Fridays are wonderful for flying. It is the end of
the work week, the beginning of the weekend, and there always seems to be
gorgeous weather. May the 4th was a stormy early morning with a hazy cloudy
afternoon. There was 7-20 mile visibility but I would need to get used to
flying in a haze. The objective of the day was to review the maneuvers I had
been taught many lessons ago to prepare for my stage one test. I will fly with
a different instructor and they will be checking to see if I can demonstrate
control of the aircraft in all of the maneuvers in order to be given the privilege
to practice these maneuvers solo. My instructor and I would be reviewing these
and if I pasted my instructors test I would be granted my stage one check. If I
pass that I begin my solo work in preparation for my final check ride to get my
license. Now, I still have a few other maneuvers as well as doing cross-country
flying prior to my final check ride but I am moving along in the syllabus. I
was eager to get up in the sky and demonstrate my ability to do the required
maneuvers. I had been studying and doing my homework and I wanted to pass my
instructors test to move on to my stage one check. We left the traffic pattern
and headed out for the practice area over the eastern shore. She asked me to
begin with a slow flight and climb to 4,000 feet in slow flight. This required
me to control the plane at almost it's stall speed. I pitched the nose up to
set an airspeed of about 45 knots just almost a stall (during the entire climb
the stall warning horn was going off due to the low airspeed). I added my flaps
to maintain enough lift and I gave the engine enough power to inevitably climb
the required 3,000 feet in slow flight. Once there I leveled off and cleaned up
the plane from slow flight. I was asked to execute a power-off stall. Ok,
throttle back 3,500 rpms, pitch up for a 60 knot glide, add flaps, descend 300
feet, pull throttle back to idle, and pull back on the stick. This is to
represent a stall when coming in to land. I pulled back on that stick until I
was pointed at the ISS. Before you know it the plane starts to bounce and it
drops slightly and the left wing dropped slightly and I calmly leveled the
wings and pitched the nose down simultaneously adding full throttle. Alright
now for the power-on stall representing stalling at take-off. 3,000 rpms, 45
knots, 10 degrees of flaps, add full throttle and pull back. The power-on stall
was not exciting. The plane kind of buffeted but that was about it. I pitched
back down to establish a 60 knot climb and I asked if there was a way to get
the plane to drop more and have a more dramatic stall. My instructor said,
sure, don't slowly ease back on the stick. So I set up for my power-on stall
again except this time I pulled back hard on the stick and shot up towards the
ISS and yep, the plane dropped a bit that time. We then did turning stalls to
add to my experience of controlling the plane during a stall as well as in a
weird maneuver. I needed to demonstrate steep turns next. 80 knots, level
wings, pick a landmark, bank 30 degrees, add 100 rpms of power, enter 45 degree
steep bank and maintain altitude. My first steep turn I lost a lot of altitude
by not pitching the nose up enough prior to entering the steep turn. The second
turn I passed up my landmark (the Bay Bridge off about 15nm in the distance)
but it was still check ride worthy, but my third and final steep turn was
within commercial pilot check ride standards! Now I'm happy and excited and
seeing the payoff of all the studying and homework. All good things must come
to an end. My instructor pulled back the throttle to idle and said I was having
too much fun with the plane and caused the engine to fail what are you going to
do now in this simulated engine failure, she asks me. I pitch for a 60 knot
glide slope, find a suitable emergency landing field near a road or farm,
mayday on 121.5 and set 7700 on my transponder, and attempt engine restart. In
this simulation my engine failed to start so I began to circle my field losing
altitude slowly and I looked at the wind direction on a nearby lake to figure
out at which heading I should be entering the downwind leg for landing on the
field. At about 500 feet I was on final approach for the field would have had
to do a forward slip to make the field but we had to add full power and climb
since I was at the minimum safe altitude. We headed back to the airport and
practiced a few forward slips upon landing since it was fresh on our minds. It
is always awkward approaching the runway with full left rudder and full right
aileron. The plane is basically sideways and facing the runway perpendicularly
and it is descending at a very fast rate, like riding an elevator. The intense
sideways motion of the airplane adds so much drag that it maintains the current
airspeed while losing altitude quickly. We did this three times to make sure I
had it down. What a wonderful day and I was thrilled to have successfully
executed the maneuvers so well and it truly was due to studying and reviewing
homework. I was confidant and ready for my stage one check. It is scheduled for
this coming Monday. I am ready!
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