Aircraft: C172 4653G
Weather: 90 degrees, wind 070@5, beautiful as usual
So today was great! Dan emailed me a couple days ago and said that there would be no wind today, so instead of doing our lesson on ground reference maneuvers, we would do some pattern work, and learn how to land. AWESOME. I love to land! It is so much fun taking off and landing, taking off and landing! Total I landed 7 times, with help from Dan. Mostly he kept pushing the nose down and telling me to aim at the numbers. (for the non-fliers, each runway is marked with numbers. For example, the runway we were landing and departing from was 4L. That means it's heading, magnetic I believe, is 040, which is NE.) Basically when you are landing you are supposed to be on a 3 degree glideslope, and you want to touch down within the first third of the runway. On final you keep the airspeed at about 55-65 knots with the flaps down, and at about 20 feet off the runway pull the power to idle. At 10 feet off the runway start the flare (holding back on the controls to keep the nose up) and at 3 feet try and prevent the airplane from landing by pulling back to the stops. You have to do this all while maintaining heading w/ the rudder. A lot of the problems that I had were rudder related. I would come down, and flare correctly but then I would just stop flying the airplane and let it drift off center, or it would just SMACK into the runway, which is not good. Dan kept saying I was doing a good job, but I don't see it. These were my first few landing so I'm not too worried about sucking at it only a few hours in, but Dan is talking about soloing me. I'm pretty certain I could do it, but I definitely need more practice.
Here is the full procedure from takeoff to landing, just in case you are interested, and also for me to write down and make sure I know it.
Takeoff is easy, just keep the aircraft centered down the runway and apply full power. Watch the gauges to make sure oil pressure/temp is ok and keep right rudder in because of the strong left turning tendencies of the plane. At 55 knots lift the nose off the ground and climb out. When the wheels leave the ground the left turning tendency increases so you have to increase right rudder. About 500 feet AGL (above ground level) start the crosswind turn. Left aileron, left rudder. By this time you are probably at pattern altitude so reduce power slightly and start turning downwind. Again left aileron, left rudder. On downwind slow the aircraft by pulling power to 2100 RPM, carb heat on, 1 notch of flaps. (all at the same time) At this point you have a few seconds to complete the before landing checklist. I did it 7 times so lets see if I can remember it off the top of my head.... Seat upright, seat belts on, Altimeter check, Heading indicator check, Mixture rich, fuel selector on both, make sure carb heat is on.... Yep I got it. Sweet. So you are cruising along on downwind, listening to ATC for landing clearance, or whatever else they want to tell you (today was crazy, but that is another story), looking for traffic, and waiting to come up abeem the numbers. This means you are directly across the edge of the runway you will be landing on. At this point, start a 500fpm descent, power to 1700 RPM, and another notch of flaps. Once at a 45 degree angle to the landing runway, start the turn to base, and keep the descent at 500 fpm. When you come up on the runway start the turn to final and throw in a nother notch of flaps. On final set up the airspeed to be 55-65 knots and aim at the numbers. That's pretty much it. I went over the actual landing in the previous paragraph so I won't go over that again. Oh, and for a touch and go, which is what we were doing... after landing and you are stabilized going down the runway, flaps up, carb heat off, full power... do it all again. FUN FUN!
I mentioned the controller up a little bit. I don't want to pass too much judgement because I am new to this game too, but the controller we were dealing with in the air had to be a newb. He was getting all stressed out, called my base turn way to early, cancelled our landing clearance a couple times... Craziness. I mean I guess that's what I'm going to be dealing with in the "real world" but I was just trying to land and this dude was throwing all kinds of stuff at me. Like I said, it is probably good because I learned a lot, but Dan was getting annoyed. He said if the controller gives an instruction that you cannot follow, you are the PIC. You are the one responsible for the safety of the flight. So if they tell you to do a touch and go, and you can't make it happen, too bad!
Anyway, it was a great flight. Next time we go up I think we are going to be working on rudder control in the practice area. Dan said to bring a puke bag because he has some fun exercises to teach me control, but I should be ok. Looks like I need to get going on my medical. I need to have a 3rd class medical in order to solo, and Dan is harping on that, so I guess I should go out and get it. I think that is going to cost another 90 bucks, so I have to figure out how to work that in. I'll figure it out. I can't wait to get up again. That's the thing I hate about learning to fly... you have to come back down. 1 hour just isn't long enough.
Oh, I almost forgot to remind you.. click on my adds! I could really use the clicks. They were going good for a while, and it seems that.. unless I ask, people don't click. Honestly I wouldn't either unless someone asked because I hate adds. But to help an aspiring pilot.. I would click away!!!!!
Today's flight: 1.1 hrs
Total time: 12.1 hrs
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