Steve's Flying Journal

Table of Contents - Pre-Solo

1. Intro (.9)
2. Basic Maneuvers (2.3)
3. Steep turns, MCA (3.7)
4. Steep turns, MCA, S turns for landing (4.9)
5. Steep turns, MCA, Stalls, Departure Stalls, Spin recovery (6.3)
6. Departure and Arrival Stalls, Spin recovery (7.6)
7. Departure and Arrival Stalls, Spin recovery, Hi/Lo drag (9.1)
8. Touch and Goes, Special VFR (10.5)
9. Touch and Goes, Lotta Snow! (12.2)
10. Touch and Goes, Decent Weather (13.3)
11. Touch and Goes, Radio busy (14.5)
12. Touch and Goes, Busy uncontrolled field (15.9)
13. Touch and Goes, Back at Paine (17.3)
14. Takeoff and Land, Go home! (17.7)
15. Touch and Goes, strong headwind, slips (19.1)
16. Touch and Goes, engine outs, slips (20.0)
17. Touch and Goes, follow that 777! (21.7)
18. Touch and Goes, Crosswinds galore (22.9)
19. Touch and Goes, then SOLO! (24.3)

    But wait! There's more:

20. Post-solo Lessons

Lesson 1 -- Intro

Required documents, preflight inspection. Lots of water in the tanks, but we removed it all. One last check at the end of preflight showed it was ok. Checklists. Normal takeoff/landing, climbs, descents, shallow turns.

Had a lot of trouble with taxiing. Opposite of go cart! On takeoff, I was weaving all over, so Tim took over and I kinda missed the whole thing! Need to look out the window for these first lessons. Landing was a big weave too, but Tim took over before I plowed the nose gear into the ground and made a very smooth landing out of it.
.9 hours dual/night, 1.6 ground. 7C/6C, 1600 scattered 3300 broken, rain Contents

Lesson 2 -- Basic Maneuvers

Climbed up to 2500', dodging a few cloudlettes and over the sound. Did some 30 deg right and left turns, then some climbs and descents. Then combined, with 360 turns going up and down. I think I'm doing ok with those. Never really used the rudder pedal. T urbulence wasn't bad (to me), but a little snow up there, and just the possibility of frost on the wings starting. Then we headed back (oh, I used radio a bit too, just for takeoff). Kinda busy coming in, with a 737 wanting to take off, so he kinda hurrie d me off the runway, and we watched it take off. Got in 1.4 hours.

I still have trouble with the rudder pedals. I think I just need to do it over and over and over until it becomes second nature. If it ever does...
1.4 hours dual, 1.1 ground. 7C/6C, 400 scattered 2000 overcast Contents

Lesson 3 -- Steep turns, MCA

I did a little more radio work, but need PRACTICE! Then takeoff went much better. A little veering down the runway, but managed it ok. Keep forgetting to watch air speed because I'm so busy steering (and overcorrecting all over the place). Clouds were kin da low, so off to the east where there was some clear sky. Up to 3000', after some 30 deg turns, then did some 45 deg turns. OK... it's clearing turns two ways, then bank/power/keep level... he showed some things that could go wrong and me stomach left. K inda cool actually! During part of this he turned on the lights and there's snow out thar! Sure is beautiful. Gotta get away from that, so off to a better sky.

Using a freeway or other bright area as reference, did more 360 turns at 45 angle. I think I'm doing ok at it. Kinda hard to pay attention to everything out the window and see if I'm really doing a 45 bank. Daytime may help, dunno. Saw some stars (I'm sta rting to try enjoy some scenery at same time if possible). Had to descend to 2500' due to clouds around, and then he had me call in to Tower. Course, I get the unlucky response back that was all screwed up. She said "Paine Ground" for one thing! I missed all that, still thinking about what I had just said. Wish I were better at multi tasking. Oh, forgot to mention that I was supposed to talk on radio while doing a 45 bank/360 (wasted some time thinking bout radio and got too close to airport). Anyway, we landed at 16L this time, a new and exciting experience. Landing was kind of a distaster, I was way off again, but it was pretty windy. He took it in. I did a little better on taxi, but need PRACTICE. Actually, I need practice on any maneuver to tell the truth. Starting to get fun, getting away from S&L flight all the time..
1.4 hours dual/night, .6 hours ground, 06/02C, 2800 scattered, gusts up to 20 reported earlier Contents

Lesson 4 -- Steep turns, MCA, S turns for landing

Up there we do some 45 deg turns, which I did quite poorly on. It's different in the daytime -- more scary! Actually my biggest problem is I'm not looking out the window enough, and glueing on those instruments. Trying to get exactly 45, or close. Had som e trouble keeping the nose up, then I was overdoing the nose. Least I'm not too chicken about yanking back. No... I am a bit chicken actually. Need to just do what he says, after all he's there to rescue me, right? The 45 banks look pretty DARN steep out the front window. I'm glueing to that attitude indicator or looking out the side... bad. Need to LOOK OUT THE WINDSHIELD!! Then some more MCA, where I wasn't holding altitude worth a dern. I think I do better at night cause I'm looking at the instruments more. I may make a darn good instrument pilot who can't fly VFR! On the MCA I'm having troubles holding direction too. I stop paying attention to that.

On landing, there was a bunch of traffic. Tim has me tell Paine Tower I want runway 11 (after 3-4 practices) and they come back with a string of commands that I miss, including 16R right approach. We follow several others in the pattern. A twin wants to t ake off (I learned later). We make S turns (on tower's instruction) to give them time (this is on final). A cross wind on landing, and he helped me rudder it over and got real close to the ground, then landed it for me. I just kinda let go at that point. Still having trouble with those rudders, but improving.

I wouldn't call it a terrible lesson, but I feel like I took a minor step back. Seems like those 45's and MCA's went better in the dark. We'll see on Friday.
1.2 hours dual, .1 hours ground, 09/01C, few 9000, broken 15000 Contents

Lesson 5 -- Steep turns, MCA, Stalls, Departure Stalls, Spin recovery

But the first stall was a problem: We were gaining altitude, full power, at 40 kts, and he suddenly says "my airplane" and zooms down fast. Not more than, maybe 300 ft away is a low wing above us. OOPS... bad move. It didn't bother me as much as him. I a lso did 99.5% of the landing this time. He had to do some severe coaching, but I was controlling it for the most part. That was cool! But the takeoff was even better because I did the whole thing with no help. Not TOO much wandering on the rudder pedals.
1.4 hours dual/night, .3 hours ground, 06/02C, 1100 scattered Contents

Lesson 6 -- Departure and Arrival Stalls, Spin recovery

Takeoff went fairly well, but I drifted way off the runway to the right. I'll blame the wind, the stars, the phase of the moon, and any other excuse I can find! Then off west for some stall work. We did a few takeoff stalls. I pitched up super high on one of 'em... gotta watch that! I'll get it eventually though. What I need to work on is the objective after the stall... regaining climb at Vx. Many of those stalls pitch way down and to the left... even though we were flying straight. Did some takeoff stal ls with turns to the right also. Tim had to take over a few times when we were getting into spins again. (Later I asked if we would do any spins... nope.)

Then some landing stalls. I think I do better at those, simply because I can SEE the horizon! But more to do, with carb heat/power, flaps coming up, and still trying to get to Vx. About all I could do was recover from them (flaps ok though) but the stalls are still too new to get the recovery phase (Vx) part. Overload time. Then the clouds were coming in, so we went back. Did a T&G, but I entered it really badly. Cross wind time. He seemed to think one was nuff, so we landed the second time (much worse ac tually). My radio skills went to pot on all the landing phase. Worry bout that later though. But the day seemed to go better than others. I tried to concentrate on looking out the window, to recognise S&L, turns, etc. But then I was not doing too well on altitude. Hmmm... we'll get that later too!
1.3 hours dual, 130@12, 06/00C, 5500 overcast, light rain Contents

Lesson 7 -- Departure and Arrival Stalls, Spin recovery, Hi/Lo drag

Then we did some manuevers will flaps 40. Boy, the airplane can really turn sharply at flaps 40. Then two touch and goes. I've got a ways to go there. The landing went ok, and after 1.5 hours that was it.
1.5 hours dual, .1 hours ground, 200@10, 06/04C, 900 scattered, 2300 overcast Contents

Lesson 8 -- Touch and Goes, Special VFR

The clouds were confusing, but we could see below in enough places to orient. We got to Arlington, and the conditions are not good. Visibility is barely 3 miles, if that, but we did 4 T&Gs. The first two I didn't do too well, but the last two I'm starting to get it.

On the way back was the adventure, though. The barometer was dropping rapidly according to PAE ATIS when we left. And the clouds were LOW. We flew at 900' way over to Camano Island looking for a way through, when finally Tim takes over. An IFR arrival into PAE meant we had to waste a little time, too. Tim finally flies over to Clinton and sees the ferry, then over to Mukilteo ferry, and more problems. He finally takes it above the clouds (after some consultation with PAE tower about cloud conditions near the airport). We find holes near the airport, and I take it in for a not-so-good landing with practically no approach setup! Oh well... drop outta the sky and land on the runway. Tim says it's the worst SVFR he's done.
1.4 hours dual, .1 hours ground, 360@10, 06/04C, 500 broken, 2900 overcast, mist, 5 landings Contents

Lesson 9 -- Touch and Goes, Lotta Snow!

Well, we finally get going two hours after I got there. We got stuck twice taxiing, once was my fault, the other Tim's. Turn everything off, get out, scrape more deep snow, yank the airplane into position, get back in, power up... whew! Finally we got onto taxiway Delta, and we had gone a total of maybe 250'!

Takeoff was uneventful (I was doing much better on radio, BTW), and we radioed Paine tower to do some T&Gs. Sorry, we are plowing the runway, and no T&Gs. Boeing Field is doing T&Gs though. OK... so we fly south to a very busy (compared to Paine, which is pretty quiet) BFI. We did 3 T&Gs, and I did ok on them for the most part. There was a lot more radio work, and they are very strict about pattern altitude. On the 4th, they asked us to fly circles near the numbers, so we waste a lot of time there. Tim finally says we'll do one more, this is wasting your money, and we did that and flew back up to Paine for the final landing. I think I can land it on my own, and survive the experience, at least in low-cross wind conditions.
1.7 hours dual, 02/-02C, clear, snow, 4 landings Contents

Lesson 10 -- Touch and Goes

I didn't do too well, had troubles with just about everything. Probably a 4-hour sleep last night was a major contributor. But all in all things are progressing, and I did have a few ok landings. One or two were pretty derned hard (first ones so far) but I'll get it. Need to concentrate on right rudder on those crosswinds.
1.1 hours dual, 05/04, 2800 broken, light wind, 9 landings Contents

Lesson 11 -- Touch and Goes, busy radio

More touch and goes. It doesn't feel like I made much progress at them though. Some of the landings were major clunks. I did improve on radio ops quite a bit, though. It was very busy, with as many as 5 airplanes in the pattern at a time (well, busy for me, anyway|). One landing they wanted us to come in early, and we were way high. So we put in 40 degrees of flaps, and dove down. That worked out pretty good actually. One other time I noticed it was getting really quiet... turned out I was TOO SLOW and coulda stalled if I had kept going (and the instructor hadn't noticed). Need to pay attention to that| But I'm learning. I wish the landings themselves were better. A few times I really lost all concentration right at the landing time itself. I think my approaches are going ok though.
1.2 hours dual, good weather, light winds, 10 landings Contents

Lesson 12 -- Touch and Goes, busy uncontrolled fieldradio

The T&G's are pretty inconsistent. Some approaches are pretty good, others not. I continually land HARD. But each one, hopefully, I gain experience on how NOT to do it! We were going to do some emergency procedures, like engine-outs, but it was too busy. My last landing at Paine was WAY too high, so we put in 40 degrees of flaps. Sheesh, that was towards the end of the final (very short), and I just about stalled 30' above the ground (oops). Tim saved the day, and I learned that things really change with full flaps... I had a lot of trouble with the sun. Forgot the sunglasses or baseball hat. Next time, they go in the bag!
1.4 hours dual, brilliant blue sky, 9 landings Contents

Lesson 13 -- Touch and Goes, home field

Lesson 14 -- Take off and Land, Go Home!

Lesson 15 -- Touch and Goes, strong headwind, slips

Due to the strong headwind, the landings were really slow relative to ground. So my landings were unusually smooth. I still don't think I'm getting the rudder/aileron coordination, which is backwards of coordinated flight. But the slow speed helped. I did have a couple of pretty nice clunks, one that bounced really nicely. We did several new things today - multiple T&Gs, go-arounds, and slips. Yee-haw ... those slips are a gas| You really drop out of the sky, going down fast and at a very strange attitude. I chickened out at FULL right rudder like he wanted , we were tilted so incredibly with ailerons that it was really a strange sensa tion. Not to mention the steep drop. I'll get used to it, hopefully.

On the go-arounds, I "died" twice because I was messing with flaps instead of adding full throttle. Um... oops. Well, if it were a real emergency I KNOW I would be jamming the throttle home. Just that he says "go around" and I'm thinking that we are coming in on a beautiful approach (for once)| "Huh... Go-around... what's that? ... OH| We gotta get outta here PRONTO|" We did another full-flaps landing too. I managed to watch the airspeed this tim e. Last time I had let it drop to near stall and Tim had to rescue the day. I o nly had to learn that one once.

The multiple T&Gs on the long runway are good. I need every landing I can get. I'd like to do more of those. Kinda like practicing a tough piano passage, you need to work a small portion at a time.
1.4 hours dual, low clouds scattered at 500' Contents

Lesson 16 -- Touch and Goes, Engine outs, slips, getting it!

We also did some more slips, which I divebombed right towards auto traffic on the ground. Hope they weren't looking up at me zooming down there! Also one at flaps 40, which divebombs at nearly the same rate. Kinda fun! I was messing up on landings with these complications, though. Dern... and many of my approaches went WAY off the centerline. Like a hundred feet or more?! Yup! We'll get it... I know we well... and I have a mouse in my pocket...
0.9 hours dual, cold, high clouds, nice flying weather Contents

Lesson 17 -- Touch and Goes, Follow that 777!

I'm still not getting consistent. Well, the last few I finally seemed to be pointed straight, but the earlier ones I kept losing the alignment just at the end. I think I finally figured out what I was doing -- not applying pressure to BOTH rudder pedals. I'd push left, the airplane would react, then I'd let go. Nope, supposed to gradually correct left AND right as needed.

So after that revelation to myself, they worked better. Too bad my last landing was so lousy after the others!

We did a few engine-outs and short and long approaches. One of the engine outs I misjudged, and we had to add power to make it. Oops. Now I know to go for the runway, and forget about those crisp turns he usually wants. Another landing was right behind a 777. I did feel a little wake turbulence, but made sure I landed well past where the big guy did. Towards the end, the 777 took off, and they asked us to come to full stop, so we just decided to call it a day. (1.7 hours, 18 landings) I have 21.7 total hours now. Tim's focus is to get me soloed, so we are just going to get those landings consistent. Need to buy a headset, but have been procrastinating...

One other thing we did was another slip. I love doing those! It's fun to do that "trick" instead of the garden-variety flaps. Also we did another flaps 40, and I was REALLY pointing down on one (trying to get airspeed high enough). Man, at flaps 40 it's really easy to drop airspeed without paying CLOSE attention. And I did just before touchdown (too early though).
1.7 hours dual, cold, clear Contents

Lesson 18 -- Touch and Goes, Crosswinds galore!

We did a few engine-out landings, and one with a slip (fun!) and I did really well on many of the landings. Until the last one. He says let's take this in for a full stop, so after touchdown I slip the feet up high and try braking. Too soon, though! The airplane veered side to side really badly and he says "my airplane". Man, glad I'm making these dumb mistakes now! I think I woulda recovered before hitting the grass, but just barely. Next time, no brakes until the airplane is slowed down!
1.2 hours dual, spittin' rain Contents

Lesson 19 -- Touch and Goes, then SOLO!

He hops out, and I do the checklist twice as carefully as usual. I feel kinda distracted, but concentrate on that checklist! Satisfied, I contact ground, tell 'em I want to taxi to 34L, and get clearance. Off I go, crossing runway 11/29 on the way, and do the runup. Then I taxi into position, and hold. Then I call up ground and say "ready for takeoff for touch and goes". Oops!!! Contact 121.3, tower frequency. Ahem. Ok.

Anyway, that mistake aside, I calmly did the right things and took off, did the pattern, and greased one of my best landings! Off for no. 2, which landed with a bit of a bounce, but not a terrible one. At least I was relatively straight. The third landing is a blur, I don't even remember it. But the last one was another really smoothie. Ah... Only problem was that last approach was way too low, so I had to use a lot of power towards the end.

Some of the circuits, I didn't see the traffic too well, so I made full use of the tower to let me know where they were. Anyway, all in all it went great, and I feel pretty super now. Got a ruined shirt out of the day, too :)
1.4 hours dual, calm, sunny, 50 deg day Contents

There's more Post-Solo lessons in another page I call: Post-solo Lessons.

Steve at Winthrop, with the North Cascades in the background.

Send Steve a comment
Steve's home page