Flying Lessons

Lesson 8: Cross Wind Landings

Tuesday, 12/16/2003
Take off BFI, fly south to Auburn, full stop landing, touch and go at Auburn, return to Boeing.
Cessna 150, 1.0 hours, 4 landings

Last Friday, in very bad weather, we decided to cancel the lesson. Then the sun came out about the time we would have been flying. So today, even though the weather is bad and winds somewhat gusty I just head down to the airport. The clouds are actually fairly high.

Today we are going to fly down to Auburn. Hopefully I'll get some cross wind landing practice in as well. Deane reviews the technique.

On take off I don't have the aileron's level so one wing drops. I can feel myself hesitate as I think about what to do. As a result the plane sinks back to the runway and bounces - just what Deane said we were trying to avoid.

Once up it is bouncy. We fly south over the railroad tracks and soon come to Auburn. The pattern entry is set up by flying over a water tower on a hill to the west. Near the hill the air is very turbulent. There is a strong wind but it is mostly aligned with the runway. This is a significantly narrower runway than at Boeing. I do fine with the approach and alignment but still land hard.

We stop by the airport office and Deane shows me the weather information system. I also see several planes for sale. Some small ones which I might actually afford and some shares in larger planes which I can also afford. Still, I ran the numbers recently and have come to appreciate how cost effective renting really is.

I take off, circle in the pattern, and land fairly well. I'm playing with the power more to keep speed up until we are on the runway. I suggest another and do even better this time. The back at Boeing I touch down hard. Deane said I just stopped adjusting pitch in the last 5 ft and let the plane sink. I still don't understand the last 5 ft.

Lesson 9: Touch and Go at Renton

Thursday, 12/18/2003
Fly to Renton Airport and practice landings.
cessna 150, 1.1 hours, 5 landings

We fly over to Renton, a very near by controlled airport and I practice my landings. Deane demonstrates one then I do 4. On final, with 40 degree flaps, this plane descends steeply. As always, it feels like the earth is coming up to smack me, but I don't mind so much this time. I feel more coordinated between stick and rudder and execute some decent landings.

Now that I'm getting it I don't understand what I was not getting before. I finally have enough under control, and enough automatic reflexes, that I can pay attention to flying the plane all the way down to the ground. Before, my attention would get stuck on one thing or get fatigued to the point where it sort of quit.

Now that I'm over 40 and looking toward what will be my "mature" years I can not help but wonder if I would have learned all this faster when I was younger. Am I slowing down? I've been told that the young nervous system is flexible, adapting to new information readily, then becomes more rigid as the body ages. This would mean that I inevitable learn slower. More recently research suggests that the "older" nervous system still retains its ability to change as new skills are learned. Statistics show that people who remain engaged in learning are less likely to develop alzheimer's. But can I still learn as fast? Would I at age 20 have gotten the landing coordination significantly faster than I am at 40? Does the nervous system only become as fixed as it is allowed to be? That is, if you stop learning after leaving school and settle into fixed activities, no longer challenging your nervous system to change, does your nervous system loose the ability to change?

I suspect that it is more about how deeply you wear the grooves. If you always do the same things the nervous systems gets very used to using the established pathways. It is harder, but not impossible to break out of that. The more you challenge your nervous system to change the more readily it will change.

But still, am I slowing down? I can't remember back to learning a similar new skill when I was around 20 that compares to learning flying. I was good at sailing and boats, but I learned that over many years, starting when I was 5. It is hard to say how quickly I learned. I learned to be a better skier in my 30's than I did when I was in my teens. When I went to massage school in my mid 30s I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I took in the information, much of it memorization. I have to say that I don't have any evidence that my ability to learn is decreasing. But, I will always wonder if 20 years ago I would have picked up these skills faster and not be making as many small mistakes as I am now.

Lesson 10: Local Tour

Sunday, 12/28/03
Tour of airports Boeing -> Auburn -> Crest -> Renton -> Boeing
Cessna 150, 1.1 Hours, 3 Landings

Deane takes me on a tour of the local airports to give me more practice getting in and out of them. This is to include Crest (city of Kent), which he says can be tricky.

To start, he tells me to get us out of Boeing without him giving me any direction. This is hard. I do not feel my brain functioning smoothly. I work slowly through the check lists and take time to make sure I'm doing the right things in the right order. I miss priming the engine, which is no problem, but also miss directions to turn left after take off to clear the path for a large jet. I should just practice asking the tower to "Say Again" any instructions I'm not completely clear on. Deane wants communications to be short to avoid tying up the radio. I need to be willing to take time I need.

Auburn is hard to find. There are warehouse buildings all around the airport. The runway really does not stick out. Finally I spot the hangers and parked planes.

I have difficulty with the take offs. After struggling with landings I'm surprised to find that I'm now struggling with takeoff. I get the plane airborne, but then can't build speed to climb. I hesitate to "check forward" because I think that is going to put us back down on the runway. As a result we fly low over the runway for an uncomfortable distance. Afterwards we talk about it and Dean says that I'm pulling up too much. The plane lifts off, climbs too fast, and looses speed. So, next flight I need to us gentle back pressure. Let the plane rotate and lift off on it's own.

Taking off from Auburn I get a good example of the difficulty of prioritizing the things that I (sort of) know with instructions from Deane. Deane instructed me to fly a right hand pattern departure then cross the airport and head east. On the departure I make an early right turn to crosswind for noise abatement. The result is that I'm not even at traffic pattern altitude as I head to over fly the runway. Deane suggests continuing the downwind leg. If asked about this in a non-stress setting I probably would have come to the conclusion that I should not cross the airport that low. Best to be 500 ft above the pattern altitude. But here I'm dutifully following Deane's instructions

Coming into Crest I get confused about left and right traffic pattern. Dean's saying left and I'm thinking "no, that's right". We get this sorted out by me following his directions. I quickly realize that I had right and left confused. But maybe I should have flown away from the airport until I was clear on what I was doing.

I can see why Deane said I would probably not solo to Crest any time soon. The runway is narrow and has a stand of trees we must dog leg around. We land to the north with a slight tail wind. Deane helps me a lot.

Finally, over to Renton. For some reason the plane drifts right shortly above the runway. Deane helps me get it down.

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