Mom (a private pilot – not current [yet]) writes:

“On lesson 9, M. P. — a. k. a.  Mom — enthusiastically  became a passenger, enjoying the lesson that was built around recovering from emergencies.  Adam responded to the blocked instruments with confidence, and I might add, from my back seat driving perspective, skillfully.  The instructor began to abruptly simulate emergencies; such as ‘blocking the ailerons from moving’, ‘engine out, emergency landings’, ‘stuck throttle’,  and a few other situations that required thought and ingenuity to keep flying the aircraft.  Adam is soaring in this pursuit of flying.

If I have opportunity, I will gladly accompany future flights.  Thank you Adam for inviting me along.”

I did make two errors of ommission on this lesson.  First, I missed turning on the transponder during the pre-takeoff checklist.  Second, I forgot to correct for P-factor during the initial climb to altitude.  I was having trouble maintaining the heading till T pointed out that the ball was not centered.  Then I remembered right rudder.  But I probably won’t forget those two things again.

The simulated emergencies are good for building confidence.  All things considered, the Cessna 172 is a good glider.  The instrument and control outages force you to think about how to gather information about the airplane’s attitude and performance from alternate sources.  In turn, this helps one to understand all of the redundancies that are built in. Again, my landing proficiency advanced as I set up the approach almost entirely on my own, but I made two mistakes: 1. I overcontrolled when slowing the rate of descent and 2. I forgot to correct for wind drift so we landed on the right side of runway 27.

In Lesson 8, B got to ride along.  I am not sure if he was nervous or not, but he tried distracting me several times during the preflight.  He has less patience when I delay my answers.   So when we got started taxiing, B noticed that the baggage door was open.  Well, that happened because I reached in there to hand him a pillow, but got distracted with reaching around through the main door.  So we stopped and closed the baggage door and continued with the flight.

Conditions were drizzly with a high enough ceiling, but only 4 miles visibility — barely above VFR minimums and a good opportunity to see what bad weather looks like.  We got to take off from runway 9 for the first time and we noticed that the colour of the water and the colour of the sky were the same.  That is, you couldn’t tell which way was up just by looking at the eastern horizon. T noted that that was the reason John Kennedy junior augered in.  So it’s important to trust your instruments.

During the climbout T simulated some instrument failures and I got some practice flying without an airspeed indicator and  then without an artificial horizon or directional gyro.  We flew North towards Appleton and found a road that ran North and South and practiced S-turns.  During this whole time, B was chattering non-stop.  After 3 or four iterations, we practiced one turn about a point (a barn in this case) and then headed back to Oshkosh.  On the way back we flew over our home and then landed on runway 9 where, with the exception of a departure from the runway center line, I was able to handle the landing on my own, with instruction from T throughout.

Even though I was reading each item aloud, I missed a key item on the shutdown checklist.  I forgot to turn the ignition off and remove the key.  This was another good reminder that you cannot allow yourself to be distracted, no matter what.  As the saying goes, “Aviate, navigate, and communicate — in that order.”  That is good advice for a motorist too.

Power-on stalls went just as well as power-off stalls.  They’re pretty hard to induce in the 172.  You have to get that yoke pulled back all the way and you get to a point where it feels like you’re up against the stops but you actually have another 6 inches you can pull.  It takes a lot to get that thing to stall at full power, at least when you do the procedure right.  I imagine if you went into it with too much airspeed, you would be in trouble.  On my first one I recovered a little aggressively so the nose ended up pointing at the ground, but the second one was just right.  I think we did 3 or 4, but I can’t remember because my mind was a little foggy last night; I’m not sure why.  I might have been a little tired from waking up at 5:30 and working all day.  I just felt like I couldn’t process information as quickly as I wanted.  For example, I had to listen to the ATIS broadcast three times to get it all down (granted, the controller had recorded it super fast).  But T said he couldn’t notice the fogginess and my progress and performance were still excellent.  In any case, I’ll try to get more sleep the night before next time.  It is kind of like playing poorly in a basketball game or having a less-than-stellar trumpet performance.  You want to get right back up there the next day and do better.

We also had a little time left after stalls and executed some turns about a point.  I had just read about them the day before, so I knew the concept, which really helps in digesting the instruction.  I think I picked it up pretty quickly.  I wasn’t nearly satisfied with my performance, but they sure are enjoyable.  I look forward to practicing them more.  Next time we’ll do S-turns across a road.

I am easily understanding why airmen that fly “low and slow” enjoy it more than just the shortest distance between two points.  It’s the difference between the Interstate and the back roads.  So it seems that after I get my license I’m going to have to find access to at least three different types at some time or another: a 6-seater, a 4-seater, and a low-and-slow 2 seater.

In lesson six, we covered stalls.  This time, T expected me to be able to handle everything from take off through climb-out and level-off and that all went pretty well.  I even got a hold short instruction and handled it properly.  Reading back instructions is becoming natural.  The tower gave us runway 27, even though the wind was from 190@10 knots so I got to learn about crosswind takeoffs.  That went well too.  Notwithstanding, I still need lots of practice on everything.

One thing I’m struggling with is scanning for other airplanes.  In some cases, I have spotted other airplanes very far off, sometimes far enough off that T can’t even see them until they are much closer.  In other cases, though, I feel like I am glancing around the horizon without seeing anything.  In one lesson, we were surprised by an airplane.  She was not close enough to require any evasive action, but the surprise is not a good feeling.  It is a reminder to be vigilant.

T demonstrated a power off stall and then we practiced one together.  By the second stall, I was no longer getting the stomach in your throat sensation and by the third or fourth stall, I was responding quickly and properly to the stall.  We proceeded with power off turning stalls.  We talked about the reasons for practicing stalls: proficiency and confidence, but most importantly the ability to land by stalling the aircraft just inches above the ground.

T allowed me to call the tower to announce that we were inbound and then to report our entry into the traffic pattern, “Oshkosh tower, seven zero gulf reporting two mile right base for runway one eight.”

“Seven zero gulf, you are cleared to land.”

“Seven zero gulf, cleared to land.”

Again, T extended my control on the landing, this time all the way through the landing with bits of assistance and instruction.

On the way home I stopped at Cousin’s to buy a sandwich for C and myself.  You know you’ve just got done flying when the cashier at Cousin’s hands you your receipt and says, “Here’s your receipt, and your order number is two-eighteen,” and you read the order number back to her, “two-eighteen, thank you.”

For Lesson 5, G got to ride along.  He really enjoyed the flight.  Kids are so amazed by everything, and of course the cars in the Target parking lot looked like “toy cars.”

I was able to do everything on my own, from pre-flight through climb-out, without assistance or correction or reminder.  That felt good.  It means that the practice and studying are paying off.  After practicing some more turns at minimum controllable airspeed — with and without flaps — we flew down to Fond Du Lac.  Along the way, we practiced correcting for wind by maintaining a course along a road, finding the correct crab angle by trial and error.  At Fond Du Lac, we flew into the traffic pattern, flew a low approach, and departed thence to Oshkosh.  With each flight, I seems am able to handle a little more of the landing.  This time, I was more or less in control (with T’s assistance) up till flare, but I tried to flare way too early so T made the necessary corrections for a smooth landing.

During Lesson 4 I handled all of the radio work.  I did a fair job at it.  When you’re hard down on scanning the outside world and maintaining altitude and airspeed, you need some practice at taking it all in without having to think about it; proficiency will come with familiarity and familiarity with practice.

We demonstrated clearing turns, worked on banking directly into a 45 degree turn.  After a little practice, we flew down to Princeton and found Red’s Marsh Farm.  It’s easy enough to spot from the air because of the snake-shaped canal.  Heading back to Wittman, T had me call the tower to announce our position and the tower instructed us to enter left downwind for runway 9 and call back at midfield, but he gave us clearance to land before we asked, so of course I missed it till T pointed it out to me.  Then I had to reach back and remember what he said so I could read back the clearance.  T instructed me on the turn to base and then to final and again had me follow along below about 200′ AGL.  That maneuver is getting more comfortable, but I would like a lot more practice at it.  Actually, I am getting comfortable enough with everything that I can now see where I need more practice.  I still need practice on everything, but the practice isn’t as taxing as before, in fact it’s more fun, so I can’t wait for the next chance.

I have been helping out on a project to bring my client up to speed on SAP software.  The name of the software is generally pronounced ess-ay-pee, but there is a lady on the team who keeps calling it sap (as in tree sap).  I love it, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to follow suit.  Stay tuned for further developments.

During lesson 3, we reviewed various items learned in lesson 2 like takeoff, climb, and descent.  The focus of the lesson, however, was turns.  We practiced turns at 10, 20, 30, and 45 degree banks.  45 degrees is more bank than you would ever use in normal flight, but it is a good proficiency maneuver and it is required that a pilot can perform them with accuracy and maintain altitude.  It was a hot day at 85 degrees so the air was a bit rough and after literally turning in circles for 25 minutes and not having any water on board, one gets a little queasy.  But the flight was enjoyable.  I had a little trouble with remembering to increase back pressure in the steeper banks and forgot to level off at 3200′ after climbout, but gained confidence and proficiency.  I was able to make all of the radio calls this time and T allowed me — with very close guidance — to fly the airplane down to probably 200′ above the runway for the landing.

I have become excited not only about the prospect of flying, but about the challenge that learning this skill is presenting to my brain.  I had forgotten what it is like to learn something so new.  Learning to drive a car was not a fraction of this challenge and I do not believe I have ever in my life poured myself so heartily into learning something new.

Lesson 2 was about basic maneuvers (climb, turn, cruise, and descend) and power/pitch combinations.  Pitch Attitude + Power = Desired Performance.

I arrived early to the lesson and preflighted the ship on my own.  When T arrived, he quizzed me on information from lesson 1 and my reading assignments, including the C-172S Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH).

After the pre-startup checklist, T allowed me to request clearance from the tower and then taxi to runway 27.  He pointed out that a sign of excellence is taxiing on the yellow line, and not to the side of it.  I shall have to work on that.  Talking to the tower is intimidating at first because you don’t want to misspeak, although I would bet the controllers are more forgiving with students than you would at first think.  But I don’t know.  At any rate, I rehearsed the first call thrice with T and it went just fine.  I hesitated on the acknowledgment of the takeoff clearance because there was a bunch of stuff after the clearance that I didn’t catch.  But again, it went fine.

T had me take off too.  That’s relatively easy.  “It’s like a fast taxi.”

Since I had just come from Rush Lake and a family gathering, we departed West again and headed for Rush Lake where we practiced coordinated turns, demonstrated skidding and slipping turns, and then practiced coordinated turns some more.  So we flew over Rush Lake from all four points of the compass.

We demonstrated five basic pitch and power combinations and the kinds of climbs, descents, and cruises they will produce:

• Climb
• Cruise
• Cruise Descent
• Approach to Land Flaps Up
• Approach to Land Flaps Down

In lesson 1, T told me when to begin each step in leveling off to hit an altitude or when to begin rolling out of a turn.  This time, he just told me the steps and then which altitude to level off at or which direction to turn to and allowed me to learn by trial and error when to begin each of the steps to level off or roll out.  T has continued to suggest reading material and provide documentation about these things.   One of the documents is the aircraft checklist.  I appreciate this checklist because it is quite thorough, but it does take a novice quite a while to get through it.

Before this lesson I was ready to go flying for hours, but T was right; after an hour, I was physically tired from focusing and learning and taking in all of the stimuli.  Like any skill, though, endurance and ease will come with experience.  This is what I call fun.

Lesson 1 was mostly learning the procedures involved in getting an aircraft ready for flight: visual preflight, startup checklist, and so forth.  Also,  we covered the physics of flight and control surfaces and what not.

My instructor, T, seems to be a thorough and conscientious airman.  That is what I want.  He allowed me to do everything except talk to the tower, takeoff, and land and informed me when I could do better.   So I was able to perform the preflight on my own (after doing it along with T), start the aircraft, taxi it, climbout, fly southwest to Rush Lake, fly East to Fond du Lac, and then fly back North to Oshkosh.  I was also allowed to handle some of the approach.

T commented a couple of times that it is an advantage for me to have a mom and grandpa that flew and took me flying.  The resulting familiarity with airplanes is a big head start.