metaruss

Today’s lesson started off normal enough.  Then I somehow dropped my pen after I made the call to ground and had no way to write down the instructions, which were complicated enough that I couldn’t remember all the clearances for the read-back.  After I botched that, we got some sort of hint from the tower that I missed to get out on the runway and step on it.  Then on the rotation, I was so focused on what I was doing with the rudder that I released back pressure on the yoke and we sat in the ground effect before I figured out what was going on.

Luckily, things got better after that.  We practiced slow flight in the clean configuration once and then went on to the dirty configuration.  First we wallowed around with various flap settings to give me a feel for it and then he demonstrated slow flight in the landing configuration.  My first try was messy, second try was better but I still couldn’t hold my heading or altitude during the transition.  The turns were awkward, but not a disaster.  I nailed the altitude on the third try and my turns were better, but still lost my heading during the transition due to poor management of the rudder.  Apparently though, I did well enough that he showed me power on and power off stalls and gave me a stab it at.  We always recovered before the stall started, but it was still a challenge as I hadn’t studied the procedures beforehand. I didn’t do them very well, but now I know what I’m in for next time.

He said my landing was good…if you say so Mr. CFI! It was a blur to me. I need to relax more. That is a big part of my trouble with the rudder. I’m pushing on both pedals so hard that I can barely stand when I get out of the plane.

My second lesson started with a supervised preflight inspection on N9831G.  We did the usual procedures and then I did the radio calls to ground and tower.  After take off we did a few ascending/descending turns and then moved on to slow flight in the clean configuration.  He slowly worked me down to 50 knots a little at a time to get a feel for it.  I then tried to do some turns and made a mess of them.  He demonstrated how to quickly get from cruise to slow flight and back again.  After a few tries I got it.  It is very challenging to keep the heading and altitude while the attitude is way nose-up and the controls are like mush.  Next time we add flaps….

My rudder work is generally terrible, but at least my taxiing is improving.  I keep forgetting to clear my turns and I’m definitely still staring at the instruments too much.

I could tell he was trying to get me to apply what I had just learned in slow flight to the landing, but I was pretty burned-out by then.  The take offs and landings have been a blur, but they are getting less so each time.  I want to mount a camera in the cabin so that I can review my flights later.

I started flight training today with a CFI from Boraam Aviation at KPWK.  Since I’ve only flown once before for any length of time, there are a lot of new experiences happening all at once.  Learning basic maneuvers while still getting a feel for flying in the first place makes it easy to forget things and difficult to relax.  Relaxing is important to get that feel in the first place.

He showed me the pre-flight process (which I will have to do next time).  Then I did the start-up, taxi, and run-up.  Taxiing is a real struggle.  Managed to do the take-off, but I was all over the place.  Did some basic level flight, turns to a heading, climbing and descending turns, and (with a lot of instruction) the landing.  I was pretty burned-out by the end.  Next time it’s slow flight.

The 152 is down for maintenance, so I flew in N9831G today.  It’s also a 1979 Cessna 172N like the one I did my discovery flight in.  Neither airplane is pretty, but they seem to be well maintained.  They do the job.

Took a discovery flight with the CFI that I think I will be using. He’s professional and laid-back. The flight school is Boraam Aviation at Chicago Executive Airport (KPWK).  They are down-to-business, no-frills school which works for me.  This flight was in one of their two 1979 Cessna 172N airplanes, though I would probably use their 152 for training.

The Federal Aviation Regulations (“FARs” in aviation circles) are actually parts of the Code of Federal Regulations (aka, “CFRs”).  The two seem to get used interchangeably, though they mean the same thing.  The FARs are often bundled into the same publication with the Aeronautical Information Manual as the so-called “FAR/AIM”.

This book is the nitty-gritty.  If the Airplane Flying Handbook and the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge are the Java and C of aviation knowledge, the FAR/AIM is written in assembly.

The FAR is not really “readable” per se.  It’s more of a reference as it is written as a list of rules.  The AIM is more what you’d expect from a manual, though it is very dry and reads like stereo instructions.

There is a suggested study list at the beginning of the FAR/AIM that helps narrow the focus when seeking a particular license.  However, I found that the private pilot list tended to skip things that are important enough to be covered in other materials I have seen.  I used it as a rough guide to make sure that things were OK to skip, rather than as a definitive study list.  As you can see, I used those Post-It tabs to mark those sections plus others that I deemed important.

Not as fast of a read as the Airplane Flying Handbook.  There is some overlap in the content, but this book goes into much more detail and hits the main topics needed in order to take the written exam.

It is also downloadable from the FAA’s website.

Some reading while I’m on the mend.  This book is more about the physics and mechanical aspects of flight.  It does have some procedural stuff, but it is more of a fun read than some of the other books.

It can be downloaded for free at the FAA website.