PAVE

The PAVE model helps to identify risks and assists in the decision-making process

P – Pilot
A – Aircraft
V – Environment
E – External Pressures

Pilot

Experience
Currency

Pilot’s Health – IMSAFE

I – Illness – Are you sick? Are there any symptoms?
M – Medication – Are you taking medication that could affect your judgement?
S – Stress – Are you under psychological pressure from your job? Do you have money, health, or family problems?
A – Alcohol – Have you been drinking in the last 8 hours? In the last 24 hours? Alcohol impairs abilities and also makes you more susceptible to disorientation and hypoxia.
F – Fatigue – Are you tired and not adequately rested?
E – Emotion – Have you experienced any emotionally upsetting event?

Stress

  • Environmental – temperature, humidity, comfort, noise, vibration, oxygen level, etc…
  • Physiological stress – fatigue, sleep loss, hunger, illness, lack of physical fitness
  • Psychological stress – emotional factors, traumatic events, etc…, e.g. death in the family, caretaking for another, demotion at work, relationship issues, etc…

Aircraft

Is the aircraft appropriate for the mission?
Are you familiar with the aircraft?
Is the aircraft adequately equipped for the flight?
Can the aircraft use the available runways with adequate margin of safety under the conditions it is to be flown?
Can the aircraft carry the planned load?
Can the aircraft operate with the equipment that is installed?
Does the aircraft have sufficient fuel capacity?
Is the fuel quantity correct?
Is installed equipment in good condition for the potential hazards?

Environment

Weather

Ceiling
Visibility
Terrain effect on weather
Possibility of weather different from forecast – alternate plans.
Wind strength and cross-wind component.
Winds aloft in mountainous or hilly terrain
Thunderstorms now or in forecast?
Icing conditions?
Temperature/dewpoint spread and temperature at altitude. Can a descent be made safely along the route?

Terrain

Obstacles, especially at night or low visibility – what is the safe altitude for the flight?
Maximum elevation figures for obstacles

Airport

White lights are available?
Approach lights and glideslope guidance?
NOTAMs
Closed runways or taxiways
Airports along route
Short or obstructed fields at destination / alternate airports?

Airspace

If over remote areas, is appropriate clothing, water, survival gear on board?
If flying over water or unpopulated areas with the chance of losing visual reference to the horizon, pilot prepared to fly IFR?

Nighttime

If flying at night over water or unpopulated areas with the chance of losing visual reference to the horizon, pilot prepared to fly IFR?
Flight conditions allow safe emergency landing at night?
Preflight all lights, interior and exterior
Flashlights carried

Visual Illusions

Perception of distance
Lack of visual cues

External Pressures

People waiting
Desire to not disappoint
Desire to demonstrate qualifications or impress
Desire to satisfy personal goals / goal completion
Inability to admit skill or experience or lower that a pilot would like them to be
Importance of flight outcome

Mitigating Actions

Allow for extra time
Have alternate plans for a late arrival or no-go
Plan to leave early enough to drive if necessary
Advise anyone waiting at the arrival that there may be a delay
Manage passenger expectations
Eliminate pressure to return home – have an overnight kit

Ground School Lesson 2

Catching up to some of the homework from the syllabus, here are the completion standards questions.

Why is it important to do a takeoff briefing before departure?
The takeoff briefing allows the pilot to have a plan already in place to deal with the foreseeable events of the takeoff. It allows the pilot, co-pilot, and crew to commit these plans to memory. It clearly establishes who will do what and when during the events of the takeoff. Every takeoff is different and the reactions to an emergency will be different depending on the circumstances.

What is VY?
VY is the best rate of climb speed. For the Archer II it is 76 KIAS.

How do we maintain VY in a climb?
VY is maintained in a climb with pitch. The power is kept full during climb.

Why does the aircraft turn left after lift-off?
The aircraft will turn left after lift-off due to p-factor, the asymmetric propeller loading due to high angle of attack. The downward blade (right) will have a higher lift component causing more thrust on that side. In addition, the spiral slip stream strikes the tail and at low speeds this effect is more pronounced.

Why do we accelerate to cruise speed before reducing the throttle?
Reducing the power first will cause the airspeed to fall before cruise speed is reached. Downward pitch would need to be added in to achieve the desired cruise speed and altitude would be lost. By establishing cruise speed first, the throttle can be reduced and the airspeed pitched for straight and level flight without a loss of altitude.

Why do we lean the engine in cruise flight?
The engine is leaned in cruise flight because the higher-altitude air has less oxygen and the mixture is overly rich. More fuel is being sent to the combustion chamber than is necessary and the combustion is less efficient and incomplete. This will eventually result in spark plug fouling and an excessive fuel use.

What are some different ways to lean the engine?
Rich of peak: reduce the mixture lever until the engine reaches peak EGT, then add mixture back in until the EGT is X degrees lower than peak.
Lean of peak: reduce the mixture lever until the engine reaches peak EGT, then reduce mixture back until the EGT is X degrees lower than peak.
The engine could be leaned for best power – 100 degrees rich of peak EGT.
The engine could be leaned for best economy – peak EGT.

Why do we use a checklist after establishing cruise configuration?
Ensure that all of the steps for cruise flight are completed.

How do we determine cruise power?
Cruise power is determined based on altitude. A power setting (55% to 75% RPM) is chosen, but the RPM capability of the engine depends on altitude. The performance charts from the POH are used to determine cruise power.

Which control surface produces “negative lift?”
The stabilator (stabilizer in some aircraft) produces negative lift.

What is a beneficial effect of negative lift on the horizontal stabilizer?
In the event of a stabilizer stall the loss of negative lift will cause the nose to drop and lower the angle of attack, reducing the stall.

What is a detrimental effect of negative lift on the horizontal stabilizer?
The detrimental effect of negative lift on the horizontal stabilizer is that total lift needs to be zero for straight and level flight and so the wing needs to provide an increase in lift. Both positive and negative lift of the wing and stabilizer, respectively, creates an increase in induced drag.

When do we use the trim?
Trim is used to alleviate the control pressure necessary to maintain straight and level flight. The straight and level flight attitude is assumed (power and pitch) and the trim is used to alleviate the pressure needed to maintain pitch.

If the trim control tab is up, which way will the nose go?
The nose will drop when the trim control tab is up. The up control tab causes the stabilator to drop resulting in a downward pitch.

If a front passenger jumped into the rear seat, what would happen?
The center of mass of the airplane would shift aft. This would cause the airplane to pitch upward.

What happens to the aircraft pitch attitude when the flaps are deployed?
When the flaps are deployed the airplane will pitch upward.

What happens to the aircraft pitch attitude when the throttle is reduced?
When the throttle is reduced the aircraft will pitch downward.

Takeoff Briefings

Elements of a good takeoff briefing:

  • Who will perform the takeoff?
  • Which runway will you depart from?
  • What type of takeoff will you perform?  Normal, rolling, short-field, soft-field?
  • What will you do if you lose an engine during each phase?  Roll, after rotation, with insufficient runway, at pattern altitude, at cruise altitude?
  • What are the critical V speeds?  VX, VY, VG
  • What are the departure instructions?  Is there an obstacle departure procedure that I need to be aware of?  Does my departure clearance include a SID
  • Which airport would I go to in case of emergency if the airplane is still flyable (if not the departure airport?  Can the departure airport handle the emergency?)

example: “I will be performing a normal takeoff.  We will be departing on runway two niner.  VR is 60, VY is 76.  If we have any problems or loss of power before rotation I will reduce throttle to idle, smoothly brake, and exist the runway.  The abort point is the third taxiway on the right.  If we have any problem or loss of power after rotation with sufficient runway remaining I will reduce throttle to idle, flare, and land, then exit the runway.  If there is insufficient runway remaining I will pitch for VG, 76, and choose a landing spot 30 degrees to the left or right.  There is a field to the left that I can land at.  We will not think about returning to the runway unless we are at 1000 AGL.”

Archer II V Speeds

VS1 – 54 KIAS – clean configuration stall speed
VSO – 48 KIAS – landing configuration stall speed
VR 55-60 KIAS – rotation speed
VX 64 KIAS – best angle of climb
VY 76 KIAS – best rate of climb
VNO 125 KIAS – maximum structural cruising speed
VFE 102 KIAS – maximum flap extension speed
VA – 113 KIAS – maneuvering speed
VNE – 154 KIAS – never exceed
VG 76 KIAS – best glide flaps up
Cruise Climb – 87 KIAS
Max. Demo. Crosswind – 17 KIAS

Links

https://ti.arc.nasa.gov/m/profile/adegani/Cockpit%20Checklists.pdf
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/january/flight-training-magazine/technique-the-level-off
https://aopalive.aopa.org/detail/video/5550428298001/putting-on-the-step-to-the-test
https://www.askacfi.com/618/sample-takeoff-briefing.htm

Beyond My Limits…So Far

METAR: KXXX 021917Z AUTO 25011G20KT 10SM CLR 08/00 A2954 RMK AO2 T00970005

So far, Mother Nature has had two modes with me – terribly gust winds or low ceilings. Today turned into the former, but when I arrived at the airport it did not look that bad. Originally it was 11 to 20 knots mostly down the runway. The idea was to do short field and soft field takeoffs and short-field landings. Just for a warmup in these winds I wanted to do a lap to get used to things. It became quickly apparent that this wind report was not right. Apparently, at my home airport, the weather station is in the leeward side of a tree line, and on particularly gusty days aligned with the runway it can be incorrect. Let’s take a look at the three METARs in the area right now:

METAR: KXX1 022055Z AUTO 27013G24KT 210V290 10SM CLR 10/01 A2958 RMK AO2 T00970005 (home airport)
METAR: KXX2 022052Z 27018G27KT 10SM CLR 08/01 A2958 RMK AO2 PK WND 24034/2001
SLP022 T00830006 53011 (nearby Class D)
METAR: KXX3 022051Z 26017G30KT 10SM BKN250 11/01 A2956 RMK AO2 PK WND 27038/2024 SLP014 T01110006 53015 (nearby Class B)

Peak winds 34 knots at one airport heading 240, peak winds 38 knots at 270 at the other.

This was a challenge. Right away on the first takeoff a crosswind gust started blowing me left and there were a lot of bumps. It was hard to stabilize the takeoff over the runway. I also let the speed get too high. Part of this was my peripheral sight picture. Being so close in to the runway I think I subconsciously wanted to stretch the takeoff to a shallower climb to be over my target landmarks instead of just trying to reach altitude. Being so worried about the variable nature of the wind, I did not put in the correct correction for the heavy downwind air. I tried to stabilize the airplane in crosswind and the downwind leg was a bit far from the airfield. The variable crosswind gusts were pushing us back to the runway and it took a moment to correct for this. On the descent, my mental checklist of getting the PAPI lights correct does not work. I kept on ending up too low. I tried correct for the gust factor with a little extra. We were trying to make the approach at 70 KIAS to correct for the wind, but 85 was probably the more correct thing to do. The plane was dancing all over and I couldn’t get my airspeed and descent rate stabilized. I was pretty good about being light on the controls, but it was rough. I was already sweating.

Apparently, I was so concerned before the second takeoff I forgot to turn on the fuel pump – I’m still very upset with myself over that. The second landing was equally taxing but I think the wind was getting worse. I was so mentally out of it by the second landing, and working so hard trying to stabilize the airplane that the windows started to fog up with sweat. I needed to take off my fleece to get cool once we taxied off the runway. Before the third takeoff we held short to let one of the 172s finish their base to final. I watched as it struggled to stay stable on the landing. It dropped, stabilized, crabbed, un-crabbed, crabbed again, dropped, rose, held steady, rocked. On the flare at the runway to surged upward and they nearly had a tail strike when the gust let it sink again. “Oh boy, here we go,” I thought.

We lined up, powered up, released the brakes, and sped off. I was determined to keep the airplane at 80 KIAS on the climb. Again, dealing with the wind kept me busy and I didn’t think about the crab correction for the downwind. My crosswind was perpendicular to runway heading and by the time I turned to downwind I was half way down the runway. Right away it was a turn to base which should have been steep, but there was no base leg, just a continuous turn to final. I ended up well to the right of the runway. I started to work it back, but it was still not stable and I did a go-around. On the ascent I asked the CFI to take this landing – I was feeling well beyond my limits, and the left side of the windshield was full of condensation from my sweat.

The CFI had a bit of a hard time keeping the landing stable as well. After some amount of correction and once below the effect of the buildings shielding the runway he was able to settle it down, although not after a nice gust caused us to gain a few feet of altitude. His landing was a lot softer than any of mine and he was right on the centerline.

Today was really a challenge, and way beyond my capabilities. With a crosswind component of between 3 and 20 knots, variable and gusty, this was beyond my skills. It is going to take a lot more practice and experience to deal with a day like today. So only 0.8 hours today. Sooner or later I’m going to get the kind of day I can handle. Two days of 0 to a day of 8 on difficulty. One thing is for sure, I’m glad I soloed on Thursday and not today! And some day, a day like today will not be beyond my limits!

Holy crap, I soloed!

There are surprisingly few AMEs in the area by me given how many people. It took a little bit of calling around to find one that could take me in. It became especially urgent when the word “solo” starting floating around. The evaluation was pretty quick and straightforward. My blood pressure was a little elevated since I was coming from work and had to drive through traffic for an hour to get there on day when I was a little sleep deprived from a very early morning meeting, but it was nothing worrisome. The snag all came from needing a note from my doctor – I happen to have a fairly uncommon yet easily managed condition that really doesn’t cause any problems, but the FAA still needs to know that is the case, so it was all delayed waiting on the one doctor to get in touch with the AME.

I was supposed to have a lesson, and after two days of pretty successful and ever-improving landings, that I didn’t have the medical certificate in hand led us to reschedule the lesson to the evening to get some night flying requirements taken care of, so we agreed to meet up at 4:30 pm to prep for a sunset takeoff. It happened that I finally heard back from the AME and my certificate was ready to be picked up. I rushed over there and went straight to the airport and arrived at 4:00 pm. My instructor wasn’t expecting me and he was chilling in the FBO lounge. I usually get there early to get the preflight out of the way, but I showed off all my required paperwork, he looked over my logbook. “You want to solo today?”

We did two practice circuits and I was trying to show off my improved takeoff and landing skills. The first landing went fairly well. I floated just a little bit, but made a pretty good touchdown. The second we did a simulated power off, made a short base to final call, and I started the procedure. Pitched up to get from 85 to 76 KIAS and started a shallow 5° turn from downwind towards the runway. It still makes me nervous cutting in between the water tower and the runway. I made the runway, added flaps, transitioned to slow flight, touched down, and rolled out. We taxied back in front of the FBO, and my instructor headed out. “You got this.” “When you make the radio calls just say, ‘student pilot, Archer…’ If you need anything I’ll be on the UNICOM. Good luck!” He also imparted to me, “I don’t why but my students when they solo like to ride the brake at 15 knots when taxiing. Just don’t ride the brake, okay?” He closes up the cabin, I wait until he’s clear away from the airplane, and away I go down the taxiway. Now the giddy nervousness of adrenaline starts flowing, and I spend the entire taxi talking to myself, verbally pinching myself that this is happening!

I recited the whole checklist to myself at the hold short being extra sure I’m doing everything right. I checked the pattern, made my student pilot radio call, lined up, added 2000 RPM, checked the gauges and directional gyro (it likes to drift with each landing), released the brakes and go! I knew going in that taking out one adult from the airplane would make it lighter and it would jump off the runway. It’s one thing knowing it and another feeling it. 60 KIAS came really fast and the airplane didn’t hesitate to get off the ground. The climb felt extra fast to 1300 ft MSL. The pattern was unremarkable but I was talking to myself the whole time at every stop. I checked the pattern, turned to final, and started the descent. The airplane was a lot more sensitive to inputs with only one person. After idling the engine and adjusting pitch I pulled with just a little too much pressure and felt the aircraft rise a foot when I did not expect it, but nothing too much that it scared me. Touch down, roll out, clear the runway, after landing checklist, and back to the hold short for another lap.

On the taxi back to the hold short a C172 entered was entering the pattern. Okay this is new, we never actually practiced with any traffic before. I knew he was only just entering downwind, so I figured I was not going to be a factor and that I would get off before he got to final, but my one worry was chasing him on downwind. I figured I’m going to be climbing at around 80 KIAS and he’s going to be doing around 100 in the pattern so no real worry there, so I made my call, lined up, powered up, checked the gauges, and away for the second lap! On my downwind I was keeping watch over how he was landing and rolling out. He was on final at around half way through downwind, so I could see his progress. However, I wanted to be extra sure of what was going on with him so before I turned base I checked to see where he was at. He was all the way at the taxiway at the end of the runway, but he looked like he was clearing off. My downwind was a little extra long this time, but no worries. Called my base, called my final, got a nice stable approach, kept my body loose and relaxed, made sure to keep the rudder in to account for the left turning tendency and keep it as close to the centerline as I could. Another okay, not great touchdown, roll out, and taxi back to the FBO. My CFI hand-signaled me in, I parked, shut down, and we took some celebratory pictures.

Adrenaline was still flowing, but we waited around a bit for sunset to deepen. I noticed after a little while that the back of my shirt was damp. It was good to have the time to calm down a little and reflect on the fact that I SOLOED! At 12.7 hours flight time!

After that we did 8 landings to full stop. I think the fatigue of the adrenaline from the solo, the heater in the cabin, and the fact that it was night was taking its toll after a few landings. Nothing about night was particularly hard I think. I didn’t have my “29 and line” to really gauge the centerline and aim point, so it was substituting the red end lights. After a few the landings started to be not so great anymore. On either the third or the fourth landing the Johnson bar for the flaps didn’t lock at 40°. After three tugs and no lock I figured I’d give up on it and just land at 25° so I let it go back to the second notch. Apparently the thumb-lock still wasn’t engaged and it clicked back to 10ׄ° on me all of the sudden. We were fast, but no worries, just make the transition to slow flight. That was new – it never did that to me before! On one turn to final was late and I had to correct back to the runway. I had thought for a moment to go around, but my instructor that it was fine, just work back to the runway and so I did. I was thinking about maybe asking for a small rest between circuits, but my CFI was getting a little antsy so he wanted to do one takeoff, which was great because I was feeling the fatigue. He did a soft field takeoff for the fun of it. It was in that circuit that I started to notice that I was feeling warm. We turned off the heat, and the landings started to improve again. A couple of the landings we did with the landing light turned off. I guess this is supposed to change your perspective on how the runway looks, but a snowy day with overcast skies glowing from the light pollution of a larger metropolitan area not too far away still made the runway markings visible to me.

Fatigue really will take its toll and it really does sneak up on you before you notice. I did not appreciate how much it was going to drag on my landings, and maybe that’s something to remember when flying – a high adrenaline event will wear you out, so take some time to relax if you need to. I think maybe a body scan added to my personal checklist would be good whenever I write one up. Definitely included in that – relax on final. Lots of little inputs instead of big ones, and remember to keep making inputs all the way through touchdown.

Holy crap…I soloed!

Consistently Hitting the Center Line

METAR: KXXX 292014Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM OVC021 00/M04 A3015 RMK AO2 T00001042

It was another cloudy, overcast day today, but that was alright, because today was about pattern work. After yesterday’s excitement of power-off landings and slips to landing, I wanted to try to put it all together. The first normal landing was not excellent. Again the flare was a little high and I took the power out too late and this one was flaps 25°. We ended up taxiing back all the way from the end of the runway. The second one I wanted to try flaps 40° to see how it felt. That one felt much smoother on the transition to slow flight, although I forgot to add the second notch on base and ended up adding both on final, so it wasn’t too great a landing. We exited on the second taxiway. I have a goal to try to make the first one. On the way back we were talking over that landing, “do you have an aim point or are you just trying to make the runway?” I have had the idea of the aim point yesterday, but the first two I was mostly just trying to get the runway and the centerline. “I’m the same, I’m mostly just trying to make the runway. So just add a little more, next time try to use both the centerline and the aim point.

With each landing I was keeping the centerline better and better. The takeoffs were getting straighter and straighter. By the third landing I was able to start tracking my aim point. “29 and the line.” Reacting to the number rising or falling in the windshield, only glancing at the PAPI, easy corrections to get back to center. A few mistakes with each landing, correcting not quite right with the rudder, but each time getting stronger and stronger.

We tried one slip to landing the wind was calm and and on runway heading so it really didn’t matter which way. Right aileron left rudder. The plane drifted left and it took some coaxing to bring it back to the runway. The sink is so fast and you want so much to do the wrong thing – pull back. Take out the cross controlled inputs and the plane will level out. I was over the left side of the runway and already over the threshold so no time to think about flaps – no flap landing. I landed straight enough but it took a lot of rudder and nose wheel to regain the center line. “Normally you’d practice slips at 3000 feet and slips down for long time.” Maybe that will help, practicing that maneuver with a lot of altitude to try to get a feel for it…if ever these low ceilings and overcast skies clear up.

My instructor demonstrated for me a maneuver he calls, “the impossible turn.” If when climbing out, on a cold day with a strong downwind, there is a slim chance to make the runway. We climbed past the 1300 feet we would normally turn cross-wind and got to about 1500 feet. “…traffic, Archer three five kilo turning final runway one one.” The trick with this was keeping the banks not too steep or it would cause too much drag while keeping the airspeed around 76 knots in order to achieve best glide speed. Only after the runway was sure to be made did the flaps come out. Throw in a few seconds of confusion and indecision in an engine out situation, a warmer day, or a day with unfavorable winds and it would have been impossible to make the runway. We made the glide slope but the tree near the end of the runway looked awfully close!

By the last pattern I was feeling great about my takeoffs and landings. It’s a wonderful feeling seeing the runway center line straight ahead and under you on rotation. It’s also great seeing that center line stay right under the airplane on roll-out, seeing that 29 stay in nearly the same spot, and to be able to adjust to any of it’s movements in front of you. What a difference a few practice sessions makes. “I would clear you to solo.” It’s just a matter of the medical paperwork to come in now! Consistency can be both good and bad. If you’re consistently doing the wrong thing then you might be reinforcing bad habits. On the other hand, it’s great to hear your instructor say that you’re very consistent especially when you’re doing things right, and that the outcome of the practice gets better and better each time!

And this time I have video!

Forward Slip and Power Off Landing

METAR: KXXX 281700Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM OVC012 M01/M03 A3006 RMK AO2

It’s not the best day to fly today, at least not for cross country or maneuvers, but today was intended to be about pattern work. I had every ambition to see if my epiphanies held true in real life the way they worked in the simulator.

The Archer II was pulled from the hanger and I did the preflight. There’s one thing I missed, and I’ll get to that in a bit. Everything looked good, we hopped in, finished the checklist and away we go. “…traffic, Archer thirty five kilo is taxiing to runway two niner…” Oops, I said thirty five, not three five.

Pre-take off complete, run-up complete, clear left, clear right, “…traffic, Archer three five kilo is taking off runway two niner, remaining in the pattern.” Now to take off ahead of the airplane. Power to 2000 RPM, gauges are in the green, release and go. Right rudder input to correct for p-factor, airspeed alive, ready with the rudder on rotation, 60 knots, and rotate. Every time I rotate I feel the nose wheel grumble as it leaves the surface. Pitch up for 80 knots, horizon just touching the nose cowling, climb for 1300. It wasn’t my prettiest takeoff. Not enough right rudder.

We completed the circuit and I did the radio calls, “…traffic, Archer three five kilo turning left crosswind runway two niner…” I blew the altitude again. A few patters in I finally realized what it was. I was trying to arrest the ascent with the throttle alone, being too slow on the power down, and not pitching down to arrest the climb. But after a while another thought dawned on me. We were in cold, high-pressure air – air with a lot of performance. When throttling down I was aiming for 2200 RPM but even 1900 would work.

The first landing didn’t need any correction but it wasn’t great. Base was a little low, tried to arrest the descent, turned final, but didn’t hold the center line. At one point I scanned my body and realized I was too tense. Relax, take a shake, and just put in little corrections. I transitioned too high but we made it down and we landed on the center line but drifted left and I flared too high. This time I worked on “transition, don’t flare.” It’s all about getting to slow-flight above the runway.

Next circuit, much better, but I left the power in too long and I hit my aim point but much faster than I wanted. Still it felt better.

After this the instructor demonstrated a slip to land. Now this is an interesting experience the simulator does not really prepare you for in the way that it feels. You feel the descent rate, see it in your peripheral vision, and it’s a bit scary. There’s also this element of fear of stalling so you keep the nose down, which you don’t want to do because you’re sinking at 1000 feet per minute or more. Once you hit the glide slope you slowly take out the cross-controlled inputs and begin the normal landing, except instead of a mile to get this set up you’re already basically over the runway and the throttle is already idle. Okay my turn.

We did the patter with a long downwind to set up for a high final and proceed to slip. The instructor told me the wrong input – left aileron right rudder, but the wind was from the north, so he had me reverse it half way through. Take out the inputs but we’re not where I want to be and have to reestablish the centerline. Put in flaps, flaps again, transition to slow flight, hold it off…I did not like this landing. The stall horn went off because the transition was a the wrong height because I still felt like I was sinking fast.

On to the next scary one – power off landing. Abeam the aim point, power to idle, radio call, “…traffic, Archer three five kilo left short base and final…” 10° flaps and gradual turn towards the runway (3-5° bank), pitch for 76 KIAS (best glide speed). No throttle here, all about pitch. There’s a wide water tower near the end of the runway that is sort of a mental landmark for me to say that we’ve passed the end of the runway. This time we’re turning inside of it. Turning past 20° still turning, still pitching for 76, put in flaps 25°, make the property and flaps to 40°, sort of over the runway and turn to final. This is really weird for me because we never did flaps 40° before. Next lap is my turn.

This is scary! I pretty well got the pitch control for speed in well. This maneuver, even worse than the slip to landing, throws out all of the “initial conditions” that I’ve been trying to achieve before, and there’s very little time to set up the runway alignment. Yet this was my best landing yet. A little side force due to not enough rudder, but the transition to slow flight and sink to the runway felt the best yet. We did another one of these and it felt pretty good.

My takeoffs got better and better with each lap. With each lap it was less about what was going on inside of the airplane and more and more about looking out the window, reacting ahead of the airplane, climbing, turning, making the radio calls, and stopping the climb on the pattern altitude. Enough right rudder on the left turn to correct for the skid caused by the p-factor. By the end I was feeling awesome about the takeoffs.

With the last landing, flaps to 40°, the transition to slow flight felt better too. I am going to start practicing normal landings with flaps to 40° and see if the same holds true. Today was a fun and scary day, doing something double-alien. “Nothing about flying is natural,” yet making landings feel natural and then doing something unnatural to even that is extra daunting! These are maneuvers to have in the toolbox for when things to especially bad – if you have to make your target in an emergency. The rest of the time, it’s all about the normal landings and procedures.

So what did I forget in the preflight? I forgot to hook up the camera! I was going to get video of all of this, but it was only after the shutdown, putting the headset away, that I realized I had that in my bag. No video this time.

How to Talk to ATC

During the pre-solo examination for the flight school, one of the questions was “what are the procedures for arriving and departing at an airport with a control tower?” It took a really long time to find the information to answer that question. Ultimately I found an article on AOPA where somebody actually wrote out the conversation they had with the control tower both when arriving and departing the airport. I got to thinking, there’s actually very little information out there that’s easy to learn from. The AIM has a whole chapter devoted to how to talk to air traffic control, but it doesn’t really lay it out in a way that lets you learn and practice what to say and when.

I think what really needs to be out a kind of collection of scripts that someone can practice with somebody else, kind of like a dialog in a play, so that you can learn how to talk to air traffic control and learn how to talk on the radio. It would probably work best if the other person didn’t necessarily know what their partner was going to say back to the the person practicing. It would work best if there were pictures or diagrams or charts or something that would tell the pilot where they are and what they were doing I a given situation.

Just today, one of the things that I found while thinking about this is was an app called PlaneEnglish. I like the attempt of where they were trying to do with it but the problem is that relies on text to speech recognition from your phone which is buggy at best. I spent an entire intro lesson trying to get the phone to understand me saying the word “cleared” and “fife” and it just couldn’t do it. I don’t know of it’s my voice (I have a pretty deep voice) or if it’s my microphone or my phone case blocking the microphone…I don’t know but it’s very annoying when you have to go through the lesson over and over again. I feel like a Scottsman stuck in a voice recognition elevator. The app seems to try to teach you the correct way to say it but not necessarily what to say. The lessons don’t really tell you how to talk to air traffic control, they just want you to be able to say it clearly.

Again, what I think there really needs to be is a collection of scripts that you can practice situations at various random airports amd locations. with somebody and maybe it’ll throw up maybe throw in some variables of like different airports in different locations. I don’t necessarily know that I’m the kind of person that has the time or the knowledge to create something like this, but I think something like this would really be beneficial to people trying to talk to air traffic control. As I understand it, that is one of the scariest things about being a pilot: public speaking with air traffic control.

Landing Improvement

I Think I Know How to Make My Landings Better

There is a whole bunch going on in landings. So many things happen so quickly that are all so new and it’s overwhelming. No wonder I forgot the landing checklist – the mind races at all the tasks that are about to happen once we hit the pattern, and also because the landing checklist isn’t a task I’ve thrown into that heap!

Ask the internet, and the perfect landing begins with the perfect pattern. Okay fair enough, so let’s table the whole final to touchdown piece. It’s all about setting up the same initial condition up to that point. Upwind on course, turn to crosswind at 1300 ft MSL (700 ft AGL at my airport since we’re under a Class B shelf at 1900 ft). This is a 3-part compartmentalization:

  1. Complete the turn to crosswind heading while accounting for wind drift. When the turn is complete, count to 3 and turn downwind.
  2. Reach pattern altitude and stop the climb with power and pitch.
  3. Make the radio call and get a picture of traffic.

Turning downwind feels a little easier without the climb component. Make the radio call for the turn and pick the heading that corrects for wind. Hold the pattern altitude until abeam the aim point. And then power, flaps, airspeed, trim. Let the nose sink on power down, counteract the nose-up from the flaps with the yoke, pitch for airspeed, trim. Make the call for base and start a 30° bank.

Turn to base seems to throw me because banking also drops the lift component and pitch throws off the airspeed. The VSI has a delay so glances there give information that is not very timely. I guess power is needed. I tend to hit base at 700 ft AGL which is a bit low. PFAT, “high/low, fast/slow?” I seem to have to add power to arrest the descent here, so perhaps a bit more power on the turn to base is needed. Anyway, call the turn to final.

And here we are – where we should be every single time. The gateway to the rest of the landing. Turning to final and ending the turn pointed towards the runway with the PAPI showing 2 red and 2 white lights (it almost never does). And this should be the point where it’s just correcting for the variables.

So why is it so hard? For starters, probably because my patterns need work, and the initial conditions are all over the place. But I think this realization is going to help me improve!

I also had two other epiphanies: aim point and slow flight. First, the aim point. Landing is overwhelming at first, but what I have seem to have lost sight of is what exactly to look for! The aim point! Duh. I’m looking all over the place, making sure the airspeed is right, obsessing over the PAPI, looking for the centerline, the scenery flies by, “what’s that on the taxiway?” etc… “Landing is a visual maneuver.” Some of these will get ironed out when the initial conditions are set, and some will get ironed out when I’m thinking further ahead of the airplane. Ultimately all of this attention is at the wrong thing – it should be at the aim point…the numbers…the big 29 on the end of the runway! “Is that 29 rising or falling?”

The second part is the transition. I forgot something I heard so long ago that helped my simulator landings – do not flare. You transition a small airplane – you transition to slow flight! I have not been thinking about it in terms of what we’ve been doing at 3000-4000 ft. The airplane will stall at 45 KIAS with flaps fully extended when fully loaded. Now we’re not landing with full flaps generally which means the stall speed is a little higher, but the trick here is to transition to slow flight – lower the speed and hold the altitude in ground effect, and eventually the speed will drop to the stall speed and you want that to happen just as the wheels touch. I have been thinking only about holding off the landing, holding off the nose, and that’s resulted in some ballooning when I over-correct (also because I’m too tense!). When the trapezoid in front of me swings out to the sides instead, transition to slow flight – straight and level and slow.

This might be more psychological, but as a mindset, it seems to click so much better than just “hold it off.” If for no other reason than it engages a concept I’ve been actively practicing. Hell, the first thing we did the other day was ride around in slow flight ten or fifteen minutes!

I tried this in X-plane and eureka, at least in the sim in a 172SP (which, by the way, has MUCH better handling in terms of response to input than the Carenado PA-28 Archer II) the landings were so much better!

  1. Set up pattern to hit the same initial conditions – distance, altitude, airspeed, configuration. The pattern is all about getting to this.
  2. Focus on the aim point, everything else is just a glance.
  3. Transition to slow flight. Hold the altitude steady until the plane stalls on its own. Remember that feeling of mushy controls in slow flight.

Lesson 6

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

Runway Safety: Lexigton, KY (2013)

Confirming the Takeoff Runway

AOPA Safety Video: Takeoffs and Landings: Normal Takeoffs