Learning to Fly

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Introduction To Flight (March 9, 2007)

Got to the Gainesville Airport a few minutes early to find Matthew "Matt" Perrer of Lanier Flight Center waiting for me.  We took a brief tour, then we went upstairs so he could assess my expectations and thoughts.  We had a nice chat, then got in my truck and headed over to the flight line.

My introductory flight was on a Cessna 172SP, N21527.  Matt gave me a whirlwind tour (in the biting cold wind) on doing a pre-flight, showing me the checklists and how to do a walk-around.  (You know, which bolts you want to make sure stay bolted on.)  Then he said, "Ok, get in the left seat."  (The pilot?  Already?)

He took me through the cockpit checklist (as he said later, I was drinking through a fire hose).  We both got our seatbelts fastened eventually (don't ask) and our headsets plugged in and tested.

The Gainesville airport (KGVL) is at 1,277 feet, so he showed me how to tune in the automated weather station on the airport so we could set the barometric pressure on the altimeter.  He cranked her up, taxied out of the parking place then headed down the taxiway.  We went to a spot close to runway 11 where he could run the engine up, then he got on the radio (123.075 MHz), looked for inbound traffic- headed on to the runway, and.... zip!  We were off.

He climbed us up to about 2,200 feet of altitude (about 1,000 feet above the deck) and leveled it off.  It was a VERY windy and cloudy day, with a ceiling of 1,700 feet (about 700 feet above us).

In no time at all, he said "Fly it."  Wow.  So I flew it- sort of.  He kept his hands off of the controls, for the most part, and showed me how to make gentle banking turns.  After my initial fear of diving into Lake Lanier (a thousand feet below), I slowly began to relax and enjoy the experience of flying an airplane.  I kept it over the lake for about 45 minutes, with him getting me more comfortable with the gauges and helping me to relax and to fly primarily with my left hand.  Several banking turns with one or two demonstrations really helped build my confidence that I wasn't actually going to put the plane into a dive and kill us both.

After flying in several hundred compass headings, me over-controlling (you know, bobbing the plane up and down like a pregnant whale and wobbling along side to side) in the bucking crosswind, it was time to head back for the barn. 

Matt took the controls back over as we got closer to the airport- thank goodness.  He showed me how to do the downwind leg, working the radio.  In no time at all he was performing a cross-wind landing (Cool Hand Luke, that's Matt) and we were taxing back to our spot.

My first lesson.  Way, way cool.  Thanks, Matt!

So I went ahead and bought my flight school software and took it home to start learning in advance of real flying lessons.

My First "Official" Lesson (March 31, 2007)

This morning I had my first "official" lesson with Matt.  The first ride was an introduction to flight, while this will be the first time I will be instructed and taking the steps I need to be a private pilot.  A total of 1.2 hours.

It was COLD at the airport this morning.  Like to froze out on the ramp doing the preflight.  BRRRRRR.

Trying to taxi the plane was a scream!  (Literally.)  Trying to steer the plane with my feet, dealing with wind, and not being able to use the yoke (which ain't a steering wheel).  Matt told me that if I kept trying to steer with the yoke he was going to take a ruler and whack my knuckles.  And I believed him!

Frankly, much of what I had to do remains a whirlwind.  Matt had me try the checklist with him looking over my shoulder; I did fairly well, although I missed several key elements during the process.  But he was patient with me, helping to explain what everything was and why we checked it.  One of the big things I'm learning from my ground school lessons I'm taking (a series of King Schools videos, which are excellent) is that flying is hugely about checklists over memory.

The lesson was pretty good.  We learned the basics of climbs, turns, descents.  In short, we went through some basic fundamentals.  I was introduced to using rudder pedals for the first time.  Matt showed me where to point the airplane for our return back to the airport, and he showed me the pattern for the first time, which I still don't get.  But I'm sure I will eventually.

Back to the barn and back to the office for work (no fun.)

Lesson 2: More Basics (April 12, 2007)

Did better this morning on my preflight and checklist.  I'm not there yet, but I'm better.  And while I'm no master taxiing the airplane, I'm getting a little better.  Keep thinking about that ruler that Matt's going to whack my knuckles with, so I keep my left hand on the yoke and the right close to or on the throttle.

This morning was another 1.2 hours of climbs, turns, ascents, descents, both with and without flaps.  For the first time I was shown that a Cessna 172 will glide nicely- keep right on flying- even with the engine out.  It has a glide speed of about 65 knots indicated airspeed (65 KIAS) and will, in short, keep right on flying even without an engine.  That was a big lesson to me today.

I feel like I'm all thumbs, but at least I'm starting to better understand the pre-flight, which I do with Matt looking over my shoulder.

Takeoff scares the willies out of me, and landings?  Well, Matt's got them, thank goodness.

Lesson 3: Reinforcement; Slow Flight (April 24, 2007)

Was warmer at the airport this morning, and the preflight was easier.  Practice, I guess. 

More climbs, turns, ascents, descents, both with and without flaps.  Much time spent on S L O W   F L I G H T.  This is an important skill to learn, especially while landing the plane.

Matt really put me through the ringer this morning, with much concentration on coordinated turns (yoke AND rudder) and through slight back pressure on the yoke while turning.

Did pretty good this morning until we had to head back to the airport and land.  I HATE landings- coming into the pattern, having to use the radio, having to do way too many things at once, and finally, having to come in low and slow over objects at the end of the runway.  (Hey, we've got 4,000 feet of runway- why can't we only use the second half of it?)

He talked me down to the ground until we got pretty low, then I blew it and he had to take the controls and do a go-around.  "There's nothing to be ashamed about in doing a go-around," says Matt.  "Better to learn how to do them early and get used to doing them!."  He did the second landing- I couldn't get it together.  Oh, well.

Stalls and Recovery (May 3, 2007)

The lesson this morning was fairly short, because we spent much time talking about things before we got into the air.  Today I learned how to recover from power-on and power-off stalls while in the air.

The first plane we tried to use, good old reliable 27, had a problem during engine runup on the right magneto; the power dropped too drastically, and even after we tried "burning" what was probably a fowled plug, we finally had to call it quits and return to the ramp and get another airplane.

We got another plane, this time 35S, and the lesson was uneventful.

Recovering from stalls is a matter of getting the nose down, getting full power and recovering.  And after I did about six or seven, I got pretty good; the first few I did I didn't use nearly enough right rudder (uh-oh, that'll get you in trouble!) so the plane took a nasty lurch down and to the left, which is the prelude to a spin.  Of course, a Cessna 172 will just about self-recover from a spin, so it's not that big of a deal, but the idea here is to CONTROL the airplane.  But Matt, as always, was patient with me and I finally got the hang of it.

Putting the power back to the airplane gives it an immediate tendency to pull left, so firm and well-controlled right rudder will keep that at bay.

Back to the airport, where I SORT of landed it with major help from Matt.

Turns Around a Point  (May 8, 2007)

Today we practiced turns around a fixed ground point- these are called "ground reference maneuvers."  The trick is to bank consistently and smoothly while not losing altitude- plus the pilot must correct for the wind by changing the angle of bank depending upon where he is in the turn.

I did just fine, thank you very much.   Was able, for the first time, to keep track of both altitude as well as ground reference.  This is a huge increase in my ability over earlier lessons, where I've been struggling to watch airspeed, altitude, RPM, bank angle at once.

We also practiced more on power off stalls (landing stalls) and full power stalls (takeoff stalls).   But this morning's big surprise came when Matt reached over and throttled back and said, "Ok, you just lost your engine.  Where are you going to put this thing down?"  That was a very helpful exercise in understanding situational awareness, to say the very least!

In short, it was a pretty good lesson until I tried to land the plane-- I DON'T like the process of coming in low and to the very edge of the runway (you know, just above the trees at the end of the airport). Gives me the heebie-jeebies. Didn't help that there was a crosswind (as most times) so I'm having to raise one wing on my final approach.

So after one aborted attempt (a "go around"), we did it again and Matt had to land it for me. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Takeoffs and Landings  (May 11, 2007)

Got to the airport early to find out that today is takeoff and landing day.  We will focus on proper takeoff, proper pattern, and when to what and how in working a proper approach and in putting the plane properly on the runway.

Frankly, it was almost 2 hours of extremely hard work.  I'm glad I did it, and I needed to do it, but.... whew.

We spent about a half hour in advance of flying just in discussing the landing pattern, what happens when and why and how, and in what I need to be doing and thinking about.  Then out to the ramp to pre-flight the airplane, then takeoff.  But this time instead of flying to the northeast, we stayed in the traffic pattern by making a fairly immediate left ascending turn (our "crosswind" turn), then fairly quickly turning "downwind" to parallel the runway.  This is called being "in the the traffic pattern" or "in the pattern" at 1,000 feet AGL (above ground level), or in this case, at 2,300 feet on the altimeter (2,300 MSL).

My landings were so bad they were non-events.  Way over-correcting, not enough rudder, then too much rudder, then getting behind the airplane way after I should have corrected one problem after another.  All of that on my final approach, of course, which is when it all should be coming together.

At least I could follow Matt on the controls for two of the landings to I could see how they should be done properly- how mild control changes can be all it takes to keep it together.

So for today, Ross loses in the landing department, but at least is progressing in how to stay in the pattern, work the radios and understand how a successful approach and landing is supposed to look.

First Time on the Sim (May 15, 2007)

I got to the airport early for my flight lesson.  We went out and I began to pre-flight, but unfortunately, there were scattered clouds down too low and I wasn't allowed to fly.  So we went back for a little bit of ground school instruction on instrument flying. Actually, I'm already getting pretty comfortable with flying instruments, so he suggested we jump into the big flight simulator they have and give things a try in advance of my lesson Friday morning, when I'll be flying on instruments alone using a hood to shield my eyes from the windshield.

He booted up the system and I climbed into the left seat. He took the co-pilot seat. I set the radios, the altimeter, etc. exactly as one would normally do. (The sim has a normal cockpit, although this one is "open" to the rear so that others can observe.)  We took off fairly easily- not much right rudder required-- and immediately entered "clouds" (grey screens all around the "windows"). So from that point, Matt gave me a series of headings to execute, such as "Continue to climb to 4,000 while making an ascending turn to the left to a heading of 360" or "Make a descending turn to the right and come to a heading of 120 and level off at 3,000 feet."

For the most part, I did ok. The yoke on the sim gave me some trouble- had a hard time holding altitude until I figured out the electric "trim" settings, had a hard time on climbs until Matt gave me some pointers. But all in all, not too bad.  We wrapped things up and I felt like I had been flying the airplane. Fortunately, I didn't have work any radios, and I didn't have to enter the pattern and land the airplane.

So I got to log some early sim training in my logbook.

Under the Hood (May 18, 2007)

I was looking forward to this lesson, and I had NO problems of any consequence. 

Called for a weather briefing on my way to the airport, got a good report for flying.

Flying under the hood means using a means of blocking the pilot seeing out the windows while the instructor, who can see out, controls where he goes and what he does.  In short, it's the only way a student pilot can be taught to fly instruments only, as if they were in solid clouds.

After achieving straight and level flight, Matt had me put on the special frosted glasses with the small rectangle in order to see just the engine instruments, and he began to give me a series of commands.  I made sure to repeat each one as I executed each- climbing turns, descending turns, new course headings.

Lo and behold, for my reward he introduced me to the autopilot- what a great little gizmo!

Back to the airport to practice a couple of landings.  I did ok in the pattern- I entered it a bit wrong, but was able to hold my altitude reasonably well, keep it fairly well together until final touchdown.  The first was was going pretty lousy, but with Matt's help I got it recovered.

The second landing was terrible- I way over-corrected, Matt took the controls saying "Ah, that will get you killed" and taking us around again for another go.  He helped me get in on the ground in one piece. 

Whew.  I'm whipped.   Clearly I need help on my landings.

Landings-- We've Got Landings (May 26, 2007)

Yesterday was "landing day" for yours truly.  I dropped Cathy off for her last day of school at North Forsyth High School (goodbye Junior Year, hello Senior Year) and headed for the airport. I called the FAA and tried to get a weather briefing, but after holding for fifteen minutes I gave up and called the automated weather station at KGVL and got current conditions- 10 miles visibility, overcast at 1,300 AGL (above ground level). Not great, but maybe. I'm supposed to have at least 1,000 feet in order to fly, but I have other rules that may interfere, depending on what my instructor wants me to do today.

Got to the airport and Matt says "Takeoffs and landings today, low in the pattern." Hmmmm. Sounds to me more like "Matthew's little house of horrors, Starring The Old Geezer Boy." Ah, well. Must accept my fate and go flying. Beats working this morning, anyway. 

Had Matt take a photo with me and old reliable N21527, my "bucket of choice."   Preflight was pretty uneventful, and then after taxiing down to the end of the runway, we sat and waited while a BEAUTIFUL 2-engine King Air dropped out of the clouds and landed. (ours is a "pilot controlled" field, so we handle our own traffic communications between pilots.)

We had a normal engine "run up" followed by a smooth and uneventful takeoff to the east northeast on a heading of 40 degrees, climbed out to only 2,000 feet (rather than our "normal" 2300 feet), we turned left on our crosswind leg and immediately entered the pattern to land... and takeoff... and land... and takeoff... and land... and takeoff..

Surprise, surprise. Did ok. Normally one files 1,000 feet above the airport in a circular counter-clockwise "left pattern" when landing on a particular runway, in this case, runway 4. For over an hour we practiced flying the pattern at a slightly lower altitude (due to clouds above us), setting up the landing (proper power settings, proper flaps, getting lined up on the center line), then landing. A roll down the runway just a bit, then full power and back up into the sky in what's called a "touch and go." Sounds scary, but it's very safe and easy.   One of the big challenges for most new pilots is radio procedure while trying to fly the airplane, but since I'm already a licensed ham radio operator, that's been OK.  ("Gainesville traffic, Skyhawk 2157 is turning final for runway 4, Gainesville.")

Landings aren't dangerous- let's just say that they have the potential to be if you don't watch what you're doing. And with Matt with me, I gained several things today.

First, I gained a more consistent sight picture of what the runway is supposed to look like when I'm lining things up right. That sounds dumb, but really, it means I need to understand what "too high" or "too low" on approach means, so I can adjust. Second, Matt had already helped me tremendously to fly SLOWLY (at higher altitudes) using my flaps, which are used to fly the airplane at slow speeds- especially landings! Third, Matt's helping me to better coordinate my rudder pedals with the yoke, and it really showed today. Fourth, Matt's helping me to better anticipate slight airplane movements in order to correct early. Today was still way too sloppy on early corrections, but with practice in flying, it will come.

The clouds began to burn off late and Captain Fantastic took pity on me on my last touch and go and let me keep climbing up to the north of the airport, through a hold in the clouds and into a beautiful clear sky with broken clouds below. For a few minutes and we tried STEEP (45 degree) turns. Whew! A few dutch rolls for practice, then back to the airport for a final landing for the day, then a taxi to the ramp, shut down, push the plane back into position and tie it down. Closing checklist, pitot covers and control locks back into position, and we're done.

I've definitely got the "bug" to start looking at low-wing airplanes to buy so I don't have to rent.  I like the performance and price of Piper Cherokees; they've been around forever, have good safety records, and are obtainable for a reasonable amount of money. Buy one of those on a 10-year note through my company (to expense it) and it helps me to write off a bunch of expenses, too.

As far as my flying skills go, I'm still as green as a cow pasture after a hard rain, but at least I'm starting, for the first time, to think like a pilot. And that's a pleasure.

Flying The Pattern (May 29, 2007)

Today's the first Tuesday after Memorial Day 2007, so up fairly early to the airport for another lesson. A check with the FAA Weather Briefer during the drive to the airport- 10 miles visibility, scattered clouds 1,100 feet over the deck. Maybe Matt will let me fly the pattern this morning. Goodness knows I need some practice in landings.   Perfectly normal pre-flight. Plane looks nice, plenty of fuel in the tanks, plus it's a plane I haven't flown much- 35S, another Cessna 172SP. While waiting I looked into the cockpits of other planes on the ramp. I would love to have a Beech Bonanza some day, but will probably end up buying a much smaller Piper Cherokee. Will definitely need to build some hours up in a smaller plane before buying something bigger.

Today IS pattern day- Matt wants us to spend an hour just working low in the pattern.  I'm glad- goodness knows I need plenty of practice in landings.

While taxing I'm having trouble using the rudder pedals- my shoes keep clunking into something on the floorboard. Arrrg. But we get down to the end of runway 4 and wait for a Diamond to take off in the opposite direction (winds were virtually calm), then "lights, camera, action" (tax & strobe lights, transponder, mixture to full rich.)  Takeoff. Normal climb to a LOW pattern- only 700 feet AGL (above ground level). As soon as I climbed to an indicated 2,000 feet we were far enough from the airport to turn to the left for our crosswind leg, then turned to the left again to make the downwind leg and parallel the airport.

So for the next 50 minutes we landed and took off.  Did pretty well. I was much better today on small corrections (there's a natural tendency to over-correct, just like new drivers do on the highway). My sight picture is getting much better, too-- I'm getting where I can see what a "good" runway is supposed to look like.  The big thing I accomplished today was getting the airplane down to where I could level off above the runway, then bleed off airspace and let it settle down on its own.

Unfortunately, my second landing I WAY over-corrected when I was just about to touch down, so we did a go-around. No big deal. And the very next landing I didn't level out the airplane, but rather bumped the nose wheel into to runway. OUCH. That's a huge no-no.  But the other five landings were pretty good.  There's much to do right in landing any airplane, and right now I'm getting some right and some wrong, and at different times on different runs. But as long as I keep practicing, I'll start getting all of the bits together.

Matt graciously took the controls over after landing #6 and told me to "take a break." (God bless him!) He accelerated it, climbed out to 2,000 and put it back into the pattern for me for final landing, #7. Lucky seven turned out pretty good. Not as good as #5, but not bad, either. Approach was good, no over control, and I leveled off fairly nicely before flaring and setting it down on the back wheels.  Still having trouble feeling the rudder pedals.

After the lesson, Matt suggests that I fly in tennis shoes instead of these big clunkers I'm flying in. Good advice. I really can't "feel" the pedals with these shoes, and his thought is that I'll be more responsive on both taxi and flight with running shoes.  I only did 8/10 of an hour of flying, but it felt like 3! Matt told me that 6 landings is about the max for one lesson, and I can only agree.  Whew!

Steep Turns and Smooth Landings  (June 2, 2007)

After the last lesson I took Matt's advice and bought some tennis shoes.  Note the brown "dockers" on the left; thick soles that stick out and I couldn't really feel the rudder pedals.  The new black tennis shoes on the right were going to be tested today to see if that would help.

Woke up this morning to an overcast Saturday morning, and I knew that with Tropical Storm Barry finally bringing some much-needed rain as it crept up from Florida today that we would have to watch radar and wind patterns before going aloft.  Got to the airport at 7:45 am to find Matt Perrer waiting on me. He and I went back over how to read METARS data from www.aviationweather.gov  and we saw it looked good. The airport automated system was reporting thin clouds at 3,400 AGL and virtual calm. OK to fly for sure, and today back in N2135S, my favorite Cessna 172.

Normal preflight, and one of the first things I noticed as I taxied was that I could really feel the rudder pedals with the new shoes.  A smooth takeoff to the northeast on runway 4. We climbed out to 3,500 feet, still way below the clouds, and practiced steep (45 degree) banked turns.  Did great. Had some minor "issues" in keeping the nose up enough to not lose lift; did a 360-degree turn to the left, then one to the right. Settled back on my heading, then did it again. On the second try, I nailed it so well that we had a big "bump" as we came all the way around-- we had hit our own turbulence in the calm morning air! That shows I was maintaining my altitude, which is good.

After about 20 minutes of turns, we went back to the airport to work "the pattern" for three touch and goes, and a final full-stop landing.  I'm finally losing my nervousness about the height, descent, procedures, flaps, speed-- and especially my stick and rudder work. Landing #3 was smooth as silk! The score this time: 4 good landings for 4. Some better than others, but all 4 were good landings. I got a "great job" from my instructor, too. (Will wonders never cease?)  The tennis shoes made a huge difference. For the first time I could feel the wind directly on the tail as it was transferred back through the rudder pedals.  I felt like I was really in control of the airplane.

In taxing back to the ramp, we set up a 2:30 pm lesson to try to get in some crosswind landings before Tropical Storm Barry's outskirts arrived.  "You can't get better without facing some challenges" said my instructor.  He's right, of course.

Got to the airport at 2:15 with gusty 8-14 mph winds from the east. Good weather to practice crosswind landings, but this time I'd be flying N21527.   Now we had a quartering tail wind, with gusts. Takeoff- and immediately blown to the left of the runway just about as soon as I left the ground. No where nearly enough right rudder. Gotta remember that- wind coming from the right, dummy. No safety issues, but if I'd had a passenger in the plane, they'd have gotten moon eyes from the effect!

First approach was pretty good, but Matt had to land it for me.  With the crosswind we were blown off our downwind leg, then heading into the last "base" leg for final it took forever, and I do mean FOREVER to line up with the runway for final approach.   Everything was going OK until the very end, when a gust blew me off and I didn't recover quickly enough.  Matt took the controls, got it sideslipped enough to line up enough to land, and landed it with me feeling how he did it. He said, "Touch and go. Your controls."  (OK, here we go again.) Full throttle, no flaps, takeoff at 60 knots and a nice climb with PLENTY of right rudder this time, thank you very much.

Landing number two was mine with a bit of help from the master.  Not bad.   I was skeptical I could do it, but I was able to hold it together in spite of crosswind gusts and considerable work in holding the yoke with the left hand and keeping the right on the throttle.

Landing number three was great. So good in fact, that it warranted a "GREAT JOB" by my instructor, who promptly patted me on the back for the first time.  Right at the end Matt took his hands OFF THE CONTROLS and left them in his lap for the first time; it was a huge boost to my confidence.  Landing number four was acceptable, certainly OK for crosswind.  I came in high and fast, with only 20-degrees of flaps due to high crosswinds, but brought it down, leveled it off ok and put the wheels down just fine. That in spite of almost wandering over the grass on the left side of the runway due to a strong wind gust.  Matt said, "No, you did fine.  Good recovery.  Good landing." 

We got to the ramp, shut her down and pushed her back into position. I felt like I'd been rode hard and put up wet. FOUR crosswind landings in only 40 minutes. Yowza.   You know, this is getting to be fun.

Emergency Procedures  (June 5, 2007)

On the drive to the airport I was able to get immediately through on my cell phone for a weather brief, and the forecast from the meteorologist was superb for flying. 10 miles visibility, virtually no clouds. Called the automated airport observation station, which was reporting 4-6 knot winds from 270. Sounds like flying weather to me!

Ground school I had covered at home(the Cessna training CDs) had covered emergency procedures- what to do if an engine quits on takeoff, on landing, during flight; what to do in case of engine fire, what to do on electrical fire in the cockpit. The videos were very factual, and really stressed learning checklist NOW. So I had. At the airport, Matt and I discussed emergency procedures as well as flying without specific instruments- altimeter, airspeed indicator. He told me we'd fly today to Jackson County, Georgia and simulate an engine fire, but we'd fly there on limited instruments.

After an uneventful preflight, taxi, runup and takeoff on runway 29, we headed for Jackson County while climbing to 6,500 feet. Just after we turned left after takeoff, Matt put a black cover on my airspeed indicator. Since I should always climb at 75 knots, or about 550 feet per minute, I had to only use my climb indicator and altimeter. No problem. We also worked on using instruments to find and maintain course heading.

Leveled out at 6,500 and continued on to Jackson; passed it just a bit to the south, then we practiced steep (45-degree) turns, first to the left, then to the right. You can't depend on just your instruments on steep turns, since they lag about a half second behind actual- actually about all you have to do is line up the horizon with the dashboard and maintain it while watching the angle of turn and altimeter. Add power and HAUL BACK on the yoke, of course.

Headed for Jackson- then Matt reached over and pulled the throttle back to idle. "Your engine's on fire. Now what?" Nose down and 120 knots, then sweeping turn to the left, then the right. "Ok, fire's out. Let's land the plane. Haul back on your yoke until you slow to ideal glide speed- 68 knots." Got the speed down, trimmed for 68 knots, then as we headed for the airport, Matt called on the radio we were practicing engine fire and other emergencies over the Jackson airport.

Amazingly, I landed the plane dead stick (engine still on idle) and made my instructor very happy. We taxied back to takeoff position, re-trimmed for takeoff, hit the takeoff check list and back into the air for a barely acceptable touch and go. Oh, well.   Back in the air and Matt says, "Take us back to Gainesville. You're on your own." Ok, program Gainesville (KGVL) into the GPS, tune the radios back to Gainesville frequencies to see which runway's in use and what the wind's doing.

Matt wants me to practice "go arounds"  to get more comfortable with  not landing if it's marginal.  (Ok, that's easy, since most of my landings are pretty lousy anyway!!)  First approach we do go-arounds, the second Gainesville (KGVL) landing is for real, so yours truly does a HARD landing on the nose gear (ARRRRGG) because I try to fly the plane all the way into the ground like I did a few weeks ago.  Dumb stunt.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.

So the score today- good dead stick landing, good emergency procedures, not nearly enough concentration on landings which shows I'm progressing but in need of lots of work on landings.  Only 2 out of 3.

Perfecting Landings  (June 9, 2007)

A nice early Saturday morning, perfect for a lesson.  KGVL reporting 10 miles visibility, no clouds, light winds from the northwest.    Met Matt at 7:15 AM and I made coffee while we talked.  Plan was do to my first flight to a controlled airport, but it was not to be- www.aviationweather.gov METARS was reporting ground fog at Athens.  So we decided to work the pattern, do touch and goes, and generally polish up my landings.

According to my logbook, I have now flown 15 hours.

Beautiful morning to fly, and because we were early, we had the runway to ourselves.  I handled all the preflight, radios, taxi, runup, radio.  I guess I'm getting close to getting better.  I guess.  We flew in two stages- my first two touch and goes were good takeoff and pattern work.  Good climbout, good altitude control, good patterns, good approaches, good rudder control and pretty good anticipation during the light crosswind.  Unfortunately, I clearly wasn't pulling up the yoke hard enough to flare before landing.

On the first landing, Matt had to haul the yoke up for me at the last minute to keep me from hitting the nose gear again.  Since it was a touch and go, Matt gave me the dirt during climb out.  "You're not using enough back pressure on the yoke.  Not nearly enough."   We stayed in the pattern and tried it again.  Better, but similar results.  Winds were slowly starting to pick up, plus the airport was slowly starting to wake up.   But I stuck with it and continued to concentrate hard on my approach, especially the final.  Better.  Not huge, but better.   "You've got to pull back hard on that yoke, and let the airplane quit flying.  It's a power-off stall.  It's a function of nose-up, flying right off the runway, letting it settle down on the main gears."  (All this during climb out again for a third landing.)

Landing number three was much improved indeed.  Same crosswind from the right, same problems of staying lined up during short final, and now we have an audience on the ground waiting on us to land so they can take off.  This time I flew it nose high right off the runway and let the gear settle down.   Not a slick, greased landing, but perfectly respectable for a new pilot.  We had decided to do a full stop and take a Coke break at the fuel farm.

So after a cold Coke and a 20-minute break (whew!), it was back into the air.  A bit of vapor lock to contend with, but we eventually got it cranked, taxied and back down to runway 29 for more takeoffs and landings.  We had discussed things at length during the break, with some strong tips about keeping the plane nose-high, letting it settle down on it's own while flying above the runway.  That's the idea, at least.

And you know, I got much closer on the first try.  I gave it much more back pressure on the yoke, but Matt said it still wasn't quite enough.  Not quite.  An acceptable landing, then full power and back into the air to re-enter the pattern.   The wind was definitely starting to pick up, as was more traffic at the airport.   The pattern was good- holding altitude well, using power, flaps as I'm supposed to.  Matt was pleased, and told me so.  I eased into a pretty good final approach again, and this time the landing was good.  Yep, good.

Back into the air to reinforce what I just did right for a third (sixth, actually) landing.  In spite of more challenging wind conditions where I needed to use some uncoordinated rudder and aileron work to compensate for right crosswind.  And yep, good final landing for the day.  Matt said, "Take a break, I've got the controls" and he put the plane into it's spot, bless his heart.  We took a few pictures of each other- this one's a shot of Matt sitting at his faithful position in the right seat, and he took a few shots of me as well.

Back at the Flight Center we discussed next steps- we're probably now about 3 or 4 flights away from solo- as Matt put it, "You're right where you need to be."  It was only one hour of flying by the meter, but it was a full, busy hour.

Part 2: More Initial Instruction