After having officially completed the cross country requirements for commercial training, I can finally move on to the much anticipated commercial maneuvers. These require much more precision than that of the private pilot maneuvers and many will argue that they are quite a bit more fun.
I roll onto the runway and gradually add power. The wheels begin to roll and the airspeed increases. At 60 knots, the wings have gained enough lift and my instructor and I find ourselves slicing through the air. We depart the traffic pattern and make our way to the north. We gain altitude before my instructor informs me that before we can begin new maneuvers, we need to review some of the old maneuvers. Stalls, slow flight, and steep turns. I roll my eyes... I hate stalls, haven't done slow flight in a year, and steep turns? Instrument flying has gotten me quite comfortable with a lousy, shallow, standard rate turn.
First up, slow flight. I'm in a new plane (ok not really new, but an all new engine that took 1 1/2 years to get), so the flight controls feel different than what I'm used to. They're a bit sloppy, touchy... I slow the plane down and drop the flaps until we are flying at 40 knots in landing configuration. I can hear the stall warning horn howling at me, as I'm just above stall speed. It's just what my instructor ordered. It's not easy though, I struggle to keep my altitude and fight with the power setting to keep me at 40 knots and within +/- 100ft of my assigned altitude. "Ok, make a turn to the left," my CFI says. I begin to make a normal 30 degree turn but quickly remember that in slow flight, your turns must be extremely shallow and made slowly. After practicing for 5-10 minutes, we resume normal cruise.
Now it's stalls. Just the word 'stall' alone makes the hair on my arm stand up. "We're going to do so many of these that I will make sure you actually like stalls by the time you're done with commercial," the instructor says. "You're kidding, right?" "No... I'm not kidding." After a deep breath, I set up for a power off stall. By now I'm really missing my regular plane. I work through the wind and the sloppy controls and put myself back into the landing configuration for a power-off stall. At 60 knots however, I pull the power all the way out to idle, pull back on the yoke and watch the nose of the plane rise well above the horizon. There's the horn, keep pulling up, airspeed 37 knots, and there's the good ole stall feeling; buffeting. I immediately recover and we do a couple more before moving on to power-on stalls. Let the airspeed drop to 60 knots, then add full power while simultaneously raising the nose of the plane. There's the stall and I recover.
Unfortunately it's not over yet, my CFI says that he's required to show me some more advanced stalls. Oh boy, this should be fun... First up, a secondary stall. What happens when you stall the plane, over-react and all of a sudden you're unexpectedly in another (secondary) stall? (Video found here- use sound). Sounds scary right? Yeah, let me tell ya. My CFI performs the maneuver nicely and recovers without much effort. But what if you haven't stalled at all and for whatever reason you abruptly yank the nose up towards the sun? This would be an example of an accelerated stall. They are more severe than your traditional stall because of the excessive load factors and the higher airspeed. I didn't like the sound of this one up front. We cruise along then next thing I know I'm looking at the clouds above and I shoved back in my seat. I hear the warning horn blaring and immediately look at the airspeed. Wow, we're more than twice the airspeed of a normal stall! Ok, by now my heart is racing and I'm clinching my hands. (Example found here) He hasn't emptied his bag of maneuvers yet. How about an accelerated stall while in a steep turn? Oh gee, can't wait for this one! He drops the left wing and puts it in a 45 degree bank. He pulls the nose of the plane up steadily until the stall occurs. He recovers quickly. But what if you're in a turn and you get cross-controlled? Your foot is pushing on the left rudder but your yoke is turned to the right? These are most likely to happen in the traffic pattern when turning base to final. That one wasn't so scary... (Example here) Next up, an elevator trim stall. This could happen during a quick climb, such as a go-around from an aborted landing. My instructor shows me the stall but thankfully it didn't seem that much different than a regular power-on stall (Example here). Alright, we're finished with stalls... phew!
Now we finally get to the good stuff, chandelles. This is a maximum performance climbing 180 degree turn.
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We call it a day and head back to the airport. I've started a descent so that I don't run into Bravo airspace when my instructor pulls the power out to idle and says, "Whooops, you lost your engine. Land it." First thing I do is get to 65 knots, my best glide speed. I then pick a landing spot and start making 360 degree circles down to the spot I chose to land on. I then run through the emergency checklist and announce once it's complete. I eventually descend from 4000ft to 1000ft and go in for a landing when I'm told my engine just came back to life. I add full power and climb back up. Alright, now we can head for home...
My instructor says I can either enter the pattern and do a power-off 180 or fly straight in and land on runway 18 with no flaps. I opt for the no flaps challenge. I announce my intentions over the radio and set up for landing. This is known as a GUMPS checklist - Gas from both tanks/ fullest tank, Undercarriage (wheels) down, Mixture full rich, Propeller (I don't have to worry about this yet), Switches and seatbelts. Checklist complete. We're now just over the river and I pull on the carburetor heat and cut some power out to start my descent. We have about a mile to go and I've kept all the flaps up. I can't rely on them to help slow me down. Everything looks great. Now over the runway, I adjust the trim tab to make the flare a little easier, then gently touch down. No issues... I'm happy.
I fly again tomorrow and we will review everything from today, but add Lazy Eights. I'm looking forward to it.
