METAR: KXXX 191855Z AUTO 29006KT 10SM CLR M09/M14 A3030 RMK AO2 T10861137
(Translation: winds are from 290 (West Northwest) at 6 knots (7mph). Visibility is 10 statute miles, the sky is clear of clouds. The temperature is -9°C, the dewpoint is -014°C. The barometric pressure is 30.30 inHg…a very cold but very good day to fly!)
Hell yes! It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve been able to go up. I’ve got three hours booked with the instructor and the plane, and the sky is clear and blue. At takeoff the winds are 300 at 07 kt, altimeter is 30.33 inHg. I’m feeling a bit nervous since it has been so long. I did not do nearly the number of simulator flights on X-plane to get ready for more landings. In the late morning I was working on some of Syllabus Lesson 2 work, especially the videos since. One thing that was said that resonated with me was, “think ahead of the airplane.”
I have not been feeling very good about my takeoffs, and the takeoff video, especially the part about thinking ahead, gave me a eureka. I’m late on the rudder when releasing brakes, upon breaking ground there’s going to be even more need for rudder because as soon as the front wheel comes up there’s no ground friction it is only aerodynamic forces to keep the nose straight. So I focused on that this time, and this time, the takeoffs were so much better. One thing I think I do need to work on a little bit more is just to not over-control the steering one roll-out. We start going right and then left then straight. Another thing, and I’m going to chalk this up to rust with managing the airplane is arresting the climb too late. I’m still too instinctively gentle with the controls.
We took off to the Northwest as usual to the practice area. First, a little coordination exercise with the flaps first: raise the flaps and push the yoke to counteract the nose-up effect, and then back down in reverse. Then on to slow flight and asked for flight following. Power, pitch, trim. Drop the throttle to 1500, keep back pressure to keep the altitude constant, at 100 KIAS put in the first flap and keep the speed coming down while maintaining altitude, put in the second notch with the speed coming down and the altitude under control, put in the third notch and continue to keep the speed under control until it drops to 55 to 60 KIAS. Then a nice standard rate 360° turn to the right keeping it under control while looking around for aircraft. I think I was pretty good on these. Getting out of slow flight is the same as aborting a landing: power to full, raise the flaps to 10° (drop the Johnson bar in the Archer II), pitch up, establish a positive rate of climb, and when the airplane is above 80 KIAS raise the flaps and climb out.
Next on to stalls…the scary part. It was very cold today (M09 after all) so we skipped the power-off stall in order to avoid shock-cooling the engine. Instead we aimed to do power-on stalls. Flight following warned us that there was a plan 4 nm out at our 1 o’clock and started looking around. I must have pretty good far vision because I picked out the tiny spec above the horizon while my CFI was still trying to find it. We turned behind is course to North, and then on to the stalls. Drop the power to 1500 RPM, keep the altitude until we slowed to 80 KIAS, then power to full and pitch up and up and up and up until we get the buffet. One thing to note, there is a very big difference between the way it feels when you’re doing it yourself and when someone else is doing it. It’s all psychological, but when the person next to you is pulling back to 20 to 30° nose-high it feels scary to be rocked back so far; when you’re doing it yourself it all feels fine. Weird. The controls didn’t really get mushy until fairly late until just before the buffet. The buffet was very gentle. Lower the nose, smoothly but not slowly bring the power to full, regain positive rate of climb.
Next we went to engine out procedures. ABCDE!
- Airspeed – pitch for VBG (76 KIAS)
- Best landing spot – airports, open fields
- Checklist for engine-out – it is best to memorize this!
- Declare and emergency – get on the radio and alert any and everyone, squawk 7700 on the transponder
- Exit briefing – seat belts, emergency exits, have the passenger unlatch the door before touchdown to ensure that it does not get pinned shut.
At about this point we were at DKB and we got what sounded like a radio call to contact Rockford. This was weird, so my instructor asked for clarification if that call was for us since it was garbled. “For the third time it was for 86 kilo!” What a dick. “This is what makes people not want to ask for clarification, which is what you’re supposed to do,” my CFI tells me. On to landings! DKB was hard to spot amid the snow and the runways were hard to pick out. The airport has two runways: 09/27 and 02/20. Quick quiz – winds were 310 so which runway would we use? I’m going to admit, after decades of flight simulators, I still have trouble with runways headings and I had a brain fart for a moment on simple math. 27 is 40 degrees away from the wind and 02 is 70 degrees off from the wind. 27 it is! We were flying Northeast inbound for a 45 degree entry to the runway. “Wait, aren’t we headed upwind? Oh right! Runway 27 is not pointing to 270, numbers point IN!”
We did four landing at the airport. I have no real landmarks here unlike 06C, so it’s kid of a matter of eyeballing everything. First landing – rusty for sure! I turned to final way too early and had to drift right to get back to the center line. After the second the landing, put in the aileron to bring it back to the center and then back to neutral. On the ground, “you’re way too tense.” My hand was numb from holding onto the yoke too tight. Okay, be loose, light and easy on the control, dance on wind coming down. Third landing, much better! However, the my feet were heavy on the rudder. Left rudder was needed and I put way too much in so we drifted way off to the left on the runway. Fourth landing, my instructor told me he was going to say as little as possible and let you do the whole thing. The fourth landing, hands and feet were both loose. However at this point there were hundreds of geese flying around. Some directly below, some above, some headed right for the side of us. Nervously I asked, “how worried should I be about all these birds?” On the ground, “don’t worry about it. Just worry about what’s in front of you.” But it was my best landing yet!
One more thing I need to work on – the landing check list. I kept forgetting to run the landing check list. Again, it was easier two weeks ago, but I’ll have to focus on this.
Interestingly DKB had very icy taxiways. Also, we saw a weird plane off. Apparently it was a Shorts SC-7 Skyvan. “The Flying Shoebox” it is called. Looks like a Winnebago on wings…calling Captain Lonestar! Some company called Win Aviation flys them out of there. “The Irish Concorde.” Haha!
On this flight I did the radio calls. I still think I have a pretty great radio voice so I counteract the nervousness by hoping they at least sound nice. “Dekalb traffic, Archer 4335 kilo is downwind for runway 27, dekalb.” Sometimes I want to slow-jam my radio calls haha!
So, now I just need to get my medical done, and according my instructor if things go as they have been I’m one or two lessons from soloing! Already! That could be next week!!!
Some links from Syllabus Lesson 2:
AOPA Safety Video: Takeoffs and Landings: Determining an Abort Point
FencerPTS 
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