Flying Lessons

Lesson 15: Marginal VFR.

Thursday, 1/15/2004
Take off BFI,Mercer departure and approach, 3 touch and go.
Cessna 150, 1.0 hours, 4 landings

Deane's been eager for me to fly him up to Arlington so he can get 7198J. I would then fly back solo, which would be my first real flight by my self. I'm pretty eager to go and have planned a route, but the weather is not good. Clouds are generally 1,000' to 2,000' with some rain.

Instead, we fly the Mercer departure, one which I've done done yet. Over lake Washington I'm find the ceiling at about 800'. I'm trying to balance several factors: 1000' above and 2,000' to lateral from areas, 500' below the clouds, and stay right to avoid the Mercer approach traffic. I give priority to staying right and drift close to Mercer island. Deane suggests it is better to be away from the land. If I stay below 700' then I'm in class G airspace and only have to be Clear of Clouds, not 500' below. I don't understand why it suddenly becomes safe to be right below clouds below 700' and not safe above. Later we discuss this and I realize it is very unlikely that an IFR aircraft will drop out of the clouds at 700' above lake Washington. So as long as I stay 2000' from the shores and below 700' we really are legal out here. Of course, we can't leave the lake because there is no space between the surrounding congested areas and the clouds.

Deane keeps urging me higher and to stay close enough to shore that we could glide there. There are a lot of houses and trees and my very in-expert opinion is that I would rather ditch right by shore than crash into someone's house.

Back at Boeing field do 4 landings. We have a light cross wind with light turbulence so this is a great practice day. But the clouds remain so low that on the downwind leg I can only get up to 800' and am probably 500' above houses, less at times. I'm not comfortable with this and among many reasons one is that this has got to be annoying someone. But it's good practice for flying slow under clouds.

Even though I forgot the step of checking ATIS before calling the tower on return (we had just been out 10 minutes and I "felt" current) Deane signs off on my flying in and out of Boeing. I'm now ready to take a plane out myself.

Lesson 16: Short Field Takeoff and Landing

Wednesday, 1/21/2004
Take off BFI, Fly to Auburn for landings, return to BFI
Cessna 172, 1.0 hours, 4 landings

We were hoping to fly cross country to Bellingham, Friday Harbor, and Port Townsend but fog has persisted through the day. Instead Deane take describes short field technique and we go down to Auburn for some practice.

Short Field Takeoff:

Each plane will have a slightly different procedure and the POH should be consulted for details. Here's the general outline of what we covered today.

• Position the airplane so you'll have every inch of the runway ahead of you, even if this means taxing onto the grass.
• Hold the breaks.
• Bring Engine up to 1,500 RPMs and check oil tempature and pressure.
• Bring engine up to full RPMs.
• Release breaks.
• Be ready to counter a left turn.
• Hold a slight nose up attitude.
• At Vr make rotate decisively.
• Hold Vx until clear of obstructions.

Short Field Landing:

Again, consult POH for each plane's procedure and numbers. The general plan is to stabilize the aircraft at the proper approach speed. Flaps should either be full (40°) or off one notch (30°) and full applied close to landing. Really it is about coming into the runway with the minimum amount of energy that will get the plane there. If the plane has too much energy, either too fast or too high, you'll use up runway bleeding off the energy.

• If there are no obstacles then one should come in on a shallow glide slope using power to maintain elevation, speed nailed at approach speed (60 in the 172). Power off when it is clear you can reach the end of the runway.
• If there is an obstacle the one should approach the obstacle at the approach speed. Pull the power off as you cross the obstacle, hold the speed and get down to the runway.
• Make a positive touchdown. I'm a little unclear on how to do this. I guess you can either fly it onto the ground or stall it onto the ground. But you want to get the wheels down as soon as possible.
• Once the wheels are down break aggressively. (We only pretend in practice because hard breaking can lock up a wheel and cause a ground loop.)

But when traveling low and slow with full flaps it is possible to get in a position where full power is not enough to make the plane climb. Don't let the plane get to low or slow.

Back at Boeing Deane complements me on my flying.

I still have not done a solo out of Boeing Field. Every time I'm out I hear something new on the radio which stumps me. On takeoff we were told to cross 13L and take off on 13R. This came in the form of a string of taxi way designations followed by "13R". I had a good sense of what the directions meant when I heard the runway designation, but I was not sure, and not completely sure I had heard the right taxi way designation. Solo I won't have Deane to confirm the ATC directions. On landing the ground controller asked me to confirm I was at "Al 4", which I heard as "isle 4" and thought that isle might refer to where the plane gets parked. Deane sused out that the controller was abbreviating"Alpha" and asking us to confirm which taxi way we were on. I can always tell them I'm a student on my first solo flight out of Boeing, maybe they will take better care of me.

Lesson 17: First Solo Flight

Sunday, 1/25/04
Take off BFI, Fly to Auburn for landings, east for practice, return to BFI
Cessna 150, 1.4 hours, 5 landings

In the hope of good weather I reserve the old 150 with the intention of doing my first all-solo flight. I want to go over to Bremmerton with it's empty air space and large runway, but the skys never clear there so my destination is Auburn.

I'm nervous as I leave home. I've "soloed" before, but that was different. Deane just got out of the plane while I went around the pattern 3 times. I didn't have to deal with ATC or other traffic in the pattern that day. Today I'm going from startup to shutdown, leaving and returning to the Boeing Field airspace. I've done this enough times that I feel I can do it again solo, but as I leave home the full complexity of what I'm about to do makes me nervous.

The plane has just returned from a cross country flight. In the preflight I check the fuel in the sumps for water even though I think that is generally only done before the first flight and after fueling. I don't check the tanks because I intend to have the plane refueled. What short cuts are OK for me to take and which are not? I focus on going through the check list one item at a time like religion, but my mind is a little jumpy.

The plane is parked at the north end of Boeing Field and Clay Lacy, our refueler, is near the south end so I have a long taxi. After fueling I contact ground control and am told to taxi to 13R, A9. Huh - not what I expected. I repeat it back, but then am puzzled by that location. We usually take off to the south from the north end. A9 is the south end, right near me, and 13R is the big runway. Am I really to take off to the south from the south end of the big runway? I call back to ground to confirm 13R, A9. They do. They said it right, I heard it right. I realize that he's doing me a favor. The big runway is 10,000 ft long and this plane needs only 1,000 ft to get off the ground. Even starting from the midpoint I have more runway in front of me that many of the smaller airports that I'll land at. Something new every time I'm here.

After run ups I contact the tower and am given clearance to take off. This is it. This is where the rubber leaves the pavement. Have I done everything I'm supposed to? I curve out onto the center line and run the power up to full. Rotate at 55 like I've done so many times before and soon I'm off the ground and climbing. Looks like I didn't miss anything important.

1,000 ft and fly the railroad tracks to Auburn. A couple miles south of the airport the controller asks me to check my transponder. Sure enough, it's still on "Standby". I did miss something. It is the last item on the list and I've missed it before. But the controller is very polite and the problem easily fixed.

Auburn is busy. There are three or four planes in the pattern already. I fly to the water towers, spot the other planes, announce, and sequence myself in. To keep spacing I end up doing an extended base and long final which I fly at about 65. Sounds like most of the planes are behind me and this slow final may be bunching them up. Maybe I should have done a faster final then slow right before landing. Hmm another thing to practice. On short final I notice I've not applied carb heat. Hmmm.

Light turbulence and a moderately hard landing. Go around and do it again. I get off the runway quickly and am soon in the downwind leg. With only 1 person the 150 floats more on landing. This is more like the 172 with 2 people. I could probably kill power sooner and bring it in at 55 to 60 at the end. Turbulence still confuses me at the end and I make another moderately hard landing. Reactions not yet drilled into my body.

I'm impressed by how much time poeple spend practicing landings. There must be as many people flying IN the pattern as OUT of it.

I fly the downwind leg and then depart east to practice flying. I fly at different speeds. I make turns concentrating on coordinating ailerons and rudder. And I look at some of the scenery. I notice to the south east open fields which would make good emergency landing sites.

I return to Auburn, find the pattern less busy, and make a full stop landing, take a short break, the fly the pattern for another landing. I'm warming up and better coordinating the alignment. Landings are smoother.

I depart to the north, call up ATIS, contact the tower, and sequence into the pattern. I make a short base and fine steep descent to the best landing of the day. Back at the ramp Deane is waiting with another student.

What did I learn?

• Focus on the check lists.
• Flying is about learning judgment to blend multiple, sometimes conflicting, requirements to come up with a safe and efficient solution. Today I faced questions about checking the fuel, how to sequence into the pattern at Auburn, and what in-flight maneuvers to practice over the houses SE of Auburn.

The Plane I Want to Buy

When I showed up at the airport I saw some people loading into what I thought was a Maule. I stopped and talked to the pilot. It is the same folks who own the Cub. They do scenic flights, charter, and pilot training. He said it was unfortunate that I was learning in a 150 and suggested that if I want to fly tail draggers I should learn in tail draggers. I think most of flying is the same and I'll make the transition just fine. They suggested that I take a couple hours of lessons from them to learn good practice for tail draggers. I may do that while Deane is gone, partly just to fly a cub.

But I got to see a Maule. First, I was impressed that they were putting 4 adults and one child into it. A sure sign that it will carry the load I want (or that a new M7-235 will). I've only heard good things about the Maule. Later Deane suggested that I could get one for under $40,000, which puts it within consideration for me. And now I know of some guys who will train me in the plane before I decide to go buy one.

Next