5th Lesson

Well, I managed to get another ground school lesson in this week during the afternoons and evenings after work. Went over Performance, Weight and Balance. This was fairly straight forward, and I found myself thinking back to the ideal gas law from college chemistry class. It's another nice and sunny February day here in Minnesota. The highs have generally been up around freezing and some days it has been a little higher, so there is some thawing going on. The ice patch in front of the hanger was a little more brittle today, so it didn't slip me up as much. Looking forward to that thing being gone. Preflight was as usual. I didn't really have any questions for Jim today from the material, so we didn't spend much time talking theory before we went flying. The checklists are starting to become more routine at this point, and I'm getting to the point where I'm running through the procedures without much input from Jim. Winds were very light today, maybe a knot or two out of the north. Jim was fine taking off on either runway, but I wanted to do runway 31 to get some more practice taxiing. I'm feeling very comfortable with the taxiing now, and doing the U turn off the side of the runway to turn around. For today's takeoff, I did the whole thing, and Jim was effectively hands-(and feet)-off. I think I'll need a little more practice keeping it on the center line, but I was happy with how the takeoff went. After climbing to 3500ft, we practiced some more stalls. I did a few power-off stalls in clean configuration, a few with full flaps, and I also did a couple power-on stalls. Jim also demonstrated a turning stall. Then we practiced flying a traffic pattern with go-arounds for missed approaches out over a cornfield somewhere. After this, Jim had me try some slips. This is when you apply rudder in one direction, and aileron in the other. The effect is that the plane is pointing in one direction, say to the right, but the direction of travel is straight ahead, or even to the left. The purpose of this maneuver is to increase drag, which increases your rate of descent without increasing your airspeed. It can be useful if you have an electrical failure and cannot extend your flaps, or if your flaps are already extended and you need to descend even faster for some reason. You REALLY have to jam your foot down on the pedal to get full right or left rudder. After this, Jim had me target a specific air speed while he would change the throttle settings. We probably did this for 10 minutes or so. I think the purpose of this exercise is to help you start to instinctively associating the appropriate changes in pitch to bring about changes in airspeed. Jim also had me practice some power-off descending turns at specific airspeeds. Next, we practiced some ground tracking. We would pick out a road or set of powerlines and I would try to follow them by sighting along the step on the strut out the left window. The winds were fairly light, but we did have a slight northerly wind, so I was able to see that it was necessary to point the plane slightly upwind to track straight along the ground. Jim also had me follow a curvy road on the ground, which was interesting. When we headed back to the airport, Jim had enter the normal traffic pattern and perform the landing. At Jim's direction, I did basically the entire landing, except he guided me in the flair. I felt like it was a really productive lesson, and I'm starting to see some progression in my ability at this point, which is encouraging. Jim has indicated Monday's lesson is going to focus heavily on ground reference maneuvers, and he wants me to read up on them. I'm going to knock out the rest of the ground school this weekend, and we're planning on have me take Jim's practice test on Monday for the knowledge test endorsement. If all goes well, hopefully I'll take the knowledge test sometime next week. I've also got three lesson scheduled next week, so I should make a lot of progress. Still lovin' it.

4th Lesson

I hit the books hard over the weekend, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through the ground school material at this point, and am getting in the 95% range on my practice tests. Was dreading the FARs, but it wasn't that bad really. Monday I went for my fourth flight lesson. I showed up a half hour early and did the preflight inspection. The plane was filthy with mud from the soggy runway. Inspecting the brakes was tough because the brake assemblies were caked in frozen mud and grass. Also, the right wing sump drain wasn't letting any gas out into the sample tube. We had to fiddle with it a bit later to get a gas sample out. After preflight was complete, I went inside and we reviewed some of the subjects I covered in the ground school material, such as wake turbulence, right of way, airspace, instruments, and some of the FARs. Then we went for our flight. Winds were out of the northwest on Monday afternoon, so we taxied down and took off on runway 31. This flight lesson was similar to the previous one, just expanded the envelope slightly. I practiced some more 45 degree banked steep turns with the goal of maintaining altitude and airspeed during the turns. After the first or second try I was able to do this fairly consistently. Then, he had me do some "720" steep turns, which consist of a 360 degree steep turn to the left, which immediately transitions into a 360 degree steep turn to the right. After this, we worked on stalls again. We did a few power-off stalls, a power-on stall, and some "falling leaf" stalls (where you let the plane stall repeatedly). Then he had me practice climbing and descending turns while rolling out and leveling off at specific altitudes and headings. We also did another power loss emergency simulation. The landing was as usual, although, it seems like he's letting me do a little more of the landing procedure each time. This time I basically did it, but he had the controls, and was providing some correction during the process. Yesterday, I also went up to the Fairview clinic in North Branch and had my flight physical, so I now have my 3rd class medical certificate and student pilot certificate. Don't have to deal with that again for another 5 years... Next lesson is on Friday - hoping to knock out some more of the ground school by then.

3rd Lesson

Had my 3rd lesson today. I was at the airport close to 4 hours. I did the pre-flight checks by myself - pretty easy. Probably took me about 20 minutes or so. I imagine that will become faster as it becomes more of a routine. When I was done, I headed inside and met up with Jim. I had a short list of questions from my reading material, and we spent roughly an hour reviewing what I had read about (airplanes and aerodynamics), and Jim drew various diagrams on a small whiteboard throughout this discussion. We covered basic concepts, and a few interesting things like the Region of Reversed Command, Ground Effect, and V_A (maximum Design Maneuvering Speed), and the somewhat counter-intuitive concept that V_A INCREASES when you add weight (i.e. passengers or cargo) to the plane. We also reviewed Induced Drag vs Parasitic Drag, and the "sweet spot" where these forces are equal, L/D_MAX (best glide speed, least power required for level flight, etc). We also talked a great deal about stalls, which was a good segue to our flight. I almost fell on my butt again slipping on the ice taking the plane our of the hangar. We got the plane rolling, with me at the front controlling the nose gear, and the plane pushed me over the sheer ice about 10-15 feet as I kept my feet rigid beneath me sliding on the ice, trying not to fall down. Again, I did the procedures "Starting Engine Cold", "Taxi", "Before Takeoff Run Up", and "Pre Takeoff". Steering during the taxi today was a bit easier for me - I think my brain compiled a bit from the previous experience. I also did most of the takeoff procedure again, and climbed to 3500 feet. First we practiced 45 degree steep turns. He demonstrated a couple, and I was a bit nervous about doing it myself, but it was really quite easy. No prob. After practicing a few steep turns in each direction, we practiced straight and level flight at different airspeeds. He would ask me to change the speed to say, 75mph (the airspeed indicator in this plane is in statute MPH, not nautical miles), and I would adjust the pitch, power, and trim accordingly. He also used this part of the lesson to demonstrate the region of reversed command. Next, we practiced power-off stall recovery. This was pretty easy too, just gotta remember to control the direction and roll with the rudder when nearing stall speed. Recovery is no prob, just nose down and add power. I noticed at some point after this, that Jim's instruction style changed a bit. He was no longer telling me HOW to control the airplane during the flight, but rather, just telling me to fly the plane to specific headings and altitudes at specific airspeeds or power settings. After this, we practiced a couple of power loss emergency simulations. First one, we picked Big Marine Lake (frozen, not landing in the water) as our landing site. This was really cool, because we came in descending over the lake with power at idle and probably went as low as 20ft over the surface of the lake. There were a bunch of ice fisherman out on the lake, and they were all staring at the plane cruising by just above the lake surface, and we smiled and waved at them. Jim grabbed the controls briefly and did what he called a "wing wave" at them, and then we powered away back up into the sky.

It sounds like Jim was happy with my performance and the way the lesson went, so I believe things are progressing well. Next lesson is Monday afternoon - can't wait! Time to hit the books...

Mathias

2nd Lesson

I received my Gleim ground school kit yesterday, and I also had my second lesson. I was too busy to get any pics, but it was a very productive lesson. I had a short time to review some of the ground school books before my lesson, and I brought the material with me to the airport. We were together almost 4 hours, and I was beat by the end. We reviewed the ground school package, and talked about how I should approach studying it, including which sections of the FAR I should concentrate on. Then, we moved on to the computer provided by MNDOT, and reviewed how to use the software to check for weather conditions, METARs, TAFs, NOTAMs, and TFRs. Then, I spent the next 45-60 minutes learning how to do the pre flight process. Once I provide my birth certificate and photo ID at the next meeting, sounds like I'll be doing all the pre flights myself going forward. After the preflight was finished, we moved the plane outside, hopped in, and I started going through the checklists to prepare, start, and test the various systems in the airplane. Since we had a northerly wind around 10KT, we had to taxi up to the far end of the airport for takeoff on runway 31. This was my first experience taxiing, and it was very awkward. You have to steer completely with your feet (rudder), which is counter-intuitive for someone used to driving a car. I kept trying to steer with the yoke, and had to remind myself to steer with my feet constantly. That's going to take some getting used to. Once we completed pre takeoff checklist items, I did most of the takeoff procedure. It's a turf field, and it's mushy because of the warmer weather we've had, so the goal is to get the nose wheel off the ground as quickly as possible to prevent it from digging into the slush, and most of the acceleration to takeoff speed is done with the plane doing a "wheely". After we took off, we flew up to around 3500ft, and leveled off. We spent the next hour practicing climbs, descents, 30 degree turns, and a few turning climbs and descents. Then we headed back, and like the previous flight, I guided the plane in for most of the landing procedure, at the direction of Jim. Also learned how to refuel the plane, and I almost fell on my butt slipping on the ice trying to get the plane back into the hanger. Great stuff though - my next lesson is on Friday, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Mathias

Introductory Lesson

Took my first hour of flight training on 2/10/2010. I had the pleasure of flying Cessna 172 N5200H out of the Forest Lake airport for an hour with CFI Jim Schulze. I got to fly the plane for about half of the lesson time. I practiced 30 degree turns, climbs, descents, flying at different speeds while maintaining altitude..., flying with different flap configurations, and I got to guide it in for the landing. What a rush of freedom! I got to take some aerial photos of my house from around 2000 feet (about 1000 feet AGL). Here are some pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mathias.smith/Flying2102010#

First Post

I'm starting this blog to journal my experience of learning to fly, and pursuing my Private Pilot's Certificate. I'll try to keep it up to date as I progress through the process, and post pictures when I am able to take them.

Mathias