The Winds of Change

Today wasn't shaping up to be a very good flying day. Just like yesterday, the winds were up and gusting...not bad for flying, but not good for soloing, either.

I arrived at about 3 pm and the winds were still about 15 knots, as forecast. In fact, T.I. was considering calling me to cancel just because there isn't a lot we need to do besides get the solo done. I asked if it was pretty much like yesterday, which he confirmed, so I said that I wouldn't mind still flying and doing something else. We decided to jump ahead a bit and do some of the simulated instrument training and go over a few preliminaries for cross-country flying.

So, we went into the classroom to go over the lesson. It involved reviewing the instrument scan and then some introduction to weight-and-balance. We also went over short- and soft-field takeoffs and landings. While T.I. spoke, I had a clear view of the mid-field windsock, and just kept hoping that it would slack off a little.

As luck would have it (you can't really be a pilot unless you're a little lucky, right?) the wind began to die down. After the 15 or so minutes we talked, it had stayed consistently calm. As T.I. finished the lesson, he looked outside and said, "Wow, the wind really went away." I said, "Yeah, in fact it's been down the whole time you were talking."

"Hmmm....we might change our plans, then."...things were looking good.

So out we went and up into the air. As we lifted off, the decision was made: remain in the pattern. The air was remarkably smooth considering the conditions up until a short while ago. Around we went, the old familiar course...

My landings were still a bit heavy with power, and T.I. gave me some advice to slowly bring it out a bit sooner than I had been. I had a couple of bounces, but I had it under control, and we survived...

After 5 landings, the wind was still calm. It was time. "You ready to go by yourself?" "I think so."

Back to the hangar, and go over the logbook and last minute advice. Mainly to watch my airspeed and throttle settings on that last 50 feet above the ground. Then I was off. A bit nervous, as I suppose I am for every flight, but actually feeling really good about the whole thing. I had it set in my mind that I would stick these landings, and I just focused on that. Everything else is almost habit at this point.

As usual, the plane lifts off much sooner without the extra weight, and I would have been speeding through the pattern if I hadn't taken a bit of the power out...kept it at about 2000 rpm rather than our typical 2200. And there it was, my first solo approach. I had it made, and I greased it onto the runway...flaps up....full power....off we go again.

With other traffic in the pattern, I made a right hand approach for the next one, and had to extend downwind a bit to give some room, but no problem. Pretty typical for this field. Down I came, and again, hit it right on. This was getting to be too easy. Probably was, compared to the ridiculous crosswinds yesterday...

Around one more time, everything set up just right. Another smooth landing and an exit to the first taxiway (a general indication of a really good landing and rollout). All in all, probably the three best landings I've ever had. Photos and handshakes all around, a congratulation from the tower controller, and a virtually perfect end to a questionably-starting day.

Red Bull Air Races - San Diego

I went to the Red Bull Air Races this past weekend. Suffice to say it was awesome. Words don't really do it justice, so the following are a few videos.


One taken of a single run, very near my vantage point:


A really nice behind the scenes:


A decent compilation from the other side of the bay:


Another good compilation, including some of the "side show" activity:


A bit of the Red Bull stunt helicopter:


An older video that gives some background of the air races:

Foiled Again

Yet again, the winds were not in my favor, at least as far as soloing goes. Even though we just stayed in the pattern again, I posted the tracks, just because they are so variable (and it makes a pretty picture, don't you think?)

The wind was all over the place, but predominantly 10-15 knots with gusts up to 20. And anywhere from 45 degrees off the runway, to almost 90. So, despite the poor soloing conditions, it made for some really good crosswind practice. The first three patterns were actually on runway 12, and then track #4 involved the switcheroo to 30. On top of all this, it was a fairly busy afternoon, and you can see three circles that we were directed to make to allow time for other traffic to get in or out.

The day actually started out pretty nice, with cool temperatures and some scattered clouds. But as lesson time came around, the wind started to pick up a bit, and steadily increased until the end. In all, though, I'm pretty proud of my patterns and my 360's, since they are prone to be a bit wobbly in the wind. My ground tracks worked out pretty well, and only one of the turns was really egg-shaped. You can even pick out the wind direction by looking at where my turns went a bit wide (#3, in two places, and #9). The really wide pattern #7 was due to spacing for a jet arriving.

Landings (my main focus at this point) are coming along well, too. I'm flaring better, and I have a better handle on the power, but today's gusts made it all the more challenging. The first few landings could be made with full flaps, but the remainder were with takeoff flaps. This is due to this plane's tendency to balloon in the gusts (it's very light and smooth so it picks up easily). This means that the speed coming in is higher, and it takes longer to slow down enough to touch down. So it's a bit of a trade-off. The longer you're in the air, the more time the wind has to push you around. But the slower you go (with full flaps), the more likely the extra lift is to cause you to rise up unexpectedly.

So we shall hope for better winds tomorrow.

Wind Practice

Today was a gusty day, with the threat of thunderstorms, or at least a bit of rain. On the deck, it was about 68, and the wind was just a 'breezy' 10-15 knots. Since it was a bit of a crosswind, but strong enough to get some good practice with ground reference, that's what we did. The solo would have to wait.

Takeoff was smooth, but there were some decent gusts that bounced us around a bit. We climbed up and went into the practice area for some turns around a point and some S-turns along a road (or irrigation ditch as the case may be). The picture of the track shows the first, rather egg-shaped turn while I figured out just what the wind was doing. Our ground speed varied from just over 90 mph to about 145 mph from the upwind to downwind sides. Once I could see the magnitude of the drift, my next two go arounds weren't too bad. The speed differential indicates that the wind was blowing about 25-30 mph.

So, on to the S-turns. Remembering that the first shot I had at these was with very little wind, I wasn't prepared (well, I was, but that didn't mean I handled the turns right). So, I fell into the common error of making the first 180 degrees about right, since I was turning into the wind. The second turn back to the right drifted lazily over the line and I just barely got the plane lined up on the roll-out of the bank. With one down, I tried another, with much better results. The key is to keep the turn very, very shallow (like 5-7 degrees) until you're ready to turn back to the line.

Then we did some steep turns. I struggled a bit with these, likely because it's been so long since I did them. But I learned to trim just before entering the turn at about 2200 rpm, then add power up to 2400 as I entered the bank. By trimming a bit nose up as you make the first 90 degrees of the turn, the plane will very nearly continue in a 45-degree bank hands-off. It just took one demonstration by T.I. to show me that I was fighting the plane too much. The last one turned out nearly perfect, but I still have trouble getting to and staying at a full 45 degrees. With the added wind, it felt like we were almost standing still on one leg of it.

It was time to land (again) and we made a few touch-and-go's in the gusty conditions. We did these with partial flaps, which was fairly new. I think I did one a couple of lessons ago, and I remember floating way down the runway. This time, with the wind, it wasn't as bad, but it does take a while to bleed off the speed. T.I. says that with full flaps in this plane, it tends to float and balloon. Maybe, but it seemed like I did that anyway.

I'm holding out hope that I'll get to solo on the first page of my logbook. Getting there.

Within Reach

Yesterday's flight should have probably included a solo, but I just couldn't stick the landings. Another round of pattern work to perfect the flare...another 11 approaches...another hour and a half to get it right...

Frustrating, but not the worst thing in the world. I can take pride that the rest of the flight, pattern, and approach are in good shape. It was even a bit bumpy, and I still kept it together. It's just the last 10 seconds and 30 feet or so that foils the whole endeavor.

The idea is to maintain a constant airspeed, descent rate, and power setting all the way into ground effect. Then, as the nose is brought up and the airspeed begins to drop, the stall horn whistles, and the plane settles to just about level over the runway, the power should be brought back to idle and the wheels should settle gently onto the concrete. Simple enough, right?

Not so fast. Literally. My approaches, while a bit fast (by about 5 knots) weren't bad. The wind was a bit gusty, so it actually was about right. Nevertheless, the extra speed over the numbers seemed to be my downfall, and I would either flare a bit too quickly, a bit too high, or just time the power reduction wrong. And we're talking about really subtle differences between what is merely decent (which I can handle) and a truly smooth landing. It's hard enough when the wind is a bit different on every approach without trying to get those last few motions of hands and feet just right.

So, maybe next time....

Motivation Insights

Another dual lesson today, in gusty conditions and a bit of rain. Again, it at first appeared that we might not fly today, but the incoming cold front held off just long enough to give me some good practice with strong headwinds (dropping like a rock with full flaps), and then, just for good measure, a switch to the perpendicular runway to try a direct 12-knot or so crosswind. It went fairly well, but the other runway is much shorter (about 2500 feet or so), so if you float even a little, you've practically used it up.

My patterns are coming along, and even with the winds, I can maintain a pretty good rectangle. On top of that, the tower kept us in right traffic the whole time, so I had a total of 9 approaches that way, with 2 to the left on the small runway. Good practice, even though it completely baffled the instructor (there was no particular reason for the tower to do it, since there really wasn't much traffic around.)

The problem today, and one that I have been anticipating since the start, is losing a contact lens at some critical moment. I had a mental contingency plan for dealing with it, namely, give the airplane to the instructor and put it back in. Today, it decided to happen during a practice engine failure on takeoff. That's a rush. So I'm trying to put the plane back down, my lens pops out, and I can't focus on the runway. It took a few seconds to figure out that it wasn't going to fix itself, and we had to climb out. T.I. was asking all about how it happens (and how often) and what the plan is if I'm solo. He doesn't wear lenses, so the whole idea is foreign to him. I need to get a backup pair of glasses to take with me in the future, and then hope it doesn't happen again.

So, in preparing to solo, and wondering if it's going to be the next flight...or the next...or the next, I can see how someone could easily become discouraged. All the studying and practicing, your head is full of mnemonics, acronyms, stall speeds, procedures, etc. After all that, all you can do is keep practicing until it falls into place. No additional reading will magically make your landings turn out, (although every so often you read something that gives you a new perspective). So, you trudge on, wondering what you're doing wrong and why it's taking you longer than your friend to solo. It's easy to lose sight of the goal.

My inadvertent solution was simply to not open the textbook or lesson manual for a week or so. There wasn't anything new in there, and I just had to turn my mind to something else. The other half of this was that instead of the lessons, I began reading two new books about aviators. One is Bob Hoover's autobiography, and the other is titled "Fliers" and is a compilation of interviews with all sorts of different pilots. The key was that these books and some other reading remind me why I'm doing this in the first place. All of these folks had their trials, and some of them have crashed their planes, but the focus was on why they fly and what they get out of it. Whether they are military, airline, crop dusters, bush pilots, or recreational, there is a deeper meaning and purpose that pulled them up into the air and kept them active at it. When the weather doesn't cooperate, the plane is just doing whatever it wants, when you're just not getting it right, it's good to have a reminder of what it's all about.

You have to love to fly.

Getting There

My last lesson was a few days ago, but I'm just now getting around to a post. This was my 9th lesson, I think, and it was virtually identical to the one prior. We stuck around in the pattern and did a total of 9 touch-and-gos. That's a lot if you believe most of the books, which say that 3 or 4 is usually enough, but it didn't seem like too much to me. The main difficulty was that after 8 circuits to the left (a standard traffic pattern), the last one was directed to be to the right to avoid some incoming traffic. That's where going around in a circle for 90 minutes can be a bad thing. You get into a particular zone, and your internal balance mechanism gets accustomed to a particular direction of turn. Then to go the other direction, by bank angles were a bit off and I flew more of a horseshoe pattern rather than one with parallel ends.

The primary goal of the flight was to ensure that I can get the plane on the ground, which I can do (at least in calm wind). Again, the weather here is "all or nothing" and it's either a beautiful day, or it's a day you don't even want to go flying. So while I've had great weather for flying, it doesn't give a lot of opportunity for significant crosswind maneuvers. Those will just have to keep waiting.

I've now worked up to between 10 and 11 hours, so I'm nearing a solo flight one of these days. I completed my pre-solo written test (provided by the flight school) and could pretty much take the FAA knowledge test anytime.