METAR: KXXX 081535Z AUTO 27003KT 10SM SCT042 OVC080 00/M06 A3008 RMK AO2 T00001061

Today we practiced what I was expecting to practice last week: short field takeoffs, soft field takeoffs, short field landings, and soft field landings. Now that I’ve soloed I’m about to begin learning to fly cross country. The point of this is that, during cross country, I might have to set down in an unexpected place, either an airport with a short runway, a field, or a road, so I have to learn how to handle a landing in that kind of a situation in case it happens before I venture out to other airports. In other words, always have an out – yet another tool in the toolbox you practice in case you need it but hope to never actually need it.

Short-Field

Short-field takeoff was first. The normal pre-flight checklist mentions to set flaps, and this has typically been flaps up. In this case flaps are 25°. This time I have to be extra sure to use all of the runway. As usual the procedure starts with a power up to 2000 RPM and check the gauges – oil temperature, oil pressure, fuel pressure in the green. However, instead of releasing the brakes and then applying full power, full power is applied and the brakes are held for three seconds to make sure the engine is fully ready. This also creates the maximum takeoff power. Release the brakes and accelerate to 55 KIAS instead of 60 KIAS, rotate, and pitch for 64 KIAS, the V_X speed for the Archer, until we’re 50 feet off the runway. Once clear, it’s a pitch down to 76 KIAS, the V_Y for the Archer, establish a positive rate of climb (typically I saw 800 ft/min), retract the flaps slowly while adding back pressure (the nose will want to drop when the flaps are raised and the lower drag will cause the airplane to speed up, both of which will make the airplane faster than V_Y).

Next it was a short-field landing. This is done slower than normal, 66 KIAS instead of the 70-75 KIAS I’ve landed the last 45 times. The goal here is to use as little runway as possible so I need to be as slow as possible, transition to slow flight and hit my mark. The goal was to use the chevrons and numbers as an aim point and to use the second stripe as the touchdown point. There is a big difference in just that little bit of speed. The transition to slow flight is very quick. The Archer will stall at 49 KIAS, so there’s only 17 knots before that happens. Now I still have a habit of transitioning too high and working it down, but in this kind of a landing the transition should be rather quick and shouldn’t be too high. The stall horn will go off, and with practice it’ll go off right at touchdown. Since this is short-field, right away when the nose wheel is down apply brakes and dump the flaps. This landing was a little bit more difficult because of how fast everything was happening. I kept on thinking I was missing my touchdown target, but my instructor said I was either actually making it or when I went long it was still within the standards. I guess this is just my perfectionistic tendencies taking hold.

In the emergency situation that the short-field landing occurs, the idea is to actually come in steep and slow to land over an obstacle. For a little inspiration about short-field, here is Saba Airport.

Soft-Field

Soft-field takeoff was very challenging. The goal here is to get the wheels to never settle into the ground, get them off the ground as fast as possible, and basically continue the takeoff roll above the ground while still in ground effect. I’ll preface this by saying I’m not particularly light, and neither is my instructor. For this one, flaps are set at 25° and I roll onto the runway but never stop so that the tires don’t sink into the ground. Also, right away, the yoke is held all the way back in order to keep the nose wheel light (you’re always flying, even when you’re on the ground, the wings are doing something). As soon as the center line is established, power is added to 2000 RPM to check the gauges, and if they are in the green, full power is applied. Fairly quickly the nose will come up. This means that there is a very high angle of attack, so the p-factor is huge. There’s very little speed so the spiral slipstream is huge. There’s a lot of torque, so the left wheel will feel a bit more loading. This means a huge amount of right rudder, and it took a few of these attempts to finally keep the airplane straight on the runway during these attempts. The stall horn will go off, and every time I heard the horn it threw me. I guess I’ve become phobic of the stall horn. I have to accept that it will go off during this procedure. Once the airplane leaves the ground (which can be very hard to detect) I’m supposed to bring the yoke forward…very far forward, almost nose-down, and hold the airplane in ground effect until we reach V_X. Then it’s a matter of climbing at V_X until we’re over the imaginary 50 foot obstacle, then letting the airplane accelerate to V_Y, and retract the flaps like with the shirt-field takeoff. One of the things that kept on happening was that the nose would come up, the airplane would leave the ground for a moment and come right back onto the main wheels, then leave the ground. I suspect what was happening was that I kept the yoke back the whole time so the airplane left the ground, pitched up, and with the stall in effect, lost lift until it had accelerated enough to have enough speed to leave the ground. I think next time I practice this I’m going to have to remember to let some of the back pressure come off so that the plane can pop off the ground and not settle back down. It’s also extremely hard to get myself to push the yoke forward to stay in ground effect – I never was fully successful.

Finally, the soft-field landings. Again, not a short field, but the idea is to be as light on the landing as possible. This means no dropping it in, so no rotating too high. Flaps stay in and back pressure stays in, just like a normal landing, except no brakes – keep the airplane moving and turn off the runway without brakes. This wasn’t too bad but my second and third to last landings I started veering just before touchdown. I think it was me again getting heavy-handed on the controls. Aileron and rudder corrections were too severe and held too long. The last landing I loosened up…and once again found the center line rather lightly. Not a bad way to end the night!

11 landings today! What a challenging day. I get used to doing things one way, and then on to something new and different! Tomorrow it is supposed to snow, so I’m going to go in for ground work to learn cross country navigation.