Cheetah - lesson 43
Oct. 3rd, 2006 06:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slipstreamsurfrMischa has a new airplane. Let's do the Class B training in her he says. I think about it a little bit. Mostly radio work, a couple of landings. Even in a new plane it shouldn't be too much to do. Sure I say. The deal is done, the lesson is scheduled. I'm to fly the Cheetah. 26297 is a nice 1977 Grumman Cheetah. She's had new paint recently and a fresh engine.
I get to the airport early today, picked up a fresh sectional, TAC, and AFD and went and parked over next to the new airplane. She's locked up tight, but I walk around her. Sizing her up today. Will she bite? I don't know yet. She's looking pretty spiffy in her fresh paint. I find a sump on each wing tank underneath. There should be another somewhere, I can't find it, but Mischa will tell me when he gets here. I look through the canopy, the instrument panel looks clean, complete. Better radio stack than any other trainer I've flown lately. This could shape up to be a really interesting flight.
While I call for weather by the car Mischa pulls up and starts taking stuff out of his trunk. He stops to talk to someone else and Kathy arrives. She's going to ride along in the back seat to listen to my attempts at talking to towers and getting into the Class B. I finish up and Mischa gives me the keys to unlock the plane. I hop up on the wing and unlock and pull back the canopy. Not bad. I could really like this cockpit. I pull free the control lock and put it away. I grab the checklist that's stashed in the plane and look through it again before setting it aside.
Kathy and I talk as I walk around the plane again. She's flown her before, in her original paint. She tells me where the second sump is on the wing tanks. It's through the landing gear leg/flairing. How weird. Not like they made it easy to find. She shows me the side to pop open the cowling on to check the oil. I've never seen an engine this clean. It's pretty close to brand new still.
Mischa arrives and we start the preflight together on the new airplane. There are a few differences. Unlike the 172's I've been flying, the cheetah has almost all of it's linkages hidden away under flaring's. No rattling cables either, mostly push-rods in the controls here. I sump the fuel tanks and the drains in the leg flaring is of course problematic. Better have good knees crouching up under here. Don't wear your sunday best to sump these tanks. The oil is okay and we are done with the walk around. Time to climb in and get settled.
Kathy goes in first to settle down in the back seat and then Mischa and I get in. The seat belts are a decidedly 1970's automotive invention in this plane. Seems like my dads 1976 Chevy Malibu had very similar seatbelts. The things one remembers from childhood. We fish out the intercom. 297 is using a portable intercom until the new one is installed sometime next week. We all get plugged in and Mischa runs me through some of the oddities on the Cheetah that's different than the 172. We have a fuel pump now, the radios set up differently, the audio panel makes sense, there's a starter button now, a few gauges are in different places, a CHT, a fuel computer, and a spiffy Garmin 297 GPS :) We take a few moments and talk about the flight. I show Mischa what I've put together to talk to approach to get into the Class B, he said that's one way, and a good way, but how about this. We'll take off and head towards Love Field, Once we get to Millennium we'll call their tower and ask for an over-flight, direct to Addison.
Sure, I say. I can do that. I had already plotted a course and knew the headings that would take us on that route. He asks what then? I told him I didn't know, he'd not told me what we were doing after that, do we just turn around and come home? No, that wouldn't be any fun he says, let's go up north somewhere, then over to Alliance, maybe Meacham. You just want to make me land at a bunch of towered controlled airports today, don't you I asked him. He just smiled at me. I start entering in the identifies into the the route on the 297. Might as well use it since it's in the airplane. It'll give us some nice info along the way. He goes over how to read the CHT gauge, how we'll adjust the mixture to keep the temps reasonable, and how the fuel flow computer sets up.
We are buckled up and I run the engine start checklist. She's off and running and now it's time to call ground and get clearance to taxi to the run up area. They clear us and the next adventure starts. The Cheetah has differential braking, no nosewheel steering. This is going to take some getting used to. Sorry about the weaving Kathy. I KNOW you felt every bob and weave I did with those brakes today. Over all, it's not as awful as I'd been imagining it. I could learn how to handle this with a little practice. The run up is completed and thing are looking good. I radio the tower and request a north-east departure over GPM and we are cleared for take off and told to make our left turn when we'd like.
Power goes in and so does the rudder VERY quickly because I have no nosewheel steering and our first takeoff in the Cheetah is underway. A look FAR to the right and I can call Engines are green, look back and the airspeed indicator is moving now, Airspeed alive. I start the nose up at 50 knots and she seems to want to stick on the ground a bit longer than what seems right so I pull a bit harder and she starts her climb. Pitch for 80 knots and we are up and away. She climbs nice today, even with 3 people in her and full tanks. I make my turn and we are cleared to change frequencies.
A quick flip on the standby frequency and I'm calling GPM letting them know I want to transition their airspace for Millennium and they clear me over them and I climb to 1900 feet and overfly them. I go ahead and get Love Field in the standby on the radio and as we get to Millennium we are able to swap to Love's tower frequency. They are pretty slow this morning, so I call them and request through their airspace and on to ADS over the top of them. They clear me into the Class B, give me a squawk code and ask me to climb and maintain 2000 feet. I read back their squawk code after I set it, should have read it back immediately, next time will be better.
We are into the class B! No problems, and I'm flying direct to DAL then on to ADS. Nice to see Love Field from the air, even got to see a Southwest jet take off. As I aim for the tower to fly directly across at an angle on midfield I swap in the frequency for ADS's tower. Juggling the TAC back and forth a time or two today is working out pretty well for me. I'm splitting attention well enough to grab the frequencies from it and still not botch my flight up. DAL hand us off to the ADS tower as soon as we are clear of them and I am switching frequencies again (I really LOVE standby frequencies on radios now.) ADS clears us in for a landing and I'm setting one up.
The Cheetah likes to land a bit faster than the 172. I juggle things a bit and get things almost okay, a little slow, then found out what happens when you let the speed bleed off a bit too much in her. She sinks like a brick. I had gotten a bit behind the power curve with her and dropped her in for a good UMPFH of landing. Bounced her once, then flattened things out and recovered some speed and set her down for a much nicer landing the second time. Weaving again on the rollout, still dealing with the differential braking I made the turn off. We contacted ground and taxied back for a take off. Waited for a Citation to lift off and we were cleared for our takeoff, departure to the north-west.
We are off and heading out towards Lakeview (30F) on Lake Lewisville. We notice that we are about to clip a piece of the class B so I make a slight detour to the north to clear it and we have no problems. We see the airfield, the runway doesn't look like much fun, there is a note to land in the grass beside the runway. Maybe another day. Mischa looks at his watch, this is no good he says, you are getting done too soon! Lets divert. Where I ask? Denton? Sure he says. I grab the TAC again and flip the tower frequency into the standby on the radio that already has Alliances frequency in place and flip the switch. I hit nearest airport on the 297 and select DTO from the list and we are good to go. The heading it picked and away we fly. Calling the tower to let us into their airspace and allow us a touch and go. They let us in and we are setting up for another approach. This time I watch that speed on the final and stay well ahead of the power curve and the landing really comes off pretty nice. A bit of a weave on the take off roll and an easy back on the yoke, the nose comes up, the plane starts up, then settles back down for a moment before she finally flies off. Hrmm, next time, keep her on the ground a bit longer before rotation. I'll figure her out yet. We are up and climbing, biding farewell to DTO and onwards to AFW.
I flip the frequency on the radio and I am talking to Alliance and they clear me to 16 right. I go ahead and enter in Meacham into the stand by and a few more radio calls and I'm setting up for a nice final at AFW. Easy does it and a really nice landing comes out of that one. Power in, I'm on top of the rudder a bit better now, not QUITE so much weaving, leaving the nose down just a bit longer before an easy rotation and the nose lifts a bit, then flies right off the runway. Nice climb out this time. No settling back. I can figure this out. We are cleared out of Alliance and I switch frequencies to FTW and start talking to them. They clear me for a touch and go and I'm working it out into their pattern and down on final. A fair landing this time, and a nice rolling take off and most of the weave is gone now. I try the same approach on the take off as before and get a nice rotation and I'm off.
We decide to skips Fort Worth Spinks for the day and head back to GKY. I fly along the west side of downtown Fort Worth, making a turn to the east and heading towards the end of Lake Arlington, I turn down what I think is I-20 and start looking for the airport.
I don't see it. It should be right there. I putter along for a minute or two more while I scan for it, annoyed that I'm just not seeing it when Mischa asks if I have the field in sight. No, I reply. He asks Kathy if she does. Yes she says, and there's amusement in the tone of her voice. Mischa says, look around for it, don't just look ahead. A moment passes, I look to the left and there.. I see it... Mischa says.. Where's 287? Under me I reply, there's GKY's control tower. I have the field. I'd turned down 287 instead of I-20. If I'd bothered to even look at the compass I would have seen the mistake. The perils of thinking you know your back yard.
I make the turn and get back to I-20, place a call to the tower and they ask me to report right base for 16. About as I expected, and had told Mischa they would probably do when I called them. I call the right base and they clear me for the option. Touch-n-go or full stop Mischa asks. Touch-n-go I said, I'd like two here. Good enough he says, the first landing comes together pretty nicely, a bit high, so I run in the full flaps and they are impressive to say the least. We are down and touch, power goes in and we are off again. A fairly nice pattern and we are heading down final again. High again so flaps once more and we make a decent landing. We taxi off and back to parking.
All in all a good flight. Class B experience. Lots of landings at new towered airports I'd not been to before. A good feeling of knowing how to work inside my little part of the system. My altitude and headings were held very nicely today. There was a time or two that I'd get the Cheetah out of trim and she'd climb while my attention was diverted elsewhere, but for the most part, a very good day for easy, comfortable flying within limits. It felt really good having a good day working the TAC for information, cross checking our location on it, putting it away, and being able to do it all while keeping things kosher in the cockpit. I MIGHT just be getting a handle on some of this flying stuff. Maybe. ;)
Next up on Saturday is mock checkride. Going out and doing the maneuvers and seeing how they are looking. Working the rust out of them.
Closer... getting closer..
--1.9 dual
--6 landings
I get to the airport early today, picked up a fresh sectional, TAC, and AFD and went and parked over next to the new airplane. She's locked up tight, but I walk around her. Sizing her up today. Will she bite? I don't know yet. She's looking pretty spiffy in her fresh paint. I find a sump on each wing tank underneath. There should be another somewhere, I can't find it, but Mischa will tell me when he gets here. I look through the canopy, the instrument panel looks clean, complete. Better radio stack than any other trainer I've flown lately. This could shape up to be a really interesting flight.
While I call for weather by the car Mischa pulls up and starts taking stuff out of his trunk. He stops to talk to someone else and Kathy arrives. She's going to ride along in the back seat to listen to my attempts at talking to towers and getting into the Class B. I finish up and Mischa gives me the keys to unlock the plane. I hop up on the wing and unlock and pull back the canopy. Not bad. I could really like this cockpit. I pull free the control lock and put it away. I grab the checklist that's stashed in the plane and look through it again before setting it aside.
Kathy and I talk as I walk around the plane again. She's flown her before, in her original paint. She tells me where the second sump is on the wing tanks. It's through the landing gear leg/flairing. How weird. Not like they made it easy to find. She shows me the side to pop open the cowling on to check the oil. I've never seen an engine this clean. It's pretty close to brand new still.
Mischa arrives and we start the preflight together on the new airplane. There are a few differences. Unlike the 172's I've been flying, the cheetah has almost all of it's linkages hidden away under flaring's. No rattling cables either, mostly push-rods in the controls here. I sump the fuel tanks and the drains in the leg flaring is of course problematic. Better have good knees crouching up under here. Don't wear your sunday best to sump these tanks. The oil is okay and we are done with the walk around. Time to climb in and get settled.
Kathy goes in first to settle down in the back seat and then Mischa and I get in. The seat belts are a decidedly 1970's automotive invention in this plane. Seems like my dads 1976 Chevy Malibu had very similar seatbelts. The things one remembers from childhood. We fish out the intercom. 297 is using a portable intercom until the new one is installed sometime next week. We all get plugged in and Mischa runs me through some of the oddities on the Cheetah that's different than the 172. We have a fuel pump now, the radios set up differently, the audio panel makes sense, there's a starter button now, a few gauges are in different places, a CHT, a fuel computer, and a spiffy Garmin 297 GPS :) We take a few moments and talk about the flight. I show Mischa what I've put together to talk to approach to get into the Class B, he said that's one way, and a good way, but how about this. We'll take off and head towards Love Field, Once we get to Millennium we'll call their tower and ask for an over-flight, direct to Addison.
Sure, I say. I can do that. I had already plotted a course and knew the headings that would take us on that route. He asks what then? I told him I didn't know, he'd not told me what we were doing after that, do we just turn around and come home? No, that wouldn't be any fun he says, let's go up north somewhere, then over to Alliance, maybe Meacham. You just want to make me land at a bunch of towered controlled airports today, don't you I asked him. He just smiled at me. I start entering in the identifies into the the route on the 297. Might as well use it since it's in the airplane. It'll give us some nice info along the way. He goes over how to read the CHT gauge, how we'll adjust the mixture to keep the temps reasonable, and how the fuel flow computer sets up.
We are buckled up and I run the engine start checklist. She's off and running and now it's time to call ground and get clearance to taxi to the run up area. They clear us and the next adventure starts. The Cheetah has differential braking, no nosewheel steering. This is going to take some getting used to. Sorry about the weaving Kathy. I KNOW you felt every bob and weave I did with those brakes today. Over all, it's not as awful as I'd been imagining it. I could learn how to handle this with a little practice. The run up is completed and thing are looking good. I radio the tower and request a north-east departure over GPM and we are cleared for take off and told to make our left turn when we'd like.
Power goes in and so does the rudder VERY quickly because I have no nosewheel steering and our first takeoff in the Cheetah is underway. A look FAR to the right and I can call Engines are green, look back and the airspeed indicator is moving now, Airspeed alive. I start the nose up at 50 knots and she seems to want to stick on the ground a bit longer than what seems right so I pull a bit harder and she starts her climb. Pitch for 80 knots and we are up and away. She climbs nice today, even with 3 people in her and full tanks. I make my turn and we are cleared to change frequencies.
A quick flip on the standby frequency and I'm calling GPM letting them know I want to transition their airspace for Millennium and they clear me over them and I climb to 1900 feet and overfly them. I go ahead and get Love Field in the standby on the radio and as we get to Millennium we are able to swap to Love's tower frequency. They are pretty slow this morning, so I call them and request through their airspace and on to ADS over the top of them. They clear me into the Class B, give me a squawk code and ask me to climb and maintain 2000 feet. I read back their squawk code after I set it, should have read it back immediately, next time will be better.
We are into the class B! No problems, and I'm flying direct to DAL then on to ADS. Nice to see Love Field from the air, even got to see a Southwest jet take off. As I aim for the tower to fly directly across at an angle on midfield I swap in the frequency for ADS's tower. Juggling the TAC back and forth a time or two today is working out pretty well for me. I'm splitting attention well enough to grab the frequencies from it and still not botch my flight up. DAL hand us off to the ADS tower as soon as we are clear of them and I am switching frequencies again (I really LOVE standby frequencies on radios now.) ADS clears us in for a landing and I'm setting one up.
The Cheetah likes to land a bit faster than the 172. I juggle things a bit and get things almost okay, a little slow, then found out what happens when you let the speed bleed off a bit too much in her. She sinks like a brick. I had gotten a bit behind the power curve with her and dropped her in for a good UMPFH of landing. Bounced her once, then flattened things out and recovered some speed and set her down for a much nicer landing the second time. Weaving again on the rollout, still dealing with the differential braking I made the turn off. We contacted ground and taxied back for a take off. Waited for a Citation to lift off and we were cleared for our takeoff, departure to the north-west.
We are off and heading out towards Lakeview (30F) on Lake Lewisville. We notice that we are about to clip a piece of the class B so I make a slight detour to the north to clear it and we have no problems. We see the airfield, the runway doesn't look like much fun, there is a note to land in the grass beside the runway. Maybe another day. Mischa looks at his watch, this is no good he says, you are getting done too soon! Lets divert. Where I ask? Denton? Sure he says. I grab the TAC again and flip the tower frequency into the standby on the radio that already has Alliances frequency in place and flip the switch. I hit nearest airport on the 297 and select DTO from the list and we are good to go. The heading it picked and away we fly. Calling the tower to let us into their airspace and allow us a touch and go. They let us in and we are setting up for another approach. This time I watch that speed on the final and stay well ahead of the power curve and the landing really comes off pretty nice. A bit of a weave on the take off roll and an easy back on the yoke, the nose comes up, the plane starts up, then settles back down for a moment before she finally flies off. Hrmm, next time, keep her on the ground a bit longer before rotation. I'll figure her out yet. We are up and climbing, biding farewell to DTO and onwards to AFW.
I flip the frequency on the radio and I am talking to Alliance and they clear me to 16 right. I go ahead and enter in Meacham into the stand by and a few more radio calls and I'm setting up for a nice final at AFW. Easy does it and a really nice landing comes out of that one. Power in, I'm on top of the rudder a bit better now, not QUITE so much weaving, leaving the nose down just a bit longer before an easy rotation and the nose lifts a bit, then flies right off the runway. Nice climb out this time. No settling back. I can figure this out. We are cleared out of Alliance and I switch frequencies to FTW and start talking to them. They clear me for a touch and go and I'm working it out into their pattern and down on final. A fair landing this time, and a nice rolling take off and most of the weave is gone now. I try the same approach on the take off as before and get a nice rotation and I'm off.
We decide to skips Fort Worth Spinks for the day and head back to GKY. I fly along the west side of downtown Fort Worth, making a turn to the east and heading towards the end of Lake Arlington, I turn down what I think is I-20 and start looking for the airport.
I don't see it. It should be right there. I putter along for a minute or two more while I scan for it, annoyed that I'm just not seeing it when Mischa asks if I have the field in sight. No, I reply. He asks Kathy if she does. Yes she says, and there's amusement in the tone of her voice. Mischa says, look around for it, don't just look ahead. A moment passes, I look to the left and there.. I see it... Mischa says.. Where's 287? Under me I reply, there's GKY's control tower. I have the field. I'd turned down 287 instead of I-20. If I'd bothered to even look at the compass I would have seen the mistake. The perils of thinking you know your back yard.
I make the turn and get back to I-20, place a call to the tower and they ask me to report right base for 16. About as I expected, and had told Mischa they would probably do when I called them. I call the right base and they clear me for the option. Touch-n-go or full stop Mischa asks. Touch-n-go I said, I'd like two here. Good enough he says, the first landing comes together pretty nicely, a bit high, so I run in the full flaps and they are impressive to say the least. We are down and touch, power goes in and we are off again. A fairly nice pattern and we are heading down final again. High again so flaps once more and we make a decent landing. We taxi off and back to parking.
All in all a good flight. Class B experience. Lots of landings at new towered airports I'd not been to before. A good feeling of knowing how to work inside my little part of the system. My altitude and headings were held very nicely today. There was a time or two that I'd get the Cheetah out of trim and she'd climb while my attention was diverted elsewhere, but for the most part, a very good day for easy, comfortable flying within limits. It felt really good having a good day working the TAC for information, cross checking our location on it, putting it away, and being able to do it all while keeping things kosher in the cockpit. I MIGHT just be getting a handle on some of this flying stuff. Maybe. ;)
Next up on Saturday is mock checkride. Going out and doing the maneuvers and seeing how they are looking. Working the rust out of them.
Closer... getting closer..
--1.9 dual
--6 landings