slipstreamsurfr (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
slipstreamsurfr) wrote2006-11-12 02:39 am
slipstreamsurfr) wrote2006-11-12 02:39 am
Entry tags:
Landings with an Audience - lesson 54
I'm slated to fly at noon today, the winds have been all over the place, one minute they are 10 knots, a half hour later they are at 13 knots, a bit later it's down to 12, then 11, then 14. I've been sitting at the airport fence watching the planes for a while and give Kathy a call. I know she's living close to the field now and figured we could grab lunch together.
After a good lunch with a lot of smiles and laughs we head to the office. Mischa nods when I tell him what I've been observing on the winds today and he pitches the idea of the shared flight. Sounds good to me, anything to get more air time. :)
Out Kathy and I go to preflight the plane and check the fuel. She settles in the back and I climb in the front with Mischa, the Hobbs meter is working now in the plane. She starts easily and down we go to the run up area. Task completed and CPT entered as a direct to on the GPS, the weather and field frequency is set up on the second radio and I'm calling the tower for a departure, expecting to depart the field to the south west. We are cleared out and warned that a 172 just headed our way ahead of us. Out we roll, line up and the power goes in. Pull back and let the Cheetah fly herself off the runway. Doesn't pay to try to unstick her any sooner with a full load on board. Off the runway and pitched for an 80 knot climb we are putting a good bit of air underneath us. I start my turn to the west and we are cleared of the pattern, frequency changed approved.
I stay on GKY's frequency for a bit on our way out, Mischa asks why, I point out that we are traversing an area that pulls a lot of direct traffic to GKY, would rather have a heads up for who else is coming in. He nods and we fly on. We fiddle a bit with the engine mixture to even out the cylinder head temps. I know we are getting close to CPT and I start looking for it. It's not where I expect it. I look harder and still don't see it. Then I look just to the left of where I THOUGHT it should be and what do I see but lines of hangers. I found it! ;) A radio call is made and I futz the runway heading, it's 33, not 34 at Cleburne. No matter, I fix it on my next radio call.
Cross the field midfield and turn into the downwind. Radio calls and pulling the power back almost to idle, pitch for my speed and capture it without going under it. I'm carrying a bit of power and turn to base, then final, power pulled all the way out and I settle in for a landing. It wasn't perfect, the crosswind is pushing me around some, a bit firmer than I would have liked for my first one. Power in and we are off again.
The second landing and I pull the power out and the way things work out I'm a bit high on the final, I run the flaps in, about 2/3rds and we make a so so landing. I am a bit fast and she won't stay stuck on the runway and we float back up a little and that darn wing isn't staying down and we slide to the left again. Down and rolling I start the flaps up and run in the power.
3rd landing I'm committed to the centerline and things work nicely with a no flap landing. We go for a 4th landing and Mischa calls for full flaps and no power. I being my flair too high, even knowing my deck angle would mislead me. It works out okay in the end and I start the flaps back up and power in as we are rolling for take off again.
The 5th landing was full flap and this time I did it all right and got a nice landing with a stuck wing on the right for the wind. I couldn't ask for one any better than that one. It felt really good. On our 6th landing he calls for a full slip, I'm doing so so on base to final and go ahead and run in a slip and drop, being slow on holding the wing down I let myself slip to the right too far. I fix it in the slip and stop my slide then let it out and land. Not a bad landing, but I'm not happy with the final.
The 7th landing was another slip, but this one I set up a bit nicer and I don't let that slide to the right start this time. Things look nice and we make a serviceable landing. It's about that time, so I turn us off on the taxiway and park at the terminal. It's time for Kathy's flight.
The rest of my afternoon I spend as a passenger in the back of the Cheetah. It's a lot roomier than I expected, even my 6 foot 4 frame fits reasonably well. Kathy did a fine job during her lesson. I had a lot of time to think about what the plane was doing, lots of time to feel things because I wasn't so tied up being hands on on things. Plus, sitting that far back, you can really feel things in the turns, in the stalls, that you might not at first feel sitting up front. On the way back experiencing the stalls, the brick brick feel as the wing starts to stall at the wingroot out. What a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to more flights with her as the pilot. Good job my friend.
--1.0 dual
--7 landings
After a good lunch with a lot of smiles and laughs we head to the office. Mischa nods when I tell him what I've been observing on the winds today and he pitches the idea of the shared flight. Sounds good to me, anything to get more air time. :)
Out Kathy and I go to preflight the plane and check the fuel. She settles in the back and I climb in the front with Mischa, the Hobbs meter is working now in the plane. She starts easily and down we go to the run up area. Task completed and CPT entered as a direct to on the GPS, the weather and field frequency is set up on the second radio and I'm calling the tower for a departure, expecting to depart the field to the south west. We are cleared out and warned that a 172 just headed our way ahead of us. Out we roll, line up and the power goes in. Pull back and let the Cheetah fly herself off the runway. Doesn't pay to try to unstick her any sooner with a full load on board. Off the runway and pitched for an 80 knot climb we are putting a good bit of air underneath us. I start my turn to the west and we are cleared of the pattern, frequency changed approved.
I stay on GKY's frequency for a bit on our way out, Mischa asks why, I point out that we are traversing an area that pulls a lot of direct traffic to GKY, would rather have a heads up for who else is coming in. He nods and we fly on. We fiddle a bit with the engine mixture to even out the cylinder head temps. I know we are getting close to CPT and I start looking for it. It's not where I expect it. I look harder and still don't see it. Then I look just to the left of where I THOUGHT it should be and what do I see but lines of hangers. I found it! ;) A radio call is made and I futz the runway heading, it's 33, not 34 at Cleburne. No matter, I fix it on my next radio call.
Cross the field midfield and turn into the downwind. Radio calls and pulling the power back almost to idle, pitch for my speed and capture it without going under it. I'm carrying a bit of power and turn to base, then final, power pulled all the way out and I settle in for a landing. It wasn't perfect, the crosswind is pushing me around some, a bit firmer than I would have liked for my first one. Power in and we are off again.
The second landing and I pull the power out and the way things work out I'm a bit high on the final, I run the flaps in, about 2/3rds and we make a so so landing. I am a bit fast and she won't stay stuck on the runway and we float back up a little and that darn wing isn't staying down and we slide to the left again. Down and rolling I start the flaps up and run in the power.
3rd landing I'm committed to the centerline and things work nicely with a no flap landing. We go for a 4th landing and Mischa calls for full flaps and no power. I being my flair too high, even knowing my deck angle would mislead me. It works out okay in the end and I start the flaps back up and power in as we are rolling for take off again.
The 5th landing was full flap and this time I did it all right and got a nice landing with a stuck wing on the right for the wind. I couldn't ask for one any better than that one. It felt really good. On our 6th landing he calls for a full slip, I'm doing so so on base to final and go ahead and run in a slip and drop, being slow on holding the wing down I let myself slip to the right too far. I fix it in the slip and stop my slide then let it out and land. Not a bad landing, but I'm not happy with the final.
The 7th landing was another slip, but this one I set up a bit nicer and I don't let that slide to the right start this time. Things look nice and we make a serviceable landing. It's about that time, so I turn us off on the taxiway and park at the terminal. It's time for Kathy's flight.
The rest of my afternoon I spend as a passenger in the back of the Cheetah. It's a lot roomier than I expected, even my 6 foot 4 frame fits reasonably well. Kathy did a fine job during her lesson. I had a lot of time to think about what the plane was doing, lots of time to feel things because I wasn't so tied up being hands on on things. Plus, sitting that far back, you can really feel things in the turns, in the stalls, that you might not at first feel sitting up front. On the way back experiencing the stalls, the brick brick feel as the wing starts to stall at the wingroot out. What a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to more flights with her as the pilot. Good job my friend.
--1.0 dual
--7 landings