Will Samurai Husky Solo?

[Shadrach]

14 hours ago, jclemens said:

I respectfully will have to disagree with your high performance/complex list.  A SR20 doesn't meet the criteria for either, being not over 200 HP with no retractable gear.  a 182 is high performance, but not complex.  Mooney's, depending on which one, are all complex, but only half are high performance.  DA40's are also not high performance or complex. 

This is a matter of practicality vs the regs. The Lancair 200, 235, 320 and 360. Are neither high performance nor complex but will out perform a Bonanza and would not be a good choice for instruction nor would say the glasair 1 & 2. An SR20 might be an easy enough bird for training, but the added speed will take additional time to master and the additional cost will not really yield much in the way of benefit. I think that primary training should be "head on a swivel" learn to fly the plane and keep your eyes outside. An SR20 is les than optimal for this task. It's a decent training machine to train in if you own it and plan to fly it for a few years. Screw renting one. Most ratings require HR of flight time not mileage. An extra 50kts means nothing in a trainer except for more expense.

[Samurai Husky]

4 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

This is a matter of practicality vs the regs. The Lancair 200, 235, 320 and 360. Are neither high performance nor complex but will out perform a Bonanza and would not be a good choice for instruction nor would say the glasair 1 & 2. An SR20 might be an easy enough bird for training, but the added speed will take additional time to master and the additional cost will not really yield much in the way of benefit. I think that primary training should be "head on a swivel" learn to fly the plane and keep your eyes outside. a SR20 is les than optimal for this task.

As the one actually flying the plane; I agree, If someone came on this board asking if they should PPL in a cirrus i would say yes, BUT, do your first 10 hrs in something else. 

This is for the exact reasons you stated; It probably took me about 10hrs to stop looking at the dash the entire time and look outside. Its easy to get caught up in numbers and indicators; Which are important for knowing certain things. Like, did i hit 75 to rotate, am i under 120 for 1 notch of flaps, am i under 100 for the 2nd notch. Etc; I think everything else can be learned by looking out a window. Being new to flying however, you are so afraid of doing something wrong that you cant take your eyes off of the interments. This is especially true when you have to hold altitude; here there are so many 'shelves' that i was afraid i would drift up in the class B or C air space. Now its not a big deal, but i remember when i first started it was a challenge and i was fixated on the altimeter and VSI.

I've learned to glance down at them now; If I  feel somethings not right, glance down, oh, im uncoordinated, more right rudder. Or oh, i have a slight climb or decent going, work the trim a little. 

The plane also has some quirks that might not be present in other planes; For instance, it feels slippy in wind, almost like you are fish tailing on ice. The left stick is very unique and it was a challenge for me to get used to; I had always used yokes with flight simulator and so thought it would be more like that, but its not. Not to found of the breaks either. They are to easy to hit rudder while breaking and so synchronizing your breaking between left and right is a challenge (still working on this as i tend to break harder with my right foot then my left, not good if your on roll out after landing);

But I disagree with the speed comment, I find that i really do not have much of a problem with speed on final. The plane will slow down good with full flaps and just flying level for a few seconds. The fastest I have ever been in base was 107; To fast to go full flaps; So cut the power to 10% fly level for 5 sec get below 100 add flaps and power back to 25%;  If your high then keep power back at 10% and bleed it off until you hit 75,, then power back up and continue on. Its very good at responding to adding power.

So I say the first 10hrs you should get your feet wet in something else, then transition into the SR20; Once you get used to it, its a pretty comfortable plane to fly. 

Granted I have 0 experience in anything else, but these are my observations now vs looking back.

[Yetti]

I did this in training at first, but then reverted to small boat racing which I did growing up.   You are man handling the plane.  Small boat racing going up wind you have 2 fingers on the tiller to see what the wind and water is doing to you.  Nothing has to be done right now in a plane. I think you are still trying to operate the plane like you would a computer. Relax, let it glide in do things in small increments to get if back to where you want it to be.   It's kind of a zen thing

My wife and I have a goal to never show up on the highway sign as missing Seniors.  You should have a goal to not be the guy the tower people talk about....

You should not be doing dual XC before you can land the plane.  What if the CFI has a heart attack or eats fish?

Sounds like you have not done the airwork of slow flight and turns around a point.  That stuff will really help you know the plane to and get your landings. 

Keep having fun.  That is the main point.

[chrisk]

11 minutes ago, Yetti said:

 

You should not be doing dual XC before you can land the plane.  What if the CFI has a heart attack or eats fish?

 

It's a Cirrus.   You just pull the chute!  

Edit:  Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  It's one of those mornings 

[Marauder]

Just now, chrisk said:

It's a Cirrus.   You just pull the chute!  

Edit:  Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  It's one of those mornings 

I wonder if that counts as a solo landing when you pull the chute?

[Dave Colangelo]

8 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

This is especially true when you have to hold altitude; here there are so many 'shelves' that i was afraid i would drift up in the class B or C air space. Now its not a big deal, but i remember when i first started it was a challenge and i was fixated on the altimeter and VSI.

You should be working on Charlie transitions with your instructor as soon as he will let you. Radio work is a very important part of flying and as you mentioned in an earlier post, you turned the radios over to your instructor so you could fly. This is something you will really need to master before your solo and master well. If for anything the radio is a priceless tool for asking for help while your up there alone. If you have not done so yet I would advise learning how to take flight following, enter and exit C/D and if you can B airspaces and how to fly under them when you need to. Have you landed at a C/D airport and had to avoid wake turbulence?

 

On a similar note "drifting" into class B can be a very big deal when you are a student pilot flying solo. Unless you have the proper endorsements student pilots cannot fly in class B airspace. If you think this might be an issue you should talk with your instructor about endorsing you to fly in the class B near you just incase. Technically if you were to enter it with out the endorsement on a solo you would be in breech of a FAR and subject to potential repercussions.

 

Congrats on your solid flying day though. 

 

Dave   

[gsengle]

Part of the beauty of good training aircraft is good balanced stable control feel... Honest. You can feel mush and you can feel speed.

Not a fan of the bungee trim set up in the Cirrus. Tabs are better and I love the completely trimable Mooney tail...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kevinw]

At some point during your training you should at least get a handful of hours in the 172 just so you know what a yoke feels like. I've never flown a Cirrus so I can't speak of it but it would seem strange learning to fly an airplane without ever touching a conventional yoke. In any case, if you're comfortable with the SR20 and your CFI seems to think this is a good path, I'd just go with it for now but you need to learn to fly a more conventional airplane where you can learn basic fundamentals of flight easier and better.

[Samurai Husky]

???

I dont know if i would call 30nm 'XC'; plus there are about 3 airports within 10nm of that airport. IF he had a heart attack i would declare and emergency to approach, state my intentions and let them know to let me through; then find a really big runway to land on. Or get over the runway and pull the shoot, either way works  It's not that i dont know how to land, its just that I am not good at it. I hold my self to very high standards, so if its not as good of a landing as the CFI then it's not a good landing, just 'serviceable'. 

Yea, need to learn how to be lighter on the stick on final. Everything else is fine. Its not slow turns; its just maintain center line on approach. If i'm centered then everything else is like clock work.

@Dave Colangelo

I dont see it being a problem; It was something i had concerns with early on as my control was bad. Today, I have no problems maintain altitude and direction, my control is serviceable, still needs work; but within check ride standards. 

Coms are insanely important out here, but so is learning to fly. So what we have been doing is letting me learn the maneuver, then once i get it down he tells me to do the coms. 

Half Moon Bay is non towered, so after a few landings i had to make the call on the down wind. But on base and fiinal he just wanted me to focus on landing the plane. As time goes on I will pick up more of the com work. I handle 90% of it while we are just in normal flight. So not afraid of it, just there are times when there is too much going on and I need to concentrate. Once things slow down in the cockpit, then i will start taking on the full time com duty.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

22 minutes ago, Samurai Husky said:

I dont see it being a problem; It was something i had concerns with early on as my control was bad. Today, I have no problems maintain altitude and direction, my control is serviceable, still needs work; but within check ride standards.

The warning was more a legal one than a safety one. You can read up on it here but technically you can get in some serious trouble for doing so even accidentally, especially in high traffic areas. You will at some point make it to your check ride at which point its more than likely your DPE will ask you if you have ever broken a FAR... 

Fly safe comes first, fly legal is a close second in the eyes of the FAA. 

If you want some free com training you can stream just about any major tower from liveATC I listen to it at work when I'm bored some times. It can really help to keep you sharp on some of the short hand talk they use as well as what can be expected and what may or may not be unacceptable to some controllers. While you cant talk back per say its a great way to just get used to having some one screaming in your ear for a while. Pick a plane and follow it through out its operations in the area. Learn to listen for a tail number and instructions. Some of it of course will be IFR stuff that may be confusing but its good to know what to separate out and when. 

[Shadrach]

21 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

As the one actually flying the plane; I agree, If someone came on this board asking if they should PPL in a cirrus i would say yes, BUT, do your first 10 hrs in something else. 

This is for the exact reasons you stated; It probably took me about 10hrs to stop looking at the dash the entire time and look outside. Its easy to get caught up in numbers and indicators; Which are important for knowing certain things. Like, did i hit 75 to rotate, am i under 120 for 1 notch of flaps, am i under 100 for the 2nd notch. Etc; I think everything else can be learned by looking out a window. Being new to flying however, you are so afraid of doing something wrong that you cant take your eyes off of the interments. This is especially true when you have to hold altitude; here there are so many 'shelves' that i was afraid i would drift up in the class B or C air space. Now its not a big deal, but i remember when i first started it was a challenge and i was fixated on the altimeter and VSI.

I've learned to glance down at them now; If I  feel somethings not right, glance down, oh, im uncoordinated, more right rudder. Or oh, i have a slight climb or decent going, work the trim a little. 

The plane also has some quirks that might not be present in other planes; For instance, it feels slippy in wind, almost like you are fish tailing on ice. The left stick is very unique and it was a challenge for me to get used to; I had always used yokes with flight simulator and so thought it would be more like that, but its not. Not to found of the breaks either. They are to easy to hit rudder while breaking and so synchronizing your breaking between left and right is a challenge (still working on this as i tend to break harder with my right foot then my left, not good if your on roll out after landing);

But I disagree with the speed comment, I find that i really do not have much of a problem with speed on final. The plane will slow down good with full flaps and just flying level for a few seconds. The fastest I have ever been in base was 107; To fast to go full flaps; So cut the power to 10% fly level for 5 sec get below 100 add flaps and power back to 25%;  If your high then keep power back at 10% and bleed it off until you hit 75,, then power back up and continue on. Its very good at responding to adding power.

So I say the first 10hrs you should get your feet wet in something else, then transition into the SR20; Once you get used to it, its a pretty comfortable plane to fly. 

Granted I have 0 experience in anything else, but these are my observations now vs looking back.

I soloed right around my first 10 hrs. I took my PPL check ride at -41hrs. I'm pretty sure that I'd have taken longer in an SR20.  A lot of valuable lessons can be learned in an old C150.

Make no mistake, soloing is a huge milestone that gives you a huge confidence boost that helps carry you the rest of the way to your PPL. 

[carl]

6 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

a good landing

I still don't make good landings 

carl

[thinwing]

I think what is posing the most challenge is the relative short field at Palo Alto....it's not like 2400 out in the middle of flat ,unpopulated Texas or Kansas...he's basically got to be right on the numbers,pitch,airspeed etc with that Sr. 20....he's never flown a 172 or even 152 with the barn door flaps to correct a beginners glide path!He has a great day after his instructor takes him to Khaf with its wide and long ex ww2 runway designed for bombers!Good for his instructor ,there have been times when we all could use a confidence boost!Either way unless he wants to drive 1  1/2 hour to Byron or Tracy he's stuck in "bend over bay land"...ps ,SH if it makes you feel any better,with over 5000 hours under my belt ,Palo Alto s runway gives me pause,,!

[thinwing]

39 minutes ago, carl said:

I still don't make good landings 

carl

Me neither ...I break out of the overcast at 400 ft but 15 knots fast and come whistling down the runway at 2 ft ago...

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

???

I dont know if i would call 30nm 'XC'; plus there are about 3 airports within 10nm of that airport. IF he had a heart attack i would declare and emergency to approach, state my intentions and let them know to let me through; then find a really big runway to land on. Or get over the runway and pull the shoot, either way works  It's not that i dont know how to land, its just that I am not good at it. I hold my self to very high standards, so if its not as good of a landing as the CFI then it's not a good landing, just 'serviceable'. 

Yea, need to learn how to be lighter on the stick on final. Everything else is fine. Its not slow turns; its just maintain center line on approach. If i'm centered then everything else is like clock work.

@Dave Colangelo

I dont see it being a problem; It was something i had concerns with early on as my control was bad. Today, I have no problems maintain altitude and direction, my control is serviceable, still needs work; but within check ride standards. 

Coms are insanely important out here, but so is learning to fly. So what we have been doing is letting me learn the maneuver, then once i get it down he tells me to do the coms. 

Half Moon Bay is non towered, so after a few landings i had to make the call on the down wind. But on base and fiinal he just wanted me to focus on landing the plane. As time goes on I will pick up more of the com work. I handle 90% of it while we are just in normal flight. So not afraid of it, just there are times when there is too much going on and I need to concentrate. Once things slow down in the cockpit, then i will start taking on the full time com duty.

 

If you can text and drive, you'll be fine flying and talking on the radio.

Clarence

[bradp]

SH. You're an IT guy so I imagine both have a technology interest and there is a better than passing chance you have a decent computer.  If so get a copy of x plane and put either Vatsim or pilot edge on.  They both simulate ATC communications based on the .65 which means about 95% fidelity.  They will make you a better pilot in busy airspace.  

[Samurai Husky]

FINALLY got out of that basement.... Yes, there are time where i actually have to work

 

@thinwing

Thanks! Good to know there is someone else out there that knows my pain! Its not even so much the length of KPAO, but the width only being 75ft instead of these other airports that are 150 or 100ft wide. 25ft can make a big difference; The longer length just allows me to re-set a few times before trying to put it down. KPAO there are no 2nds, you are either on or your not; I give HUGE props to the charter service that flies a King Air out of there. Thats a big plane for such a small runway.

I realize that i need to be able to land there; Its still early, so i have plenty of time to get better. Once i figure out cross wind i think i will get a lot better. 

@M20Doc

You mean i wasnt supposed to be texting while landing? how will my facebook status get updated! Those selfies dont get posted on their own you know  J/k'ing, I'll be fine, just need repetition so it becomes more mussel memory and less thinking.

@bradp

Yup, i have x-plane; but i cant get the yoke to work right. For some reason when i use it, the plane never centers after centering the yoke, it just keeps turning. I have to counter steer to take away the roll; I havent spent much time on it, but i will once i have some free time. Right now flying for real is more fun

Edited April 20, 2016 by Samurai Husky

[Yetti]

don't blame the runway.   My diversion airport on my PPL check ride was this airport.   And you have to do a little jig around a tree on short final.

https://www.airnav.com/airport/06R

[Samurai Husky]

I wasnt blaming the runway at all? I was just saying that at my current level of development its a challenging runway.

Maybe by the time i check ride, a runway like that will seem like SJC seems now.

 

[Yetti]

Midway through training my instructor took me to this one.  The trick here was the big high tension powerlines before dropping it in.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westheimer_Air_Park

 

He said his other student tried three times and handed the controls over to him each time.

[bradp]

SH 

Of course RW flying is more fun.  This whole thread is to help you become an aviator and more competent and comfortable in your flying.  One underutilized tool is your home computer.  I know you don't have too much concern about the hours required for PPL but wouldn't you like to use every tool at your  disposal to be the best pilot you can be given your level of experience. By using either Vatsim pilot edge with the home sim you can start internalizing radio communications to the point where they are second nature and you don't have to think about who you are where you are and what you want.  Most folks on this forum can pick out a student on the radio easily and honestly it is sometimes like nails on a chalk board.  That skill also requires practice and there is no better place to practice than one of two places 1) ^^ online and 2) listening to NorCal / SFO / local tower liveatc.   The other important sim part is you can post fly your last lesson to solidify it and pre fly your next lesson.  It is like free Solo flying  before you can solo. Make mistakes in the the sim and spend your CFI time perfecting and advancing.  Use the sim as your hands on homework... Turn on a  progressively larger  cross wind, and practice landings at Palo Alto. It will help you. It's not perfect and do you have to be mindful of the limitations as not to reinforce bad habits, but it will help you be a more proficient student pilot.

Your yoke is probably not physically centering and the sensitivity is too high with not enough dead zone in x plane.  You can fiddle with it in the calibration page and get it to work.  Buy a rudder control id you don't have one already.  

[Dave Colangelo]

11 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

Yup, i have x-plane; but i cant get the yoke to work right. For some reason when i use it, the plane never centers after centering the yoke, it just keeps turning. I have to counter steer to take away the roll; I havent spent much time on it, but i will once i have some free time. Right now flying for real is more fun

There are 2 issues you may be hitting here. First go into control surface settings and re-zero your yoke. You should not touch the yoke while doing this as it will throw it off. Basically the resting state of the yoke needs to be aligned with the (0,0,0) point in the computers eyes.

Second, depending on which plane you are flying and how you have it set up you may have the yaw damper off or it may not be present. The Cirrus you fly in real life has a yaw damper (that I assume you fly with) so rudder input is not what it is in a traditional plane. The Cirrus also has a slightly offset nose wheel so less right rudder is required on takeoff to counteract P-Factor. If you are flying a 172 or a Cherokee in X-Plane you will need substantial right rudder to keep from turning left.

You may also have some wonky trim inputs. If you have the Saitek yoke I like to assign those little switches to the trim controls (there are 3 of them) this way I can trim off the plane when I get to cruise. You may have accidentally set up some weird aileron/rudder trim situation and now its stuck like that. 

There is also a chance that you have the controls set to super sensitive so that it merely needs to hand a bit to one side under its own weight to induce a lot of roll. I prefer to set the initial take up on control input to a kind of exponential curve this seems to help with some of the flaws of the yoke unit its self. 

 

X-Plane is great for instrument training later on!    

[Samurai Husky]

Everything else centers but roll/ailerons; The rudder pedals work fine. When i am in the calibration screen and i turn the yoke to the left, I see the green bar go left, when it centers, the green bar centers. But for some reason when I am flying the plane, if i do a 30 degree turn then let the yoke center, the plane continues to do a 30 degree turn. I have to turn in the opposite direction to level the plane. This has nothing to do with trim, trim is mapped to a different key on the yoke.

I have actually been flying the 172 in xplane, since everyone keeps recommending it. That and they want $25 for the cirrus add on...

Its not that I am avoiding using the simulator, its just that i literally haven't had time in the last 3 days to use it. (i just got everything on Friday last week);

 

[Dave Colangelo]

36 minutes ago, Samurai Husky said:

Everything else centers but roll/ailerons; The rudder pedals work fine. When i am in the calibration screen and i turn the yoke to the left, I see the green bar go left, when it centers, the green bar centers. But for some reason when I am flying the plane, if i do a 30 degree turn then let the yoke center, the plane continues to do a 30 degree turn. I have to turn in the opposite direction to level the plane. This has nothing to do with trim, trim is mapped to a different key on the yoke.

I have actually been flying the 172 in xplane, since everyone keeps recommending it. That and they want $25 for the cirrus add on...

Its not that I am avoiding using the simulator, its just that i literally haven't had time in the last 3 days to use it. (i just got everything on Friday last week);

 

This is how a 172 actually maneuvers (and how most planes fly for that matter) it is not an issue with X-Plane or your yoke. Once a plane is put into a given bank angle it will stay there until counter control is added to return the plane to level flight or a different bank angle. You can read up on it here but in short the bank angle of  a plane is not always directly related to the control position (i.e. level flight controls will not always yield level flight if the plane is already in a bank. If the aileron deflection angle is held at the control input the plane will continue to roll and eventually attempt an aileron roll although in most planes there is insufficient thrust and control authority to properly do so.  

If you want some interesting points on the Cirrus and have some time this article is worth a read with some big opinions.  

[Samurai Husky]

But isnt centering the yoke considered counter control? Since you are no longer applying left turning force and the ailerons should return to normal position.

In the cirrus i have to hold the stick at X angle in order to continue the turn. If i let go of the stick it will spring back to center and the plane will come out of the roll and get to what ever flight level its trimmed for. 

Your saying in a 172, lets pretend there are no outside forces such as wind, if i turn the yoke into a 20d turn to the left, then center the yoke, it will keep turning 20d to the left until i turn the yoke to the right long enough for it to come out of the roll? That doesnt make a lot of sense, even from a technical standpoint; If i turn 20d to the left, pressure is put on the wires from the yoke to the ailerons. If i center the yoke, those wires should relax and the ailerons should return to normal position allowing the plane to discontinue the roll. 

I will read up on it more, but that doesnt sound right.