10-14-00
EAA Young Eagles

     No lessons today, but I did lots of flying just the same. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) holds Young Eagles events where they give kids aged 8-17 free airplane rides. It's a nice event, and the pilots are very nice to donate their time (and money, in the form of airplane time) so the kids can have a very unique experience.

    I took some photos of the event (click HERE), and went on a few rides so I could take pictures of the kids in the air. They all seemed to enjoy their rides, and I was pleased to see some of the kids from the school where I teach.

    Later in the day when things were slowing down a Navajo Chieftain (see photo above) came in for some maintenance. The Navajo is a 10-seat, twin prop plane used for business commuting and charter flights. Their landing gear door had been popping open during flight. Mike, the A&P mechanic and owner of TML Aircraft fixed the door, and then said they should take a brief flight to test it. Always interested in riding in new aircraft, I quickly asked to go along. So did a lady photographer who had been taking pictures of the kids at the Young Eagles event. So we climbed into the Navajo and sat behind Charlie the pilot, and Mike who rode in the copilot's seat.

    The Navajo is one of the largest airplanes that is capable of landing on Monticello's runway, so I was very curious to see what the approach would look like. However, I found the takeoff even more interesting. It used up almost all of the available runway space on it's ground roll. It was very disconcerting to be going that fast and still be on the ground that far down the runway. After rotation, the Navajo climbs quickly and we were soon tooling around at about 2000'.

    Mike then turned around and yelled to me over the sound of the engines, "We're going to raise the nose abruptly." Then indicating the photographer to my left said, "Warn her."

    I wasn't sure how to prepare her for the maneuver I was expecting, so I simply told her to hang on to something. She looked worried. Mike then jerked the nose of the plane up so hard that we pulled around 2 g's! I was pressed hard into my seat for a moment, then had the stomach dropping feeling of going over the top on a roller coaster as we leveled off. The photographer shrieked and grabbed at the seat in front of her. I was startled too, and thought the plane might stall.

    Mike repeated the maneuver, and then did a quick dive that brought negative g's. I then realized that he was maneuvering roughly on purpose to see if the gear door would come open. After that we headed back to Monticello, where Charlie did a nice, but fast landing. He told me afterward that his strategy is to simply put it down quickly. On a runway that short there isn't time to flare and float much, so he accepts a slightly harder landing than usual.

    The photographer walked shakily off the plane. She was sweating.

10-20-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     Took my first lesson with Stu today, and we covered a good deal of ground. We did short field takeoffs and landings, steep turns, and slips. Stu is certainly a different presence in the cockpit than Long. Although just as methodical, his demeanor is quite different. A bit more easygoing and talkative. Although I could happily have finished my training with Long, I am glad to have another instructor seeing me fly. Brings a different perspective to things. And I think Stu and I are going to get along well.

    We went over the short field takeoff maneuver, and that went pretty well. I enjoyed the steep turns a lot. Much better than when I did them in the Cessna at Wurtsboro. As then, I was shy about banking the plane so far over. It's tough when I've been coached for so long to NEVER exceed 30 degrees of bank in the pattern. So Stu encouraged me to "Tom Cruise it" and really crank it over. That worked well and felt really cool!

    After practicing more turns we did some side and forward slips, with Stu showing me the difference between the two. A sideslip keeps the nose of the plane going in the direction of travel, whereas a forward slip turns the plane's fuselage into the wind. It spoils the aerodynamics of the plane by inducing lots of drag, and causes you to lose altitude very quickly.

    Finished the flight with some short field landings, which went pretty well. Nice flight, good lesson. Tomorrow morning I'm going to attempt the Norwich/Eaton trip.

10-21-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Cross Country

     FINALLY got to do the trip to Norwich, and it was great! I flew the IFR equipped Warrior today, so I had to get used to the fancier radio equipment. And this trip gave me plenty of opportunity to practice with VOR's, talking with controllers to get on Flight Following, and activating flight plans.

    As in my previous cross country trips, I was somewhat hesitant to believe my own navigation. Although I trust myself to do a good flight plan, I always worry that maybe the winds might change and throw everything off. But not to worry, I flew a good course over the mountains to Norwich and found the airport without any trouble. I used VOR's to track my progress, using FROM flags to check the radials I was crossing. My only tense moment came as I entered the pattern at Norwich. The downwind leg is right over a mountain, and very low down. I grabbed my Flight Guide to make sure I had the pattern altitude correct. I did, but it sure looked low to me. Thought I could reach out the window and grab me some fall foliage.

    The return trip was uneventful for the most part. To open my flight plan I had to do that little trick where you transmit on one frequency, and listen through a VOR. Then Flight Following brought me up short when they asked me (after having me on radar for 20 minutes), "What's your position?" My first thought was to ask, "Don't YOU know?!" After all, they have radar... But I didn't say that. I told them where I was (at least where I THOUGHT I was) and they didn't question it.

    Once I got back to the Monticello area I was a bit irritated that the wind, although not strong, was variable. Every time I checked AWOS it had moved significantly. When I got to the airport I began to go in on runway 19, but then realized the winds had shifted. So I overflew to look at the windsock, decided to land in the other direction and flew around to make that approach. The wind shifted AGAIN, and I finally ended up putting it down on 19 in a right quartering crosswind. Made a decent landing. I might just be getting the hang of the crosswind thing.

10-21-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     After having lunch I returned to the airport to fly some more with Stu. We did a short field takeoff, then practiced a bunch of maneuvers. We did steep turns, power on stalls, power off stalls, slips, some instrument work under the hood, and a short field landing. It was good to have sort of a review session with many of the skills I've learned. I'm starting to see where all of it is leading, and am confident I will be ready for the checkride when the time comes.

10-24-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Flight

     Went up by myself this afternoon to practice the maneuvers we've been working on lately. After pre-flighting the airplane I waited for about 30 minutes for the winds to calm down a bit. They did, and up I went. I'm glad I waited - don't want to develop "go fever".

    This was a very productive flight. I took a moment earlier to plan out what I was going to do, and I accomplished it all: short field takeoffs and landings (at Monticello and Sullivan County), steep turns, power on & off stalls, and forward slips. I went out past Sullivan County, did my clearing turns and went to work.

    I felt more in control of the airplane today than ever before. My steep turns were good, and felt terrific. It all came together on my last few attempts. I was able to split my attention between maintaining altitude & bank angle, and anticipating the rollout onto my original heading with visual landmark. That's a nice feeling when it all works.

    Stalls were also pretty good, although I need to work on the power-on. I think I'm porpoising instead of doing a smooth recovery. My short field takeoff was OK, but I need to nail the airspeed a bit better. Short field landing was better, especially the first one I did at Sullivan. After that I climbed up a ways and did some forward slips to lose altitude. In retrospect, I realize I didn't check the wind first. Have to remember that next time so I can slip into the wind.

    Tomorrow Stu and I will attempt my night cross country flight to Syracuse.

10-25-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     Weather prevented us from trying the night cross country to Syracuse, so we went to the next thing on the list, which was soft field landings and takeoffs. Interesting. It's weird to take off in such a nose high attitude, with the stall horn going off. As Stu observed, we as pilots are trained to get AWAY from the ground as quickly as possible. Floating in ground effect to pick up speed is a bit counterintuitive, but makes sense when you think of a muddy or bumpy field.

    It was getting late when we returned to Monticello. We did a low pass over the runway to scare any deer away (that's no joke - we have had a number of "deer incursions" on our runway), and then landed. Quite an experience to put it down with nothing but the landing light and no airport lighting. I wouldn't attempt it on my own.

    Next week we are going to try to get in the night cross country, and get me ready for my long solo cross country. We spoke about maybe going to Islip and Groton for that trip. Can't wait!

11-4-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     Stu and I made the trip to Syracuse today, and covered a lot of instructional territory. We knew the weather was going to by questionable, but Stu has been wanting to take me into IFR conditions. So we went knowing that we'd probably come back on instruments.

    My cross country planning was fairly good, although the winds were a bit stronger than predicted. The approach in to Syracuse was cloudy, and we had to go in on the ILS. Stu flew the approach and then gave it to me to land once we had the runway in site. I flew a good sideslip into the crosswind. Learning the forward slips with Stu has really improved my understanding of a crosswind landing.

    Syracuse has an Air National Guard station right next to the general aviation FBO, resulting in our Warrior sharing the ramp with five F-16's! I have to go back with my camera some time.

    Stu filed an IFR flight plan and we headed back to Monticello. We very quickly ended up in the clouds, and my first real IFR experience. Flying in a cloud is just as disorienting as I've read. I know the basics of how to scan the instruments and make standard rate turns and such, but it really is very disconcerting to have to believe the instruments and not your body. For a good ten minutes as we remained in a cloud, my body was telling me we were in a bank when the instruments said we were straight and level. And though I knew you MUST trust the instruments, it was still a struggle. That will take a lot of getting used to when I start formal IFR training.

    As we climbed through the clouds we began to experience icing - another first for me. The windshield iced over almost completely, and then it started building up on the leading edges of the wings. Stu had me turn on the carburetor heat and pitot tube heat. Then we descended a few thousand feet and the ice began to dissipate.

    We followed VOR radials back to Sullivan County International and then canceled our IFR when we knew we had the airport in sight from about ten miles out. We then decided to conduct another night landing at Monticello, which was the same somewhat harrying experience it was last week.

    Going into actual IFR conditions was a very enlightening experience. In addition to getting more instrument and VOR work, it helped convince me NEVER to blunder into such conditions through carelessness. That kind of flying is beyond me at the moment, and I have serious doubts about my survival were I to end up in those conditions on my own (this further supplements the article I read recently which stated VFR pilots who inadvertently enter IFR conditions have a life expectancy of around three minutes).

    The end of my training is in sight. I have yet to do my night cross country with Stu, my long solo cross country, and some test preparation. If I get lucky with the weather I could test in the next two or three weeks!

11-1-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     Went up with Stu today to practice flying and landing in gusty conditions. This was another good lesson in that I am that much better prepared for when I encounter unfavorable weather on my own.

    It was quite bumpy up there today. We started out doing landings at Monticello and then went to Sullivan County at my request. Stu had me work on making my approaches more elegant by establishing a descent attitude, and maintaining it throughout the landing. This involved trimming for an airspeed (say, 70mph on final), and holding the airplane in that attitude. Then all I had to do was control altitude through the throttle. It was a bit strange to not be pointed a bit more downward, but the exercise showed me how slow I can fly the airplane under control.

    We also did some short field and soft field takeoffs, and I'm getting the feel for those a bit better. Rotating at such a slow airspeed during the short field is a bit scary. Feels like the airplane is about to stall, especially since the nose is pointing upward. But it works amazingly well: climb at Vx until you clear the hypothetical 50' obstacle, then pitch down for Vy. Very strange to be that high above the runway that quickly.

    For the soft field takeoff I found I must push down pretty hard on the yoke to keep the plane flying in ground effect. It really wants to go higher, but you need to stay down to safely accelerate. After all, you are intentionally rotating at a speed where the airplane would normally stall.

    Finally, I instigated an engine out scenario. Cut the power as we were in the downwind, but I still couldn't bring it in! My mistake was that I tried to land on the numbers. The Sullivan County runway is so large that I should have just turned base over the runway and landed on the second half. Dumb of me to try to finesse it into a normal landing. After that Stu pulled the power on me during a takeoff and I handled that better, with a decent straight ahead landing.

11-18-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Stuart Hirsch

     FINALLY got the night cross country in. The way the weather has been behaving lately, it didn't look like we'd ever fly again. But we got a nice calm night for our trip to Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY. Took off from Sullivan County International, opened my flight plan, got on Flight Following with NY Approach, and followed the Huegenot VOR toward the Hudson River. All pretty routine, except the VOR's still give me trouble sometimes. I need to stop second-guessing myself - I understand how they work and I just need to relax and utilize them.

    NY Approach terminated radar service as we dropped down below the Class B airspace surrounding New York City, and advised us of the common air traffic frequency for the Hudson River. We cruised over the Tappan Zee and George Washington bridges at 1000', then got on radar again with Newark, who in turn handed us off to the JFK tower. I never thought I'd be dealing with the JFK tower in a Piper Warrior! But there we were, with the controller vectoring TWA flights and a string of other heavy jets all around and above us. We could see them lined up to shoot the ILS approach into JFK. We were warned to stay clear of their wake turbulence, and it is indeed a bit eery to see one of those big planes pass overhead, separated by only a couple thousand feet or so.

    We dropped down to 500' to skirt the southern coast of Long Island, passing by Long Beach and Jones Beach. Very cool to be that low and that fast, and it was comforting to know that if the engine quit on us, we had miles of nice soft sand to land on just below us (which would probably result in the airplane nosing over, but it looked comforting all the same...).

    Got the ATIS information from Republic and we were about the only traffic going in there. So we flew a normal left pattern instead of their usual right hand traffic and landed. My only problem was getting oriented to the runway. We had been cleared for a left base to runway 32, and I couldn't see the runway. I had expected that to be the easy part, but all the lights were lost in the suburban sprawl of Long Island. Stu got me headed to the airport, and I then couldn't pick out the correct runway. This whole thing took me aback because I had expected the Republic controllers to provide vectors. We figured out where to land, and Stu later told me I could have asked them for vectors if I'd really wanted.

    I felt very good on this flight, especially in dealing with the controllers. The JFK guys talked very fast, but didn't seem to get upset when I asked them to repeat once or twice. I was able to copy down instructions and repeat them without much trouble, and I felt in control of the airplane. Nice trip, and I can't wait to do it in the day time so my pictures of the New York skyline will come out!