| Lesson 12:
Date: Sunday 1/27/2008 Where: UZA Aircraft: Cessna 172 N517DL Instruction: 1.3/.4 hours (air/ground) Dual Instruction with Mike Hulett Ground Reference Maneuvers: OK, so Derek is still in Vegas and I get to cross train with yet another instructor, Mike Hulett. Mike pilots the Gulfstream Jet for Bank of America. What a cool job. If I could pick a job to have, that would be it. So cool. OK, I digress. So Mike is very much like Derek (young, likes to joke, etc). I complete the preflight and Mike joins me in Delta Lima. We taxi out to the runup area for runway 20 and I go down my checklist. While waiting for a DA40 to land I went over the emergency procedures (as directed by Bill the previous day). After making a radio call, I take off. We fly to the practice area and Mike gives me a demonstration of turns around a point, using a railroad track intersection. This is cool. He gives me some great tips about keeping the point in the center of the wing and how to correct when the point moves. The object is to stay the same distance from the point all the way around the 360 degree circle. This maneuver is helpful in showing the pilot how wind affects an airplane in flight. It teaches you turn and bank control, power control and wind control. After making 3 or 4 circles around the point we transitioned to s-turns. Mike gave me demo, again using the railroad track as the turning point. During the s-turns, the airplane is constantly changing bank angle throughout the maneuver. The only time that the wings should pass through level is when the airplane passes over the top of the railroad track. This went very well. I did a few s-turns and we moved to power-on stalls. I did a good job with those. Mike also wanted to do some ‘hood’ work with me. I put on the hood and Mike had me make some heading changes, which I did great at. I had some trouble keeping the heading due to the wind, but staying level and not losing altitude I did great at. It was time to turn back to UZA. As we were heading back we didn’t check the weather, which would have told us the wind direction so that we could decide which runway to use. Instead we looked at steam rising from a local plant and decided on the wind direction using that. We decided we were still using runway 20. I crossed the airport midfield to go out about 3 miles and turn back for the 45. Once on the 45 I made a call, “Rock Hill traffic, Cessna 5-1-7 Delta Lima is on the 45 for runway 2-0 Rock Hill”. At this point both Mike and I see an airplane lined up for takeoff on runway 2. We both then realized that we needed to change course, check the weather and make another call. The weather confirmed that we should be using runway 2. I climbed above 1,500 ft to get out of the traffic pattern which would allow the airplane that was lined up to takeoff. By now we were descending for the downwind leg and I corrected my call, “Rock Hill traffic, Cessna 5-1-7 Delta Lima is downwind for runway 2 Rock Hill”. Also, Mike now decided it was time to do a simulated engine failure. I made a turn towards the airport and called, “Rock Hill traffic, Cessna 5-1-7 Delta Lima is on short final for runway 2, simulated engine failure, Rock Hill”. Mike and I also noticed that there was a stiff crosswind which was blowing us away from the runway. We were so low that I knew we weren’t going to make the runway. Mike agreed and gave us more power and took the controls. Once lined up, power was pulled again, but we were high and had to slip to drop altitude. Mike pretty much did this landing himself. I was just an innocent bystander. Great experience though. Conclusion: Cross training with different instructors is a good thing. Never panic and always announce your intentions. S-turns and turns around a point are fun What I learned: Remember to adjust bank angle when performing s-turns and turns around a point to adjust for wind. Crosswind landings can be tricky, even for seasoned pilots. Always check the weather at an airport before attempting to land. Can I please do some more landings!! |