8-17-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     Long and I went on a trip to Waterbury, CT today as part of my cross country training. It took me about five attempts to make the flight plan because the weather kept delaying us. But that makes for good practice, and when we finally did go this afternoon the navigation was close to perfect. What a relief to see that I can actually get us somewhere, and find the airport on the first try!

    The landmarks I picked were pretty good, except for a few small ones. I like using other airports as landmarks because they're easy to spot, and it's always good to know where they are in case of emergency. Smaller things like railroad tracks I found a bit harder to spot. Have to look for big stuff on the map, and then fly a bit to the side of them whenever possible for easy viewing.

    Long had me file flight plans for the first time today. That added a bit to the workload in the plane, and there were a few moments where I felt a bit overwhelmed. Also had my head down in the cockpit too much doing my navigation and stuff. We landed without incident, got a drink, and then took off for the return trip. We flew back at 6500', which is the highest I've been yet in the Piper. Very easy to spot the big landmarks from up there, which is very reassuring because you can visually SEE that you are on the correct course. However, Long did have us go over a cloud deck at one point, which is obviously not good for spotting landmarks.

    Had one mildly scary moment when over the Wurtsboro airport we came pretty close to a Cessna heading the other way. The two mistakes leading up to this were me looking down at my flight plan too much, and forgetting to tune the radio to the CTAF for Wurtsboro when we got close to it. Good lesson, and I will fly it solo tomorrow if the weather is good.

8-18-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Flight

     Couldn't go on my cross country today as planned because of the weather. Although the winds were calm, the ceilings weren't quite where I needed them. Would have been OK going to Waterbury, but getting back might have been a problem.

    So instead I went up locally to practice some maneuvers. Did a few stalls, and that was no problem. Tried some turns around a point, and they did not go so well. I think I need some more coaching on that one. Then I went to Sullivan County and did a few touch and go's.

    Monticello Airport is having a fly-in over the weekend, so I probably won't get to fly again until next week. I really want to do the trip to Waterbury solo.

8-20-00
Piper Warrior
Solo Cross Country

     Got up very early today to make the trip to Waterbury, and that was a good call. Perfect VFR weather when I took off at 7:00 AM, and the only problem on the flight was bad sun glare, as I was on an easterly heading. My navigation was right on, and I made it there in exactly the time I planned! Easy landing at Waterbury, went in to close my flight plan and file one for the return trip, and off I went back home.

    The flight back to Monticello was even nicer because the sun wasn't in my eyes. The navigation was again pretty good, but I can only hope that will be the case when I go somewhere unfamiliar for the first time. The interesting part began just as I passed over the ridge near Wurtsboro. I started my descent at that point, and quickly encountered some brisk winds. Checking the Sullivan County AWOS, I learned that the winds had changed from calm to a nasty 14 knots, with gusts up to 19! Quite a change, and to make things worse it was a left crosswind on the Monticello runway. I got a little nervous because I knew this was well out of the minimums Long wanted me in (10 knots with no gust factor). I had the choice of landing at Sullivan County, but I decided to try an approach at Monticello. I told myself that if it was really bad I would abort the approach and go to Sullivan.

    I entered the pattern and was careful to crab so I didn't get too close to the runway. I've made that mistake too often in a left crosswind, and was pleased that I handled that part well. Made a good turn to final, and then things got a bit wild. Very bumpy approach, and I decided to go in a little faster than usual for extra control, with only two increments of flaps. The last few seconds up to touchdown are kind of blurry in my mind. I remember putting in a sideslip, and having to really jerk it around. Landed a little hard and with a slight sideways skid, but I put it down.

    From listening to the pilot talk around the airport, I gather that what I did today was more of an "arrival" than a landing. It definitely got my heart rate up, and I was very pleased to be safely on the ground. I'm sure Long was just as nervous as I was!

    We had a Fly-In this weekend, and we got to see some really cool planes, including some military. The pictures can be seen HERE.

8-22-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     First day of basic instrument maneuvers. In the classroom we went over the instruments, how they function during instrument flight, and how to scan. Also talked about the various ways the instruments can fail, what the consequences are, and how some instruments function as backups for the others. Then up we went, and I went under the hood for the first time.

    Long gave me instructions as a flight controller might, such as, "Warrior 83X-Ray, climb and maintain 3800, and turn left to heading 090." Then I'd repeat the instructions (as you would when in contact with ATC), and make the maneuver on instruments while maintaining the airspeed. Or he'd have me change altitude and airspeed together, or sometimes all three. I think I did fairly well on the maneuvers. There's something very satisfying about keeping your needles centered where you want them. The hard part was simply remembering the instructions because he was speaking very quickly. When I got the hang of it he turned up the radio as a distraction. Then we did some of the same maneuvers in slow flight (60mph), which was more challenging. I found this lesson fun, if a little disorienting.

    After an hour of this Long gave me a series of quick course corrections and speed changes, and then abruptly told me to take off the hood. He had placed us in the downwind leg of the Monticello pattern and I had to quickly reorient myself and land. I thought that was a bit of a dirty trick, but Long said that's exactly what happens during an instrument approach out of an overcast sky. You follow all these directions and maneuvers, and then PRESTO! There's the runway! Although the instrument portion of my training is only for safety purposes, it was interesting to have a peek at what awaits me when I go for the instrument rating some time in the future.

8-24-00
Piper Warrior
Instructor: Long Tan

     Second lesson on basic instrument flight. The objective was to navigate using VOR's while flying under the hood. We did this using intersections of Victor Airways. Here's the procedure:

1. Follow an airway to the nearest VOR. Enter the appropriate radial (either to or from the VOR), and fly the correct heading when the needle centers.

2. Set the second Nav radio to the radial which tracks the intersecting Victor Airway, but continue flying toward the first VOR.

3. When the needles for both VOR's are centered, you are at the intersection.

    This is a very elegant method for figuring your position, but you have to be careful to avoid reverse sensing. I actually found folding the map while flying the plane on instruments to be the hardest part of this lesson! It's a lot of multi-tasking, and I found myself getting behind at a few points.

    Long also demonstrated how easy it is to become disoriented during instrument flight. He had me close my eyes completely and put my head down on my chest as if I were asleep. Then I tried to fly straight & level. Yeah, right. What I did was put us into a "graveyard spiral" - a gradual descent in a shallow bank. It's so shallow that you can't feel it, so you MUST therefore rely on the instruments for the airplane's attitude. I told Long that if the object of this lesson was to scare me into not flying into IFR conditions, it worked.

    We also did some power on and power off stalls, which were no problem. Then as we approached the airport Long cut the throttle and I had to perform an engine-out emergency procedure. This time I blew it. I thought I could land at Monticello, and put down my flaps. That was the wrong thing to do because we were too high. The correct action would have been to establish best glide, and then spiral down to bleed off the altitude. I eventually figured this out, but too late. I tried to spiral with the flaps down and would have landed waaaaaay short. So today I would have been killed, but I learned it for next time.