A Good Review

Flight review done!

After the past few days of practice, both the instructor and I thought today would be good for the official review.  All the maneuvers are better, along with the landings, and while nothing is perfect everything is within tolerances of safety.  Plus, the book learning part went as smoothly as it could have.  The instructor did his job and asked just enough questions that I wasn't 100% sure of, but overall knew what I didn't know.  The past few days have seen a combination of reading, highlighting the FAR/AIM book, and studying a few online review pages.  

Ultimately, I didn't even have to crack the book, but as always there are a few things that everyone will miss.  Luckily, the instructor was good at letting me work out which points I wasn't sure of and not letting me get away with not knowing the most important parts.  Key items covered were basic VFR regulations, responsibilities of the Pilot in Command, aircraft requirements, airspace, VFR equipment, weather, icing, altitudes, and airspeeds.

Then we got to the airwork.  A short-field takeoff went better than before, and I also am more used to managing the navigation systems so we were able to immediately get on track with the VOR to the practice area.  As we stabilized on a heading at altitude the "clouds" dropped and I had to do a bit of simulated instrument flying.  A few turns and more VOR tracking, then into some unusual attitude recovery.  With my head down and eyes closed, I felt like I was on a roller coaster while the instructor tried to get me disoriented.  I think he was having a bit of fun as well.  

Back to visual flying, we did more steep turns.  The first to the right was okay for about 3/4 of the way around, and the left started out a bit off until the instructor covered the instruments and made me do the whole thing with eyes outside.  Turns out that works much better once I have the sight picture set.  Then it was some slow flight and stalls.  The DA20 was tolerant of a bit of aileron input as long as about 90% of any correction came from the rudder.  But the 172 is less so.  While the stalls broke just fine and we stayed on heading, the instructor thought I was putting in too much aileron.  So he quickly demonstrated what happens if you actually do overcontrol the roll and let one of the wings drop suddenly in the stall.  

To wrap up we did some simulated engine failure, restart, securing, and emergency landing drills.  Then back to the field for a few landings, one of which had some much better executed slips to landing.  Going forward, one of my personal minimums will be a 5 knot crosswind until I get smoother at the correction all the way to touchdown. 

The last landing was a power-off 180 to land, which I was able to do quite well and was pretty proud of the outcome.  Didn't even have to touch the throttle.

So now even though I'm legal to get back in the air on my own, I've still scheduled one more lesson with this instructor just to get a bit more polish on the maneuvers. 

 

More Practice Makes More Better

With just a day to prepare for the next flight, I did a bit more "chair flying" to practice the flows of stalls, landings, and go-arounds.  Today was a focus on landings, so we stayed in the pattern and did touch and go's for an hour.  Included was practice on short and soft field takeoffs and landings.  Of course, just for fun we had a light crosswind and a mix of right- and left-traffic.

Starting with a soft-field takeoff, the key is to keep the nosewheel off the ground as soon as possible, then lift off and stay in ground effect.  The only problem was too quickly getting out of ground effect, which slows the climb since we lift off at such a slow speed.

But once in the pattern the next landing was a normal touch and go, which was a bit wobbly in the crosswind.  The next was a short field landing, which also needed work.  Again, the instructor took the controls and let me focus on the sight picture.  The main thing I was doing wrong was getting too low too quickly and not flaring high enough to let the plane settle gently through ground effect.  With that in mind, we did a few more of both short- and soft- field touch and go's, which overall were better but still not as smooth as we'd like.

For the last landing, we switched to the smaller runway, and also conveniently the wind shifted to straight down the runway.  Against all odds (or maybe due to all the practicing), this landing was the smoothest ever.

After a quick debrief, we set a plan to do the formal flight review in a few days.  The review isn't a re-do of a checkride, and while the pilot is still expected to meet every standard exactly, the main objective is to ensure safety.  While my maneuvers might still need some practice (which is the goal for the coming months), I do already feel safer and more confident.  With a few more flights I might feel comfortable carrying passengers again as well. 

 

Back Up to Speed

After the rusty return to flight last time, the instructor gave me several things to work on, and today's flight was to focus on steep turns and stalls since those needed the most work.  Though last time was a bit frustrating, it's good to know that with practice and good instruction, it doesn't take long to become, if not smooth, at least safe.

To prepare, I did a bit of "chair flying" to practice the flows for the two main stalls (power-on and power-off), plus used X-Plane to approximate the sight picture for steep turns.  A PC simulator isn't great for most real-world flying, but does have a few positives when it comes to this application or things like the "mental" aspects of flow and power-pitch-performance combinations.

The weather today was cooler, with lower clouds we had to maneuver around a bit, but made for a bit smoother day aloft.  We tracked the VOR out to the practice area, and then got right into the steep turns.  Right turns always seem to be a bit harder (from the left seat) due to the different sight picture, but I decided to just go for it straight away.  It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.  It takes some practice to combine looking outside at the horizon, watching the airspeed and altitude inside, and keeping the bank angle at 45 degrees.

 

After a couple tries, the instructor took the controls to demonstrate one, and let me get a better look at the sight picture.  After a couple more of mine which were much better, we had an "engine failure" and had to locate a suitable site and go through the flows for restart.  But since we couldn't "restart" we had to go ahead and drop flaps in preparation for an emergency landing in a field.  As we were a bit high, the instructor had me enter a slip to lose altitude.  This had the exact effect of highlighting yet another skill I need to work on...

Now it was time to head back, so we tracked the VOR again and contacted approach to get back into the pattern.  It was a busy traffic day, so as we slotted in, there was a Piper Archer in front which we somehow were overtaking.  We could tell it was a short spacing, and finally the controller clued in as well to have us make a 360 to give everyone a bit more room.

As we turned onto final, the instructor had be try another slip.  Again, not great.  Too much rudder and aileron compared to what I would have been used to from the low-wing Diamond DA-20.  

On the plus side, I handled all the radio calls, which can get a bit overwhelming on a busy day, but went well.  The instructor also gave me a few more tips and a guide to some of the basic maneuvers to read up on before tomorrow.  The main points were the V-speeds and flows for stalls to practice before the next flight.

The takeaway from today was that while it doesn't take long for skills to atrophy, it also doesn't take long to get back into the zone. 

 

And Just Like That...

 Four years slipped away, but not for lack of any non-flying activity.  As before, so many things have happened, and time goes so fast.  Some of the big things we've done since the last flight in 2021:

• More work in Nevada
• Double-project work in Canada, where pandemic-related travel made it very inconvenient to repeatedly cross the border - so back and forth between Ontario and New Brunswick
• Family cruise to Alaska
• Put a new roof on the house
• Tended to my wife who had double hip replacement surgery - both hips at the same time!
• Caribbean Cruise, short Florida Cruise, and another Caribbean Cruise - there was a point to all this, I promise
• Saw Penn & Teller in Las Vegas
• Had another set of projects in Saskatchewan and Alberta - including way up in the Uranium patch at 58 degrees north latitude
• Memorial for a great-uncle in California
• Time off to help mom through a stroke and move to assisted living
• Dealt with mom's passing and handling estate
• Back to uranium projects and Sudbury Nickel (back to a site I started at 10 years ago)
• Took anniversary road trip to Santa Fe
• Studied for and took the CFA Level 2 exam
• Cruise through the Panama Canal
• Bought a new house
• Quick work project in Wyoming 
• Certified Advanced Open Water Scuba with dive trips to Roatan, Grand Cayman, and San Diego
• Officiated daughter's wedding
• Sold a motorcycle 
• And if all that wasn't enough, in the middle of it all took nine months off to sail around the world on Royal Caribbean's Ultimate World Cruise - an amazing trip that took us to 160 ports in over 60 countries

So with a goal of getting some flight hours in before the end of the year, I stopped in at the local school to see what might be available.  With a bit of luck and an open schedule, I went ahead and scheduled some time with just a few days lead time to get some reading done, update BasicMed, and overall refresh the knowledge.

With again so much time off, it was no surprise I was barely prepared.  Originally scheduled for the cooler morning hours with lighter winds, we had to postpone until noon.  Still fairly light winds, but the instructor was ready to throw me back into it.

Just getting started was a tax on my mental energy, not having flown this plane for years.  Preflight went well, until I got stuck with weight and balance since there were two sets of units in the tables and I had to finally ask for help.  With that out of the way and getting settled in the cockpit, I already felt behind.  I'm still not used to the more modern avionics and though we had agreed (and I thought I was ready) that I handle the radios, I was more than happy to have him just do it.  Back at a towered field after so many years, and with a bit of pressure from the controllers due to the busy pattern, I was feeling already a bit overwhelmed.

We took off, which other than rotating a bit late, went well.  Climbing up to pattern altitude and starting the initial turn, so far so good.  But then the instructor decided to test my steep turns - which I haven't practiced since 2011 in Australia.  Suffice to say I was all over the place and working too hard.  He showed me how much trim to use, and my next left turn was respectable (those always seem to be easier) while the one to the right was a mess and I lost way too much altitude.

Slow flight?  Not too bad if we look at the results, but need to work on memorizing the steps and the flow to get smoother.  Also need to get more familiar with this plane's instrumentation, which is the small digital display.  I was constantly looking down more than I was used to in the past with steam gauges, since my peripheral vision couldn't pick out the small changes in the numbers scrolling by.  And I need to work on knowing and anticipating the throttle settings needed for each phase.

We came back for a crosswind landing which looked good right up until my three-point bounce and drift which probably could have been more gracefully saved, but we didn't bend anything.

 With this initial flight out of the way and the instructor seeing what I need to work on, we have another couple of sessions planned to continue knocking off the rust and getting the flight review formally completed. 

Stretching the Legs

Today's flight was another in the progression of stepping further away from home plate and practicing some proper cross country navigation.  This allows for putting into practice some of the flight planning, weather briefing, and fuel management skills which don't get much airtime when flying locally.

In this case, the weather briefing and overall real-world weather couldn't have been better (or simpler).  A solid high pressure system kept not only the skies clear but the winds light and temperatures mild.  So while I went through all the steps, there wasn't much that required any special concern, or even any special fuel planning.  With no significant headwinds or tailwinds either direction, it amounted to simply multiplying the fuel burn by the expected time en route.  Similarly, there was no significant wind correction to apply, so simply flying the GPS course was sufficient to arrive at Point B.

Before departing the local field, I did a couple of touch and go's just to get into the rhythm and mentally prepare for the longer flight.  I think this might be a good practice overall, and will try to do it as much as possible, at least when flying solo.  It keeps the skills a bit fresher and adds a bit of a safety factor compared to, say, airline pilots who just hop in and fly multiple hours every day.  After not flying for even a few days, it feels a bit wrong to do that when I have no idea what lies at my destination (or even a few miles out).  Similar to venturing into shallow ocean waves before diving in, this re-acclimates my flying mind to the environment.  

Coincidentally, I decided to just do two landings before departing for the horizon.  It turns out this was a fortuitous decision, as a Cirrus in the pattern right behind me decided to blow a tire and close the runway while it was repaired.  I heard all the commotion as I was climbing out and was glad I didn't have to get into the middle of that.

One of the key decisions for this flight was choosing a cruise altitude.  I wanted to stay relatively low and below the height (3,000 AGL) which would require an FAA-dictated VFR altitude based on my direction of flight.  But I also was a bit cautious of rising terrain and the possibility of some turbulence as I crossed over a particular ridgeline midway through the flight.  I opted for flying roughly 2,500 ft AGL, which provided a nice, smooth ride.  As I approached the ridge (one I have never flown over on my own) I predicted that I would experience some rising and falling air currents.  To my surprise I was actually correct and felt the mild ups and downs about where I expected.  For the return flight, I flew just a couple of hundred feet higher since it was likely going to be a more turbulent headwind, and while I still felt the bumps, they didn't toss me around too much.

 Also on the return flight, I started noticing louder wind noise and a bit of a whistling sound.  Indeed, though my altitude hadn't changed, the airspeed had jumped up apparently due to a bit of a windshear or different flow.  I powered back and rode through it to keep the speed at about 90 knots.  But the strange whistling kept coming and going.  Maybe the wind direction was causing a strange pressure zone around the doors or air vents?  I never figured out what it was.

Returning to home base, the winds had picked up a bit, and there was what felt like a bit of thermal activity - not unexpected for a late summer afternoon.  I also had to blend in with the other traffic again.  In this case, I planned on crossing overhead and then entering a 45-degree teardrop to the downwind.  As I approached the field, I heard an inbound regional jet setting up for the opposing runway direction on a long straight-in.  I asked over the radio how long before they would be at the field and the response was "three to five minutes".  That didn't give me much time to come back around and not rush my pattern, so I announced that I would back off, exit the pattern and stay clear until they landed.  However, another plane had also entered the area, and was sort of stuck behind me.  We both ended up circling for what felt like more than five minutes while the regional jet finally made it in.  I was in the process of coming back around into a base-leg turn, but hadn't had a chance to descend from pattern altitude.  I ended up too high and too fast as I entered final, and knew I would not be making a stabilized approach - so I did a go-around.

This I think was a good decision as it allowed the other plane to come in a bit quicker (they didn't say anything, but something about the tone of their voice made it seem like they wanted to get down) - not to mention it kept me from doing something drastic just to get the plane on the ground when there was no urgency.

I did a couple more touch and go's, with a right crosswind that gave me a bit of trouble and caused my last landing to be quite a bit long.  So, more work needed there.

Since this was still a relatively short cross-country, I didn't need to do much cross checking of fuel burn and progress, but this is a key item for any longer flights in the future. 

Mini Cross Country

Picking up from where I left off last time, I decided on short notice to try again for a mini cross country to a few of the local fields.  Checking the weather the night before showed that it would be a beautiful day for flying, with light winds, clear skies, and much less haze and smoke than in past weeks.  I was also hoping for one of the 172s with the updated avionics to again practice some of the GPS and ADS-B In functions in real time.

When planning the route as a flight-only trip (e.g., no stops or touch and go's) the trip is estimated at just about one hour.  Knowing that I'd want to not be pressed for time and be able to just have a bit of a wander, I scheduled the plane for five hours, and ended up putting nearly three on the Hobbs meter.  This just reinforces how much extra time to allow when planning any long flight, especially for fuel stops or other diversions.

One of the key differences between any "cross country" flight and something more local is that the various waypoints or destination are beyond the visible horizon (even more so on a hazy day).  It's therefore even more important to understand navigation, engine (and fuel) management, and how to use the various tools at one's disposal to stay on course and on schedule for fuel.  In this case, the trip length would be well within the plane's fuel capacity, and I had the tanks topped off before the flight.  So while that wouldn't be an issue, I would be able to try out some of the features on the Garmin GTN650.

Compared to panel-mounted GPS units from 15 years ago, those available today have a great deal more functionality, touchscreens, and more intuitive user interfaces and menu trees.  But this means learning a whole new system even if it is coming from the same manufacturer.  For today's flight, I made sure I could work the basic radio functions, find the right navigation screen, explore the direct-to function, and experiment with flight plans. I must say - even if the features were otherwise identical, the touchscreen interface makes a world of difference and helps (me anyway) quickly switch back and forth between head-down and looking outside.  The old Garmin with menu choices driven by a twist-and-push knob had me looking inside a bit too much.

The flight itself was just fun.  Being able to navigate to unfamiliar uncontrolled fields, pick up weather along the way, enter the pattern, and practice some landings with no glideslope lighting really made this a great day.  Even though the legs between each field were short, I still was able to go through the typical profile of climb, cruise, descent, and approach with time to do the regular GUMPS check.  I even remembered to spend about 10 minutes on the right tank only, with the accompanying mental preparation for an engine failure upon switching tanks back and forth (everything was just fine however).  I also got to just putter around the sky under 3,000 feet AGL and sightsee for a bit.

Each of my three stops were deserted fields, so I would just do one or two landings and then fly on to the next.  But back at the home base, it was a busy day with other school aircraft and a few fast movers - a twin and a regional jet.  

Upon coming within about eight miles, I heard the twin report inbound as I was picking up the weather.  The winds were light, so either direction runway would have been fine for me.  I let the faster aircraft set the pace, and called them up to ask which runway they were setting up for.  When they responded back, we were able to coordinate how I would come in underneath their flight path and enter the downwind behind them.  I even threw in an S-turn to put a bit more distance between us.  

On the next pattern, I was following another school Cessna, but faster plane was also entering the pattern and ending up in front of us all.  I think the other Cessna could have just slowed a bit more, but he decided to do a 360 turn, so I (being just a mile or so behind him) also did the same.  From the ground, we probably looked like a perfectly choreographed formation flight...  The only problem with that is having to reacquire visual contact once I came out of the turn.  No worries.

Finally, on the last pattern of the day, a regional jet blasted its way in from the upwind side of the field.  I could see him coming in as I climbed out, and could also verify his location with the ADS-B In traffic display.  That's a great tool and I hope to be able to make good use of it if I'm ever in some seriously busy airspace.  Around these parts it's more of a novelty item.

All in all, this was a good confidence booster that I could manage the key aspects of the flight - controlling the airplane, navigating "cross country", managing the systems, and coordinating with other aircraft in the uncontrolled (or as some call it, "pilot controlled") airport environment.  Like so many other flights, there are things to improve on but we'll save them for next time.

"First" solo (in a long time)

 It's always better to reinforce skills with repetition, especially if that can come with no delay between sessions.  Therefore, I did another flight today right after yesterday's review sign off.  To better round-out some of the topics I need to refresh, I planned to take a "mini cross country" around a few area airports.  None of them would be far enough to qualify as official cross country time, but would be enough to practice with the newer avionics, GPS, and try landing at another unfamiliar field.  

I thought I would have enough time to make a complete circuit, but then decided to do a couple of touch-and-goes at the home field before departing to the first stop.  That, combined with a bit of a late start, turned a circuit into an out-and-back trip.  But that was still enough to work on a new (to me) GPS interface and the Aspen avionics suite.  I'm still partial to the traditional six-pack analog instruments, but this was a good time to work with the new systems on a panel similar to this one (but with even fewer dials):

I realized that I have flown three times as many hours with someone else in the cockpit with me (usually an instructor) as solo.  Combined with such a long time out of any cockpit meant that solo flight in an unfamiliar plane in an unfamiliar place was quite unsettling.  Looking back on what was to be a fairly short circuit, it may have been a bit too optimistic even without the time crunch.  

Though it was a relatively calm, clear day, there was just a bit of mountain turbulence which made me keep the speed down to about 90 knots.  Plus, visibility was degrading a bit from the western wildfires which made it more difficult to pick out the airport.  But this gave me a chance to just fly low and slow and take a few moments to just look out the window and enjoy flying again.

My destination was a single, narrow strip with no glideslope lighting (very common at rural fields).  The winds were light and blowing right down the runway.  I made my radio calls, entered the pattern, and landed with only a little bounce at the deserted field.  In addition to the normal concerns, I also took a moment to mentally look for wildlife on the runway and go through the confirmation that I was good to land rather than go around for any reason.  I also picked out a go-around point, which identifies when I've gone too far down the runway before touching down.  If we don't make it before that point - especially on a short runway, we go around.

But not today.  I made the landing and exited to the taxiway to start the takeoff run back at the start of the runway.  I also took a moment to reset the GPS back to the home field and double-check the weather.

Returning back, I did another touch-and-go because I had a few extra minutes, and then landed to wrap up my "first" solo back in the pilot's seat. 

Return to flight

 After last week's sessions to knock off the rust, both the CFI and myself thought it wouldn't take much more to be official with the flight review sign off.  Once had agreed that once I could smooth out my landings, he (and I) would be comfortable signing if off and returning me to currency.  While this wouldn't necessarily mean everything was perfect and there wouldn't be room for some additional polish, I could be counted on to get the plane back down safely and make good decisions about go-arounds, engine failures, flap settings, and overall approach stability.

 

 

When I arrived for the flight, we had both individually thought it would be sufficient to stay in the pattern and just practice those landings.  I also thought it would be good to practice some engine-out landings as well.  On top of that (and adding to the CFI's confidence in my abilities) we had a nice crosswind to practice against.

 

In all, we did ten circuits around the pattern.  On each one, I worked on maintaining a proper wind correction angle and ground track, using surface landmarks to guide my turns.  Happily, every landing was a little better than the one before as I became more accustomed to the proper power and flap settings at each point around the pattern.  Unfortunately however, on the first power-off descent (perhaps by design on the CFI's part) I found myself too far out to make the runway without cheating and adding a bit of power.  On the next few tries, I kept the downwind leg much closer, and managed to finally make a couple of them with no additional power.

 

One of the trickiest parts of a crosswind approach and landing is transitioning from a crab angle into the wind to a wing-low orientation aligned with the runway.  The first couple of tries I was flying the plane down to the runway but pulling the power out at the point I would have in the Diamond.  With the Cessna, it was smoother to keep a bit of power on until transitioning to the landing attitude and then pulling it out as the speed bled off.  

 

By the end, I was able to land consistently and safely and we called it a day as a small thunderstorm started to roll in.  But we were both happy with the quick progress and my ability to execute a safe flight from beginning to end.

 

With that sign off, I became current once again to fly solo (or, with any willing souls) with passengers.  The next step however would be to keep practicing and working on all the aspects of a flight to ensure I stay safe and competent.

Two Thousand Four Hundred Seventy Three

That's a lot of days.  Over six and a half years.

Like so many pilots who don't fly for work, my own flying took a back seat to the rest of life for far too long.  Without a decent place to rent a plane on short notice and receive some periodic dual time, plus a demanding work schedule taking me outside the U.S. for weeks at a time, flying just couldn't be a priority.  That's not to say I haven't been busy...

Some of the other things that have taken up my time:

• Teaching two kids how to drive
• Continued work in Canada and North Carolina
• Employer closed up shop, so started two businesses, now self-employed
  
• Three high school graduations, sending two kids to college and one into the National Guard
• Several college campus tours, road trips, and camping trips all over the western U.S.
  
• Watching a total solar eclipse
  
• Countless cross country and track meets, soccer games, mountain bike races, music festivals, and school concerts
• Supporting wife and daughter Ragnar marathon run and motorcycle license courses
• Working in Australia again, plus Africa and Peru
• Taking a motorcycle trip and a safari trip in South Africa
• Buying three cars, an RV, and two motorcycles
• Catching two local hot air balloon festivals
• Riding in a motorcycle parade
• RV trip to the Oregon coast
• Visiting and investing in a startup kit aircraft business
• Attending the Red Bull Air Races
• Earning a PMP certification
• Marrying off a daughter, hosting a wedding luncheon
• Sending kids on school or volunteer trips to Costa Rica, Italy, France, Australia, California
• Taking a concealed carry firearms course
• Working in South Carolina and Nevada
  
• Long motorcycle trip along the California and Oregon coasts
• A Caribbean cruise and New Years Eve in Miami
• Backpacking trips in the Beartooth and Uintah mountains
  
• An Eagle Scout Court of Honor
• Seeing two of our favorite comedians, favorite TV show hosts, and favorite bands live
• Attending Maker Faire
• Taking a long RV road trip from California to Oshkosh
• A pesky pandemic
• Several major home improvement projects
  
• Learning Spanish 
• And coming soon...a new grandson

As our lives start to transition into the next chapter, all of a sudden flying is possible again.  But it couldn't be as simple as just calling up the old flight school and scheduling some time, could it?

First, I opted to renew my medical through BasicMed.  This is available if you have had at least a third class medical (and not had it revoked or denied) in the previous ten years.  While I could have still been medically eligible for a full third class, the time and availability of an AME made it such that it was simply easier and faster to go the BasicMed route.  

Then, I would need a flight review.  My original school was technically available, but they no longer rent planes if one is not enrolled in a formal course to obtain a rating.  So, even if I could have done the review there, I would still not have a place to rent and stay current.

Plan B entailed calling up a different school about the same distance away at a smaller airport.  They also work with the local college and therefore get busy when school is in session.  But since we're still in the summer months, a plane and a CFI were easy to schedule.  I was able to schedule two flights in the same day to get back up there and knock off the rust.

While I have several hours in a 172, I would have preferred "going home" to the DA-20 given the amount of time away from flying.  Since this new school only has 172s and 152s (besides several larger and more complex models), I opted for the 172 since that would likely be the model I'd rent in the future.  We flew two different planes on Day 1.  

The morning flight was in a model with basic "glass" instrumentation.  Rather than the large G1000 screens which dominate the panel and contain virtually all of the key information, this older plane was retrofitted with a small Aspen display - whose small size belies the high volume of information contained on the screen.

 Rather than spend much time on the ground, we went straight to flying.  I did the preflight, which is so ingrained and routine, I barely needed the checklist even now.  Then we hopped in and I took a bit to get all situated.  The instructor walked me through a few of the instrument steps, but we really only focused on those that would be relevant for today's short flight - setting the altimeter, working the radios, interpreting the dials, etc.  As I went through all the steps of getting the weather, picking a runway, listening to other traffic, and going through the rest of the pre-takeoff steps, I said out loud almost everything and what I was thinking about.  This helps any instructor know what's going on in your head and why you might be doing something in a particular way.

Then it was time for takeoff!

This is a small airport with no control tower and just a single runway.  So we listened and looked for traffic, then opened the throttle and accelerated down the runway.  Most everything came back from my memory in an instant.  Keep your hand on the throttle, let the plane accelerate to rotation speed, gently pull back on the yoke, continue to accelerate in ground effect and gradually let the nose point at the right angle to climb out at Vy (the best rate of climb airspeed).

The instructor wanted to focus on slow flight and stalls.  This isn't too surprising, since that's where many students (and licensed pilots) have trouble and one of the first things to degrade after not flying for a while.  But in my case, this wasn't too bad.  I struggled a bit to find the right combination of pitch angle and power to achieve the right speed without losing altitude, but after a couple of tries got it good enough (not perfect by any means).  Rather than the instructor just telling me the right combination, he let me sort it out and kind of wallow through the air for a bit to see how I did.  Stalls were actually pretty uneventful.  You don't have to be super-precise with any particular item, other than keeping the wings level and staying on heading.  Both power-off and power-on stalls were pretty decent, but again could use a little polish.

The instructor threw in the not-unexpected practice engine failure, and I immediately went to tunnel vision trying to find a place to land.  The main problem I had here was focusing on a place that was too close and then needing to lose altitude and energy to make a landing.  But I neglected to do the normal "flow" of the emergency checklist to practice checking fuel and engine to attempt a restart.  Also, I kept needing to change my target landing spot.  I should have used slips, turns, or even flaps to start descending.

The afternoon flight was similar to the morning, but in a plane with slightly less power.  That meant that as we climbed out in this warm, high altitude environment, we pretty much stopped at about 7,000 feet altitude.  The instructor mentioned we may have been caught in a downward-flowing mountain wave, and this was completely foreign to me.  While I've read about them, it didn't occur to me that we could be in one, and looking back it would have been good to talk about the exit strategy if I was encountering rising terrain I couldn't outclimb (in this case we had plenty of altitude). 

We made a total of seven landings, three in the morning and four in the afternoon.  None of them are what I would call great, but they were all within acceptable margins of safety, on the centerline, and allowed for a relatively smooth touchdown.  But on one end of the spectrum, I was far too fast on final, mis-remembering the approach speed (which I had been remembering all the landings before...??).  On the other end, I had one picture-perfect approach which came apart about three seconds before touchdown due to a downdraft or windshear and I had to add a bunch of power before floating down the runway again.  

The big takeaways here, for patterns and landings - watch the speeds, and put in flaps at the same point of the pattern each time.  I also need to watch the left crosswinds since I kept overshooting the base to final turn, which was made worse due to flying a high-wing plane and not being able to see the runway creeping up on me.

Day 2 was a non-flying day due to low clouds and rain, so we did the ground portion of the flight review.  This was also uneventful and I only had to look up a couple of technical items.

Now on the schedule is another flight or two next week to keep working on the basics until I can be fully signed off for solo flight again,

One More for the Road

Winter is coming and so will my trips to Canada.  Less time at home and cruddy weather meant I wanted to get one last short flight in today.  Luckily the weather system at hand is a slow-moving front at the center of a low pressure zone.  Lots of overcast and cool temperatures, but for now the winds were light, and a fairly consistent direction.  Good enough day for a quick flight around the neighborhood.

I took a passenger this time and we stayed low, just about 1,000 feet above the ground to stay out of the bumpy winds up higher.  But a great altitude for just putting around and visiting the Billings airport for a couple of touch-and-gos.

The entire country experiencing fair fall
weather except for our Northern Rockies

Like the past few flights, I concentrated on the pattern, approach, and landing.  Fly pattern at 90 knots, then reduce power abeam the touchdown point (not the end of the runway), maintain 80 knots to the base leg, then more flaps and reduce to 70 knots.  Keep 70 all the way down final and save the last notch of flaps for the last 50 feet.  Let airspeed drop to 60 over the threshold and power to idle.  Then a nice, smooth flare to touchdown.  Sounds so simple.

It all clicked again today, and though we kept it short to stay out of the weather, a great flight before what will likely be another dry spell for a while.

The cold - it's coming.

Weekend Triple Play

Based on my last flight’s debrief, I tried to get more time in sooner rather than later.  Last weekend didn’t work out, but I was able to get in this Saturday.  Again based on my last experience, I wasn’t expecting anything too great.  Figuring I needed a lot of work to get back in the groove, I focused on a few key areas knowing I would be back in a 172:

• Being established in the pattern and timing power and trim changes for landing

• Keeping the nose up in the turn

• Recalling the sight picture for landing

So I did my homework.  The plane would be a newer model 172 – in fact one that I had flown before – so I downloaded the POH to study speeds and procedures.  I also found an excellent resource specifically for late-model 172s published by ATP.  Since they are a well-established academy with standardized procedures and a fleet of 172s, they have put together a manual just for that specific plane.  Rather than the more general handbook advice you might find elsewhere, this one has specifics like power and flap settings for the pattern.  Reviewing it changed everything.

The plan of the day was to obtain a rental checkout.  At this school, the requirement is to perform three touch-and-gos with the instructor.  But I wanted more to get me where I wanted to be.  So we set it up to be a similar set of airwork exercises as last time – some slow flight, stalls, and steep turns as well as pattern work.

Happily, the weather was clear and the air was smooth.  I’m sure it helped, but compared to the last flight, this was completely different.  The review of procedures and the short time between flights made for a totally opposite outcome.  Stalls were crisp, steep turns were right on, and I managed airspeed in a way I don’t think I’ve ever been able to do.  Everything came back together.

So now the test – how were my landings?  Let’s put in this way – there were just a couple of points to work on after the first try.  Get the sight picture right and keep the speed up.  Using the ATP manual as a guide sets up a slower approach than the school here likes to have.  It essentially was a short-field approach – completely OK but removing some of the margin of error, and an easy fix.

Now that I had my trim adjustments and power settings more dialed in, adding 10 knots to the approach speed was easy.  On the next circuit, suddenly the sight picture snapped into place as well.  This was turning out great, and the last landing was even better.  I was very happy with the outcome – to the point that I wasn’t ready to stop.

But we did; the instructor had another student.

However, this plane was still available for another few hours.  Enough time to run home, pick up any interested passengers, and take another flight.

An hour’s tour around the area and, though the winds had picked up a bit, another great landing.

And?  The plane was open on Sunday as well.  Would the wife like to take a flight as well?  Yes, she would.

A very nice, cool morning awaited.  A cold front was on its way in, and I knew we didn’t want to be in the winds with a fairly new passenger.  But the morning looked good and we got out and back before it shifted to a gusty crosswind.  

All in all, three flights in two days.  Granted they were short, but the reinforcement of skills was and continues to be very important.  I’m hopeful this is a turning point that allows me to fly a little more often than I’ve managed in the recent past.  If so, there’s no doubt my flying will only get better.

Exploring North Carolina

In case you're looking for a benchmark for how long is too long between flights, I'm going to say one to two months.  The several months that lapse between my own is way too long, and even the latest spell of four is enough to be starting behind the curve.

My travels take me to North Carolina, which holds claim to being the birthplace of powered flight.  So when I find myself staying the weekend and the weather is pretty decent, I take the opportunity to get an instructor and get up in the air.

The day started normally enough.  The flight school has a fleet of Pipers and Cessnas, and I chose the low-wing Archer.  We spent about 30 minutes inside doing the requisite paperwork and running through the POH to check V-speeds, weight and balance, and systems.  Then out to the preflight.

We climbed into the cockpit for a little overview of the instrument layout, and then stepped out and gave the plane a once-over before getting into the preflight details.

"What's this?" I ask, pointing to a broken engine cowl latch.

"We're not flying today," the instructor flatly replies.

He putters around the plane, wondering what's going on.  We find that all four latches are undone, and that there's an extra 0.1 hour on the engine meter from what's in the paperwork.  We suspect someone is in the middle of some maintenance and testing, but it's not on the books, and the school owner is out of town.  Regardless, this plane isn't flying.

I say, "Well, I've got no problem flying a 172.  I'd rather spend the extra time to get the paperwork re-done and fly."  The instructor obliges, and we carry our gear back inside for another go.

The instructor is different than any I've ever flown with.  Mostly, I fly with younger guys (yes, from my first flight to the present, they have all been male) who, while dedicated and professional, don't have much on this older gentleman.

An aeronautical engineer, ex-Navy flight instructor with time in all types from radial-engine Trojans to modern jets and thousands of hours to show for it, he's been instructing in some way since 1968.  And he brings a completely different perspective to my own flying experience.

Right off the bat, I was set up for a difficult day.  Not only have I not flown a 172 since 2012, but we used an 800-foot AGL traffic pattern rather than a more customary (at least by today's standards) 1000-foot pattern.

This might not seem like much, but when you've trained so far for a certain sequence of events at about the same time and place - throttle back, slow down, flaps, turn, check descent rate and airspeed, more flaps... - and then knock 20% off the altitude you have available to do it, things get busy.

So I wasn't too surprised that my first two landings left a bit to be desired.  It was difficult to hold airspeed, the timing of my trim adjustments was all off, and my sight picture of the runway on the base-to-final turn was not helping.  It was difficult to maintain the glidepath and correct for a light crosswind.

But by the third circuit, the instructor called for a go-around.  Not because anything was wrong, but that was part of the practice and my final approach looked good enough to go try some stalls.

Power-off (also called approach to landing) stalls were no problem.  But the instructor had me do something a little different.  Rather than slow flight with full flaps and right on the edge of the stall, he had me stay at 60 knots with no flaps at first.  That's a challenging speed for this plane, as the controls are mushy, but the plane still responds fairly quickly to attitude changes.  It showed that I still need to work on setting throttle and trim at the right times as I pass through different speeds.

Power-on stalls are always a bit more challenging, as they need a lot of right rudder to correct for the high power setting, but otherwise the mechanics are similar.

Steep turns were also on the menu today.  My turns are acceptable, but I tended to let the nose drop, especially to the right.  This is in fact very common across different pilots and airplanes where the pilot sits in the left seat.

Then a mock emergency landing.  Again, I need a better feel for the airspeed and trim.

After all the airwork, we came back to give my landings another shot.  Though they were better, there was still lots of room for improvement.  This was where my instructor's experience gave me some additional insights.

After a few touch-and-gos, we called it a day.  But the instructor was happy to spend some time doing a debrief, one much more extensive than any other I've had.  He kept notes on all my flying and was able to quantify many of the points I've just glossed over here.

It's too bad my instructor is not a doctor.  Then, I'd be able to say that his recommendation to fly again within a few days is a medical necessity.

Oh, and a few bonus photos of my other aviation-related explorations:

What Just Happened?

It was to be a more-or-less routine flight – except that I haven’t flown in about eight months.  If you read accident reports, you know that aircraft owners all too often ignore these dry spells, hop in for a “quick flight” and find out too late that their skills aren’t quite up to the task.  So it’s nice to have the excuse that I need an instructor checkout anyway for the rented plane, but I wouldn’t have thought I would push my luck like that.

Nonetheless, I had enough confidence that I thought I could take my kids up for a ride after the checkout, so invited them along.  I therefore put myself in the position of hundreds of other accident victims who face a flight with too many external pressures – the need to arrive somewhere on time, the expectations of family or friends, or the weather turning bad just at the wrong time.

In these and many other situations, pilots constantly evaluate the “Go / No-Go” decision.  Do I take this flight at all, do I keep going even as conditions change, and when do I need to make the final call that this just isn’t going to work out? 

My typical DA-20 panel

DA-20 with G500 panel - more info in different places

Today was in fact not a bad day for flying.  A little warm perhaps, but the winds were fairly light with only a minor crosswind.  I was flying with a different instructor, and he didn’t realize that I hadn’t flown a DA-20 with the G500 digital display before.  I had actually flown a similar setup in the Tecnam Eaglet, but I’ve grown accustomed to the round dials in the Diamond.  Again, faced with what is technically an unfamiliar aircraft, would most pilots hop in and figure it out later?  Perhaps.  But the NTSB files are filled with pilots going up in planes they have few hours in – leading to poor use of the resources at hand.  

With all this in mind, I took the high road.  As we began the preflight, I let the instructor know that I had never flown this particular model before.  I personally felt very comfortable with him in the right seat and had no problem taking this plane out for the checkout, but wanted to know if he’d be willing to switch it out if I had any doubts about the rest of the day.  That was it – a very good, honest conversation about the conditions and risks.  I valued the opportunity to get some experience with the G500 anyway – if this had been just a checkout flight and no more, it would have warranted not much more than a passing comment.  

But my plan for subsequent passenger flights changed the equation.  I needed to know what my options were and the instructor should be aware of what I’m planning on doing without him – how else could he evaluate whether I would be safe up there?  And, by the way, he was quite willing to leave it up to me.  If I wanted a different plane, being completely open to pulling another out of the hangar for me – that’s quality service right there and reinforces my choice to use this particular flight school.

The flight itself turned out not bad – at first.  We did some stalls and a couple of steep turns, some slow flight and …  Though my maneuvers weren’t as crisp as they once were, they were passable.  As usual, my radio calls impressed the instructor.  So we decided to call it a day and to a few runs through the pattern.

By now, the wind had picked up.

Keep in mind, these wind conditions should not be a factor for someone who flies regularly.  Maybe a few knots of crosswind and no significant gusts.  Flying-wise, a pretty benign day.

But those eight months had led to the expected skill-atrophy.

A crabbed approach to correct for crosswinds

My patterns, headings, turns, descents, and final approach were right on (despite being the more difficult right-traffic).  But the transition from a crabbed approach to flare and landing really weren’t that great.  My timing and sight picture were off.  Granted, the instructor never had to take over, and these weren’t terrible landings by any stretch, but they were just sloppy enough that it was apparent to both of us that I needed more practice – much more to be able to carry passengers in these conditions.

By the fourth trip around the pattern, the instructor said he’d be happy if I could get two smooth landings in.  But I said, “Look.  I’ve already prepared the kids that their ride is not a sure thing.  Even if I get two landings, it would be more luck than anything else.  They’ll be disappointed, but let’s just do one more and we’ll call it a day.”  He offered one more time, but I could tell I just wasn’t as far ahead of the plane as I wanted to be.  Compounding this is that by focusing so much on the flight, this was a more mentally (and physically0 taxing flight than if I had done the same thing with more practice.  Any further flying would be adding more stress and just didn’t serve a particularly urgent purpose.  

So we wrapped it up, and I gave the kids the bad news.  “But we’ve been waiting TWO HOURS!”. 

“I know,” I said.  “But I want to make sure I’m safe to take passengers, plus it’s hot and bumpy up there.  Let’s save it for another day.”

And that’s what we did.  I don’t know when my next flight will be, but it was still a good lesson.  Not just for myself, but for the kids who need to be aware that sometimes flying a light plane just isn’t the same as a regularly scheduled airliner.  Delays happen, trips don’t get done, and weather can always turn an otherwise fine flight into a dangerous situation.  It’s a tough decision, but it was clearly the right one.

Smoothing the Edges

Today was to be a quick flight with two goals: a checkout with the instructor, good for renting solo for the next 30 days, and a bit of local solo flying to keep the skills sharp.

Whether you fly often or sporadically, keeping skills up and making good use of the available time means flying with some purpose.  But, like almost every other plan, mine was virtually moot by the time I arrived at the field.

Though I had anticipated a quick flight as before, this time was more like a lesson or even a basic flight review.  First, the school now has a policy of filling out a written weight and balance sheet as well as a risk assessment for every solo flight.  Personally, I think this is a good idea, and don't mind the extra time.  It's good practice anyway.  Pilots who own and fly their own planes often forgo these steps, citing familiarity with the airplane, the load, the airport, and any number of other things that can yield complacency just when you might need critical thinking.

Example VFR Pilot Risk Assessment

Diamond DA20 Weight and Balance Worksheet

Having checked the weather and planned on a nice, smooth day, I figured on flying with the instructor for maybe a half-hour and then doing another hour or so on my own.  Instead, we did a mini-checkride with some stalls and general flying practice.  After the paperwork was done, I preflighted the plane and we were off.

Not only do skills atrophy with time, but the flying environment can change significantly as well.  Several years ago, the airport installed radar that allowed better ATC services from the tower and handoffs for IFR traffic.  Gradually, the Class E airspace around the field has also changed to accommodate this activity.  More recently however, an approach/departure controller position has also been added.  This affects local training flights by using this frequency for traffic advisories rather than a common air-to-air channel.  Regardless of the details, it's a good reminder of why biennial checkrides are required.  Regulations and airspace can and do change and it's the pilot's responsibility to stay informed.

Once we were in the air, the instructor wanted to see how my stalls held up.  The first, a power-off, went very well.  Knowing that the Diamond is difficult to actually stall (it just sort of mushes rather than suddenly dropping the nose) I kept the nose high and got it to "break" - impressing the instructor that I was able to do so.  Like so many other things, it's as much a reflection of my original instructor (who no longer teaches) as any personal skill.

Then a power-on stall.  

These can be quite difficult to obtain the right result.  It's a simple enough concept: mimic a too-steep takeoff at full power and partial flaps.  Problem is, the Diamond really wants to fly.  Give it nose up at full power and you are recreating Maverick's trick in "Top Gun" - "I'll hit the brakes and he'll fly right by."  

After we settled down, the instructor went through it to demonstrate how slowly you have to raise the nose so as not to rocket up at 45 degrees.  Then it was easy, and just needed to focus on the rudder work.  Contrary to my primary instructor, who made sure I knew how to keep my feet active on the rudder, this instructor kept movements to a minimum.

Nevertheless, when all was said and done, the instructor was happy that I could keep the plane going where we needed it to go and could handle the ATC radio calls.  So it was back in for touch and goes.

Interestingly, it was a single question from the instructor that helped me achieve the best approaches I've had in a long time.  A typical approach starts parallel to the runway, off to one side.  Then, the descent and turns are done at certain points, with a rule-of-thumb of 80-70-60 knots on the initial, base, and final legs.  I had somehow forgotten this little nugget of wisdom, and his simple question of "what speed are you looking for" got me back on track.

This, combined with his tip to not deploy landing flaps until within gliding distance of the runway threshold led to some of the best overall patterns and approaches ever.  If you can time the flare properly, a good approach will almost always lead to a nice landing - and that's just what we had.  He was again duly impressed, as before, and decided that I was good to go for an hour on my own.

Since we did so much during the "checkride" I just took it easy and had a nice cruise around the valley before heading in for a few more landings just for good measure.  This solo work - rather than focusing on any particular flying skills - was more just a reminder that despite all the hard work, flying is fun.