The Learning Curve

"I'm a pessimist about probabilities; I'm an optimist about possibilities." Lewis Mumford

I don't know where I am on the learning curve but I'm at the phase where the work really begins in earnest. This was evident last Monday when I made a no-go decision based on my gut. I second guessed that decision until Thursday when I got back on the horse and took 68F around the pattern for a sloppy landing.

First, I must go back and talk about my previous lesson. After a preflight brief and practice "engine out" procedure while still on the ground, we took off for Nervino/Beckworth and the Sierra Valley. At 8,500', over our training area, my instructor reaches over and pulls the throttle to idle and announces, "OK, your engine just quit, what do you do?" First thing I did was to engage the carb heat as the RPM's dropped out of the green arc. Then went through my recently memorized emergency checklist. Then made a descent and approach to a suitable landing field. After my first forward slip to loose altitude, which I didn't do very well, at about 250' above the ground she declared, "We've made it so power on and climb."

It was on to Nervino where I attempted my first right turn traffic pattern and power off approach. I had difficulty holding my approach speed. I was afraid of the ground and kept pulling back, which bleeds off speed. We were still a good 10-15kts from a stall but to slow for comfort. So, at my instructors urgency I got the nose down and brought it in for a bouncy landing. Then back out over the Sierra Valley and another practice engine out simulation, this time a a lower altitude above ground level.

That was a good lesson and I learned a lot, but not enough to be comfortable in the cockpit yet. That will take some time.

My next lesson went better as we stayed in the pattern at Truckee. Five approaches and 4 landings, with one go-around. Whew, this is a lot of work! What have I got myself into? Well, I can't stop now so I'll get back to you next week. I have a substitute instructor for Monday and my regular CFI is back on Thursday. Best of all, next week I am scheduled to fly 5 days. I hope the weather is good for me.

Air Races Today!

Today my father-in-law and I went to the 2009 Reno Air Races. This is one of the top 5 coolest events in aviation to go to. Up there with Oshkosh, Fleet Week, Paris and your local fly in.

Enjoy these photos. Next time I'll tell you all about my first simulated engine out training last week.

That's all for today, see you next week.

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." Aristotle

Last week I left you with the hope of a good training session on Thursday. But the aviation gods were not with me and my babysitter had to cancel, so I had to cancel my flight. I may not have been able to go flying, but if I can't fly, hanging out with my boy Seth is just as good. Really. He's just so darn cute, and smart, and funny; all you parents out there understand what I'm saying.

So I had to wait until this last Tuesday to get back in the air. I was ready.

Proof that I'm flying the plane, a photo of me at the controls. Note the demonstration of the three finger technique holding the control yoke.

The big test, for me at least, during Tuesdays lesson was the return of steep turns. If you recall from earlier posts, the first time I tried steep turns I got motion sickness. I was prepared this time, I had in my possession Ginger Chews. So far they are working for me. Not only that, but I preformed the maneuver better. So good in fact that when we came around to our original heading we encountered our own wake turbulence. How cool is that? And I didn't feel a bit of nausea, hooray for me!

We followed that with unusual attitudes. My instructor had me close my eyes and start a left turn. Then a right turn. At the moment of her choice she told me to open my eyes and recover. We were is a nose down turn to the right. The recovery was like this: power off, carb heat on, wings level and raise the nose. When the plane was back to a normal attitude I put the power back on. We did this twice, I couldn't help but peak on the second time and I got in trouble for it. She threw me out.

Based on the ground reference maneuvers I did last time, we did another one this time. A spiral descent. We picked a crossroads under us and I made a left turn spiral 300'/minute descent to 7,500'. Once again I aced the maneuver. We leveled out at our altitude heading straight for the airport. I couldn't have planned it any better, but it just happened that that was our heading when we rolled out.

They were still working on runway 28, so it had a displaced threshold, and we were going to land that direction. Have you ever wondered about the term "threshold"? Leave a comment if you know the origin.

My instructor was pleased as we came within 2 miles of the airport and she checked our speed and altitude. Right at 85kts and 7,000'. We entered the pattern on the left downwind runway 28, midfield. It wasn't easy to tell when I was "abeam the numbers" because of the construction. But she let me know when it was time to begin our descent.

As we turned onto the base leg I looked down to see an airplane that had crashed the evening before. It was upside down in a field. But I was to occupied to say anything to my instructor, opting instead to point. She didn't notice. Moments later we were on final and looking good. A smooth touchdown, well, smooth for me, the student pilot that I am. We taxied back to the hangers where we met up with the owner of 68F who told us about the accident. You can read about it here... http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20090908/NEWS/909089998/1051

I sure hope everyone recovers from this accident, they have my best wishes.

It was an interesting way to end a training session. I didn't scare me off, rather renewed my desire to learn to be the safest pilot; not necessarily the best. I have a philosophy when it comes to skiing. All my calculated risk decisions on the mountain are based on my desire to ski until I'm too old to walk. It keeps me from thinking I'm 28 again and able to withstand the ensuing wipe out. The same can be said for flying, except I want to fly until I'm too old to lift the fuel hose up on my own. I tell my wife that many many more pilots die of old age and car wrecks than in airplane crashes. I don't know if this is true, but it seems right. I sometimes wish the media focused more on these aviators than the ones who die from a mistake in the left seat.

This is Boca reservoir, 2-3 miles NE of Truckee Tahoe airport. It was a calm day as evidenced by the glassy surface of the lake. The area just to the right of the spar in this picture is a Bald Eagle refuge.

Thursday came and I got to the airport early. It was my first time to preflight the airplane without my instructor looking over my shoulder. I did the preflight starting at the left fuel tank sump and worked my way around the airplane from there. Then used the checklist to see what I missed. Only one thing, the carburetor air intake. It was clear. We only had 5.5 gallons and we need at least 22 gallons to do our training. Once she arrived that was the first thing we did, get fuel. I finally got to break out the work gloves I put in my flight bag just for this purpose. They worked great and I didn't get my hands black from reeling in the fuel hose. I win.

On that day runway 10-28 was closed, still due to construction, and we only had 01-19 to choose from. Good thing the winds were calm out of the north, so runway 1 was the best choice. After our run-up we did the usual 360 to spy any traffic in the pattern, and I spotted some. There was traffic on final for runway 19, traffic that had not used their radio to self announce their position and intentions. I'm glad that it is SOP to always scan the pattern before entering any runway at an uncontrolled airport like TRK. Sometimes pilots don't participate and you must keep an eye out for them.

On take off I got a little cross controlled, veered a little too much to the right and failed to rotate well. Once I got uncrossed we climbed out just fine. It was another beautiful Sierra day, not a breath of wind. An uneventful transit to the Sierra Valley training grounds was our reward for being there that day.

Once to the valley we reviewed slow flight maneuvers and power off stalls. Then I got to land at a new airport for me. Beckworth/Nervino was the destination. I use both names because on the sectional chart it's called Nervino, but in the Airport/Facility Directory it's call Bechworth. My instructor likes to use both because Nervino can sound like Reno over the radio. So I abide, it makes sense. Anyways, I made a great approach but ended up bouncing a little on the landing. Learning is fun.

I followed that landing with a much better take off at Nervino than the one earlier at Truckee. Once in the air and out of the traffic pattern it was time to go back. On the way back we worked on radio calls. I have got to work on not "machine gunning" my calls, speak slow and intelligible, Matt. I once made a position report without saying our altitude. This is not good because with out an altitude other aircraft won't know where to look for us. It's hard keeping everything you need to say straight in your head. I know it will become second nature to me, but for now it's difficult to get it right.

The landing at Truckee, on runway 1, was better than at Nervino, but I pulled back a little to much on flair and we nosed up too much for a smooth landing. It wasn't too bad though. One of these days I going to put her down "like a butterfly with sore feet".

Once 68F was put back in her hanger I handed in my pre-solo written exam. I had time to work on it last week as I wasn't flying. Next week I'll let you know if I passed it.

Happy thoughts,

Matt

It's All so Cool!

"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails." Bertha Calloway

I've been rained out. I've been snowed out and I've been blown out by the wind on the mountain. But I've never been crosswinded out. Today I was.

My lesson today was in humility and patience, two excellent traits in a student pilot. When I arrived at the airport at 8:40am the wind was 3-5 kts from the SE. My instructor hadn't arrived yet so I went to my aircraft, 68F, to read up on the Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) that lives in the plane and is not to be removed. I had wanted to do this since I hadn't had the chance to study it yet. In the 15 minutes I had my head in the cabin looking at the POH the wind arrived.

By the time my instructor found me the winds had climbed to 15 kts, gusting to 22 kts. At 22 kts from the SE, our crosswind component was 22 kts. The demonstrated crosswind takeoff maximum for 68F is 15 kts. And with runway 01-19 closed we had no option. Besides on my 4th lesson it would not be good to fly in those winds form any direction.

This person is ready to go at 8:45am with light winds. Note the blocked taxiway to the left. That is because runway 28 is closed beyond that taxi point. So from where this person is doing their run-up, you must back taxi to get all 4000' available.

So I had to settle for an hour and a half of ground school. That's quite alright as I love talking about aviation and airplanes, just ask any of my friends. All my books had arrived last week so I've had a chance to start my studies; aircraft systems, radio communications and aerodynamics. I had many questions.

Also last week. I passed my Airman's Medical Exam, woo hoo! I am now an official student pilot with a 3rd class medical in my possession. I was saddened to learn that I have shrunk some. I had the nurse measure me 3 times and it came out 5'9" every time. I swear that I'm 5'11", so that's what I'm going with.

In this aviation weather map, in the pilots "lounge", you can see they are forecasting moderate turbulence in our area.

Is it me or are there a lot of acronyms and mnemonic devices in aviation? Turn into, dive away. GUMPS. High to low, look out below. Low to high, clear the sky. The 4 W's, who, who, where, what. Pitch, power and trim. Look outside, peek inside. VOR, DME, VASI, PAPI, etc.

My studies are going smooth but I had some trouble with the different types of altitude and visualizing how pressure differences effect the altimeter. But other than that, bring on the written exam. OK, not just yet.

This windsock doesn't look so bad. Then a gust came up and blew the camera out of my hands. Not really.

I've been using my flight simulator, not for the flying, rather for practicing communication. My wife thinks I'm crazy up in the office. Who am I talking to she wonders and then comes up to inquire and sees me in front of the computer. It's OK, she knows I'm just plane crazy. As I fly the pattern I practice my CATF calls. "Truckee traffic, Skyhawk 1968F, left base runway 28, Truckee.", and the like.

Too bad, so sad. Saying goodbye to 68F for the day. Until next time amiga.

We are set for this Thursday for another lesson. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the wind is more favorable. Also, they most likely will be done with the re-construction of the touchdown zone on 28, which would open 01-19 as well. I'll let you know next time if we have a complete airport to work with.

The next three photos are a takeoff sequence of a private jet in the same crosswinds 68F shouldn't attempt. Can anybody tell me what make and model this jet is? I don't know.

Kicking up dust with Mt. Rose in the background.

Note the windsock. They are taking off with a quartering tailwind!

Adios, from Truckee Tahoe Airport

http://truckeetahoeairport.com/