Commercial Maneuvers!

August 27, 2012

Well, as a newly married young lady, I'm happy to say that I finally got back in the air today after taking nearly a month off. I wanted it to be extra fun, so what better way than to go and try my hand at some commercial flight maneuvers for the first time.

I will need to learn (click each to learn more):

• Chandelles
• Lazy Eights
• Eights on Pylons
• 50-60 degree steep turns
• Steep Spirals
• Power-off 180s

I'm so excited to tell you about everything that I don't even know where to start... "That good, huh?" you ask. "YES." 

After a departure to the north, I start getting a feel for the airplane again. It's been so long! My CFI for the day recommends that I do a power-off stall and some normal steep turns to prepare me for the commercial maneuvers that will be similar in concept. First up was the stalls. Ugh, I hate stalls. Power back, carb heat on, drop flaps, slow down, drop rest of flaps, then pull the power completely to idle. I pull back on the yoke to force the nose of the plane up, now I just watch my airspeed die... the stall warning goes off, then it stalls. I recover nicely. My CFI then asks me if I have ever done or seen a stall without dropping any flaps. I wasn't sure, so he volunteered to show me. It was a drastic difference. He managed to keep it in a stalled state for a period of time without the nose sinking to one side or the other. It was fascinating to watch. We then moved onto steep turns. Keep in mind that I've been an instrument student for a year, meaning that my turns are kept quite shallow. I roll left into my first steep turn. I quickly hear, "Steeper, steeper! Keep going. More." The 20 degrees that I was at felt steep. My CFI took the controls and rolled it to the 45 degrees he was looking for. "Holy crap!" I say. He laughed and said he could tell I'd been an instrument student for a while, being that I was so timid. After a couple more tries, I do much better.

Now on to the real stuff. Number one on the list is Chandelles. 

Websters Online Dictionary

At first look, it doesn't look like much. But actually doing it is a bit trickier than expected. My CFI demonstrates first, then I go. I start by adding full power and rolling into a 30 degree turn to one side, I go left. Then smoothly pitch up while maintaining the constant turn. The goal is have the airplane at just above stall speed by the half way point of the 180 degree turn. I hold that maximum pitch angle throughout the second half of the turn, near stall speed. I finish by rolling out with wings level. Well that was interesting. Now I do the maneuver to the right side. Not to bad for my first time.

Next up, the hardest maneuver... Lazy Eights. Why are we jumping into this one? Two reasons. One- It's very similar to the Chandelle; Two- The clouds were too low for us to do some of the other maneuvers.

http://airplanegroundschools.com/Performance-Maneuvers/

"A lazy eight consists of two 180° turns, in opposite directions, while making a climb and a descent in a symmetrical pattern during each of the turns. At no time throughout the lazy eight is the airplane flown straight and level; instead, it is rolled directly from one bank to the other with the wings level only at the moment the turn is reversed at the completion of each 180° change in heading." - airplanegroundschools.com

My CFI shows me (with perfection), then I attempt it. I make my turns, climbs, descents and more turns. I don't have it down perfectly but I'm really happy with my performance. 

We move on to another maneuver, the Eights on Pylons. 

Flight Training blog

These are basically an advanced version of Turns Around a Point. It requires you to to know (in my case to learn) Pivotal Altitude (PA). It equals ground speed in knots squared divided by 11.35. If groundspeed is 100 knots, PA is 881 feet above ground level (agl). My CFI didn't need to show me this, so I jump right in. We determined that I needed to fly at 1200ft MSL (800 AGL). Instead of going from one point, to the next (like a sideways number 8), we focus on just getting it right with one pylon. After a few times around, I'm getting the hang of it. Now onto the other pylon with turns in the opposite direction. Cool! My CFI says it was my best maneuver so far.

As our lesson is coming to an end, we fly back and enter the pattern. I was just hoping I could make a decent landing after not flying for a month, but instead my CFI decided that I would perform my first Power-off 180*, a type of accuracy landing. Usually in the traffic pattern, you decrease your power and turn onto legs called Downwind, Base and Final. For this maneuver, you completely pull the power out to idle on Downwind abeam the runway number and glide your way straight to the runway.

NashvilleCFI

I pull the power and make my turn to the runway. I'm pretty far out so I'm not sure I can glide my way in or not. If this were a real engine failure, I'd be a bit concerned. I'm now on short final and low, very low. My CFI shows me a trick... adding 10* of flaps. That first 10* adds more lift than drag, so once the flaps were down, I watched the airplane rise. Hmmm now I think I have a shot at making the runway. I keep reaching for the throttle but have to remind myself that I "don't have any power." Oh man, I really don't think I'm gonna make it... nope, I won't... period. I'm given the "ok" to add just a touch of power because it's just a training exercise after-all. The landing was smooth.

Today's lesson was the most fun that I've had in a long time. It makes me want to finally finish Instrument so that every lesson can be this good. So until next time, I'm off to study my instrument books...

It's Been Awhile

August 3, 2012

It's been three weeks since my last lesson, and two weeks since I last flew. I must say, I was surprisingly a little nervous about going back up. Was I going to remember how to do approaches, how to talk to ATC, was I going to totally botch the landing? I was about to find out...

The winds were from the East, but it looks like everyone is still using the North runway. Time for some crosswind takeoff practice. Mark is in the seat next to me, there to help me out. After all preflight inspections, I tune the radio to all the frequencies we'll need and prepare for takeoff. The incoming traffic has by now landed, so I roll out onto the runway and apply full power. The wind is trying to play games with me, but I fight through it and safely make it off the ground.

Mark takes the controls while I put on the dreaded foggles. I take the controls again and keep us flying west. It's time to listen to Spirit Airport's weather, then call up STL Approach and give our intentions. It appears that Spirit is using their East runways, and since we are going to practice an ILS approach, I tell the controller that we want Runway 8R. He has us continue flying west for quite a while and at one point Mark told me to look up because the Washington Airport was just ahead of us. Wow, we really are way out there. The controller finally turns us onto the inbound course and not long after he clears us for the approach. I tell the Spirit tower that I'm inbound while following the course that my primary NAVAID says. Looking great! As my DME indicates that we're getting close to the runway, I start wondering when I can descend. I keep forgetting that when the needle starts to move down, I can start bringing the plane down. Thanks Mark for reminding me. Now we're looking really good, all needles are centered. I descend to the missed approach point, look up and smile.

We go missed and begin our climb. The tower tells us to contact Approach. We tell approach that we want to do the VOR-A at Creve Coeur Airport. He vectors us around to the inbound course while I'm scrambling to set up the new frequencies. Spirit and Creve Couer airports are less than 8 miles from each other so it didn't give us much time to prepare. Mark takes over the radio a couple times so that I can get organized. The VOR is now set and we can follow it inbound. Within minutes we were looking straight at the runway. Not bad at all!

After going missed, we turn northeast and climb to 1500ft. No need for a controller so we tell him goodbye and fly the remainder under VFR. At the last 5-10 miles, I get to take off my foggles. Ahhh, such a relief... today I needed the joy of flying with sight. This time, the airport is all ours so I go for the East runway. I'm feeling a bit confident since I saw that I could still handle instrument flying after being away from it for weeks. The East runway is the most hated runway that we have because of its short length with the added challenge of having power lines at the approach end. This should be interesting. I focus, and focus hard. I'm not in the mood to have a bad landing today. Power back, drops flaps, turn... drop flaps, push nose down, adjust power, turn... on final approach I drop the rest of the flaps and adjust power. I don't feel high and I'm not so low that I'll run into the power lines. I start smiling... I've got this. Just feet off the ground, I flare, hold it off, keep waiting... and touch down. Smooth. That has to be one of the best feelings for a pilot; a good landing.