near a stall), then level the wings and return to the desired state.</div>
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Lastly we decided to request the ILS back into KAUS. We were still 33 nm out, so had lots of time to brief the approach and get set up. We loaded the I-HCE localizer into NAV1, but were to far to ident. We also loaded it into the GPS (whose database expired two days ago and so would not be legal for RNAV approaches but can still be used for DME, which this ILS has on the plate). Next, Mark dialed in the final approach course of 353 on the NAV1 CDI, briefed the missed (DA ~700', climb to 1000', climbing right turn to 1500', head to CENTEX VOR), They vectored us to intercept and cleared us somehow.... my memory is fuzzy here. My brain was definitely saturated and I was feeling the workload, and that was with Mark doing com and nav! Maintaining proficiency will be so important. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MzfZV16UVd0/WEs9v46S9KI/AAAAAAAAQzI/ClTJc-FfxA4o0EUHiUVsYk6w5FmqZ327gCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-12-09%2Bat%2B11.51.16%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MzfZV16UVd0/WEs9v46S9KI/AAAAAAAAQzI/ClTJc-FfxA4o0EUHiUVsYk6w5FmqZ327gCLcB/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-12-09%2Bat%2B11.51.16%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anyway, we intercepted and had to chase the radial a little to get on it, but once established I'd say it went fairly well. It wasn't close to the standard I'm aiming for, but it's early in the process and will get better. That relatively straight blue line on the left is the approach. The closer we got, and the squirrelier the needles got, the more I was getting anxious about the transition to visual and about configuring for landing. They had asked us to keep up our speed since half the runways were closed and little ol' student flight with two souls might be holding up commercial flights with a hundred souls. I was getting concerned about slowing for flaps and all that, and at one point put out the first notch without first checking the airspeed, which was still over 120, so I pulled them right back in.</div>
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Eventually that notch of flaps did get used, and we were quite fast over the numbers. There was a touch of crosswind, and it was nice and steady, so for the first time ever I felt competent and successful in maintaining runway alignment, pretty close to centerline even! We floated and flared forever. Seriously, forever. And when I let us down, it was too early and we were still too high and worse we were still too fast, so Mark asked for the controls and got us right back up into ground effect for more forever. I'm going to have to look at the track log and see just was our speed was over the runway.</div>
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But that was it! Other than that bounce, it was a very good flight! I felt cautiously competent, understood what we were doing, executed pretty well (practice will fine-tune it), learned some things and solidified some other knowledge and feelings for flight.</div>
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We did not do full-panel steep turns, slow flight or stalls this time out since we got off to kind of a late start. Next time we'll have to get those in, and it's on to Jepp I/C 6: partial-panel steep turns, slow flight and stalls with review of everything else we've done so far (mainly from today's flight). After that, we're pretty much done with the aviating-by-instrument part and will start incorporating navigation, beginning with using VORs and talking about NDBs (since the flight school fleet doesn't have ADFs).</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-59926123272468279102016-12-09T17:19:00.001-05:002016-12-09T17:19:11.217-05:00California flying, last flight<span style="text-align: justify;">Le sigh. I made these notes and have kept myself so busy I never got back to write it all up! Now I've forgotten a lot of the details, but I do remember how interesting the approach into Salinas was! You basically fly past the airport into a valley, pick up a DME arc that swings you around to the ILS, and when you intercept you had better be turning because there's a mountain straight ahead!</span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;"> <br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />lunch</span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">self-serve fuel</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">link to post about traffic on final</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;">clearance, "if not off by ..."</span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">mountainside fire</span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">bad 107 tracking, questioned by ATC</span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">DME arc into Salinas</span><br />
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Leader radial to intercept</div>
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Great needle alignment at first, then more squirrely as we got closer</div>
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Tower for approach</div>
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Low approach, cancel IFR with tower, then VFR back to KSQL</div>
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Through the saddle</div>
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Over Apple headquarters, saw Moffett(?) field, NASA and Google ops</div>
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relatively straight-in for final, slow down to give 1st-to-land cirrus space</div>
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bumpy final and ok landing</div>
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khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-77200283915224082572016-11-13T18:54:00.003-05:002016-11-13T18:54:54.472-05:00IFR Operations: Two-way radio communications failure.<div style="text-align: justify;">
That's AIM 6-4-1 (which quotes FAR 91.185 and adds). As I was mulling over the consequences and procedures for electrical failure, I wondered how I would get the airplane back on the ground at KAUS, which is a Class C airspace that requires two-way communications. </div>
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If the conditions are VFR, you maintain VFR and land as soon as is <b><i>practicable</i></b>. This allows the pilot discretion beyond "as soon as possible" to select a suitable airport or continue to the intended destination if it's close. The idea in general, though, is that if ATC can't contact you and/or you can't respond, you're the jerk screwing up the airspace for everyone else.</div>
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To land VFR at a non-towered field is a simple matter of good judgment. Fly over the field to assess winds and traffic, then fit yourself into the traffic safely and land.</div>
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If, however, the conditions are IFR, it's a little more complicated. Assume it's all clouds. What do you do? First let's think about just radio failure, not full-on electrical failure (so you still have your transponder, which it says to set to Mode A/3 squawking 7600; does Mode A/3 broadcast altitude?). The AIM section says:</div>
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<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Route</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">route assigned in last clearance</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">if being vectored, go direct to the next fix/route/airway in the clearance</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">route ATC said to expect</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">route filed in flight plan</li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Altitude - highest for current route segment</li>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">altitude assigned in last clearance</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">minimum altitude for IFR operations</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">altitude ATC said to expect</li>
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The ideas here are to be predictable to ATC. There is likely to be confusion when you don't acknowledge or heed instructions (note to self: this is one reason it's so important for me to respond right away even if I have to ask to repeat), but if you move along in a predictable fashion, they can plan around you. Again, if you get to VFR conditions, land.</div>
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What if the failure happens before your approach but it makes sense to try the approach? First, this seems pretty risky to me since you have no way of knowing whether the airspace is clear. Second, however, you've been acting very predictably so perhaps you can go for it. The AIM instructs to start the descent/approach as near as possible to the expect further clearance time (if received) or the expected arrival time, keeping you predictable.</div>
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Assuming it's just a comm radio problem, consider using the nav radio to contact FSS on a VOR that can receive. AIM 6.4.2 talks briefly about having them relay situation reports and clearances.</div>
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FSS gives in-flight weather, too. Imagine being in IMC with no radios, headed straight into some nasty weather? (And the Stratus/SXAR1 ran out of battery. Or the iPad died.) Egad, man.</div>
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Suppose we were to lose comm while still inside KAUS airspace. I believe we would have to maintain the last clearance (which generally is sending us out of the Class C) and stay out. There are procedures for rocking wings and flashing lights to communicate with Class D towers, and they use a light gun where certain colors/patterns mean different things (solid green means cleared to land, flashing red means unsafe airport, etc). If we were outside the airspace, we couldn't come back in: Class C airspace requires two-way communications and Mode C transponder. (I would think losing transponder in their airspace but maintaining communications could be dealt with to allow us to land.)</div>
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So, that's when radios fail when flying IFR in IMC or VMC, but ATC can still see you on the radar. What about <b><i>full electrical failure</i></b>? No comm and no transponder, so ATC doesn't know you exist, although hopefully they're concerned that you disappeared. I'm getting sweaty palms just thinking about it.</div>
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I'll take a guess before I look it up. If it's VMC, land. If it's IMC, get to VMC safely ASAP. So where is VMC, and how do I get there safely? Having briefed the route, we should have a good idea of what the weather systems are like along the route (and ForeFlight + external device(s) is indispensable in a situation like this). Turn back? Proceed with a deviation? Could descending to an MEA (or even a MOCA?) or climbing to an altitude (VFR, I assume) appropriate for our heading get us to VFR? Do any of these options have a high likelihood of success with a low chance of compromising separation? Do we pick areas away from airways or routes between waypoints (harder with GPS waypoints all over the place)?</div>
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In IMC, this is all risky business; who knows who else is out there! Intermission now for dinner...</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-30707124642501752252016-11-12T17:23:00.001-05:002016-11-12T17:55:08.875-05:00California flying, day 2<div style="text-align: justify;">
(I started this post Tuesday evening and have been busy working, flying and mothering so it hasn't been finished until now! Perhaps tomorrow I'll get to the afternoon flight...) </div>
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We got started bright and early today but again had no actual IFR to play in. The missions for the day went ahead as planned anyway. I filed KSQL OSI SAPID SANTY for the LOC RWY 2 approach into KWVI (Watsonville). </div>
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Upon startup, the display for COM1 was blank except for a flickering vertical line separating the com from nav frequencies. Hello, N24AF, anyone? :) Brightness controls altered the glow around the knobs but didn't change the critical display. Combined with yesterday's flakiness on the #1 CDI (fed by NAV1), we were suspicious but had other troubleshooting ideas as well. Jason thought it was potentially a sunlight-on-sensors issue (it's auto-dimming), and the sun was lighting us up from the back in the parking area. By the time we taxied most of the way to the run-up area (into the sun), the display was behaving properly. There was still some wariness about the CDI, but we were willing to give it another chance today to see how it went. (Spoiler: it was not as flaky, but never agreed with #2 CDI, which was still solid. Was within the 4-degree tolerance, but, you know, you'd like to have complete confidence in the instrument.)</div>
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CIGARS. Lights, camera, action. Pre-takeoff briefing (verify runway, last check of wind, takeoff abort conditions, emergency procedures before and after rotation). We talked on each flight about how we should be starting a timer when cleared to depart and checking in after that 5 minutes if the expected higher altitude hasn't been cleared. In the bay area, in particular, there are plenty of nearby MEAs above 5000', so in actual IMC it would be pretty important to follow up with ATC. We forgot on every flight to set a timer, and Jason related how even when he starts a timer, there's enough going on as the flight starts that it's usually way later when he notices how far past 5 minutes the timer has gone. Countdown timers with audible or haptic alerts would be best for reminders like this. Had I not forgotten my Apple watch charger, the watch-based ForeFlight timers may have been able to fulfill this role. I think I'll try to incorporate <i>starting</i> the timer as part of the pre-takeoff briefing as we roll onto the runway, so at least step 1 has a deterministic trigger point.</div>
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Clearance:<br />
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We followed the departure clearance and were soon vectored southeast then cut loose to resume own navigation. I was quite busy aviating and navigating and didn't get ahead of the plane by the time we were at Woodside VOR ~6nm away, so I wasn't ready with my 5Ts. My living autopilot took over in the right seat while I went into executive mode, assessing and directing the current phase and planning the next phase (verify SAPID with GPS waypoint and SJC radial). Here's an example of what the <b>5T</b>s look like for SAPID from OSI:</div>
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<b>Turn</b>: none</div>
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<b>Time</b>: none</div>
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<b>Twist</b>: none (already twisted #2 CDI for SJC R-210, verify)</div>
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<b>Throttle</b>: none</div>
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<b>Talk</b>: none</div>
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With that 30 seconds of planning, I had caught up with the plane and was now six minutes ahead! That was really pretty sweet. I had lots of opportunities to do configuration change flow/checks (mag/DG sync, flight instruments, engine instruments, breakers/switches, throttle/mixture, fuel controls; checklist). By getting ahead, more time is available for the management of the current phase of flight and being prepared. An autopilot is a magnificent tool for facilitating this.</div>
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Next was SANTY (6+ minutes ahead once we passed SAPID). SANTY is an IAF for the LOC RWY 2 into KWVI, so the workload would start increasing there. Here's what SANTY's 5Ts look like; you can see that there's more to work on:</div>
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<b>Turn</b>: left to track the SNS R-293</div>
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<b>Time</b>: none</div>
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<b>Twist</b>: #2 CDI for identifying SNS R-293; #1 CDI for the I-AYN localizer; these courses intersect at NALLS, the IF for turning outbound for the procedure turn and also the FAF inbound.</div>
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<b>Throttle</b>: none</div>
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<b>Talk</b>: none</div>
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Before getting to SANTY it was also time to start the <b>5A</b>s:</div>
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<b>ATIS</b>: tuned and received.</div>
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<b>Altimeter</b>: Make note of it from ATIS, but don't enter into the altimeter until cleared for the approach.</div>
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<b>Approach briefing</b>: this is the attention-consuming part. Pull up the plate (or paper), check that it's the right approach at the right airport. Read everything on the top, out loud is best. If it's appropriate to load any frequencies at this time, go ahead and do so (see the 5Ts above). Read restrictions. Memorize the first part of the missed approach (climbing right turn to 5000). Orient on the plan view, visualize how you'll fly it and how the instruments will guide you. Check the profile view for altitude changes and where. Get the BOTTOM LINE: How low? How far? What's next? 700', at the MDA or 4:12 from NALLS, climbing right turn to 5000'. That last bit is the missed approach trigger. If you get down to the minimum descent altitude of 700' or go 4:12 (at 90 kts for the 172) past the FAF and can't see the runway or aren't oriented to use normal maneuvers to land, execute the missed approach by making a climbing right turn to 5000' (after which time you'll head southeast to the SNS VOR for a hold, but <b style="font-style: italic;">first is just to get up and clear </b>of the mountainside). The FAA has cleared the area and guarantees obstacle and terrain clearance if you follow the instructions, so plan to do it.</div>
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<b>Avionics</b>: This all ties together, right? Redundancy built in, lots of chances to double-check yourself and catch any tuning errors. Gather the avionics items from the approach plate, either tune it now or note it for the 5Ts for the upcoming trigger.</div>
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<b>Airplane</b>: Flow/checks. Descent checklists. DG sync. GUMPS.</div>
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With the LOC RWY 2 approach, you turn outbound at NALLS and perform a procedure turn within ten miles of NALLS. 90 kts is 1.5 nm per minute, so flying outbound for two minutes, a 45-degree right turn for one minute, and a left standard-rate turn is well within the 10 nm requirement. This was done, and then it was a matter of tracking the localizer inbound, maintaining airspeed, and reducing altitude at the appropriate times. 2200' at NALLS, the FAF, 6.3 nm from the runway threshold, down to 700'.</div>
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I forgot to start a timer. In practical terms, the GPS was also telling me where the runway threshold was, but it's sloppy to not utilize the correct methods for a non-precision approach. And here's why the timer is important: Imagine you're in actual IMC and pass NALLS. You can safely descend to the MDA of 700'. At some point, however, 700' is no longer safe and you need to execute a missed approach if you can't see the airport environment. You can only identify that point by some kind of nav (GPS fix, a cross-radial from a VOR, etc) or by time since the FAF. Being forward-acting pilots, our 5Ts and 5As have ensured that we're situated to identify that point, but what if.... What if the GPS RAIM check fails? What if the VOR turns out to be unusable below 1000'? There are enough reasons to have that timer going.</div>
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We executed the missed approach just before the airport and noted that they were using 20 for landing this calm day. Climbing right turn to 5000' and heading to SNS VOR. Once established in the climb (with flow/checks complete), a quick consult of the plate filled in the details for the rest of the missed approach procedure. Sometime in there we had also switched to CTAF for WVI, so needed to communicate with NorCal approach again for holding instructions at SNS. We would be using the published hold, so the controller just told us when to expect further clearance, the current time, and to advise if we wanted to leave the hold earlier (since we were on a training flight in VMC).</div>
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I looked at the plate for inbound holding course, mentally mapped it on the DG, and made my best guess for how we'd enter the pattern -- direct, parallel, or teardrop. Then I used the thumb tool as a redundant check and found that my guess was wrong! (Psst, the system works.) It was obvious that the 5Ts would be happening frequently and in quick succession in the hold, so I started working it out. The goal is to have the inbound leg be 1 minute long, so depending on winds, the outbound leg and turns may be longer/shorter and abnormally shaped. Note to self: review the airspace extents; my recollection is 4 nm on the inbound (non-holding?) side, 8 nm on the outbound (holding?) side.</div>
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The first outbound leg was one minute, and the resulting inbound leg was well over 2 minutes! The T for time would need adjusting on the next outbound leg. Just when does that outbound leg start, anyway? The holding fix is at the end of the inbound leg, then there's a standard rate turn, at the end of which you should be on the reciprocal course. The outbound timer starts when you are abeam the fix; in this case, when the CDI flipped from "to" to "from."</div>
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The second outbound leg was only 25 seconds, and the turn to the inbound leg was finished before intercepting the radial. In this case, the inbound time starts when wings are level or when the course is intercepted, whichever comes first. Wings level, start the timer. The inbound course is the resting time. I was flying the hold, using the heading-only autopilot as much as possible, and trying to figure out when I'd have time to brief the RNAV approach back into KWVI. The outbound legs were getting shorter, and the inbound leg was shortened by going through the 5Ts each time -- necessary to be prepared.<br />
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The third outbound leg was more like 15 seconds, and resulted in an inbound leg of close to one minute. I started getting through the approach briefing, and by the time we were on the fourth circuit and the controller asked if we wanted to wait, I was prepared to ask for a clearance to the RNAV (GPS) RWY 2 approach back into KWVI. This is what that set of holds looked like, though it felt like we were doing some kind of spirograph design. The pattern was getting tighter as I shortened the outbound leg to standardize the inbound leg.</div>
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We exited the hold on a heading of 260, IIRC, being vectored to the IAF waypoint RISPE. While enroute, more flow/checks and 5Ts to get ready for the approach. As we headed out over the Pacific Ocean, it was clear that we would be north of RISPE and got a DTK from the GPS to take us there. The controller noticed the change and asked us what we were doing. My memory here is fuzzy, but I believe we had been cleared for the approach. If not, surely at least Jason and I would have had a conversation about remaining on the vector even if it was off-course v. pinging the controller. He did not object, however, when we told him we were correcting course to go to RISPE. Perhaps because he knew we were training and had already proven to be a nice controller :)</div>
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These approaches are pretty simple. They'd be even simpler if this aircraft had a WAAS-enabled GPS, which would provide vertical guidance as well as horizontal and allow use of a glidepath down to lower (LPV) minimums. Without WAAS, however, we'd be managing our own altitude in accordance with the LNAV row. NBD (LOL, unnecessary acronym -- no big deal), we'd fly it just like the localizer, but recognize waypoints and distances with the GPS instead.</div>
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The LPV DA is 458'. This means that as you're descending on the glidepath, when that path intersects an altitude of 458', that's the MAP. At that point, you're 288' above the touch down zone elevation (TDZE). This DA happens short of the runway, allowing time to see the airport environment and runway lighting and use normal visual maneuvers to complete the descent.</div>
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The LOC MDA is 700' and the LNAV MDA is 740'. But where? It seems reasonable that the LOC MDA is closer to the runway threshold since it's lower, but..... The only things I know for sure are that (1) the LOC approach specifies 4:12 after crossing NALLS as a (somewhat) definitive marker for when to execute the missed; we'll forego the imprecision for now; and (2) the LNAV has no time, but the rule is that the MAP is the last named waypoint; in this case, RW02, the threshold of runway 02. At RW02, however, you still have 588' to descend! Note <a href="http://captainslog.aero/2013/missed-approach-points/" target="_blank">this MAP explanation</a> for future reference.</div>
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The other little complication to this approach was that Jason wasn't confident the non-WAAS GPS would properly manage the linear scaling. When using the LNAV portion, the linear scaling can be 5 miles when enroute (beyond 30 nm), 1 mile in the terminal area (30 nm to the FAF), and 0.3 miles on approach (from FAF to runway). This is to increase the course deviation sensitivity, ensuring your best chance at alignment with the runway in the clouds as you approach the airport. Ideally, the GPS is smart enough to do it for you when you cross 30nm and the FAF, but Jason didn't trust it so he manually switched it. People fail checkrides for that little detail, and it is an important detail.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GnjEo5V77nw/WCeUbBnjknI/AAAAAAAAQx4/nEk3M9wPfiMhEVcEKzXp9CXsFbIUjduMQCLcB/s1600/lnav-horizontal-scaling.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GnjEo5V77nw/WCeUbBnjknI/AAAAAAAAQx4/nEk3M9wPfiMhEVcEKzXp9CXsFbIUjduMQCLcB/s320/lnav-horizontal-scaling.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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As we neared the runway, we opted to convert to more of a circling approach since 20 was in use and it was almost lunchtime. On final for 02, we turned right to offset from the runway and enter a downwind for 20. Landing, taxi, and time for lunch and a debrief! (BTW, the restaurant at Watsonville is a tasty Italian place, highly recommend. :) )</div>
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<br />khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-50500243194828051912016-11-12T15:56:00.000-05:002016-11-12T17:41:43.105-05:00That final "final" check<div style="text-align: justify;">
As we sat in the run-up area before departing Watsonville (KWVI), I called NorCal on the radio to get the IFR clearance over to KSNS for the ILS approach. KWVI is a non-towered field, meaning no one controls the airspace and that pilots use the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) to announce positions and intentions. We're all working together in that environment. It's crowd-sourced tower ops.</div>
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It's all great, with one caveat: no radio is required in this airspace. So that means that not every plane and pilot may be participating. This makes it über-important to use those VFR traffic scanning skills and be responsible for your own safety and separation.</div>
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This was brought into very clear focus after we received the clearance, checked for traffic, announced our intentions and rolled across the ILS threshold believing everything was safe and that we had the right-of-way. Luckily the run-up area has an odd shape, and as I glanced up the final approach before entering the runway, sure enough, there was a little Cub descending to land! Brakes! We stopped short of the runway threshold and watched him land. He was probably cursing us; I hope he would have been able to perform a go-around had we taken the runway.</div>
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Let's look for explanations.</div>
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First and most obvious, is that by a stroke of (un)luck, when we visually checked the pattern for traffic, that plane must have been behind the high right wing of our Cessna. We couldn't see him.</div>
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Second, we verified that we were talking and listening on the appropriate CTAF, not still accidentally tuned to NorCal or another frequency by mistake. Confirmed. If the other pilot was radio-equipped, he was <b><i>not</i></b> talking on this frequency. He was wearing the unmistakeable mint-green David Clarks, so he at least was equipped for comm, whether his plane was or not.</div>
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Jason relayed a conversation that he had had with an "old timer" who always incorporated a 360-degree turn at the end of his run-up before taking the runway. It seemed like overkill, but such an operation would have revealed the other traffic that surprised us.</div>
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Thankfully it was not even a near accident. Just a learning experience.</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-77987005639441876642016-11-11T23:53:00.000-05:002016-11-11T23:53:16.781-05:00Homework: Ammeter discharge, ALT FLD breaker out<div style="text-align: justify;">
From the 172R POH, Section 3: Emergency Procedures, Electrical Power Supply System Malfunctions:</div>
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INSUFFICIENT RATE OF CHARGE </div>
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NOTE
The low voltage annunciator (VOLTS) may come on and
ammeter discharge indications may occur during low RPM
conditions with an electrical load on the system, such as
during a low RPM taxi. Under these conditions, the
annuciator will go off at higher RPM. </div>
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If the overvoltage sensor should shut down the alternator and trip
the alternator circuit breaker (ALT FLD), or if the alternator output is
low, a discharge rate will be shown on the ammeter followed by
illumination of the low voltage annunciator (VOLTS). Since this
may be a "nuisance" trip out, an attempt should be made to
reactivate the alternator system. To reactivate, set the avionics
master switch to the OFF position, check that the alternator circuit
breaker (ALT FLD) is in, then set both sides of the master switch to
the OFF position and then to the ON position. If the problem no
longer exists, normal alternator charging will resume and the low
voltage annunciator (VOLTS) will go off. The avionics master switch
may then be returned to the ON position.
If the annunciator illuminates again, a malfunction is confirmed.
In this event, the flight should be terminated and/or the current
drain on the battery minimized because the battery can supply the
electrical system for only a limited period of time. Battery power
must be conserved for later operation of the wing flaps and, if the
emergency occurs at night, for possible use of the landing lights
during landing.</div>
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During our Thursday morning flight, the low voltage annunciator did not illuminate, although the entire annunciator inset flashed once before the ammeter started reading low. The discharge was not present just before takeoff, and takeoff and climb were performed at full throttle. I don't think the "NOTE" applies.</div>
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The ammeter was showing a discharge. The ALT FLD breaker was tripped. No failures or abnormalities were observed on any instruments or avionics using electrical power. I did not think to check the voltage on the voltage/OAT/timer instrument.</div>
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The mentions of discharging ammeter and tripped ALT FLD breaker in the POH all indicate that the Low Voltage annunciator should be on, flashing at first, then solid on until the problem is resolved, but it wasn't. The annunciator came on during preflight test, so the annunciator itself is capable of lighting. </div>
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How I wish I had had the POH on my iPad! A quick search would have brought me to the above section and proper procedure for dealing with what in all likelihood is a "nuisance" trip out. The proper procedure is basically to shut it all down and start from scratch:</div>
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1. Kill the avionics (the big power users).</div>
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2. Reset the breaker.</div>
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3. Kill both battery and alternator with the master switches. </div>
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---At this point, the circuits are open and electricity is not being delivered. </div>
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4. Turn the master (both sides) back on to connect battery and alternator.</div>
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--- Incrementally bring things back to life. Check for neither charge nor discharge and verify no annunciators and the breaker is in. At this point, what is receiving power? The turn coordinator, the voltage/OAT/timer, panel lighting according to knob setting, beacon/strobe/etc as per the switches, flaps when actuated, fuel pump when activated, and that's all I can think of.</div>
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5. Turn on the avionics master.</div>
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--- It could be a good idea to start with some of the items off. For Class C flying at KAUS, transponder and radio are required. If being conservative, I might turn off the GPS and COM/NAV2 and leave the autopilot off. (Note to self: investigate how to get back to KAUS without radio or transponder. An IFR clearance gets you your cleared route even in the event of lost comms. At this point in my training, I'd land at Smithville or Lockhart and call home for advice!)</div>
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<a href="https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/circuit-breaker-popped.73637/" target="_blank">This forum</a> has some interesting information about the circuits (as well as a lot of hot air and attitude, sorry). And discussion of whether resetting a breaker in flight is a good idea. Resetting it repeatedly is obviously ill-advised, but the POH itself indicates this particular issue can be a nuisance rather than an emergency.</div>
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Takeaways:</div>
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- Be more thoughtful before rationalizing an abnormal indication.</div>
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- Have the POH in searchable form!!!!!</div>
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- Continue the flow/checks that identified the abnormal indication so promptly.</div>
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As for the fog in the turn coordinator, there are a number of reports of this in forums across the web and the recommendations are (1) do nothing, it'll be fine when the humidity goes down, or (2) moisture in an electrical instrument is not good, so repair or replace. It's not my plane, so I have to make a determination of whether I feel comfortable as PIC to continue using it. For now I think I will continue to fly 2MA, but will keep an eye on it.</div>
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khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-45410781658968484792016-11-11T16:37:00.003-05:002016-11-12T17:34:56.999-05:00Crosswinds, foggled unusual attitudes and stalls, mild in-flight failure<div style="text-align: justify;">
Yesterday morning Mark and I had an early flight. In the interest of getting caught up with the posts and sleep a bit (I still need to write up the last of the California flying), I'm going to keep this one a little shorter.</div>
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My preflight was more efficient. I think I'm getting more fluid and less hypersensitive to every little ding these "well used" old trainer planes have. :) </div>
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Getting set up inside was fine, comfortable. Clearance was fine, and luckily the controller monitoring ground was also handling clearance (oops). VFR clearance is easy; tower just cares about keeping you safe and separated while getting you out of their airspace.</div>
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We were departing 35R, which was a first for me. Every single other flight has been from 17L. No big deal, especially with ForeFlight and a georeferenced airport diagram. We taxied down alpha to mike for CIGARS and the run-up. At this time, everything was normal, and that's an important note.</div>
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There was a slight crosswind from the right, so while taxiing and during takeoff I was using some aileron and rudder correction. I don't have a great feel for it yet, so we ended up drifting into the wind and not maintaining alignment over the runway. We weren't off by much and it was corrected quickly enough, and not long after they had us turning eastward (into the wind) to head over to 84R (Smithville).</div>
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We cruised along for a few minutes, and upon leveling at 3000' I ran the flow/check. Mag/DG, engine instruments, flight instruments, breakers/switches, throttle, mixture, fuel. But at engine instruments I noted the ammeter discharging. Mark asked me if that was okay, and I STUPIDLY rationalized it with some hurried thought about sure it's discharging, it's supporting a big electrical load. He didn't say anything at the moment, so I went about my business. Moments later I did another flow check and found the ALT FLD breaker popped.</div>
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Hmm. Ammeter discharging and an alternator breaker tripped. I handed the controls over to Mark so I could look it up. The checklist didn't have any troubleshooting tips for an abnormal electrical situation (just electrical fire). Next I wanted to look through the POH -- still not sure why the searchable POH wasn't in my documents in ForeFlight -- but flipping pages in the paper POH was taking too long and requiring too much inattention to the airplane. What if I had been flying alone? What would a good pilot do? Should I reduce the load? Was the fog in the (electric) turn coordinator related? Would it be safe to land? What all would be affected?</div>
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So my homework (another post) is to research what conditions cause these two symptoms and what is an appropriate way to deal with it. For that time, Mark had me reset the breaker and keep an eye on it. Short story, no more symptoms.</div>
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We got to Smithville and had a more difficult than expected time at finding the runway. Thank you, again, ForeFlight, for the situational awareness. We basically entered the pattern on an extended base, watched to be clear of the water towers and power lines, and went in for my first crosswind landing in ten years.</div>
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After practicing the exercise at KHAF with Jason on Monday where we lined up on one side of the runway and cross-controlled to drift across the runway while keeping the nose aligned, it was fresh in my mind of *what* to do. Doing it well will obviously take more practice. I think I did ok as far as staying near the middle of the runway, but at touchdown I had a bit of a crab in so there was side-loading and a sensation of skidding to the left as the airplane straightened out. I kept right aileron in into the wind as we rolled out to the taxiway, but I still had this incredibly unsettling feeling that we were tipping to the left. Mark assured me we were fully on the ground, but (I think?) he said I could use more aileron correction.</div>
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Discussion, recheck of checklists and materials concerning the electrical situation, then back to it. The windsock was showing winds inconsistent in both direction and strength, and my heart sank a little. I had been excited to get solid crosswind practice, but this was going to require way more change of inputs in response to constantly changing winds, which all in all is a good thing to be able to do but I'm already weak on crosswinds and wanted something nice and stable to work on! We kept our eyes and ears open while back-taxiing down the runway to depart. After takeoff, I started a turn off to the right to make the pattern and do it again, when Mark asked where I was going. Oh, dagnabit! Left traffic! Thank goodness we were alone in that airspace. Left turn. Self-briefing failure.</div>
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The wind variability was very noticeable on final. Constant control changes. I landed well left of center and didn't straighten out as quickly as I should have, but still got back to center, lifted the flaps and throttled up for a touch-and-go. C'est la vie.</div>
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On the way back to KAUS, Mark gave me some unusual attitudes and I did power-on and power-off stalls under the foggles. These were fine. It takes a fair bit of effort to get to the stall point, and that's not where I like to be so Mark had to keep telling me to pull back, pull back, pull back. Lol. I just hope that in reality I stay on top of my pitch and airspeed well enough to only have these recoveries in practice. Part of the unusual attitude bit was interesting. While hand-flying, he had me look completely down at my lap, as though reading or checking the map or something, all the while trying to maintain altitude and heading. After a minute, he asked how I thought I was doing (I felt like I had probably climbed but stayed relatively straight) and then told me to recover. I was banking left and (I think?) descending at a very slow rate. Ha! Point made that you can't trust your sensations.</div>
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Getting back into KAUS was fine, although with the haze it was very hard to find until we were fairly close. The KLN89B (in-panel GPS) and ForeFlight were helpful. Another landing with variable light winds, not well done and hard with the stall horn squealing (on landing that's ok, but I was a foot or two high). Live and learn.</div>
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Oh, my other homework is to go over takeoff emergency checklists. Mark was unimpressed with my pre-takeoff briefing about emergency procedures should we need to abort or if we experienced a failure before or after rotation.</div>
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Except for &$*%# still saying "<b><i>for</i></b> 2MA" in response to some ATC comms, my radio work was ok. Improving. More room to improve.</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-12540350350532142392016-11-07T22:44:00.002-05:002016-11-07T22:44:53.938-05:00Learning is hard work, part 2!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Oh my word. I'm sitting in the hotel at 7:17 pm trying to scrape together the energy to continue sitting in this chair, typing. </div>
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After lunch, we departed VFR from 30, this time turning left to go toward Half Moon Bay, being wary to stay clear of the SFO Class B surface ring. Climb over the mountains.</div>
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Another enlightening exercise on our way to the coast was to use a dry-erase marker and mark the horizon on the side of the windshield, with an X for a reference point. The point here was that the sight picture doesn't have to be over the nose, and for me I frequently can't see over the nose, and for all of us there are times when our pitch doesn't allow it, so having a good idea of what to expect from a diagonal view is useful, too. After flying a bit straight-and-level using just that reference, we changed it up with some slow flight using that reference. I hate the stall horn. Or rather, I hate the precipice the stall horn is warning about. Does anyone like it? Does anyone like hanging out in a near stall? (For those of you that don't know, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cVlTeIATBs" target="_blank">this is what it sounds like</a>.) Changing sight picture, but you zero in on it and maintain. Then we pressed the exercise one step further by attempting to maintain altitude and heading using just that reference while going full-power to recover. If the X stays in the same place, the rudder pressure is correct.</div>
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<i>Hello down there!</i></div>
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Jason did a steep turn so I could snap a few pictures of the coast, then we headed to Half Moon Bay for some landings and to play with slips since I have 80+ hours and only three crosswind landings (all on my solo!). First approach was straight-in and was way high so we just did a go around (right traffic). The number and order of patterns is a little vague to me right now, but he demonstrated the crosswind technique as well as options during a power-off landing to change the geometry of the approach and use a forward slip if necessary. At the key point in the pattern, turning base, in the 172, he likes to be at 20 degrees of flaps and 75 kts, which allows time and space to make choices, like turning in early when you're low or making a late turn to final if too high. </div>
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<i>Half Moon Bay airport is just across that half-moon-shaped bay.</i></div>
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We did not have a crosswind, but practiced the required cross-control by lining up on one side of the runway during a low approach and using aileron to cross the runway while using rudder to keep the nose aligned down the runway. Jason demonstrated. Back and forth, weaving across the runway. This is a small move, smaller than what I was doing when I tried it on the next approach. I understand it, I know why you use the controls you use, but I don't like it. (Thanks, solo.) We did it a few more times and I felt like I was kinda starting to feel it. but really need practice.</div>
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Next it was DME arcs! I need to blog this in detail when I'm better rested, but let's just say that I was finally nailing it by the time we finished. The constant tweaking of the OBS, the checking of distance on the GPS, the heading coordination, the altitude monitoring, the heading changes to move to an arc of a different distance. It's a high workload operation. With no wind. At the end of the exercise, still arcing, Jason had me descend 1000' and use my checklist. Boom, fell apart. That was too much workload. I did not do the checklist and descended through the altitude (but stayed on the arc).</div>
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We pretty much came back after that. I think. I'm getting fuzzy brained. :)</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-8658619435066021972016-11-07T22:15:00.000-05:002016-11-07T22:15:51.292-05:00Learning is hard work!<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.9 hours over two flights today, and I am both enthused and exhausted! It was a pretty amazing day, crammed full of good information and good experiences. If only I could have 100% retention!</div>
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This morning we filed KSQL SJC V334 SUNOL V195 ECA to Stockton, planning to do the ILS 29R approach into Stockton. After taxi and run-up and everything, we waited for probably at least 20 minutes for release because KSQL was the alternate for someone who was approaching KPAO (7nm SE) and probably going missed there. Didn't happen, but we sat around burning fuel and had time to talk about things like the option to depart VFR and pick up clearance in the air. </div>
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This is a good segway to mention a couple things. First, using a taxi diagram to, um, you know, taxi. Jason says this is a bullet point that examiners are looking for, so get in the habit of doing it all the time, even at the familiar airports. (Pro-tip: ForeFlight makes this easy with aeronautical charts, georef'd diagrams and plates-on-map. Just sayin'.) Second, in addition to the walkaround, preflight, another walkaround (gives a chance to catch any mistakes done during preflighting like missing a tie-down or forgetting to tighten a fuel cap), startup checks, taxi checks, CIGARS and run-up, do a pre-takeoff briefing that includes verifying the runway you're at is the one you're intending to depart, checking the windsock, establishing abort criteria, and reviewing the pre- and post-rotation failure procedures. The pre-takeoff briefing was done during this time.</div>
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In our chats on the ground yesterday, we talked about standard operating procedures becoming a ritual. There are so many things that we ritualize and it helps us to do things the same way every time and usually for a good reason. Things like get in the car, fasten seatbelt, crank the engine. Shower routine. Getting ready for school routine. Routines are successful (when followed), and considering it a ritual takes it one step farther. SOPs for commercial operators have been established and revised in response to multitudes of occurrences that identify weaknesses in the process, and they become safety rituals. Do it from memory, back it up with a quick run through the checklist for missed items. And avoid complacency or lack of attention; match up each item on the read-aloud checklist to a specific action you just took.</div>
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Ok, back in the run-up area we finally were cleared for takeoff runway 30. And by the way, this is what the clearance looked like and I did it all by myself! :) Basically the clearance was along the lines of "Cleared to Stockton airport, after takeoff maintain runway heading until the diamond-shaped waterway, turn right to heading 120 within 2nm of the airport, radar vectors to sierra juliet charlie, victor 334 to SUNOL, victor 195 to Manteca, direct. Maintain VFR at or below 1100 until the Oakland 165 radial, then climb and maintain 2100, expect 5000 in 5 minutes. Contact NorCal departure on 135.65, squawk 4503." Other than saying "runway vectors" in my readback before correcting to radar vectors (and trying to quell my desire to giggle at my own goofiness for saying that), I was pleased. It's certainly the most complicated thing I've dealt with. But also credit to Steve at FlightChops and Jason for having shown this clearance in videos -- I may have briefed it before coming to CA... </div>
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Normal takeoff. Airspeed was alive and over the 70% rotation speed (38kts) well before halfway, and we were up and off. We had barely crossed the OAK R-165 (which marks the threshold of 30) when they vectored us to the east. We got to pass through just a bit of wispy clouds before being VFR-on-top crossing the bay. ATC wanted to vector us straight to KSCK, but since this was a training flight, Jason pushed back and asked if we could go to SJC and fly the airways as filed. The somewhat grumpy controller gave us a big fat negative and set us toward Stockton. Soon we changed frequencies and asked the new controller for the airways, and he vectored us toward V334 short of SUNOL. We got there and turned onto the airway and got our wrists slapped by the controller who deliberately was sending us PAST it and had not cleared us ONTO the airway. Ok, fine, that was a learning experience, too. But given the hassle and the lack of IMC in the area, we just canceled IFR and went about our business on the airways as we wanted. :) </div>
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About that time, we were at the SUNOL intersection so we dialed the 229 radial of the ECA VOR/DME into NAV1 (after identifying) and the OBS and started flying V195. Well, trying to, anyway. It was pretty bad. At the beginning, I thought it was just wind and started bracketing to find the right amount of wind correction. But it just wasn't working. The CDI needle would be centered, then would suddenly swing way to one side (usually left) and fluctuate. We tried all the way to ECA, while also trying to utilize the cruise flow (mag to DG sync, flight instruments, engine instruments, breakers and switches, throttle and mixture, fuel flow controls; back up with checklist readout) periodically, plan for the next action point (5Ts and 5As), and brief the ILS 29R approach. We had largely given up on the approach briefing as we got to ECA and were still working just on tracking and being suspicious of the CDI, so rather than turn northwest toward the airport (ILS was tuned and waiting), we continued on to work ahead to have time to brief and compare the NAV2 behavior against NAV1; while the NAV2 CDI did have little fluctuations, it was way more stable than the primary so Jason just turned off the primary radio. It got way better after that. The proof is in the track:</div>
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Starting from the lower left at San Carlos (just below the big label for San Mateo), we flew east, did a little circle when picking up V334 and then getting off of it and then canceling IFR, then did all the wavy tracking to the northeast, first on the lower leg and then on the upper leg to the right. Coming back from east to west was nav by GPS and NAV2. The lesson there is that if you're in actual IMC and it's that hard to stay on track, simplify what's going on to give as much attention as possible to get quickly to a reliable state of equipment.</div>
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Another lesson: We had a goal of finishing the approach briefing before ECA, which would have been great since at ECA we should have been turning to start the approach. Bottom-line items like DA/MDA at what point and the first few steps of the missed approach procedure, but big-picture items like the plan and profile, and detail items like frequencies and published restrictions or adjustments to the standard procedure. Full briefing didn't happen, and we talked again about creating time to accomplish things and get/stay ahead: slow down. Seriously, slow the plane down. Create time before the next action point. Groundspeed deviations on an IFR flight plan require reporting when the change is 10 kts or 5%, whichever comes first.</div>
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On the way back to ECA, we did a few hold and hold entry visualizations using the heading indicator. Then at ECA I did my first hold! Entry has lots of room for improvement, but once established in the hold it was good. So as long as all of my holds are in no-wind conditions, I'm good to go. There was even time on the 1-minute legs to do the cruise flow/checklist and plan the 5Ts for the next action point.</div>
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On the way back, I had some foggle time to do constant airspeed AND vertical speed climbs and descents, which were ok and with practice I'll be able to nail the power/pitch balance more quickly. Once established, VSI is the primary instrument for pitch and the airspeed indicator is the primary instrument for power. I think we may have briefly done a DME arc somewhere in there, but I totally remember my brain slowing down and not feeling on top of things, so we stopped that exercise and ate some snacks (slow brain is a sign of low blood sugar for me for sure).</div>
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At various times during the flight, too, Jason covered some instruments for partial-panel work. One illustrative exercise was to establish straight and level flight, then cover the altimeter and VSI and try to hold altitude. This was to bring awareness to how very very small the changes in the attitude indicator's sight picture are. It took less than two seconds to become hypersensitive to that.</div>
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I took a minute to snap a few pictures of the beautiful area, too. The hilly bits would be a nightmare for a forced landing, but pretty to look at. :) </div>
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And here we are, ready for lunch but feeling like it was a productive flight.<br />
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Somewhere in there we failed the DG and flew by the mag compass, which is super screwy but with diligent study and experience would be fine. There's ANDS (accelerate north, decelerate south) that explains what the compass does on east-west heading when ac/decelerating. And there's COSUN (compass overshoots south, undershoots north) that explains that on a turn to the south the compass will lead your actual heading by up to 30 degrees and on a turn to the north it will lag by up to 30 degrees. Oh, and the numbers turn the opposite way from the DG, so there's that complication. (Increasing or decreasing is what matters...)</div>
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Back to KSQL for right base to 30. Final was so very much like final for 31 at KJGG -- over some swamp-like water with its own monster. But landing was fine, taxi was fine, and then it was lunchtime!</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-81398445927323398602016-11-06T20:55:00.001-05:002016-11-06T21:28:24.974-05:00It's not a crash course...... but it is, in a good way :)<br />
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<i>VFR-on-top leaving Austin this morning, but IFR was required to get to it. But AUS-SFO is IFR anyway since passenger planes use Class A airspace for long trips.</i></div>
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<i>A preview for our Thanksgiving trip.</i></div>
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<i>Crossing the bay to land at SFO on the airliner. See how easy it would be to get lost out here?</i></div>
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Today I started my intensive 2+ days of training with Jason Miller. Not <i>my</i> Jason Miller, the other Jason Miller, of <a href="https://www.learnthefinerpoints.com/" target="_blank">The Finer Points of Flying</a> and CFII out of San Carlos, CA, who helps students like me develop skills and understanding to stay well ahead of the airplane and create a wide margin of safety even in the lowest of conditions.</div>
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I've been watching some of his videos alongside the base IFR training videos (from the <chuckle> Kings, Cleared for Approach). We went over a lot of that material today and some new stuff. Seeing things in the educational/information-delivery King format, the practical flight lesson King videos, and the safety/ritual perspective in Jason's videos was great, and talking through stuff today will help it all to get glued into place. </div>
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The biggest concept that applies to all phases of a flight is to know and be on top of what you're doing now, and know what's next. If you have the ability to think ahead another step, even better. Staying ahead means fewer surprises and fewer corrections.</div>
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Here are some of the topics we covered:</div>
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- Redundancy</div>
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Redundancy is hard to argue as a safety feature, yet hard to create in the cockpit, especially when you're flying solo. Anytime there's a commercial incident, ALL of the commercial companies analyze it, learn from it, and implement redundant operations to ensure it will never happen again. For a single pilot in a small aircraft, redundancy can be a straight-forward as doing a checklist from memory (by a standard flow) and then following up by reading down the actual checklist to ensure nothing was missed.</div>
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- Flow</div>
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While we're on the topic, Jason introduced me to a new acronym, because you know aviation needs just one more. ;) This one I think will actually be extremely beneficial to me, since one of my areas that is the least redundant (read: always done line-by-line from the checklist) is the pre-takeoff checklist and run-up. The mnemonic is CIGARS: Controls, Instruments, Gas (pump/selector/shutoff/quantity), Annunciators/Autopilot/Attitude trim, Radios/run-up, Seats/Seatbelts/Security. Pair that with the last step of Lights, Camera, Action, or integrate the two, and I'd say it's covered. Lights could be included either in "Instruments (and switches)" or as switches in the S section, kinda like the S in GUMPS for pre-landing check. Camera is avionics which would go with instruments. Action is the gas portion.</div>
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- Pre-takeoff briefing</div>
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When was the last time you thought about aborting a takeoff? Before the situation? Do you consider it every time? I don't. I think about it now and then when I start to get uptight about not having refreshed myself on emergency procedures lately. This is a "learn from others' mistakes" opportunity. Brief it every time, as a ritual, and it will always be fresh. Takeoff is all action so there's no time to grope for a checklist.</div>
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<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"> Before taking off, identify again that you're on the correct runway. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Check the winds one last time. </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Determine what 1000' above the field is (it's roughly 1500' at home, but here on the coast it's 1000'). </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Understand the abort plan -- if you haven't hit 70% of the rotation speed by the halfway point on the runway, abort (and know the actions). In the Cessnas I fly, that's a whopping 38kts, which basically means the airspeed indicator hasn't even come alive! What if the oil pressure isn't in the green? Consider your other reasons to abort.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Review the emergency procedures, for both before and after rotation.</li>
</ul>
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Oh man, we talked about so much stuff. I didn't take notes on all of it. We spent a good bit of time talking about holding patterns and performing holds at intersections. It turns out that my difficulty came in the nomenclature, and using a VOR as the hold fix makes it clear why it was unclear. The holding course is the inbound course on an outbound radial, so you use the reciprocal heading. The outbound course is parallel to the outbound radial on the outbound heading. But all of that aside, remember only these two things:</div>
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<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Holding courses are always given in the clearance as <u>INBOUND TO THE FIX</u>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">ALWAYS dial the OBS <u>TO</u> the fix.</li>
</ol>
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We did a few exercises for how to visualize a hold on the DG and choose the appropriate of the three entry methods (straight-in, teardrop, or parallel), then double-checked with the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbIw6kdytnU" target="_blank">thumb/sector tool</a> for redundancy.</div>
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We talked about DME arcs, which I understand (on paper, at least).</div>
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We talked about the scan methods. Radial for cruise and inverted V for turns. For a radial scan (which is what I have been working on with Mark), Jason recommends the cadence of a certain well-known 70s song. I try moving my eyes that way here just sitting in the hotel room and it hurts and I can't keep up. It'll take time to get a scan going that fast that can actually meaningfully interpret what is shown on each instrument. The inverted V uses the turn coordinator (electric), the attitude indicator (vacuum), and the VSI (static). It inherently includes a chance to recognize early symptoms of failure on any of those systems.</div>
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So much we talked about. I have homework tonight, too. There's an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLlWf-Fk_YM" target="_blank">Air Safety Institute video</a> about a particular fatal accident because of running out of fuel from not being able to land at an airport or several alternates. I will review a lesson from a "classic" AIM publication covering climbs and descents of certain characteristics.</div>
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We'll meet up at the airport at 7 am, file and fly a specific flight out to Stockton, then do the Oscar pattern (a rectangle with 3 minute sides, where the middle two minutes are standard rate 500 fpm climbing or descending turns to the left or right. The Oscar pattern is an exercise that evolves as the pilot's capabilities expand: required use of flow+checklists on every change, starting headings that make corners harder to calculate, shorter lead-in/out legs, and additional workload layered on top.</div>
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Phew. I'm tired, but no where near as tired as I'll be this time tomorrow!</div>
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khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-2177584083985415802016-10-27T22:19:00.003-04:002016-10-27T22:19:43.442-04:00Foggle maneuvers, landings<div style="text-align: justify;">
This morning started with a pre-dawn pre-flight of 172R N24AF by headlamp. It was pretty nice, to tell the truth. Calm and quiet, except for the occasional Southwest jet takeoff.</div>
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<i>Pre-dawn blur at Atlantic</i></div>
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Clearance (VFR to Lockhart, 2500). Taxi to spot 1. Ground. Taxi to run-up area at 17L. Wait for a few departures and arrivals. Go!</div>
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<i>Sunrise at 17L</i></div>
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170 to Lockhart. Foggles. Maintain heading. Descents and vectors by Mark's simulated ATC instructions and before I knew it we were on the 45 for 18 at Lockhart. </div>
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The beginning of the pattern was good. On base I felt I was getting a little low so I added power. I felt good about the rest of my pattern, but that extra power came back to bite me because I didn't take it out until I had the runway, but by then I was probably 8-10 kts over ideal airspeed (65 kts). It wasn't anything awful, but I did balloon a bit when I pulled back to flare, which meant we floated for a long time, which ended with a firm (but respectable) and long landing, which meant we missed the mid-field turn off, which meant we rolled all the way to the end and had what felt like the neverending taxi back for takeoff. Before that run-on sentence, I had managed to look for towers, glance at the windsock, do a GUMPS check, and make the traffic pattern calls over CTAF.</div>
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It was fine, and good enough that I was confident to do another and plan for a touch-and-go. I have done maybe five touch-and-gos total, and it has so far been intimidating to be finalizing a landing while transitioning into a non-standard takeoff. However, by this point, I was feeling good about my patterns, approaches and landings and was willing to incorporate the next step. (Proficiency at touch-and-gos means more landings per outing.)</div>
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The second pattern was good, too. I was a little tighter to the runway on downwind, so I extended a little to compensate for the shorter base leg. GUMPS check, a little worse job staying on centerline than the first time around, but touchdown, throttle in, one notch of flaps retract, pop off the runway, accelerate, climb, retract, climb, retract, depart the pattern to the northeast.</div>
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Sometime after liftoff, probably before even 500' AGL, we got a nice, deep, tantalizing whiff of smoking BBQ; Lockhart is home to the famous <a href="http://www.blacksbbq.com/site/lockhart" target="_blank">Black's BBQ</a>. Mmmmmmm. As I told Mark during our debrief, it's a good sign that I'm relaxing and re-acclimating to flying enough to use secondary senses in flight! He agreed, saying that my "bandwidth" while piloting is opening up.</div>
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Foggles on. Slow flight. Slow flight maneuvers. Surprisingly intense rudder pressure to turn -- I had forgotten how very unresponsive that control surface can be! Constant airspeed... climb? I forget which we did, but it's starting to feel more natural to find the pitch/power balance again and cross-check instruments to control airspeed and climb/descent rate. I was still working at it, but not working as hard as the last time we did this.</div>
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Before long Mark was talking to approach and we were vectoring in for landing. We were on a long base when the foggles came off and I had an eye-opening experience: I was disoriented now that I had visual flight back! I saw the airport, I saw our altitude, I had the picture, but somehow it felt like we were much farther away. It was a very odd feeling. Mark had to prompt me to start on my pattern descent and airspeed adjustments. With that prod, I got us on track, trying to deliberately keep speed here to not delay the waiting departure queue. It ended up being a pretty well-managed approach and nice landing, perhaps the nicest so far, and after a turnoff at Juliet and a call to ground, we taxied back and shut down.</div>
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Phew! A happy phew! It was a fun flight. Room for improvement, but satisfactory for this stage of training.</div>
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<i>Good ol' training route to 50R and home again...</i></div>
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Things I did and will continue to do: "talk good" on the radio; keep an eye on the DG; GUMPS; stabilized landing approaches that start with a properly managed pattern; generally held altitude and heading in simulated instrument flight.</div>
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Things I will improve on: "talk better" on the radio; increase scan speed; hold altitude and heading closer; landing flare.</div>
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Next time:</div>
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- Stalls on instruments</div>
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- Unusual attitudes on instruments</div>
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Soon, I hope:</div>
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- Start using nav avionics</div>
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khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-24398009383158927272016-10-21T18:50:00.006-04:002016-10-21T18:50:51.752-04:00Good, good and more good!<div style="text-align: justify;">
So glad to be writing this post. :)</div>
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The flight was later in coming that I had hoped, but no amount of wishing will make the weather cooperate. This was the first flight (Wednesday) after the monumentally disappointing one (last Friday) and I was so ready to get some good stuff done to restore my confidence (and probably Mark's, too!).</div>
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I spent the weekend reading, planning, processing, and preparing. Getting my brain set right. Focusing on proper traffic pattern operation, minding airspeeds and distance and flaps and power and altitude.</div>
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And it was good. I was bubbly when it was over. </div>
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To begin, it was a gorgeous evening. We weren't leaving the airport until about 6pm, which was later than hoped but Austin's rush-hour traffic will strain even the most generous driving time estimates. I stopped on the way to the airport to grab a protein bar, knowing that low blood sugar could well be my downfall since we'd be flying through dinnertime, and it could have been a factor on that last flight.</div>
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During preflight, there were two anomalies and one mistake. I'm trying to get better about preflighting and doing checklist tasks from memory then following up by reading through the checklist to confirm completeness. The first anomaly was that the fuel indicator for the left tank was bottomed out, while the right was maxed out. A visual inspection showed that both tanks were full, so just something to keep an eye on. The mistake was that from memory I did *almost* the whole preflight properly, but did not test the fuel from the three nose sumps (just the five on each wing), so I had to get out, get out the GATS jar again, and wrap it up. The second anomaly was related to the first; after cranking up the left fuel indicator came alive and showed full, but the annunciator for L FUEL LOW kept flickering intermittently. Something in that sensor circuit is screwy. </div>
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Mark and I discussed that he was to be a knows-nothing passenger for this flight (except when I actually needed instructor input, which I asked for a couple times). This put me in a frame of mind to be very talkative about what I was doing every step of the way, and that was a good thing. </div>
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Clearance was ok, thought I stepped on another transmission and bugged the controller who had told another pilot five seconds earlier to standby. Taxi was normal, although it is worth noting that in preparation for the expected F1 aircraft influx, they crammed the school fleets just as tight together as possible so the taxi was extra cautious. When I called ground the volume on COM1 was too low and so I missed the transmission and had to ask him to say again for 24AF. Run-up was normal, and we got to face down a Southwest airliner who was waiting for their clearance release time. I forgot to dial in our departure frequency, but I did remember to set the transponder to altitude-reporting mode, which Mark has been the one to remember so far in the past. Lights, camera, action!</div>
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Density altitude was a little over 2800' (field elevation 541') and it was again over 90 degrees; my plan was to rotate at 60 kts instead of 55, and that worked well. Our destination, Lockhart, is due south of the Austin airport, so we were given a heading of 170, same as runway heading, and that would take us straight there, with the Circuit of the Americas off to the east. As I was climbing, not long after takeoff, tower sent us to departure; here's where having it loaded into standby would have been great, because it's just a single button push to activate, but instead I had to twist a few knobs and look at the com in addition to managing the other takeoff climb tasks. I felt comfortably on top of the situation so it didn't add stress, but it should have been done earlier. On Friday, after an unexpected takeoff experience, it would have been much more difficult.</div>
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We climbed, we chatted, we looked around. It was very relaxed. We heard another trainer take off a little bit later, also heading to Lockhart for landing practice so we'd know to anticipate other traffic in the pattern. Soon enough, it was time to bear east a tad in order to join the 45 for left downwind for 18, Lockhart, and start descending to the 1500' pattern altitude and slowing.</div>
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The target power setting in the pattern would be 2100 RPM. Abeam the numbers we'd aim for 1500 RPM and less than 110 kts to be able to put in the first notch of flaps. I think I had us at 95 or so, which was great. We were a little tighter to the runway than I would have liked, so I aimed a little to the right. Left base, still descending, still slowing, shooting for 75-80 kts and a second notch of flaps. Doing fine. Turn to final, overshoot, correct course, slow to 70 and put the flaps to 30 degrees, with a goal of 65 kts at the threshold. </div>
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It was good. It was well-managed. It was stabilized. I don't even remember the touchdown itself, I just remember feeling victorious! </div>
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We taxied back, waiting at the threshold for the other trainer who was on final by now to do their touch-and-go, and as they turned onto the crosswind leg, we took the runway and took off. Nice takeoff, nice climb, nice re-entry into the pattern.</div>
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We did this two more times, for a total of three landings at Lockhart, keeping a nice spacing with the other airplane. There were little adjustments on each one, but I frankly don't remember one from the other at this point! They were all decent, and all performed within a pretty reasonable margin of each other, but here are the pattern and landing notes I need to work on:</div>
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- CENTERLINE alignment. It seems that my sight picture is off. Every time Mark told me to aim for the centerline, which to me it looked right but to him we seemed way left. I can certainly see that when I'm out at base distance, my alignment is poor, but it gets fixed, and I do still favor the left side. Once we're over the numbers, it's pretty close, but it's something I'll work on to be <i>just right</i>.</div>
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- THROTTLE FRICTION LOCK. There were several times in the pattern where I made power adjustments for being lower than I wanted to be. Mark said he had noticed the RPMs dropping by 100 or so seemingly without my intention. I tightened the friction lock so that I wasn't moving it inadvertently and it got better. There are still so many factors to hitting the desired altitude, but power being lower than intended is certainly one of them.</div>
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After three firm but satisfactory landings, it was time to head back to Austin. This was the time when Mark pointed out that the display on COM1 was unreadable. D'oh. We could hear the other plane, but were not confident that he could hear us. It would not be usable for dialing in Austin approach or anything else. We departed Lockhart, keeping the other plane in sight in case he couldn't hear us, and almost as soon as we were out of the pattern called approach on COM2. They vectored us back in to the north east, then around to join the traffic.</div>
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By the time we were in the inner ring of the Class C, it was dark. I could see the blue taxiway lights (which looked greenish-blue to me), but failed to remember that the rest of the runway lights are not omnidirectional and so I was thankful that ATC was helping us to get into the right position. Somewhere on base, the controller said we'd be #2 to land 17L behind the Phenom on final and asked if we had the traffic in sight. I replied that yes, we had the traffic. Mark and I were noting that we had no idea what kind of plane it was, but it was the only thing on final or anywhere nearby for that matter so it must be it. Then the controller asked somewhat pointedly if we had the <i>Phenom</i> in sight, almost like he was calling us on it! I said yes, then Mark pointed out that it would be better to confirm what we know, rather than what ATC is offering; confirming "we see a landing light on final at our 12 o'clock" would have been better. (We were quite far away from it.)</div>
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I got to do a landing in the dark but couldn't count it as a night landing since it wasn't officially night. The airport is a Christmas tree at night, that's for sure! This was a time when I called on Mark to be the instructor, helping me navigate back to the FBO. It's very, very different at night. I can stay between the blue edges, but I'm not fresh on picking out the various airport signs in the dark. You might think it'd be easier since they're lit, but alas... :)</div>
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All in all it was a really, really good flight and a good time. The non-landing things I need to work on:</div>
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- cut the word "for" from my communications (unless necessary, sometimes?). I don't remember specific instances, but imagine responding to an instruction with "whatever for 4AF." Was that "whatever, 44AF"? Avoid the opportunity for confusion. Be efficient and concise.</div>
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- respond more quickly. This will come with practice, but I will be aiming to improve on every flight.</div>
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I checked the 172R POH supplement covering the radio. It has a self-dimming display, but the user can set the minimum brightness. It's possible that was set too low. It's also possible that the display was just going. Things to check next time.</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-52635064691214331162016-10-15T17:15:00.002-04:002016-10-15T17:21:16.246-04:00Bad, bad and more bad<b>TL;DR:</b> Was this lesson about density altitude and performance? If not, <i>WTF? </i>I have to compartmentalize, stay present and focused, and move forward.<br />
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If I were a superstitious person, I would never fly at the full moon again.<br />
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It was a gorgeous afternoon to start and my attitude was perfectly in line with the weather. We wrapped up as the day transitioned into a beautiful evening, but at this point my mood was all rain and low overcast.</div>
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I made mistakes. Mistakes accrued and compounded. I did not recover, despite handing the controls to Mark for a few minutes to give me a chance to reset. It solidified my resolve that I am not ready to be flying alone again yet.</div>
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I have the plane scheduled for first thing Monday morning for a non-lesson practice-practice-practice flight with Jason and on Wednesday for a morning lesson. I <b>will</b> be an instrument-rated pilot, despite occasional abysmal proficiency. Until then, I will be safe and diligent and keep making progress. After then, too.</div>
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The flight. It was originally supposed to be primarily a crosswind-landing-practice flight, because that condition is still the 800-lb gorilla in my room. The only experience I have with crosswind landings is bad experience from my very first solo. On Friday, I was seeking it out (with an instructor) and facing it head on to tame it. Unfortunately, the predicted 10kt winds petered out to about 2kts, so we decided to convert to an instrument lesson for slow flight and stalls under the hood, with a few landings down at Lockhart for extra practice. </div>
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Preflight, radios, taxi and all were fine and normal. We talked about tuning the radios and making good use of the four frequency slots for the start of our flight: NAV2 for ATIS and clearance delivery, NAV1 for ground and tower. Still working on phraseology and efficiency on the radio, but I feel I'm past needing to scrutinize every interaction; it's good enough to not blog it. :) Checked instruments while turning during the taxi.</div>
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The pre-takeoff checks and run-up took forever. Do you know TOJAM? The Other Jason A Miller? I'm married to MyJAM, and the other JAM is a CFII and the man behind <a href="https://www.learnthefinerpoints.com/" target="_blank">The Finer Points of Flying</a> (TFP). Super nice guy, extremely knowledgable, very practical. I've started watching his videos, and in the first one he emphasizes redundancy. When performing checklisted tasks, the first pass is your knowledge and flow, backed up by cross-checking the checklist afterward. This flight's pre-takeoff checks and run-up were long because it was my first time trying to establish and follow a flow, which required reading the checklist, looking at instruments and avionics, getting situated in my head with the pattern of attention and expected sights, rechecking the checklist, and so forth. (I had intended to be at the airport 15 minutes early to do this before Mark arrived, but he also showed up 15 minutes early so we just got right to it!)</div>
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It also was an extended time because we talked about the GPS, putting Lockhart in there, tying it to the localizer with the GPS/NAV switch, setting the heading, checking the autopilot (which I had never used before), and doing the final "Lights, Camera, Action" check. Lights are the lights: beacon, strobe, landing/taxi as needed. Camera is the transponder, to make sure we're squawking the right code and have switched to altitude mode (so ATC can see our picture). Action is fuel quantity, fuel selector, fuel cutoff valve, mixture, throttle, trim, flaps.</div>
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Here's the panel for 652MA.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fkSK29TLfag/WAJ8CoPQm5I/AAAAAAAAQtM/6uBsB_CC7soqGnXdx36414yYdzwAgvqjACLcB/s1600/IMG_9281.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fkSK29TLfag/WAJ8CoPQm5I/AAAAAAAAQtM/6uBsB_CC7soqGnXdx36414yYdzwAgvqjACLcB/s320/IMG_9281.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I put us at the runway threshold and called tower, who told us to wait for aircraft on final. I could see several landing lights in a row. It was busy. Way busier than anything I've flown in before, and it definitely felt like a commercial airport. But no biggie, I used the time to double-check that the departure frequency was tuned, quadruple-check to DG calibration, look at engine gauges, open the windows again (after all, it was 90 degrees in full afternoon sun with no AC), ... A few minutes later, tower wrapped up an exchange with an inbound Airbus and told us to line up and wait on 17L, where the Airbus was headed to land. For any non-flying readers, this is totally normal, and we had barely gotten lined up when tower cleared us for takeoff (and then told the Airbus to slow down a little).</div>
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Here's where the first link in the chain started to crack.</div>
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We started down the runway. Airspeed came alive. Oil looked good. Centerline was being tracked. At the 55kt rotation speed, I rotated and we didn't lift off pleasantly and easily like usual. I pulled back a little harder, glanced at the the airspeed (still increasing), and still nothing. I think I said something to Mark along the lines of "Why can't we take off?" and he asked if I was pulling back enough. We started ever so slowly to climb, like painfully slowly, and I was rattled. We still had forty miles of runway in front of us, but what if there were obstacles we wouldn't be able to clear? I didn't know why the takeoff was so sluggish, and not understanding that made me really uncomfortable about the conditions and the plane and myself. Had I been alone, I would probably have called tower right away and asked to just stay in the pattern and come back. But Mark was there and was calm, so I took a cue from that and continued. (The answer here is density altitude. Checking the METAR from 5pm that day, the calculated density altitude was 2800', for a field elevation of 541'. Guess what I'll be paying attention to and comparing to performance now! I've had the book knowledge about it, but have not had to deal with it in over ten years!)</div>
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While I was having a mental wrestle with the takeoff, I acknowledged tower's instruction to go to departure, switched freqs, but then didn't check in with departure. Getting a little farther behind... Which is a sardonic comment from the universe because in the TFP video the night before the big idea was to stay ahead of the airplane and I am such a planner, always in all aspects of my life preparing for what's next, that I felt that mindset would be natural for me. My MO is to be prepared, and I admit that in other areas of life I also do not deal well with unexpected wrinkles. Preparation + flexibility = success?</div>
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Mark could already tell I was off. We chatted for a minute and he took the controls so I could make a few notes to get thoughts out of my head, try to reset for the next phase, and put on the foggles. As I put them on, I took a glance out the right window and saw a handful of birds spiraling in a column not terribly far to the right of our path. At lunch today with <a href="https://twitter.com/vectorstofinal" target="_blank">Jason</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/amaag" target="_blank">Andy</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/steveo1kinevo" target="_blank">Steve</a>, they told stories of bird strikes and showed gory pictures of the birds, the bloody inside of the plane, the hole in in the windscreen. I didn't think much of it at the time, but every.last.bird was now on my radar.</div>
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This was autopilot test time. I had never used it before, and this AP is heading-only. Dial in the heading bug on the HSI (DG), press the button, observe it holding the heading. Dial twenty degrees to the left, observe it turn and hold the heading. Next we tried having it get the heading from the GPS, but it wasn't working as expected and so we agreed to learn more about it back on the ground.</div>
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By this point, we were nearly to Lockhart and Austin departure asked if we were planning to land there. Mark responded that we'd maneuver some first, and had me turn out to the east. We were preparing for slow flight and I failed to mention clearing turns in my planning for the maneuver. Blergh. We did them, then I talked out slowing down and using flaps and maintaining altitude, all the while failing to maintain heading. When I went to regain heading while still trying to slow further, I started losing my altitude. We were at about 60kts with probably two notches of flaps and I was poorly managing power to maintain altitude, which had already dropped by 400' (!!!) when Mark asked for the controls. I was perfectly ok with that. I just couldn't seem to get back in front. If it was new stuff, that would have been understandable. But this was stuff I can do competently, and I'm even better at heading and altitude when using instruments! My best guess is that density altitude was messing with me up at 3000', too, and I wasn't getting the engine performance I expected, nor was I adjusting properly for the situation. Mark said at least twice while I made corrections to add power, and I did, but obviously not nearly enough.</div>
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Scrap the maneuvers. We headed for Lockhart, and while I was fuming mad at myself inside, I was determined to have a decent landing to at least perform something correctly. CTAF was quiet, so that was one factor at least that was promising to be simpler. But, alas.... The first trouble here was that we were flying west, into the setting sun, and despite having it plugged into the GPS and on ForeFlight, we still had a very hard time finding the runway; the light and contrast were bad, the trees and roads and buildings weren't helping it to stand out, then we heard another aircraft halfway there from Austin, .... We knew we were close, intending to come in on a 45 for downwind, and so we proceeded and kept looking out to the left. As I scanned back in front of us, a huge cloud of birds was sitting there, and our current path would take us just under the edge of their swarm! Birds dive when planes scare them, and after the horror stories over lunch, that was <i>so not where I wanted to be</i>. I turned us a bit to the left, and when I was comfortable to look for the runway again, there it was, super close. We were basically cutting the corner from downwind to base, still above pattern altitude and with no flaps and higher than desired RPMs for that point. Alright, fine. Mark asked my plan, and after bumbling for a minute that we'd fly up the crosswind leg (was my brain even on?!), it was obvious I was making the incorrect choices but given our solitude and altitude, we carved a big rectangle west of the runway, turned on the actual crosswind, found the incoming traffic on ForeFlight (thanks, Stratus!) and verified that he had us in sight. From there the pattern went better, more as expected. </div>
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But the landing. Oh, man, the landing. Well, both of them, because there was a solid bounce. Then the start of porpoising, or pilot-induced oscillation. </div>
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Flashback ten years to a lunchtime solo at KJGG when I popped over to stay in the pattern and practice a few landings. Hadn't had any more exposure to them then than the three paragraphs in the ground school book, and after not being able to regain control through elevator inputs, I pushed in the throttle as a last resort to lift of and go around and the control surfaces became very effective and I was able to land and stop. With a thudding heart and bulging eyes.</div>
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Back to this flight. After the second bounce, Mark calmly said, "My controls," and I acknowledged and withdrew my hands. Power in, the bouncing stopped and we were flying but not climbing. Stall horn. Accelerate. Ease in the flaps. Stall horn still squealing. Climb a little. Accelerate. Ease in the flaps. Climb. Obstacle awareness. Climb.</div>
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Mark kept the controls for a little bit. I was mired, stewing, trying to figure out what was going on and why I couldn't keep up. If I were alone, I fully believe my mind would have snapped into a present, effective and stoic state; that's what has happened every time I have ever been solo, a feeling of hyperawareness mixed with intention, initiative and responsiveness, with emotions tucked away for later review. Having an experienced pilot on board -- which will continue for quite some time -- is a luxury that allowed me to allow myself to not be at my best. A luxury I will mentally resist from now on.</div>
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After a few minutes, I took the controls and Mark called approach, who sounded busier than when we had left. Once straight and level, and after syncing the DG for at least the third time (why is equipment that requires this much babysitting still in use?!?!?!) and doing an instruments/gauges/breakers/power/fuel scan, we were being vectored in. Ready for another incident of major stupidity? I responded to a "turn left to heading whatever" instruction by turning the DG calibration knob instead of the heading bug knob as I rolled into the turn. Mark somewhat urgently said something alerting me to the mistake, and I'm pretty sure I reached full demoralization at that point. So we're turning, can't reliably reset the DG, inside the class C airspace, in the busiest environment I've ever been in, with zero confidence. It wasn't a huge course change, maybe 20 degrees, so after a guess at what might be close I leveled, reset the DG, set the bug, and corrected course. </div>
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"Mark, you'll be doing the landing." I kept the controls as we were vectored into sequence with the other landing aircraft and took us part way down final before a positive exchange of controls. About then, tower instructed us to use as little runway as possible (yeah, the departures were stacking up, too), so Mark powered back up and did a smooth no-flaps landing that had us turning off a taxiway K that takes us straight back to the FBO.</div>
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To say I was disappointed is a complete misrepresentation of how far below my standards and expectations that flight was.</div>
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Aviate, navigate, communicate. I has having a hard time with aviate.</div>
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How do I learn from this? What is my plan for understanding what happened so I can take better action next time?</div>
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- Get a handle on the plane: Read the POH. I had read the 172N (the first plane I flew last month) and lackadaisically did not go through the 172R POH when switching to non-carbureted. </div>
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- Get a handle on density altitude: Re-read all of the density altitude materials. Study anything in the POH about performance. (A brief conversation with Jason suggests that while that sluggish takeoff could possibly have been density altitude ("are you <b>sure</b> you rotated at a high enough speed?"), pilot error was more likely the explanation for the slow flight flubs.)</div>
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- Manage conditions better: No more Friday night flying, especially when there's a UT homegame the next day.</div>
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- Put it behind me.</div>
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khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-29818317366121611792016-10-15T17:15:00.001-04:002016-10-15T17:18:14.632-04:00Bad, bad and more bad<b>TL;DR:</b> Was this lesson about density altitude and performance? If not, <i>WTF?</i><br />
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If I were a superstitious person, I would never fly at the full moon again.<br />
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It was a gorgeous afternoon to start and my attitude was perfectly in line with the weather. We wrapped up as the day transitioned into a beautiful evening, but at this point my mood was all rain and low overcast.</div>
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I made mistakes. Mistakes accrued and compounded. I did not recover, despite handing the controls to Mark for a few minutes to give me a chance to reset. It solidified my resolve that I am not ready to be flying alone again yet.</div>
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I have the plane scheduled for first thing Monday morning for a non-lesson practice-practice-practice flight with Jason and on Wednesday for a morning lesson. I <b>will</b> be an instrument-rated pilot, despite occasional abysmal proficiency. Until then, I will be safe and diligent and keep making progress. After then, too.<br />
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The flight. It was originally supposed to be primarily a crosswind-landing-practice flight, because that condition is still the 800-lb gorilla in my room. The only experience I have with crosswind landings is bad experience from my very first solo. On Friday, I was seeking it out (with an instructor) and facing it head on to tame it. Unfortunately, the predicted 10kt winds petered out to about 2kts, so we decided to convert to an instrument lesson for slow flight and stalls under the hood, with a few landings down at Lockhart for extra practice. <br />
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Preflight, radios, taxi and all were fine and normal. We talked about tuning the radios and making good use of the four frequency slots for the start of our flight: NAV2 for ATIS and clearance delivery, NAV1 for ground and tower. Still working on phraseology and efficiency on the radio, but I feel I'm past needing to scrutinize every interaction; it's good enough to not blog it. :) Checked instruments while turning during the taxi.<br />
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The pre-takeoff checks and run-up took forever. Do you know TOJAM? The Other Jason A Miller? I'm married to MyJAM, and the other JAM is a CFII and the man behind <a href="https://www.learnthefinerpoints.com/" target="_blank">The Finer Points of Flying</a> (TFP). Super nice guy, extremely knowledgable, very practical. I've started watching his videos, and in the first one he emphasizes redundancy. When performing checklisted tasks, the first pass is your knowledge and flow, backed up by cross-checking the checklist afterward. This flight's pre-takeoff checks and run-up were long because it was my first time trying to establish and follow a flow, which required reading the checklist, looking at instruments and avionics, getting situated in my head with the pattern of attention and expected sights, rechecking the checklist, and so forth. (I had intended to be at the airport 15 minutes early to do this before Mark arrived, but he also showed up 15 minutes early so we just got right to it!)<br />
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It also was an extended time because we talked about the GPS, putting Lockhart in there, tying it to the localizer with the GPS/NAV switch, setting the heading, checking the autopilot (which I had never used before), and doing the final "Lights, Camera, Action" check. Lights are the lights: beacon, strobe, landing/taxi as needed. Camera is the transponder, to make sure we're squawking the right code and have switched to altitude mode (so ATC can see our picture). Action is fuel quantity, fuel selector, fuel cutoff valve, mixture, throttle, trim, flaps.<br />
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Here's the panel for 652MA.<br />
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I put us at the runway threshold and called tower, who told us to wait for aircraft on final. I could see several landing lights in a row. It was busy. Way busier than anything I've flown in before, and it definitely felt like a commercial airport. But no biggie, I used the time to double-check that the departure frequency was tuned, quadruple-check to DG calibration, look at engine gauges, open the windows again (after all, it was 90 degrees in full afternoon sun with no AC), ... A few minutes later, tower wrapped up an exchange with an inbound Airbus and told us to line up and wait on 17L, where the Airbus was headed to land. For any non-flying readers, this is totally normal, and we had barely gotten lined up when tower cleared us for takeoff (and then told the Airbus to slow down a little).<br />
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Here's where the first link in the chain started to crack.<br />
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We started down the runway. Airspeed came alive. Oil looked good. Centerline was being tracked. At the 55kt rotation speed, I rotated and we didn't lift off pleasantly and easily like usual. I pulled back a little harder, glanced at the the airspeed (still increasing), and still nothing. I think I said something to Mark along the lines of "Why can't we take off?" and he asked if I was pulling back enough. We started ever so slowly to climb, like painfully slowly, and I was rattled. We still had forty miles of runway in front of us, but what if there were obstacles we wouldn't be able to clear? I didn't know why the takeoff was so sluggish, and not understanding that made me really uncomfortable about the conditions and the plane and myself. Had I been alone, I would probably have called tower right away and asked to just stay in the pattern and come back. But Mark was there and was calm, so I took a cue from that and continued. (The answer here is density altitude. Checking the METAR from 5pm that day, the calculated density altitude was 2800', for a field elevation of 541'. Guess what I'll be paying attention to and comparing to performance now! I've had the book knowledge about it, but have not had to deal with it in over ten years!)<br />
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While I was having a mental wrestle with the takeoff, I acknowledged tower's instruction to go to departure, switched freqs, but then didn't check in with departure. Getting a little farther behind... Which is a sardonic comment from the universe because in the TFP video the night before the big idea was to stay ahead of the airplane and I am such a planner, always in all aspects of my life preparing for what's next, that I felt that mindset would be natural for me. My MO is to be prepared, and I admit that in other areas of life I also do not deal well with unexpected wrinkles. Preparation + flexibility = success?<br />
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Mark could already tell I was off. We chatted for a minute and he took the controls so I could make a few notes to get thoughts out of my head, try to reset for the next phase, and put on the foggles. As I put them on, I took a glance out the right window and saw a handful of birds spiraling in a column not terribly far to the right of our path. At lunch today with <a href="https://twitter.com/vectorstofinal" target="_blank">Jason</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/amaag" target="_blank">Andy</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/steveo1kinevo" target="_blank">Steve</a>, they told stories of bird strikes and showed gory pictures of the birds, the bloody inside of the plane, the hole in in the windscreen. I didn't think much of it at the time, but every.last.bird was now on my radar.<br />
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This was autopilot test time. I had never used it before, and this AP is heading-only. Dial in the heading bug on the HSI (DG), press the button, observe it holding the heading. Dial twenty degrees to the left, observe it turn and hold the heading. Next we tried having it get the heading from the GPS, but it wasn't working as expected and so we agreed to learn more about it back on the ground.<br />
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By this point, we were nearly to Lockhart and Austin departure asked if we were planning to land there. Mark responded that we'd maneuver some first, and had me turn out to the east. We were preparing for slow flight and I failed to mention clearing turns in my planning for the maneuver. Blergh. We did them, then I talked out slowing down and using flaps and maintaining altitude, all the while failing to maintain heading. When I went to regain heading while still trying to slow further, I started losing my altitude. We were at about 60kts with probably two notches of flaps and I was poorly managing power to maintain altitude, which had already dropped by 400' (!!!) when Mark asked for the controls. I was perfectly ok with that. I just couldn't seem to get back in front. If it was new stuff, that would have been understandable. But this was stuff I can do competently, and I'm even better at heading and altitude when using instruments! My best guess is that density altitude was messing with me up at 3000', too, and I wasn't getting the engine performance I expected, nor was I adjusting properly for the situation. Mark said at least twice while I made corrections to add power, and I did, but obviously not nearly enough.<br />
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Scrap the maneuvers. We headed for Lockhart, and while I was fuming mad at myself inside, I was determined to have a decent landing to at least perform something correctly. CTAF was quiet, so that was one factor at least that was promising to be simpler. But, alas.... The first trouble here was that we were flying west, into the setting sun, and despite having it plugged into the GPS and on ForeFlight, we still had a very hard time finding the runway; the light and contrast were bad, the trees and roads and buildings weren't helping it to stand out, then we heard another aircraft halfway there from Austin, .... We knew we were close, intending to come in on a 45 for downwind, and so we proceeded and kept looking out to the left. As I scanned back in front of us, a huge cloud of birds was sitting there, and our current path would take us just under the edge of their swarm! Birds dive when planes scare them, and after the horror stories over lunch, that was <i>so not where I wanted to be</i>. I turned us a bit to the left, and when I was comfortable to look for the runway again, there it was, super close. We were basically cutting the corner from downwind to base, still above pattern altitude and with no flaps and higher than desired RPMs for that point. Alright, fine. Mark asked my plan, and after bumbling for a minute that we'd fly up the crosswind leg (was my brain even on?!), it was obvious I was making the incorrect choices but given our solitude and altitude, we carved a big rectangle west of the runway, turned on the actual crosswind, found the incoming traffic on ForeFlight (thanks, Stratus!) and verified that he had us in sight. From there the pattern went better, more as expected. <br />
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But the landing. Oh, man, the landing. Well, both of them, because there was a solid bounce. Then the start of porpoising, or pilot-induced oscillation. <br />
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Flashback ten years to a lunchtime solo at KJGG when I popped over to stay in the pattern and practice a few landings. Hadn't had any more exposure to them then than the three paragraphs in the ground school book, and after not being able to regain control through elevator inputs, I pushed in the throttle as a last resort to lift of and go around and the control surfaces became very effective and I was able to land and stop. With a thudding heart and bulging eyes.<br />
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Back to this flight. After the second bounce, Mark calmly said, "My controls," and I acknowledged and withdrew my hands. Power in, the bouncing stopped and we were flying but not climbing. Stall horn. Accelerate. Ease in the flaps. Stall horn still squealing. Climb a little. Accelerate. Ease in the flaps. Climb. Obstacle awareness. Climb.<br />
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Mark kept the controls for a little bit. I was mired, stewing, trying to figure out what was going on and why I couldn't keep up. If I were alone, I fully believe my mind would have snapped into a present, effective and stoic state; that's what has happened every time I have ever been solo, a feeling of hyperawareness mixed with intention, initiative and responsiveness, with emotions tucked away for later review. Having an experienced pilot on board -- which will continue for quite some time -- is a luxury that allowed me to allow myself to not be at my best. A luxury I will mentally resist from now on.<br />
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After a few minutes, I took the controls and Mark called approach, who sounded busier than when we had left. Once straight and level, and after syncing the DG for at least the third time (why is equipment that requires this much babysitting still in use?!?!?!) and doing an instruments/gauges/breakers/power/fuel scan, we were being vectored in. Ready for another incident of major stupidity? I responded to a "turn left to heading whatever" instruction by turning the DG calibration knob instead of the heading bug knob as I rolled into the turn. Mark somewhat urgently said something alerting me to the mistake, and I'm pretty sure I reached full demoralization at that point. So we're turning, can't reliably reset the DG, inside the class C airspace, in the busiest environment I've ever been in, with zero confidence. It wasn't a huge course change, maybe 20 degrees, so after a guess at what might be close I leveled, reset the DG, set the bug, and corrected course. <br />
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"Mark, you'll be doing the landing." I kept the controls as we were vectored into sequence with the other landing aircraft and took us part way down final before a positive exchange of controls. About then, tower instructed us to use as little runway as possible (yeah, the departures were stacking up, too), so Mark powered back up and did a smooth no-flaps landing that had us turning off a taxiway K that takes us straight back to the FBO.<br />
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To say I was disappointed is a complete misrepresentation of how far below my standards and expectations that flight was.<br />
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Aviate, navigate, communicate. I has having a hard time with aviate.<br />
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How do I learn from this? What is my plan for understanding what happened so I can take better action next time?<br />
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- Get a handle on the plane: Read the POH. I had read the 172N (the first plane I flew last month) and lackadaisically did not go through the 172R POH when switching to non-carbureted. <br />
- Get a handle on density altitude: Re-read all of the density altitude materials. Study anything in the POH about performance. (A brief conversation with Jason suggests that while that sluggish takeoff could possibly have been density altitude ("are you <b>sure</b> you rotated at a high enough speed?"), pilot error was more likely the explanation for the slow flight flubs.)<br />
- Manage conditions better: No more Friday night flying, especially when there's a UT homegame the next day.<br />
- Put it behind me.<br />
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khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-90784583015692842472016-10-11T16:44:00.001-04:002016-10-12T09:36:52.801-04:00Constant airspeed climbs/descents, foggle work, ILS intro, DG trouble<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was so pretty today! A nice, cool 59-degree start with low humidity, calm winds and clear skies.</div>
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<b>TL;DR</b>: What a good flight! Be sure to sync the DG with the mag compass before takeoff and recheck it periodically. The attitude indicator is pretty useful. The scan is happening, but needs to speed up. I'm feeling fairly solid on flying by instrument reference. Maintaining localizer/glide slope is more challenging the closer you get to the airport (or the equipment beaming you the signals).</div>
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I got to the airport a few minutes early, finally! I've been trying to get there ahead of Mark to knock out the bulk of the preflight before he arrives so we can hop in and get to it, but it seems there's always a hold up -- kids' lunches being packed, an extra hug before leaving the house, a forgotten cup of coffee, traffic. Mark arrived as I was testing the fuel, having completed all else, partially by the iPhone flashlight. He adjusted the VSI, which has been reading a 100 fpm descent at level (like sitting on the ground) for a while.</div>
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The plan was twofold for today: for me, to get simulated instrument time (e.g., foggle flight) and revisit constant-airspeed climbs and descents, which I haven't done in a decade; and for him, to get in a hold. I did the radios, which is getting better but still needs work, with today's pointer being to repeat the highest priority information first. Example: Tower advised to fly a heading of 130 and that we were cleared for takeoff on runway 17L. I repeated that info in the order it was given, but the highest priority info is "cleared for takeoff, 17L." That should have come first, followed by "130." (130 is a placeholder.)</div>
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Here's how the flight looked, taking off to the south, turning east toward the Industry VOR, the hold, and the return:</div>
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As we rolled out of the parking space, we checked brakes. As we turned and taxied to spot 1, we checked that the DG and mag compass were rotating and that the turn coordinator showed a turn (wing dip) and slip (ball displacement). The attitude indicator always showed wings level. Super.</div>
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I've been using the laminated checklist that's in the plane, but it's lacking. I have the 172N checklist in ForeFlight Checklist, but this plane is an R and I haven't done the work to get Checklist set up for it. Quite notable today was the omission of aligning the DG (gyro-powered heading indicator) with the magnetic compass. Immediately upon takeoff I realized I couldn't use the DG to ensure I was flying runway heading while gaining altitude. At a safe altitude we went ahead and turned generally easterly toward the IDU VOR and dialed it into nav1. Once we reached 3000', in straight and level flight, I reset the DG to the compass.</div>
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First up was positive exchange of controls while I put on my foggles. Mark asked a bunch of questions about primary and secondary instruments, which I'd use to assess various aspects of flight, and so forth. I'm slow and I stumble on this because I know what <i><b>I</b></i><b> </b>look at but am trying to take that moment to think about whether that's the proper thing to look at. It was only just on this flight that the full utility of the attitude indicator clicked. Anyway, my big dumb <i>doi</i> moment of this flight is that he asked about bank. I said I'd first look at the HSI -- I was fumbling in my head for "attitude indicator," got stuck on the word "horizon" (as in, artificial horizon), and HSI starts with H so that could be horizon, right? No, dumdum. HSI is the horizontal situation indicator, aka the heading indicator, aka the DG! I don't think I've ever called the DG by the acronym HSI, but you can rest assured that I'll never call the attitude indicator that again.</div>
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Next was a constant airspeed climb. The aim was 110 kts, and it happened. I'm not sure why I felt like it was going to be a big deal; maybe because it had been so long since I had done it last. Pitch up (airspeed decreases), power up (airspeed increases), find the balance ideally around 500 fpm, with max climb rate limited by power availability. About 50' before the target altitude, pitch back to level (airspeed increases) and let the additional power carry the plane up to altitude, then adjust power for airspeed and level flight. It went fine, no big deal, yay :)</div>
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At one point along our outbound path, the departure controller came on and reminded us to remain VFR at or below 3500', which we were. That was opportunity #1 to talk about how controllers are looking out for you and for your place within the system. The class C airspace's outer ring is 2100-4500', and they're maneuvering in this space. Lil' old 652MA, staying VFR with no particular schedule to keep needs to stay low and out of the way. Effectively, he was giving us a prompt to check our altitude. </div>
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Next Mark did his hold. We basically went in on the 285 radial of the IDU VOR, and he set up to enter the hold at 26 nm from that waypoint (thanks, GPS!). At 26 nm, he started the timer and rolled into a right standard-rate turn, which would have us do a 180 in one minute. At one minute, he rolled out and maintained heading for the next minute. At two minutes, he rolled right for another standard-rate turn, and at three minutes rolled out for straight and level. At four minutes, we were just short of the 26 nm mark, suggesting perhaps a bit of a headwind on this heading.</div>
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My plane again, and we turned back toward KAUS. Now it was time for the constant-airspeed descent, which I had my brain around but wish I had taken an extra few seconds to broaden my view and ensure I was ahead of the situation. We were at 3000' and Mark asked me to descend to 2500'. I started on it right away but should have paused to process. 500' is not far, and had I recognized that, perhaps the process would have been smoother. The base problem was that I pitched down too far, then was busy making up for the airspeed increase by managing power and easing pitch and blew right through 2500'. The descent was complete way faster than it ought to have been, hitting a 1000 fpm descent rate at max! For a 500' desired change! Stupid. Briefly then and more later during our post-flight debrief we talked about always aiming for a 500 fpm change unless conditions dictate or ATC requests otherwise. It's more comfortable for passengers and keeps change at a rate that's easier to arrest and stay in front of.</div>
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As we headed back to the airport, Mark called for the ILS and got the avionics set up. See what I did there? I wasn't sure whether he plugged it into the GPS or nav, and didn't notice the toggle button at the top of the panel so couldn't say which receiver was in use. He called approach and asked for it, they indicated vectors to the ILS and set us on 300. I turned us there, and after a few minutes of chatting about glide slope intercept and procedure approach asked us to turn twenty degrees right. Begin opportunity #2 for controller assistance. A few moments later he instructed us to turn ten more degrees right and say the heading we'd be on, which would be 330. That was the cue for us to check the DG again. It had gotten way out of sync again already. We were in straight and level flight and so dialed in the reading from the mag compass, and then things started looking good. </div>
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The controller brought us fairly far north of the field and turned us to line up with the runway, and it was illustrative to see the glide slope be intercepted from below. The localizer had come alive before turning in so the task was to try to keep both needles centered. That got harder the closer we got. I can't tell you how very tempting it was to just look outside at the runway! In theory, we wouldn't be able to see the airport at this point, with a minimum decision altitude of roughly 700', when field elevation is 542'! That means you could break out of the clouds with ~150' and land, or if you can't see the runway at that point you "go missed" and follow the instructions for climbing and turning out.</div>
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Mark took over somewhere around 1200' to keep us on the ILS and asked to do the landing. He taxied us back and I rested :)</div>
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What I'm trying to figure out is why the DG got off so badly in flight, after we had already corrected it. I need to revisit precession (mag compass), think about whether the drift was a symptom of a failing instrument/gyro or vacuum/pitot/static problem, and more. As for symptoms, the other pitot-static and gyro instruments were behaving as expected, so it seemed isolated to the DG. And then further, what about partial-panel IFR flying if the HSI (bwahahaha) failed? That's when I'd really need that magnetic compass behavior to be fresh in my brain!</div>
khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-3671669572648643042016-09-25T09:48:00.003-04:002016-09-25T09:48:21.990-04:00That solo write-upI was looking for the tale Flight Training mag published... it was archived <a href="https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2007/april/flight-training-magazine/learning-experience" target="_blank">here</a>.khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-8593096290897362312016-09-23T18:46:00.001-04:002016-09-24T13:32:03.600-04:00Radio and clouds[This ended up way longer than I intended. The takeaways are at the bottom.]<br />
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5:30 wakeup. Receding headache. Feeling perpetually behind trying to get out the door. Leaking coffee cup. A text from Mark just before I got to the airport asking my perspective on the current weather reports (decreasing visibility). Then this overhead as I pulled into the parking lot at the airport.<br />
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But then this is what it looked like out on the ramp. Pretty nice, eh?<br />
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The challenges didn't stop there. iPad not properly loaded (I forgot I had re-installed a dev build of ForeFlight from scratch the night before and hadn't re-downloaded my datasets!). Fuel tanks on the airplane nearly empty. 20 minute wait for the fuel truck. Sprayed with fuel when testing it.<br />
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(Had this been a solo flight, I wouldn't have left the house. But with a CFI-I on board, the margin of safety is a little farther out.)<br />
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During the preflight, we kept an eye on the sky, watching the clouds and fog. The area around the airport was staying clear, and while there were lots of fluffies out there, we felt it was fine to continue and that we'd see if we could find a good area to practice, as long as it looked like we'd be able to get back to the airport VFR (Mark is CFI-I, of course, so worst case is that he'd have to do the return trip).<br />
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Sounds like a boatload of bad omens, doesn't it? Perhaps that boatload was a signal of some kind, but today's flight was still worthwhile for these reasons:<br />
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1. Radio work<br />
2. GPS work<br />
3. Seeing those conditions from (sort of) above<br />
4. Another takeoff/landing<br />
5. Interesting movements on the airport<br />
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Last night I read and rehearsed the chapters on Class C and D airspace from the book <u>Say again, please</u>. (Austin-Bergstrom is C, Georgetown (where the Cirrus lives) is D.) Jason was the controller for various contacts and I was the pilot. It was very helpful :)<br />
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There were two goals for today's flight that were accomplished: all necessary radio work to fly out of and into Austin and basic GPS usage. We had also planned to do foggle work for constant airspeed climbs and descents but conditions prohibited.<br />
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Seriously, on to the radio work. I want to replay it to help it stick in my mind.<br />
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After the preflight, we cranked up and the first call goes to clearance delivery.<br />
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Me: "Austin clearance delivery, Cessna six five two mike alpha, VFR to the southeast training area, two thousand five hundred, with quebec."<br />
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Mark: "I don't think they heard you. That was the autopilot button." Grrrrr.... I'm not used to an autopilot button on the yoke yet! There's only ever been the mic! I did it again with the correct button. :)<br />
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ACD: "2MA, Austin clearance, standby."<br />
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And a few seconds later, ACD: "2MA, maintain VFR at or below three thousand five hundred, contact departure on 127.22, squawk 2403."<br />
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Me: "Say again for 652MA." It had come kinda quick and I was just finishing jotting down the frequency when he was done, so I missed the squawk. In retrospect, I should have repeated what I did get and just ask him to "say squawk again, 652MA." He repeated, half a breath more slowly, which did give me a chance to verify that I had the other info correct.<br />
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Me: "Maintain VFR at or below 3500, contact departure on 127.22, squawk 2403, 2MA."<br />
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ACD: "2MA, readback correct."<br />
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And that was that for clearance delivery. I entered 2403 on the transponder, switched the com to ground and put the departure freq in standby, then taxied to spot 1, a huge yellow dot with a 1 in it on the ramp just before the kilo taxiway. At this point, it was time to call Austin ground.<br />
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Me: "Austin ground, Cessna 652MA at spot 1 with quebec." (Repeating quebec is not really necessary, but Mark says they almost always verify that you have it at this point so adding it now saves a transmission.)<br />
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AG: "2MA, Austin ground. Taxi for runway one seven left via kilo bravo foxtrot."<br />
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Me: "17L via K B F, 2MA." (Phonetic, of course.)<br />
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And with that we're off and taxiing. Getting to any runway threshold at Austin in a 172 is a nice long straight task, so I used this time to (1) control the airplane to the right place, (2) check instruments, and (3) explore the GPS a little, with things like pulling up the KAUS page and finding frequencies. I got my stuff in the cockpit organized and was comfortable when we pulled into the F run-up area near the threshold for 17L.<br />
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I was pretty concerned that my run-up might rock the Southwest flight taxiing behind me. Hee hee hee. Flight controls free and clear, instruments good, 1800 RPM, gauge checks, mag checks, annunciator checks, set everything for take off and taxi to the line. Now to talk to tower. If I had really thought through the order for accessing frequencies, I would have put tower in the standby instead of departure, so I took a sec to get set up with tower active and departure on standby.<br />
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Me: "Austin tower, Cessna 652MA, ready to go, 17L." This seemed awkward, or too casual or something. It's stuck in my head. <u>Say again, please</u> gives an example with "ready for takeoff on 17L" which is much more precise.<br />
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AT: "2MA, Austin tower, standby."<br />
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(This next part of my memory of the exchange is a little fuzzy. I was thinking it happened before we started the taxi, but the offer of help wouldn't have come from ground. It basically went like this...)<br />
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AT: "2MA, conditions in the southeast training area are not favorable for VFR. If you get up there and decide to come back, let me know and you can stay in the pattern."<br />
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Me: "Roger, thanks, 2MA."<br />
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At this point, we were accepting that it was a real possibility that we'd get up there and not leave the pattern, but would at least go for that. <br />
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AT: "2MA, Citation on 9 mile final, line up and wait on 17L."<br />
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Me: "Line up and wait, 17L, 2MA."<br />
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That cleared us onto the runway but did NOT clear us to takeoff. I taxied onto the runway and turned to line up on the centerline, moving as little as possible down the runway so that if/when that Citation came overhead, they'd have plenty of room past us. But 9 miles was pretty far away, and just as I brought us to a stop....<br />
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AT: "2MA, cleared for takeoff, 17L, fly heading one three zero." He might have said "cleared to depart" but the message is the same.<br />
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Me: "Cleared for takeoff, 17L, will fly heading of 130, 2MA." (Whatever he said to me is what I would have said back.)<br />
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Full throttle, right rudder, airspeed is alive, gauges in the green, rotate, fly runway heading while accelerating, around 500 feet turn left to 130. A moment later, ....<br />
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AT: "2MA, contact Austin departure. Good day."<br />
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Me: "Going to departure, 2MA. Good day." <br />
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This is a perfect illustration of anticipating what comes next. We knew departure was next, so it was loaded into the com and required pressing one button to swap to the active frequency. This was easily done while climbing and assessing the clouds that we were immediately faced with. Aviate, navigate, communicate.<br />
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Me: "Austin departure, Cessna 652MA, one thousand eight hundred."<br />
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AD: 2MA, Austin departure, radar contact, squawk [something different]."<br />
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Me: "Squawk [whatever], 2MA." I didn't write that one down, just punched it in.<br />
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It is entirely possible at that time that we were only 800', which would be an incredible mistake on my part to have said 1800'. From takeoff to talking to departure to (next) changing heading to maintain VFR to calling it off happened within the span of a couple minutes and we maxed out at 1800', comfortably below the clouds above, comfortably above the fog below, but with no great openings in sight. There was a big heavy blob of cloud hanging a little lower in front of us, so Mark quickly called departure and asked to turn left ten degrees to maintain VFR, and the departure controller responded that the heading change was approved.<br />
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Mark and I chatted for a minute about our options and he left it to me, as PIC, to make the call. While I really loved the unique sandwich we were in, I did not (1) see a way to perform maneuvers safely nearby, (2) see a way to unequivocally stay VFR to get to somewhere to perform maneuvers, or (3) have faith that the terminal area would stay clear over the next hour. So I called it off. With that decision, I immediately called departure back.<br />
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Me: "Austin departure, 2MA would like to return to the airport because of conditions for full stop." Ordinarily you'd say your position relative to the airport, but I think we were only 6 nm away, were still well within the outer ring, and had only just talked to them (plus it wasn't crazy busy this morning) so it seemed very likely that we'd be on his radar, hardee har har. Had we been farther out, we would have been calling Austin approach.<br />
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AD: "2MA, expect left base, runway 17L."<br />
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Me: "Expect left base, 17L, 2MA."<br />
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We were far enough away and there was enough fog that I couldn't pick out the airport or even the buildings in downtown. Hey! I can use the GPS! It was on the airport page for KAUS, so I punched the direct-to button and viola! Heading to the (center of the) airport. Once I was on heading, I knew I'd need to stay right of that to set up on left base so I focused on maintaining altitude while trying to pick out landmarks. Finally it appeared.<br />
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AD: "2MA, contact tower on one two one point zero."<br />
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Me: "Going to tower on 121.0, 2MA."<br />
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[Switching frequencies...]<br />
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Me: "Austin tower, 652MA, one thousand five hundred." Or similar altitude. :)<br />
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AT: "2MA, Austin tower, enter left base, cleared to land runway 17L."<br />
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Me: "Left base for 17L, cleared to land, 2MA."<br />
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There were a few wispy fog-clouds in the pattern, but we stayed clear. I did a fair job of reducing power, slowing, and putting in flaps as we approached base, like unwinding the pattern. I landed us a little long thanks to trying to round out the descent and turning it into an early flare accidentally, but it was fine.<br />
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AT: "2MA, taxi on 17L to kilo, then contact ground." This was unexpected, since we could easily have turned off at juliet, though kilo is the straight path back to the FBO.<br />
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Me: "Will taxi to kilo then go to ground, 2MA." Mark put the ground frequency into standby. After turning off at kilo and just clearing the runway threshold, Mark prompted me with the call to make.<br />
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Me: "Austin ground, 652MA heading to Atlantic." This is another bit that stuck in my brain as wrong. Heading means that number you dial into the DG, not "I'm going to [location]." Stupid! Mark's prompt didn't say "heading to," to I'm not sure why it rolled out of my mouth.<br />
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AG: "2MA, Austin ground, taxi to Atlantic."<br />
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Me: "Taxiing to Atlantic, 2MA." And thus ended the radio work. Taxi was normal, shutdown was normal except that the checklist doesn't say to turn off the avionics master before pulling the mixture and I forgot to install the control lock but luckily Mark remembered.<br />
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The end. Two hours later at work it was overcast and raining. Two hours after that it was partly cloudy and humid as all get out.<br />
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The takeaways:<br />
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Every frequency has a discrete purpose. Sometimes the same person will handle several frequencies, but they all each have a purpose and there's an order to calling them. These notes are specifically about Class C. D is simpler.<br />
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1. ATIS. The first frequency is just for receiving terminal weather and information, such as taxiways that are closed, bird activity in the area, etc. Zoom out to...<br />
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2. Clearance delivery. If you're opening an IFR flight plan you'll get that from clearance delivery. If you're in Class C, you have to be cleared to use the airspace. For VFR, this means giving them a heads-up for what you want to do and getting a transponder code (so they can track you) and permission. Zoom out to...<br />
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3. Ground. Ground controls all aircraft in the movement area. You can taxi around the ramp all you want without talking to anyone, but (for departure) to cross into a taxiway or runway you need permission from ground. After landing as soon as you get off the runway, you need to stop and talk to ground about your movements. They're the eye on the airport coordinating ground traffic -- including aircraft, trucks, mowers, and so forth. They have jurisdiction from the ramp to the runway threshold. Zoom out to...<br />
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4. Tower. Tower is in charge of the runway and taxiways between runways. They sequence aircraft for spacing and choreograph takeoffs and landings. As soon as you're on your way and safely on the heading they give you for departure, they hand you off to departure. Zoom out to...<br />
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5. Departure: This is the eye in the sky that helps get you through the Class C airspace in the direction you want to go. They control outbound aircraft in the ring spanning 10-20 nm from the airport center. Zoom out to...<br />
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6. Center: We haven't talked to center for these local VFR flights, but on an IFR flight you're constantly someone's responsibility, and after departure it's center. Sometimes you go to other approach controllers along the way, but center helps out with big regions. Max zoom achieved! Zoom in to....<br />
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7. Approach: The opposite of departure, they control inbound or transitioning aircraft within the ring. Zoom in to...<br />
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8. Tower. Zoom in to...<br />
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9. Ground. Zoom in to...<br />
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10. UNICOM. Maybe you need to call for fuel or a car. This is basically just a local call to the FBO/GA terminal for non-flight assistance.<br />
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The other takeaway is that there's a pattern. Up until flying the past two weeks out of Austin, I've only ever used CTAF (except the two requisite towered-field ops during PPL training ten years ago), which I can do with great ease. These different frequencies and how to talk have seemed very cryptic, but not only does each have a purpose (that greatly narrows what you say and why), there's also a pattern! Generally speaking, "who, who, where, what." Just like CTAF. Sometimes you leave parts out. Sometimes you end with the information identifier. But generally speaking, that's how you generally speak. Now that I get that, it'll be easier to become proficient. Whew.khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-37611530601960714832016-09-12T13:53:00.002-04:002016-09-12T13:53:14.229-04:00Almost refreshed...Here we are, halfway through September of 2016, and I'm starting to fly again!<br />
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This morning my CFI for the upcoming instrument training, Mark Lush, fellow ForeFlighter, and I went up for a second refresher flight. The intention was to knock off some more dust. We got in a set of steep turns, which were better and easier than last week's pair, and did three touch-and-gos at Smithville (84R) before returning to Austin-Bergstrom where Above & Beyond Aviation is based.<br />
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My pattern work was much more finely tuned this time, and I made all the radio calls at Smithville (felt totally natural), coordinating with the other KAUS-based trainer that was also doing touch-and-gos at 84R. My flares were kind of all over the place today; one was far too high (resulting in a hard touchdown), and one had a big ballooning that I haven't figured out yet other than too much backpressure at the wrong time.<br />
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I felt I had more mental cycles today, enough to actually open ForeFlight and use it get back to KAUS for a left base for 17L.<br />
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For the next flight (hopefully Wednesday morning), we're going to stay closer to Austin and do the last flight review maneuvers to sign me off for solo VFR flights again -- slow flight, stalls, maybe turns around a point. Wish us calm winds for Wednesday!<br />
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Next week we'll start instrument training.<br />
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<br />khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-37040970819789291312013-10-09T11:49:00.001-04:002013-10-09T11:54:08.885-04:00Weather, navigation, and maneuvers. Take a deep breath.Weather review was pretty straight-forward. I may not remember the name of exactly which graphical weather product to go to for any specific item, but I'm confident I can find it during preflight in ForeFlight or online.<br />
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Navigation was easier than expected. I actually remembered VOR navigation, which is the only type I was a little anxious about. Other than GPS and pilotage, that's what I'd use. I didn't bother reviewing the NDB nav process, and hopefully that won't come back to bite me in the keister.<br />
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Maneuvers made me a little anxious. Mentally, mostly, I've got it. When you're in the plane, though, it has to be(come) natural with muscle-memory and innate feel and reactions. It's just a lot to try to visualize and anticipate all at once. The first time around, this stuff was all spread out over a few months. I'm interested to see how much feeling comes back in that first flight. It helps to have flown with Jas during the past years, but being PIC will be a different story.<br />
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I have my first flight scheduled for Friday morning. It's a 1982 Cessna 172P (just downloaded the POH) with at least one Garmin 430. The instructor scheduled us in the plane for 2 hours and another hour on the ground. I'm hoping we can do the BFR in this time, but it all depends on the return of the feeling and competence, at least enough to continue solo PIC for practice, calling in Jas or the instructor as needed.<br />
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I'm also happy to be doing it during autumn -- beautiful, crisp days with less turbulence, so less distraction from learning!khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-70911002745119371002013-10-07T11:00:00.001-04:002013-10-07T12:58:13.811-04:00Charts, airspaces, communications, information...This stuff is coming back pretty quickly... yay! I do have to say, though, that a lot has changed since I first became a certificated private pilot. Yes, reading paper charts is a necessary fundamental for safe flying and navigation. But in the interceding years since last I sat left seat, I've be right seat, an armchair pilot, and a developer for ForeFlight. Digital tools like ForeFlight make it so easy to find out what you need to know.<br />
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For instance, one of the things I didn't remember was that the ticks coming out from an airport icon on a chart mean that during business hours, the airport offers services and fuel. Nowadays, I wouldn't look at a sectional to find that out; I'd see the airport on the sectional in ForeFlight and tap it to find out its details, including when it operates, whether it offers fuel (self-serve or by lineman), and so many other things from current METAR to frequencies to airport elevation and pattern altitude and so forth. <br />
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I'm not starting a discussion about digital v. paper. All I'm saying is that the information is easily and quickly available at a tap on the iPad. Barring device failure. And backup device failure. :)<br />
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Another thing to say about my approach to flying is that I'm a planner. I like to thoroughly debrief every spot along the projected path, all airports along the way, and really try to minimize surprises. That's probably the way of most student and low-time pilots like myself; but the killing zone is on the horizon, and that, I imagine, comes partly from complacency about these kinds of details.<br />
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Moving on... Airspaces. Almost everywhere I've ever flown has been Class E, like my primary training homebase of KJGG and now KUZA, or Class D (towered with no radar services), like KPHF. KUZA is a little more interesting since it's under one of Charlotte's Class B shelves. This means from the surface up to 3600' MSL we're in Class E and can fly under VFR rules and choose our own destinies. Once we go above 3600', or head into an inner ring of Charlotte airspace where the floors of the Class B shelves are lower, we must already be in contact with ATC, must have a Mode C transponder (reporting altitude and assigned code), and must follow their directions. <br />
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The main thing that's important to VFR pilots are the environmental rules. To participate in a VFR flight, you have to be able to see, and the minimum requirements are 3 statute miles of visibility (think low haze) and the ability to stay clear of clouds by at least 500 feet below, 1000 feet above, and 2000 feet horizontally. For safety.<br />
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Class B airspace is reserved for mega busy airports, like Chicago and Atlanta. Class A is used between 18000' MSL up to 60000' MSL (FL180-FL600) and requires an IFR flight plan. Above that, it goes back to Class E, but you usually only find space-faring vehicles there....<br />
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There's also a Class G airspace, but that's rare, except to bush pilots in Alaska. The rules there are fewer yet, and almost boil down to common sense. (Update: I think I'm wrong here; abundance of airports just makes it more practical to treat non-controlled airspace on the east coast as all Class E.)<br />
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Special airspaces, MOAs, restricted airspaces, ADIZs, ... all on the charts. TFRs change airspaces periodically and must be verified before takeoff. NOTAMs should also be consulted before takeoff, but usually pertain to non-standard airport operations (equipment that's offline, change in traffic pattern, scheduled event altering landing availability, etc).<br />
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Moving on.... Communicating. The transponder is what allows radars to find an aircraft. The radar pings, and the transponder responds. Mode C transponders report both the squawk code and altitude, and are required to interact with ATC. When flying VFR (without flight following), the transponder is set to the VFR code of 1200. The transponder will still respond to pings, but ATC will only know that there's somebody out there at that location and altitude; this is helpful for advising any pilot of traffic (you!). Though transponders are nearly ubiquitous, they are not required for VFR operations and so traffic may be out there that ATC can't see and that your in-cockpit traffic advisor (traffic scope, ADS-B) can't alert about. That alone underscores the importance of a VFR pilot maintaining situational awareness and keeping a good scan going.<br />
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Other important squawk codes are 7500 (hijack), 7600 (lost communications), and 7700 (mayday). When dialing in a code, it's important to be mindful that these aren't entered accidentally, even for a moment.<br />
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Radio communications should be brief, concise and professional. CTAF (common traffic advisory frequency) is published for each non-towered airport, or towered airports when unattended, and is how aircraft in the area coordinate and avoid each other; it's also usually the frequency the pilot would use to activate pilot-controlled lighting for night operations. UNICOM, sometimes the same as CTAF, allows the pilot to talk to someone at the airport for advisories, to request fuel, etc.<br />
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Lots of times, the same frequency is used at multiple airports and you'll hear transmissions that are irrelevant. It's important to (1) listen for the location of the other transmissions and (2) remember to include yours. The standard flow for self-announcing via CTAF is "Audience, identification, message (frequently location and intention), audience." For instance, "Rock Hill traffic, Cessna 4321A, 10 miles southwest of the airport inbound for landing runway 20, other traffic please advise, Rock Hill." Proper radio usage also means not "stepping on" other transmissions; only one person should be speaking at a time, so wait until the freq is clear before starting your transmission.<br />
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When talking with ATC, you typically hail them and state your identification, then wait for them to get back to you. There's a good chance they're managing other aircraft and may be busy at the moment. "Charlotte approach, Cessna 4321A." This applies at towered airports as well. You need to engage the controller before starting the conversation. This gets a lot more important when flying IFR, so I'm not going to dwell on it here. Also, the flying I expect to do in the near term will not use this, so I'll get more detailed when the time comes.<br />
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In case of lost communications, there are some basic troubleshooting steps to take, like verifying the frequency, checking that the headset is plugged in, and trying the alternate transceiver (radio). If all else fails, squawk 7600 and be extra vigilant. For landing in Class D airspace, you'll need to watch the tower for light signals -- this is a good time to reference the signal legend you have on your kneeboard or in ForeFlight.<br />
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7700 on the transponder usually goes with 121.5 on the radio (although if already interacting with ATC you'll probably keep these comm settings as they are unless instructed otherwise). 121.5 is the mayday frequency. Distress signals are started with "MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY." Urgent situations start with "PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN." The aircraft's ELT (emergency locator transmitter) also broadcasts on 121.5 automatically upon impact. The freq should be checked periodically to make sure your ELT isn't sending false alarms, and there are procedures governing testing the ELT.<br />
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Moving on... Information. A/FD. FAR/AIM. NOTAMs. ACs. If not getting it from ForeFlight, faa.gov would be my next resource, especially for <a href="https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWeb/" target="_blank">NOTAMs</a> and <a href="http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html" target="_blank">TFRs</a>, and in the air an FSS or UNICOM can be consulted for up-to-date advisories.<br />
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Next: Weather! (Thanks to intermittent work with ForeFlight, this part should be quick.) Aircraft performance and weight and balance. Navigation.khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-13848932301425931162013-10-02T12:19:00.003-04:002013-10-02T12:19:56.459-04:00Approaching a stall, maneuvering in flightThe next few textbook sections covered basic forces of flight, control surfaces, center of gravity, aircraft stability, and here we are at stalls.<br />
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A stall happens when the wing can no longer produce enough lift to support the aircraft. The reference point for this condition is called the critical angle of attack. It can happen in various situations, but the clearest to consider is the climb, when the wings are inclined and the air flowing over the wings is less. You can easily envision a breaking point when the airflow around the wing is just messy, and that's the stall point. We talk about it as stall speed, because the cockpit instrument that measures the airflow over the wing is the airspeed indicator, and the airflow needs to be at least V<span style="font-size: xx-small;">S1</span> (or V<span style="font-size: xx-small;">S0</span> with flaps out) to keep from stalling the wing.<br />
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The stall speed can change. More weight, loading the airplane with a CG too far forward, and the presence of ice or other irregularities on the wing can increase the stall speed. Use of flaps decreases the stall speed, allowing slower controlled flight.<br />
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Two main types of stalls are practiced during flight training: power-on and power-off. A power-on stall happens when you typically have the throttle in, such as during take-off or a climb. Stalls during this phase of flight when lift is disrupted due to a too-high angle of attack (nose too high) or retracting the flaps too early. Power-off stalls happen when the throttle is out, such as during landing, and are actually desired to be the last thing to happen as you touch down -- you've "bled off" all the speed you can, stall and settle the last inch onto the runway.<br />
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No matter the type or reason for the stall, the recovery process is the same: nose down and power in. As the airflow over the control surfaces is quickly restored, return to straight-and-level flight and adjust the throttle to an appropriate setting.<br />
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Stalls usually give me sweaty palms. I can totally deal with the concepts involved, and in practice I have recovered them and used them upon landing to my advantage. However, it's the potential for an unrecovered stall to progress into a spin that freaks me out. So I suppose that spins give me the sweaty palms, but stalling is the first step in spinning! General recovery process (check POH for detailed recovery): power out, neutral ailerons, opposite rudder, return to straight-and-level flight. At a typical loss of 500 ft per turn, and a turn happening in just 3 seconds, there's no time to consult an emergency checklist.<br />
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Okay, moving on to maneuvers. Climb, descend, turn. Points to remember:<br />
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When climbing, the aircraft tends to turn left slightly due to things like engine torque and asymmetrical thrust produced by the twist of the propellor blades meeting the angle of attack. Slight right rudder is used to maintain a straight flight path.<br />
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When descending without power, glide speed and angle are preeeeeetty important. The POH will indicate the best glide speed for the aircraft. Upon engine out, the first thing on the checklist is to trim for best glide speed (then troubleshoot); this will keep you in the air the longest while you attempt a restart or select a landing site. Best glide speed can be affected by wind, so for once you'd be looking to land with the wind.<br />
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When turning, pay attention to load factor. The increased Gs on the wings decreases lift and increases stall speed. To maintain altitude, some back pressure will be needed. Load factor that goes too high can damage the structure; for the normal category aircraft we fly, they're limited to 3.8 positive Gs and 1.52 negative. Also relevant here is the maximum maneuvering speed (V<span style="font-size: xx-small;">A</span>) published in the POH; it's the max speed at which abrupt control inputs or turbulence can be tolerated by the airplane.<br />
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That wraps up the fundamentals of flight. Next up are the practical matters of reading charts and understanding airspaces, followed by radio communications, weather, navigation and flight planning. These next parts should go quickly, thanks to continue to fly with Jas and being involved with ForeFlight....khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-10678384074876436012013-10-02T11:06:00.001-04:002013-10-02T11:06:32.760-04:00Gyroscopic instrumentsThe turn coordinator, attitude indicator (artificial horizon) and heading indicator are based on gyroscopes. Gyroscopes have spinning wheels that maintain their position as their anchoring hardware moves around them. These wheels require some sort of power to spin; the turn coordinator is typically electric, while the other two are vacuum powered. I don't think I ever wondered "why vacuum?" before, but you can probably guess that I did today!<br />
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There's either a vacuum force created by design of the system, or a vacuum pump within the system, for these instruments. It sucks air from the intake, through a filter, through tubes and instruments, through a pressure release valve, and then exhausts it. The book doesn't have a diagram, but I'm imagining <a href="http://cfi-wiki.net/images/d/d5/AttGyro.jpg" target="_blank">fins on the gyro wheel</a> to catch the air, like on a water wheel for catching water. As long as the air is flowing, the wheels will be spinning.<br />
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Because of precession, or the introduction of error in gyro-based readings due to friction, gyro instruments must be periodically cross-checked and/or recalibrated. Most notorious is the heading indicator, also called the directional gyro or DG, which should be compared to the whiskey compass (magnetic) every 15 minutes or so. The whiskey compass, however, gives temporarily inaccurate readings while turning, accelerating or decelerating and is affected by turbulence as well.<br />
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Another direction-relevant complication is variance, or the difference between true north and magnetic north. Instruments are set relative to a magnetic reading, yet charts and publications use a true north reference. Since the magnetic field of the Earth changes from place to place, it's important to know the variance at your location. To give you an idea, the variance along the east coast ranges from roughly 0 degrees west to around 20!khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32962721.post-4681918502337963262013-09-30T13:43:00.001-04:002013-09-30T13:52:19.461-04:00Pitot-static systemThe pitot tube generally hangs from the wing with the opening forward and positioned forward of the area where air becomes displaced by the wing. This device senses pitot (or ram) pressure and is used by the airspeed indicator. The pitot tube has a drain at the back to release any moisture from the air that may otherwise accumulate and affect the readings. Where there's moisture, there's the potential for ice, and so the pitot tube is equipped with a heater that can be activated from the cockpit. How do you know when there's ice (or another blockage), though? That depends...<br />
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If the pitot intake is blocked, but the drain is still open, then the air already in the system will have a path to escape, resulting in a gradual reduction in pressure. Lower pressure is usually a sign of less air being forced into the pitot tube, so the airspeed indicator will show a slower speed.<br />
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If the pitot intake and drain are both blocked, or if there's a block between the pitot tube and the instruments, then the air in the system is trapped and the pressure will remain constant. With no changes in altitude or atmospheric pressure, the airspeed indicator would remain unchanged, and so the pilot may not suspect a problem.<br />
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A problem will become evident, however, as altitude changes. Generally, airspeed decreases during a climb and increases during descent. The airspeed indicator uses not only the ram pressure but also the static (ambient) pressure to determine airspeed; basically, the static pressure fills an area of the instrument, and the ram pressure tries to inflate something within the area -- less inflation means slower speed. (Incidentally, an airplane with higher groundspeed at a higher altitude can show the same indicated airspeed as an airplane with lower groundspeed at lower altitude, thanks to air density.) So imagine that the airplane is indicating 140 knots when the static pressure increases, say upon descent. Increased static pressure with constant ram pressure will cause the device to deflate a bit, which will result in lower indicated airspeed, which is typical of a climb. This observation should raise a red flag.<br />
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The static pressure is sampled by a static port, mounted usually along the fuselage and in such a way that it just senses the ambient air pressure. Air pressure is measured in inches of mercury (" Hg), standard of 29.92" Hg at 0 MSL, and broadcast as part of the METAR for local airfields. As part of preflight, you hop in the plane, tune in the local AWOS or ATIS, and dial the current barometric reading into the altimeter. In fact, they announce it as "altimeter 3-0-0-1." If all goes well, adjusting the barometer will result in an altimeter reading that matches the airport's altitude above sea level.<br />
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When the static port gets clogged, that affects the airspeed indicator, the altimeter and the vertical speed indicator (VSI). The altimeter will just get stuck since the pressure is trapped inside. The VSI will get stuck at 0 since it registers changes, and no changes will occur. The airspeed indicator, though, will give incorrect measurements. Typically the static pressure and ram pressure are "in sync," so to speak -- high pressure means high air density in the chamber and lots of air molecules funneling through the pitot tube into the inflatable portion of the airspeed indicator; low pressure means low air density in the chamber and fewer air molecules to be rammed. When the static port is blocked, the static pressure is held constant regardless of outside air pressure, so it's no longer coordinated with the ram pressure. Say it gets blocked at 3000' (that is, at a specific air pressure). On a normal climb from here, the ram pressure would be decreasing and so would the static pressure, but now the ram pressure will decrease but the static pressure will not, resulting in slower than usual indicated airspeed readings. On a normal descent from 3000', the ram pressure would increase and so would the static pressure, but in this case only the ram pressure will increase and the airspeed indicator will read faster than expected.<br />
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Those are considerations when there's a malfunction of some sort. Pilots also need to consider what happens just when moving from region to region when the air pressure changes. The saying goes "High to low, look out below." Let's dissect that. Your altimeter is set for a barometer of 30.01" Hg as Charlotte Approach just gave you. In the vicinity of Charlotte, you'd expect your altimeter to be fairly accurate. Flying at 2600', you head west toward the mountains, where the pressure is dropping. The standard conversion is 1" of mercury for every 1000' of altitude. If you don't adjust your altimeter and try to maintain your 2600' of <i>indicated</i> altitude as you fly into an area with a pressure of just 29.01" Hg, your <i>true</i> altitude is now just 1600' -- look out below! As the terrain comes up, you really don't want to be going down. Lower pressure means less dense, which under standard conditions means higher altitude; under non-standard conditions it means update your altimeter!<br />
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That's it for today. I started off today with Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook. It is so dreadfully corny, and way too distracting for me to use as a serious refresher aid. Sigh. I like my old Guided Flight Discovery textbook, but in places it's just so flat. I also did an experiment today and decided to study from home instead of at the library. That just doesn't work! My focus was definitely less honed. The dishwasher needs unloading, the laundry needs folding, there's a bug on the window, a lizard just crawled up the deck railing, the cat wants to be petted, there's that new "green monster" smoothie recipe I was thinking of trying, the Keurig needs more water, .... Back to the library on Wednesday. With one of these tasty new smoothies.khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997550162470542460noreply@blogger.com