Lesson 5-6: S turns, turns around a point and a first review of previous lessons

Today I did a review of previous lessons. It is getting easier to remember my maneuvers since I have been memorizing them for homework and getting practice from flying. My radio communications are becoming more natural and I am more comfortable doing things on my own without being prompted by my flight instructor. The afternoon flight lesson was exciting. I was getting very nervous while my flight instructor was talking me through S turns and turning around a point. The S turn is basically performing a sine wave along a straight roadway. The roadway being selected for practicing an S turn should have a perpendicular wind blowing. The S turn is practice for a windy day at an airport to keep the plane equal distance from the runway. When the plane turns into a headwind a shallow turn is executed and when turning into a tail wind a steep turn is executed. The S turns I did along the road went very well. It was exciting to see how well the plane performed in different wind directions and speeds as well as how important it is to look out the window. My instructor then sent me to a field with a large house in the middle of it. I was instructed to apply the same principles of the S turn to turning around a point. We were to loop around a single point and maintain the same distance from the point. It is essential to maintain altitude, airspeed, and distance from the single point. While executing this maneuver my flight instructor and I enjoyed the natural wildlife. There were many snow geese, eagles, and deer. There were also many hunters. I don't think the hunters appreciated my noisy plane circling them from above... Another amazing day of flying over the gorgeous Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Shore. Back to the Bay Bridge and of course, more homework and studying. The homework is truly only reviewing the maneuvers and procedures which will help me through my next couple of lessons. It is easier to fly the plane if I don't have to think about what to do.

Lesson 4: Steep Turns and Emergency Procedures

After an hour lunch break and reviewing emergency procedures with my flight instructor it was time to do a quick preflight of the Sky Arrow and get back up to trim for level flight. Once I was back at cruising altitude, I was introduced to the steep turn. This is where I referenced the positive G's in an early post. The maneuvering procedures for a steep turn require a couple of things to happen. First, a steep turn in a light sport aircraft (LSA) is defined as a bank of 45 degrees. This maneuver requires a 360 degree turn so the most important thing to do before entering into a steep turn is to choose a landmark for entry heading and to remember it for the roll out of the steep turn. This step should never be overlooked. Next, begin to roll to a 45 degree bank but don't forget to add a little extra power (roughly 100rpms) at 30 degrees and then continue to 45 degrees. Now I went over these procedures on the ground as well as in the air with my flight instructor. I even had the opportunity to see a demonstration.....of course my first steep turn was terrible. I did everything correct up until I started to lose altitude. This could lead to a downward spiral and I was told to correct a loss of altitude to simply lessen the bank. My first instinct to loss of altitude was to pull back on the stick. NOPE! Not a good idea. This makes things a bit worse by making the steep downward spiral a tighter turn. After successfully failing to comply with my flight instructor requests to stop yanking back on the stick I was given a demonstration I will never forget. My instructor took the controls and recovered the plane. We then set up for another steep turn and this time....we began to lose altitude. My flight instructor began to pull back on the stick just as I did but with a little bit more back pressure. We did some TIGHT turns and I felt my stomach down in my seat. It was a sinking sensation that was quite unpleasant. The plane was recovered and leveled off. Haha....whew I was glad that was over. I got the point that pulling back on the stick was not the solution to gain altitude. Just less bank angle. And if I gained altitude a little more bank angle. In the end the steep turns I did looked good but more practice will only make them perfect. The emergency procedures were difficult at first. What do you do if your engine fails and goes out? What if your engine catches fire? What if you lose radio communications? Answer: KEEP FLYING THE AIRPLANE! Then follow your emergency procedures. I enjoyed choosing an emergency landing site. Of course when my flight instructor asked where I would like to land I chose a field probably 2 nautical miles away even though the entire practice area consists of farmland. In fact when my simulated engine failure occurred I was flying directly over some beautiful fields perfect to land a plane on. In time I will learn...for now practice practice practice. Back to Bay Bridge airport and debrief from another day of flying. I always leave my flight training feeling good about my lessons and confident to come back continue flying.

Lessons 1-3 : Introduction and Fundamentals of Flight, Slow Flight and Stalls

Today was my first day back in the Sky Arrow. It had been six months since my last flight and I was eager but incredibly nervous. I expected to be rusty (it took a few positive G's from my flight instructor to get me back into the swing of things) but before I knew it I was feeling confident again. My flight instructor took me through the paces of basic aircraft control, radio communications, traffic pattern procedures, turns to heading, compass turning errors, slow flight, and power on/off stalls, dutch rolls, and tuning into Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS). Well, first thing first I needed to preflight the Sky Arrow. Not a problem. As long as I followed the preflight checklist the airplane "should" be safe to operate. After a quick review of taxiing and takeoff procedures (again follow the checklist) I was ready to fly. I pull up to the hold short line and radio call "Bay Bridge traffic, light sport 471 Sierra (S) Alpha (A), taking off runway two (2) niner (9), Bay Bridge". I taxi up to the runway and once on the runway a bunch of procedures that require multi-tasking fall into play. Rudder pedals to keep the aircraft in the center of the runway (a very critical component of a take off) full throttle to gain airspeed necessary to begin rotating (lifting the nose wheel off the ground) a little back pressure on the stick to help with rotation, continue to use rudder pedals to stay on the centerline, more back pressure on the stick around 40-45 kts (nautical miles per hour) begin climb out and the trim for a 65 kt climb exiting the traffic pattern. What a thrill! To feel the nose wheel become lighter and pulling back on the stick and feeling the floating sensation of being off the ground. Once I leveled off my flight instructor asked me to head to our practice area above the Eastern shore above beautiful farmland. It was a strenuous lesson but I was proud of how quickly I felt comfortable at the controls. While flying to the practice area I was asked to turn to specific headings. Now, if I were to follow my compass while in the coordinated turn I would never achieve a correct heading. As the airplane banks, the compass rotates within the aircraft as well as attempting to point toward magnetic north. This causes errors. In order to properly turn to a heading I had to "look out the window" (a phrase that has been drilled into my head) to see where the compass was pointing to, pick a landmark that the compass is pointing at, and then turn the plane to the landmark. Almost every time this procedure will direct me to the correct heading. I practiced some coordinated and uncoordinated turns and slow flight. Slow flight requires the ability to fly the airplane at a low power setting and a very slow airspeed to practice controlling the plane with "sluggish" controls. Power off stalls simulate the maneuvers to recover the airplane from a stall when coming into landing. The engines are at idle and the nose points to the ISS (the International Space Station is referenced every time I intentionally or more often than not unintentionally point the airplanes nose up towards space) and I continue to pull back on the stick until a stall is achieved. The plan drops for a second and I add full throttle and release a little back pressure of the stick and the plane recovers. The power on stalls simulate a stall from take off. The airplane is at full throttle headed to the ISS. I pull back as far as the stick will go until the plane begins to shutter and "bounce" and voila, a power on stall. Ease off the back pressure on the stick and the plane recovers. Ok enough maneuvers, it is time to head back to Bay Bridge and land this plane. The landing was nothing impressive....but no flat tires and I did not end up in a ditch. It was time for lunch and a nice relaxing break with my feet on the ground.

Flight Training Review

It has been almost six months since my first introductory flight with Chesapeake Sport Pilot (the flight school that the STEM Magnet program has teamed up with for my flight training) at Bay Bridge Airport in Stevensville, Maryland. I did two introductory flights covering basic maneuvers and flight controls back in late June of 2011. Now with ample funding and flexible scheduling my training has resumed.

An opportunity of a lifetime

I teach two classes in particular that are related to aviation. The first is called Aerospace Engineering. It is a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) course. The second is called Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Aeronautics. Both classes are offered in the PLTW and STEM Magnet programs at South River High School in Edgewater, Maryland in the Anne Arundel County Public School district. The aeronautics class is a year long ground school to prepare future sport and private pilots for their FAA ground school exam. The aerospace engineering class covers all types of aircraft and forms of aviation; from airplane components to center of pressure of rockets to aerospace composites found on the space shuttle. Like any profession, I needed professional development in order to teach these content specific classes. With a technology education teacher background...I needed quite a bit of professional development. For the STEM Aeronautics class I could have read every book on aviation and flight to prepare me to teach the year long ground school class...but the STEM Magnet program had other plans. The STEM Magnet program offered to fund flight school training for sport pilot certification. I only had to agree to memorizing difficult flight maneuvers, studying and doing homework (even though I am a teacher) into the late hours of the evening, oh ya....and learn how to fly an airplane! Saying yes to the offer was one of the best decisions I have ever made.