More Hood Time

We took advantage of one more good day before everyone closes shop for a quick rain/snow cold front to pass through tomorrow. Moderate winds but clear skies made for another good day of under-the-hood practice.


We did some of the same exercises as before, some climbs and descents, turns to headings, tracking a VOR, and some steep turns. We also did a bid of slow flight, which we also did before, but this time we threw in stalls (both power on and power off). Then, we did stalls in a turn and recovery from unusual attitudes.

This last one is where I take my hands off the controls, the instructor adjusts power and/or direction while I keep my eyes down, then I take the controls and have to put the plane back on a straight-and-level course. The idea is that if you accidentally end up in the clouds, you could inadvertently be in a steep spiral or a slow stall without being aware of it. The goal is to be able to gradually unload the G-forces without overloading the wings or engine or stalling the plane.

Overall, these are fairly straightforward exercises, and I feel fairly comfortable doing them. Of course, as before, the instructor is having me fiddle with the GPS and radios while maintaining steady flight or maneuvering, to mimic the multi-tasking required for just about any phase of flight.

Coming back to the field, we decided to practice the crosswind landing on the small runway. I botched the approach pretty horribly (way too high) and had to make a "for-real" go around. On the second try, I was still a bit high, but could fix it with a forward slip, and we touched down just about right.

Now, it's time for a bit more book learning, to prepare for cross-country flight planning. If the weather holds out for a while, I should be able to do the required flights pretty soon. The official count to date is 25.8 hours, with 1.4 night and 1.6 simulated instrument.