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Sunday, March 7th, 2004
Take off BFI, Fly around, return to BFI, 3 X wind landings
Cessna 172, 3 Landings, 0.9 hours
Private pilot training teaches flight in clear air
where it is possible to orient the airplane by looking at external reference,
usually the ground, and avoid collisions by seeing and avoiding. Flying
by reference to instruments requires significant additional training.
Originally there was no instrument training for private pilots. They were
taught to stay out of clouds. Eventually it was clear that some enter
clouds for one reason or another and it would be good if they could fly
the airplane well enough by reference to instruments to turn around and
fly back out, descend below the clouds, or contact ATC for directions.
The goal is for me to be able to keep control of the airplane by reference
only to the instruments with enough precision that I can get back out
of the clouds.
Deane lends me some goggles with a flip down frame
which limits my view to the instrument panel, mostly. If I hold my head
in exactly the correct position I can block my view out the window but
it is all too easy to catch a glimpse. I decide that the larger, visor
type hood may work better.
I've taking the Flight Simulator Instrument training
up to the point of failing my check ride. The basics I learned there are
as Deane describes. There are six main instruments on the panel: air speed,
attitude, altitude, turn and bank, course, and vertical speed indicator.
For any given maneuver two or three will be primary and others provide
backup confirmation. To control the plane by reference to these instruments
I have to keep scanning them. The recommended procedure is to start with
the attitude indicator then visit each of the others returning to the
attitude indicator in between.
I find actual instrument flying to be like simulator
instrument flying. I'm surprised because I found that simulator landings
in no way prepared me for actual landings. I am about as proficient at
real instrument flying as I was in the simulator. I can control the airplane,
but often find it difficult to maintain target altitudes, courses, and
speeds. Sometimes I'm able to get the airplane well trimmed out and stabilized.
Other times some aspect starts to get away from me. As I focus on correcting
that I stop scanning and soon other aspects are drifting. I found descents
particularly difficult. Somehow I had trouble reaching the target 500
ft/min and could fairly easily turn it back into an ascent.
At one point I got a glimpse of the difficulty controlling
the airplane when my sense of what the airplane conflicts with what the
instruments are telling me. Airplanes play tricks on the senses. It is
not possible to control the airplane by your sense of what it is doing:
you'll be wrong. I have a sense that the airplane may
be entering a turning dive and I'm tempted to pull out but the instruments
do not agree and I have to go with them.
We fly over Seattle somewhere, I'm not entirely
sure. I just get occasional glimpses of houses and buildings. We return
to Boeing field where there is an 8 knot cross wind and I practice 3 cross
wind landings. The plane is all over the place on final, but I'm able
to bring it to decent landings each time. Good practice.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2004
Take off BFI, Fly around, return to BFI
Cessna 150, 1 Landing, 1.0 hours
Deane presents the skills for Steep Turns and Recovery
from Unusual Attitudes. Steep turns are a 360° turn done at 45°
bank angle. This test the pilots ability to control the plane while dividing
attention between instruments and outside the airplane. Recovery from
unusual attitudes test the pilot's ability to recover from an unusual
attitude using instruments only.
Steep Turns:
- Pick a reference point. Take time to pick something that will be easy
to spot as you complete the turn
- Note your heading. Roll into a turn. You'll need to apply back pressure
on the wheel and more power. The nose will be somewhat up.
- Hold 45° ±5° through the turn.
- Hold the entry altitude ±100 ft through the turn. If the altitude
starts to drop this can be corrected with some combination of: less
bank, up elevator, and/or more power. If you are climbing a reverse
of the above will stop the climb.
- Watch for your reference point. As it approaches watch your heading
and begin roll out 10 deg before the target heading.
Deane said that the examiners are not too picky about the bank angle
but they are picky about the altitude. He was a proponent of briefly decreasing
the bank angle to stop a descent. I found it difficult to hold 45°
and would fluctuate between 35° and 40°. I had good success on
the first turns but then the subsequent turns were a little rougher.
Recover from Unusual Attitudes:
- The examiner will tell me to look down and close my eyes while he
flies the airplane. He'll climb, descend, bank left and right, and slip
left and right until I've probably lost track of where the plane is
pointing. Then he'll tell me to look up and recover the airplane.
- The airplane is likely to be in one of two states
- Power On Descending: The airplane will be in
a dive, banked one way or the other, will full power. Immediately
reduce power. Roll the plane to level flight and then
pull out of the dive. It is important to not try to pull out while
banked as that can lead to a descending spiral.
- Power Off Climbing: The airplane will be nose
up, near the stall speed, with idle power. Immediately apply power
and lower the nose. Bring the plane level as speed builds.
- In both cases the maneuver finishes with me returning the airplane
to level flight.
This is all done with me under the hood, not looking out the window.
When I put my head down the gyrations Deane takes the airplane through
quickly bring on a slight nausea. It is not so bad and I figure it will
go away once I'm looking out the window again but find that it stays with
me the rest of the flight. I decide that I should ask the examiner to
save these maneuvers for the end.
I'm slow with the power. Another skill that needs to be drilled. Other
than that I don't feel I do all that much. When near stall the plane naturally
wants to drop it's nose. Rolling back to level seems natural. I do, however,
have trouble bringing the airplane back to full cruise speed. For some
reason I'm hesitant to apply enough power.
Near the end of the lesson Deane pulls the power off and asks me what
I would do with that. I'm slow to think of gaining altitude. I get the
other checks OK, but could use more practice on this too.
Soft Field:
Deane also presented the soft field technique and demonstrated a take
off.
- During taxi keep the stick pulled back to take weight off the front
wheel. It does not have to be off the ground but should have minimal
weight on it.
On take off the idea is to get off the ground as soon as possible but
then build speed before climbing.
- Use 10deg flaps for take off.
- Keep the nose up and let the plane fly itself off the ground. It will
do this at fairly low speed.
- Immediately put the nose down to keep the airplane near the ground
and in ground effect.
- Stay in ground effect until you have reached the normal climb speed
then bring the nose up and reduce flaps.
Landings are not too different from normal but:
- Don't let the nose wheel drop.
- Keep power on so that you can taxi with the nose wheel up.
But I didn't get to practice this.
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