And there was rain - Lesson 48
Oct. 14th, 2006 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slipstreamsurfrThis morning I woke to hearing rain falling outside my bedroom window. Hrmm. How bad is it out there, will my lesson be scrubbed? I checked GKY, 10 mile vis, ceilings at 4000, light rain. VFR. Interesting. I've never really flown in the rain, will Mischa even want to?
I get ready and head out after having picked up a full briefing. In Arlington, VFR conditions, light rain and drizzle. Visibility generally 5 miles to 10 miles depending on how hard it is raining. Head south to Midway, forget it. The ceilings fall to about 800 feet broken, 1 mile vis in rain. I'm waiting at the airport studying the oral exam guide when my cell phone rings. Mischa's running a little late, picking up some batteries for the portable intercom in the Cheetah. What's it doing at the airport he asks, knowing that I'm always early and would be sitting in the car watching the planes. At the time he calls the rain has cleared out. I tell him about conditions around us and that we'll be in and out of rain most of the morning but it should stop raining by noon when he's flying with Kathy. Good he says, a GREAT day to fly. :)
I run a preflight while I wait for him to get to the airport. He arrives and it has started raining again. I accuse him of bringing it with him from west Arlington. He laughs. He asks if I've ever flown in the rain before. Not really I told him. Great he says, it'll be fun!
There is a problem with low wing aircraft. There is no way to get into them without getting wet when it's raining. Especially one that has a canopy that slides back. We settle in and get everything situated and I run the engine start checklist. Clear is yelled, and it echos across the ramp, the starter is pressed and the engine starts right off. Blowing yet more water over the top edge of the canopy. I slide it forward and lock it. We laugh about it. I set the radios and a quick call to ground and we are taxing to 16. Run up is done and we are talking to the tower and getting cleared for a south west departure.
The tower has looked over his shoulder because when he clears me to depart the pattern he mentions that there looks to be a good bit of rain that way. Roger, I tell the tower, we'll avoid the heavy rain. I adjust my turn out and head to where the visibility is better in the rain. This is different. I can see how it'd be distracting if you ran into it the first time on your own. We stay where it's pretty light and climb to 2800 feet. Slow flight he calls for. I dial it in. With flaps please. Remember, when the DE calls for slow flight, she'll mean with flaps, that's how it's usually done. I add them in and have the horn wailing. Turn to the north please. I start the turn and the plane shudders. I drop the nose, recovering from the stall that was trying to start and let the wail die down just a little on the horn and then roll into the turn again. 20 degree's please. I ease it in, lowering the nose a bit more. I overshoot the heading, but only because I'd taken time to recover from the stall that tried to start. He calls for a turn to the left. I make it. He calls for a power off full flap stall. Power out, pitch the nose starting up trying not to climb and we stall cleanly. Nose down, power in smoothly, pull the first 1/3 of the flaps and then milk the rest of them out as I recover into a climb. Nice, I hear, didn't forget the flaps this time.
Recover some speed and lets do a slip to the right is the next request I hear. I reach 80 knots, power back out and I roll into a full slip to the right. Left he asks. I change it to the left. Good, keep in in the slip and speed up to 100 knots. I lower the nose and ease up to the mark. Good. Now back to 80. I slowly raise the nose and hold 80. Bring us to the right a little, line us up with those roads. I ease things out a bit, holding the 80 knots and let us slide to the right and stop it. Good. Recover and lets climb back up and do it again.
We ran this routine a second time. Mischa's very happy with me today. I love it when you get in the plane and fly this way Mitch. You are just on top of it today. What'd you do since we last flew? I laughed and told him I'd spent the last 2 days chair-flying front slips. Committing the process so that I didn't need to think when I need to perform one. Making darn sure that I never, ever, want to pull a nose in the slip. Going into, or coming out of. Very good he tells me. He calls for a course change and it puts us going through some of the heavier rain. The front canopy seal on the cheetah drips a little. There's no way to get it totally waterproof it seems.
Off back towards Arlington we come in from the west. I call the tower and they clear me into a right downwind for 16. Please call when abeam the tower. I modify my position a bit and join up on the right downwind abeam the tower and call them. They clear me for the option. I make my turns, starting to set things up for a full flap landing. I start to trend towards a little slow and add a bit of power, letting the nose rise a little. That's not good, nor right. I fix things and things are better, the centerline strips are hard to see on a wet runway. The rain just hitting the front windscreen. a little distracting, but nothing I can't fly with. I look down the wet runway and just fly the plane. I know where the centerline should be, ease it down, flare, the nose up and the tires roll on. No chirp on a wet runway. Feels different, neat, I like. Start the flaps up and look over my shoulder to make sure they are coming up, then power in and I'm quickly reaching rotation speed, up and out we are climbing. A really nice landing. Pitch for speed, power for altitude I'm gently reminded. Don't get backwards.
The second landing comes around, again, full flap, easy on rolling the tires. Landing wet is really pretty neat. Sure makes things feel nice when you get a nice rolling landing. No sound, just one moment you're flying, the next the tires are rolling up to speed. No side loads, no worries, just a nice landing.
The next several we do we pull the power for simulated engine outs and instead of using flaps I run in full slips. Nice, high, tight, and down we go. The first one the nose stays where I want it, I let myself out of the slip and keep the nose down. A fair landing. The second I go into the slip and the nose hints that it wants to come up but I put it down. It did result in a little bleed of speed, and I know that Mischa saw it. Another good landing. The third is another engine out and this time the slip is where I want it. Nose down. All the way.
One last landing on tap, then I have to have Mischa back for Kathy. This one the tower asks us to extend our downwind a bit to allow them to get someone off the ground. I let them know this one will be full stop. We are cleared to turn base. The power comes back to 1500, the first 1/3 of the flaps, base and now at 2/3 and 80 knots. Turn to final and roll out on the centerline and we are still high so the last of the flaps come in. I ride the 80 knots down, adjusting the power a bit to even up the glide path and another nice one rolls on. We are cleared of the runway, taxi back to parking.
We talk a bit after the flight. He did catch the one, single, time I started to let the nose rise on a slip. But also caught that I caught, and fixed it quick. Good progress, I'm on the right path. Keep doing the good stuff. One final nit to pick. When I adjust pitch for speed, I tend to pull or pitch the nose, holding it until I'm at the speed and then going the other way. Do it in increments, pitch a degree or two. Stop. See what the airspeed does, then do it again until I get to where I want. The danger of doing it my way is that one day, I'll forget to check my airspeed and I'll pull it into a stall. Or at least get darn close to it. Fix that tomorrow, keep doing our slips the way you did them today and I'll call Carol I'm told.
Good day, even in the rain.
--0.9 dual
--6 landings
I get ready and head out after having picked up a full briefing. In Arlington, VFR conditions, light rain and drizzle. Visibility generally 5 miles to 10 miles depending on how hard it is raining. Head south to Midway, forget it. The ceilings fall to about 800 feet broken, 1 mile vis in rain. I'm waiting at the airport studying the oral exam guide when my cell phone rings. Mischa's running a little late, picking up some batteries for the portable intercom in the Cheetah. What's it doing at the airport he asks, knowing that I'm always early and would be sitting in the car watching the planes. At the time he calls the rain has cleared out. I tell him about conditions around us and that we'll be in and out of rain most of the morning but it should stop raining by noon when he's flying with Kathy. Good he says, a GREAT day to fly. :)
I run a preflight while I wait for him to get to the airport. He arrives and it has started raining again. I accuse him of bringing it with him from west Arlington. He laughs. He asks if I've ever flown in the rain before. Not really I told him. Great he says, it'll be fun!
There is a problem with low wing aircraft. There is no way to get into them without getting wet when it's raining. Especially one that has a canopy that slides back. We settle in and get everything situated and I run the engine start checklist. Clear is yelled, and it echos across the ramp, the starter is pressed and the engine starts right off. Blowing yet more water over the top edge of the canopy. I slide it forward and lock it. We laugh about it. I set the radios and a quick call to ground and we are taxing to 16. Run up is done and we are talking to the tower and getting cleared for a south west departure.
The tower has looked over his shoulder because when he clears me to depart the pattern he mentions that there looks to be a good bit of rain that way. Roger, I tell the tower, we'll avoid the heavy rain. I adjust my turn out and head to where the visibility is better in the rain. This is different. I can see how it'd be distracting if you ran into it the first time on your own. We stay where it's pretty light and climb to 2800 feet. Slow flight he calls for. I dial it in. With flaps please. Remember, when the DE calls for slow flight, she'll mean with flaps, that's how it's usually done. I add them in and have the horn wailing. Turn to the north please. I start the turn and the plane shudders. I drop the nose, recovering from the stall that was trying to start and let the wail die down just a little on the horn and then roll into the turn again. 20 degree's please. I ease it in, lowering the nose a bit more. I overshoot the heading, but only because I'd taken time to recover from the stall that tried to start. He calls for a turn to the left. I make it. He calls for a power off full flap stall. Power out, pitch the nose starting up trying not to climb and we stall cleanly. Nose down, power in smoothly, pull the first 1/3 of the flaps and then milk the rest of them out as I recover into a climb. Nice, I hear, didn't forget the flaps this time.
Recover some speed and lets do a slip to the right is the next request I hear. I reach 80 knots, power back out and I roll into a full slip to the right. Left he asks. I change it to the left. Good, keep in in the slip and speed up to 100 knots. I lower the nose and ease up to the mark. Good. Now back to 80. I slowly raise the nose and hold 80. Bring us to the right a little, line us up with those roads. I ease things out a bit, holding the 80 knots and let us slide to the right and stop it. Good. Recover and lets climb back up and do it again.
We ran this routine a second time. Mischa's very happy with me today. I love it when you get in the plane and fly this way Mitch. You are just on top of it today. What'd you do since we last flew? I laughed and told him I'd spent the last 2 days chair-flying front slips. Committing the process so that I didn't need to think when I need to perform one. Making darn sure that I never, ever, want to pull a nose in the slip. Going into, or coming out of. Very good he tells me. He calls for a course change and it puts us going through some of the heavier rain. The front canopy seal on the cheetah drips a little. There's no way to get it totally waterproof it seems.
Off back towards Arlington we come in from the west. I call the tower and they clear me into a right downwind for 16. Please call when abeam the tower. I modify my position a bit and join up on the right downwind abeam the tower and call them. They clear me for the option. I make my turns, starting to set things up for a full flap landing. I start to trend towards a little slow and add a bit of power, letting the nose rise a little. That's not good, nor right. I fix things and things are better, the centerline strips are hard to see on a wet runway. The rain just hitting the front windscreen. a little distracting, but nothing I can't fly with. I look down the wet runway and just fly the plane. I know where the centerline should be, ease it down, flare, the nose up and the tires roll on. No chirp on a wet runway. Feels different, neat, I like. Start the flaps up and look over my shoulder to make sure they are coming up, then power in and I'm quickly reaching rotation speed, up and out we are climbing. A really nice landing. Pitch for speed, power for altitude I'm gently reminded. Don't get backwards.
The second landing comes around, again, full flap, easy on rolling the tires. Landing wet is really pretty neat. Sure makes things feel nice when you get a nice rolling landing. No sound, just one moment you're flying, the next the tires are rolling up to speed. No side loads, no worries, just a nice landing.
The next several we do we pull the power for simulated engine outs and instead of using flaps I run in full slips. Nice, high, tight, and down we go. The first one the nose stays where I want it, I let myself out of the slip and keep the nose down. A fair landing. The second I go into the slip and the nose hints that it wants to come up but I put it down. It did result in a little bleed of speed, and I know that Mischa saw it. Another good landing. The third is another engine out and this time the slip is where I want it. Nose down. All the way.
One last landing on tap, then I have to have Mischa back for Kathy. This one the tower asks us to extend our downwind a bit to allow them to get someone off the ground. I let them know this one will be full stop. We are cleared to turn base. The power comes back to 1500, the first 1/3 of the flaps, base and now at 2/3 and 80 knots. Turn to final and roll out on the centerline and we are still high so the last of the flaps come in. I ride the 80 knots down, adjusting the power a bit to even up the glide path and another nice one rolls on. We are cleared of the runway, taxi back to parking.
We talk a bit after the flight. He did catch the one, single, time I started to let the nose rise on a slip. But also caught that I caught, and fixed it quick. Good progress, I'm on the right path. Keep doing the good stuff. One final nit to pick. When I adjust pitch for speed, I tend to pull or pitch the nose, holding it until I'm at the speed and then going the other way. Do it in increments, pitch a degree or two. Stop. See what the airspeed does, then do it again until I get to where I want. The danger of doing it my way is that one day, I'll forget to check my airspeed and I'll pull it into a stall. Or at least get darn close to it. Fix that tomorrow, keep doing our slips the way you did them today and I'll call Carol I'm told.
Good day, even in the rain.
--0.9 dual
--6 landings
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-15 06:03 am (UTC)-Kysh
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-15 01:02 pm (UTC)Yesterday we played a lot with adjusting our speed going down in the slip by raising/lowering the nose. So every movement has its place and time. Yesterday I moved a long way to fixing the bad habit for good. Now I'll pull the nose when I want to. not just because I'm sloppy.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-15 06:03 am (UTC)-Kysh
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-15 01:09 pm (UTC)I'm going to need a second headset soon to take friends along. :) (bounce bounce) :)