January 2005
Pilot Training
Updates
January 2005
On page links to specific dates:
20Jan05, 21Jan05,
27Jan05
20
Jan 05: Full time flight training has commenced
again!! Just a quick recap: Back in September, I had soloed the Alarus and
was scheduled to do my first cross-country when my second fulltime instructor
(and 4th instructor in all) quit the flight school to take a job with an
airline. After having flown with 4 instructors and about to issued number
5, I had had enough of the inconsistencies and pulled out of the flight school
to get another instructor I could stick with until I was done. Dad sold
his Falcon and bought a Piper Tomahawk and we've been flying it. I was
able to hire a local instructor, Tim Goddard, that is based at the same strip
Dad has the Tomahawk hangered, Warner Robins Airpark (5A2.) Tim has a very
good reputation and I had no problems asking him to finish up my training.
Originally, I had planned on going back to Richard, my first instructor, but the
way Dad's insurance is written, anyone who has 10 hours in make and model is
covered. Tim has many hours in a Tomahawk and that was my first reason for
choosing him. After having flown with him, his way of teaching is very
similar to Richard's (or I should say Richard's is very similar to Tim's
considering the age difference) and so it was very easy to get used to the way
Tim instructs.
Now that you're up-to-date, on with the flight training. I met Tim
at Airpark at 1530 and we went had had our initial interview in the 5A2 office.
We looked through my log book and went over how much we would have to back up to
get me flying the Tomahawk as proficiently as I was the Alarus. The planes
fly so differently, it's going to take a bit of time. I have the basics down:
Straight and level flight, ascending and descending turns, and pattern
flying. Today we did a different take-off than I am used to. At the
flight school, there was a 4695 foot long by 150 foot wide asphalt runway to
use. You accelerate the airplane and when it gets to speed, you take off.
At Airpark, we have a 2833 foot long by 130 foot wide grass strip. Because
you gain speed slower on grass and it's a little over half as long, you need to
get up quicker so you don't hit the big ditch at either end of the runway, or,
even worse, you're high enough to fly, but high enough to go over the houses at
the end of the runway. either way: It's bad news. So, we learn
what's called a soft-field take off. Quite a bit different than the
"accelerate and leave the ground when you're fast enough" approach. You
actually make the airplane leave the ground before it's ready and then keep it
low (called ground effect) to gain speed and when you have enough speed, then
climb out. A lot more coordination is needed to do this type of take off
and it's actually kind of fun when you get used to it. we took off that
way (with a huge amount of help from Tim) and then we headed to the practice
area. As we go there, Tim took over for a minute to get the feel of the
"Tommy" and then gave it back to me. Any of you that know or read anything
about Tomahawks, know they were built to be an easily spin-able aircraft.
And, when you stall them, if you aren't coordinated at the time of stall, they
will drop a wing hard and try to spin. well, the first thing Tim wanted to
teach me was stalls. They were nothing in the Alarus after I got used to
the sensation. In the Tommy, they are a bit more, no I take that back,
they are a LOT more abrupt and scary. Tim did the first stall (departure)
to show me and when it stalled, the nose dropped and it felt like any other
stall. He handed it over to me, I did one and when it stalled, first, the
buffet was a lot more pronounced in the Tommy than the Alarus and then when it
stalled, that right wing dropped hard. Instead of just stepping on the
rudder and gaining airspeed, I instinctively yanked the yoke to the left.
That pulled the airplane to the left, just enough to make the left wing stall
and then the plane rolled that way. Tim stepped on the rudder, gained
speed and leveled us out. Yeah.. That sucked. Then he did an
approach stall. When he did it, the left wing stalled and the plane REALLY
banked hard just before he recovered and leveled it out. When it did that,
it scared the crap out of me and grabbed a handful of dash board. He just
laughed and said I would have to get used to the sensation. I did the next
one and was a bit better than my first. Then we did a 30 degree banked
stalled and that didn't bother me at all because I knew which wing was going to
drop. I'm really going to have to work on these stalls. Tim offered
to just do the stalls up to the time of the buffet and then recovered without
actually stalling the airplane if they scared me that much. Although, they
do scare me right now, I'm not going to learn them if we don't do the real
thing. I'll get over the fear, if I just keep doing them. We'll just
incorporate them into each lesson until I'm comfortable and proficient with
them. After a couple of basic maneuvers, we headed back to Airpark for my
first look at a soft-field landing. Come in normal, flare at the last
minute and hold the nose off as long as possible. Those are actually fun.
After the landing (that Tim did), I pulled over to the hanger and Dad was there
waiting. He had taken some pictures of our take-off and 2 are shown below.
Normally, I don't put a "click to see a bigger size" in this area, but these are
kinda cool, so I did.. It was a long afternoon, but it was
fun and I'm going to like flying with Tim. He knows the regs, rules and how to
instruct like the back of hand. He's very thorough and makes sure you know
what he's explaining.
Time in Log Book (Dual): 1.5 hrs
Time in Log Book (PIC): 0 hrs
Total time: 20.7 hrs
Next flight is scheduled for: 21 Jan 05
Click thumbnail for larger picture.
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21
Jan 05: Day 2 with Tim. Today, Tim
decided to have me work on take-offs and landings. Since we have to do a
Soft Field take offs and landings at Airpark, he figured we would work on
getting me comfortable with those today. So, all time was spent, taking
off, around the pattern, landing, taxing back, taking off, around the pattern,
landing, etc. Soft field take offs are fun, after you get used to them.
Pull the elevator all the way back to your chest. Drop one notch of flaps,
accelerate and wait for the nose to get light. (Which doesn't take long) Once it
does, start letting go of some of the elevator and keep the plane at a nose high
attitude until the main gears come off the ground, at which time, you push
forward, just enough to keep the plane in level flight about 5-10 feet off the
ground. At this time, the airplane really doesn't have enough speed to
fly, it's in ground effect and is, basically, sandwiching the air between the
wings and ground. In ground effect , all the controls are pretty mushy and
lower in response. Except the elevator in the Tomahawk. It's a
T-tail and out of the disturbed air of the propeller. It's very
responsive, so you have to be careful not to over pitch the aircraft.
Since your wheels are off the ground, you will gain speed faster. In this
airplane, as soon as we reach 61 knots indicated, we can start our climb.
At 650 feet, we retract the flaps and, accelerate to 70 knots indicated and
start our normal climb.
Soft field landing: Come in as normal, start the flare at the last
minute, but instead of dropping the nose after the mains touch, keep pulling
back on the elevator more and more to keep the nose off the ground until the
airspeed is so slow, the elevator has no more authority and drops the nose
lightly to the ground. Those are fun. Basically, after your mains
touch, you just pop a wheelie all the way down the runway. Very cool way
to land. All in all, we did 7 take-offs and landings today. All the pulling back
on the elevator has wrecked havoc on my left arm. I guess I need to work
out a bit more.
Now, remember when I said the t-tail is very responsive? Yeah,
well, if you pull back too far too quick on landing or don't let go enough
during take-off, you can actually slap the ground with the tail section of the
aircraft. How do I know? I speaking from experience. I slapped the
tail once (or twice) on some take offs and at least once on landing. Piper
knew this could happen, so they actually have a skid installed on the bottom of
the tail section just for that purpose. Well, ours needs a bit of touch up
paint after today. But, just so you know it's not that hard to make it do
it, Tim actually bounced the tail on take-off himself, so I'm in some good
company. Actually, at the EAA meeting yesterday (I'm actually writing this
on Sunday the 23rd) one of the older members asked my Dad if he had drug the
tail on the Tommy yet. Dad told him "No", but that I had. He said, "Just
give it time. You fly a Tommy, you'll drag the tail." So, after hearing
that, I guess I'm just an official member of the club now. :)
Time in Log Book (Dual): 1.6 hrs
Time in Log Book (PIC): 0 hrs
Total time: 22.3 hrs
Next flight is scheduled for: 27 Jan 05
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27
Jan 05: Another day in the books. It was
pretty windy today, so it was a perfect day to do ground reference maneuvers and
crosswind takeoffs and landings. My takeoff at Airpark was awful.
Too much nose high and wings tipped pretty bad into the wind. Tim had to correct
to keep us in the air. Ground reference maneuvers (turns around a point,
S-turns and rectangular flight) weren't too bad. They weren't great by any
means, but I've done worse. Each time I did them, I got better.
After those, we headed to Perry-Houston Country (PXE) for my cross wind
training. Nice long asphalt runway. It was different since I have
only been doing turf lately. But, I got a few take offs and landings with a bit
of crosswind. Again, not great. I think Tim did most of the flying, but I
am starting to get the hang of it to an extent. Then it was back to
Airpark for our final landing. Using 9 this time instead of my normal 27.
Came in fine and we parked it. It was a decent afternoon. I didn't feel I
did particularly well in anything, so it was kind of a downer for the day, but
we did take off, fly around and land and the plane is still able to do it again
next time, so I guess that's something.
Heather and I are in the process of selling our house and buying another,
so I may take a week off to get all that straight. I don't have another
flight scheduled right now until I can get all the house stuff working out.
Fingers crossed, it won't take long.
This flight also finished page # 2 in my Pilot Log.
Time in Log Book (Dual): 1.6 hrs
Time in Log Book (PIC): 0 hrs
Total time: 23.9 hrs
Next flight is scheduled for: ???
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Comments or questions?
I'd like to hear from you.
Email to: new_pilot@@wolfpack764.com
(Take out one of the @ signs.)
Instrument Images taken from
Gulf-Coast-Avionics.com