Short and soft-field, instruments, emergencies
A busy flight but we managed to cover three lessons so that's the sort of efficiency I like. You'd never do it with a student, of course, but for training it worked out just fine.
I started out demonstrating a soft-field takeoff out of Anoka, which is always fun. I managed to keep my mouth moving and explaining what I was doing while I was doing it, so I suppose it went well.
Cheryl gave me a great tip, to demonstrate a soft-field takeoff using only partial power to simulate the reduced performance you get on a true soft field. I need to try that one a few time myself before I do it with a student on board.
We got up to the practice area and Cheryl put on the Foggles and played the role of a student learning instrument maneuvers. We'd done the ground portion a few days prior so I concentrated on remembering to look outside and occasionally check the flight instruments while I talked her through straight and level, turns, climbs and descents.
I love flying instruments but it was odd trying to teach someone else because so much time was spent not actually looking at the gauges. Instead, I'd notice a deviation while I was looking outside for traffic then try to say something meaningful like "uh, keep your scan going, wings level on your attitude indicator, now check your altimeter, back to the attitude indicator, now check your heading indicator, blah blah blah blah blah."
It's going to be hard to shut up once I start doing this for real.
I put Cheryl through some unusual attitudes, which was odd. I took the airplane and made some gentle climbing and descending turns then put it in a left-hand, descending turn. Playing the role of an instructor I thought there was no way my gentle turns could cause any disorientation. Of course, I could see just fine. Anyhow, apparently it worked.
Next up was a simulated engine-out, which was much stranger than I'd expected. I've had the power pulled to idle on me more times than I can count during my own training that it seems routine but I'd never pulled it back deliberately myself and talked through the procedure.
Anyhow, I spotted a reasonable field, took a deep breath, pulled the power back to idle and talked through the process. We got set up, did a go-around then it was Cheryl's turn. She nailed it, of course .
We flew over to Cambridge and I demonstrated a short-field landing over an obstacle then a short-field takeoff.
We stayed in the pattern so I could demonstrate a power-off 180 degree approach. Thankfully it wasn't a precision power-off 180 because I didn't really judge it that well and wound up high. I dropped 40 degrees of flaps, pushed the nose down then did a series of S-turns to burn some altitude. It certainly wasn't the best-planned approach but it worked out.
Cheryl gave me a treat and I only had to do a normal takeoff and we headed back to Anoka for a short/soft-field landing. I got set up better than my last couple of approaches, talked through the approach and landing and we touched down just past the numbers for 36 and ambled off on the A2 taxiway.
After 8 hours I'm finally starting to get comfortable in the right seat, although it still doesn't feel natural. That'll come in time, I'm sure.
I started out demonstrating a soft-field takeoff out of Anoka, which is always fun. I managed to keep my mouth moving and explaining what I was doing while I was doing it, so I suppose it went well.
Cheryl gave me a great tip, to demonstrate a soft-field takeoff using only partial power to simulate the reduced performance you get on a true soft field. I need to try that one a few time myself before I do it with a student on board.
We got up to the practice area and Cheryl put on the Foggles and played the role of a student learning instrument maneuvers. We'd done the ground portion a few days prior so I concentrated on remembering to look outside and occasionally check the flight instruments while I talked her through straight and level, turns, climbs and descents.
I love flying instruments but it was odd trying to teach someone else because so much time was spent not actually looking at the gauges. Instead, I'd notice a deviation while I was looking outside for traffic then try to say something meaningful like "uh, keep your scan going, wings level on your attitude indicator, now check your altimeter, back to the attitude indicator, now check your heading indicator, blah blah blah blah blah."
It's going to be hard to shut up once I start doing this for real.
I put Cheryl through some unusual attitudes, which was odd. I took the airplane and made some gentle climbing and descending turns then put it in a left-hand, descending turn. Playing the role of an instructor I thought there was no way my gentle turns could cause any disorientation. Of course, I could see just fine. Anyhow, apparently it worked.
Next up was a simulated engine-out, which was much stranger than I'd expected. I've had the power pulled to idle on me more times than I can count during my own training that it seems routine but I'd never pulled it back deliberately myself and talked through the procedure.
Anyhow, I spotted a reasonable field, took a deep breath, pulled the power back to idle and talked through the process. We got set up, did a go-around then it was Cheryl's turn. She nailed it, of course .
We flew over to Cambridge and I demonstrated a short-field landing over an obstacle then a short-field takeoff.
We stayed in the pattern so I could demonstrate a power-off 180 degree approach. Thankfully it wasn't a precision power-off 180 because I didn't really judge it that well and wound up high. I dropped 40 degrees of flaps, pushed the nose down then did a series of S-turns to burn some altitude. It certainly wasn't the best-planned approach but it worked out.
Cheryl gave me a treat and I only had to do a normal takeoff and we headed back to Anoka for a short/soft-field landing. I got set up better than my last couple of approaches, talked through the approach and landing and we touched down just past the numbers for 36 and ambled off on the A2 taxiway.
After 8 hours I'm finally starting to get comfortable in the right seat, although it still doesn't feel natural. That'll come in time, I'm sure.
posted by Will at 6:51 PM
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