Will Samurai Husky Solo?

[cnoe]

This thread is a bit like smoking crack; just when I think I've kicked the habit I find myself coming back just one more time. Anyway...

Like Yetti I find the "% power" thing a bit odd. My question is "what % power do you set if you have to extend your downwind leg for traffic?" At some point you have to get a "feel" for establishing a proper glidepath. I (think) flying "by the numbers" is a good thing in our Mooneys but you also have to be able to look out the windshield and determine if you're on track to intercept the runway in a good place. I've never flown a Cirrus but coming in hot and then "basically standing up in my seat with full pressure on the breaks [SIC]" doesn't sound like such a great short-field-landing technique to me.

Back to the original title of the thread... I think our favorite student WILL indeed solo, but if he were in a trainer it would have already happened some time ago.

Keep your chin up!

[gsengle]

Not breaking, braking!!! Break means to destroy, brake means to apply your brakes to slow your vehicle.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Samurai Husky]

To stop the bleeding, i went though my last post and corrected it to brake instead of breaks

As stated before, the power % is just a est of where i need to be to get the speed i need. Sometimes i have it at 25% sometimes at 33% sometimes at 19%; The difference in throw on the throttle between those numbers is literally centimeters. If i have to extend down wind, i put it at about 33% or what ever stalls my decent with out picking up too much speed; We have had plenty of practices of extending downwind out here, probably at least 2-3 per lesson.

But yea, i have stopped looking at the panel almost completely. The only time i look at it now is when i have to hit my speed targets for flaps. The flaps switch isnt stiff at all, in a previous lesson i accidentally went full flaps at 117 and immediately my CFI cut power and pitched the nose way up to bleed off the speed. So im a little paranoid about making sure that im going the right speed for the right level of flaps and that i am carefully moving the flaps switch down.

After that im just glancing down at final to see what my speed is so i can adjust accordingly. 

Other than that, my eyes are outside. When landing, i dont have time to look at the panel all day, i have a plane to land

Edited May 1, 2016 by Samurai Husky

[Samurai Husky]

Today was power off landings (short approach), side slips and no flap landings. 

Power off side slips are crazy; Its like your a helicopter and come almost straight down. 

Landings in general are also improving; I have a much better feeling of being lined up with using a forward slip than crabbing. So in general i was told its ok to use that as long as the cross wind isn't over 20knts (full crosswind, not crosswind component); If the cross wind is over 20knts; then i shouldn't have been flying  but would need to crab if i got stuck. 

Tomorrow will be the official cross wind landing lesson; Everything up til now has just been look and feel rather than knowing exactly what i am doing. Though i guess crabbing is 'look and feel';

Also landed at KPAO all by myself today  on the land-o-meter i got a 7/10; i lost 3 points because i released back pressure again after touchdown so the nose came down harder than it needed to. I really have to fix that. All in all, my CFI is very happy with the progress and got a handshake afterwards. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Samurai Husky

[Hank]

Woo-hooo!! Congratulations! Ain't progress a great thing???

[Samurai Husky]

YEP! its funny because my CFI is starting to get pumped up too. Even after the training he was pouring on the compliments which is really unusual. 

Its amazing how fast things are clicking now; I am far from perfect and probably still far from being independent, but the confidence is building fast. 

BTW, all of you pilots out there that think just because you are at a non towered airport you get to skip on the comms, SHAME ON YOU! We had a old cessna today that only announced he was taking off even after we had announced we were on short final. We ended up having to go around because the dork pulled out in front of us. Then we asked him which way he was turning so we could turn the opposite way and NOTHING. Guy just completely stayed off the comms after that. So we ended up having to climb higher and faster then him just so that he didnt decide to turn into us. 

Whats even more funny, about 30 minutes later we caught up to him outside of KPAO; Tower reported 'unknown' traffic and it was the SAME GUY. ATC called him 3 times to IDENT and he never did. I think he was skimming the area between KPAO and SFO's airspace in route to hayward, but who knows. Seems he was trying awfully hard to stay off the radio.

[Hank]

Yeah, some people are like that. I did pattern work with one right before my solo, the FBO had to warn him of an about-to-solo student. He just did whatever he wanted to, ignoring us. The field had no taxiway, just a single exit 1000' from the approach end of the 3000' strip, and about 100' of grass on that side. 

We landed, back taxied and there he is, landing into us! Next lap, we called and back taxied in the grass, so naturally he also lined up and landed in the grass. On three laps, I think he made two radio calls, while we announced each leg. When the CFI got out, he pulled off and parked. Then it was my time to shine, and Lord did that Cessna climb different all by myself! 

Keep plugging and chugging, and your turn will come, too.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Hank

[Dave Colangelo]

Congrats on getting the landings down, the centerline can be tough, from now on highways are never going to look the same... 

 

There are however a few things that are making me a little uneasy here. 

On 5/1/2016 at 0:14 PM, Samurai Husky said:

As stated before, the power % is just a est of where i need to be to get the speed i need.

While this is understandable (IMO) you should not get in the habit of this and you should fly approaches based largely on airspeed. Eventually you will get your ticket and you will start flying the plane with different load configurations (people, and in your case dogs) this is going to change the flight dynamics in a large way. While its ok to get to know the plane with you and your instructor in it, you should ask him if you can bring a friend or two for a lesson to sit in the back. Fly the plane fully loaded and you will see that your power settings you have been shooting for are out the window now. You should power and pitch for a given airspeed what ever those settings may be and they will vary with loading.

 

On 5/1/2016 at 0:14 PM, Samurai Husky said:

But yea, i have stopped looking at the panel almost completely. The only time i look at it now is when i have to hit my speed targets for flaps.

You should be looking at the panel to confirm your airspeed frequently (not just when you need to add a notch of flaps). Stalling on approach when the plane is dirty and slow is a very common cause of accidents in GA. This is a stall situation where you rarely have enough altitude to recover properly.  

 

13 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

BTW, all of you pilots out there that think just because you are at a non towered airport you get to skip on the comms, SHAME ON YOU!

While I agree with this (and i feel strongly that the regulations should be changed), it should be noted that there is actually no legal requirement to be on the radio at an un-towered field it is done out of common curtsey and the general interest of safety. Very strictly speaking a radio is not even a required instrument for daytime VFR flight (that list will most likely be on one of your license exams). While his moves were dangerous (which potentially puts him in breach of other FAR's) his radio communications were not incorrect strictly speaking, depending on where you ran into him again he may have been doing something wrong when he failed to respond to the hails but again that is a separate issue.    

[Samurai Husky]

Very true about the power setting; I will ask him about that today. I do glance down at speed feq, i guess what i meant to say is that i am not constantly looking at the panel like i used to. I have to hit the 3 different speeds in the pattern. IE <119 for first notch, 90 in base for 2nd notch 75 in final. So thats what I aim for. I think the problem is that students can become interment fixated; where they say 'hey im at 110knts need to be at 100knts for flaps; and just look at the gauge until its reached. In the mean time you just overshot your runway  I guess thats what i was alluding to. 

I didnt mean to say the guy broke and rules; but i figured there is a pilot code of respect at non towered airports. Pulling out onto the runway in front of someone on final seems like it should be a rule. 

 

[MyNameIsNobody]

The guy that took the active runway when you were on final just told you how important he is.  He doesn't need no stinkin' rules.  He is the king.  Just ask him.

Don't be that guy...If you run into him...make sure and leave a mark wherever and whenever that encounter takes place.

I was on golf course last night.  There are signs about 100 yards short of the green with arrows and the word carts...Many seem to think, like turn signals, that these are optional...guidelines if you please.  Not requirements.  These entitled folks are everywhere.  I choose to let them know what I think of them at every opportunity.  I don't seek conflict, but if more would call out the line jumpers and rule-breakers perhaps society would be more civil and the actions would be in the minority instead of pervasive.

Just like on this site...I am REALLY popular.  Or not.

[Dave Colangelo]

21 minutes ago, Samurai Husky said:

Very true about the power setting; I will ask him about that today.

If you are going up today you guys should do some power/pitch/airspeed practice (you can do this in your sim also). Go up and set the power to a fixed point, then adjust the pitch and watch what the airspeed does as well as how fast the plane responds to changes. Also try and pick a target airspeed and mess with the pitch as you adjust the power to maintain the airspeed. This will help you get a solid feel for the pitch, power, airspeed relation and will make your approaches much better (at least it did for me). You guys should also do some approaching stalls at altitude. Basically climb up to a safe altitude then configure your plane like you would for landing, set a "ground" altitude and begin your decent. Get a good sink rate (500 ft/min usually) and then when you approach your "ground" pull the power and pull back for a typical power off stall (much like you would in flair). Watch how much you fall in the process this will give you a good idea of what a stall on approach would feel like as well as just how little room you have to recover.  

[carusoam]

Sam,

I think you may be outlining the differences between individuals...

Some people are really good and well practiced at multi-tasking.  You are on your way there...

Other people may struggle a bit with the high work load that comes with the traffic pattern. They get really lax when they think they are alone in the pattern, or far enough away from other planes.  Other people are often students that have really low time and anything can happen. In really busy, uncontrolled airports it may be common to see somebody pull out and depart with somebody turning final.

Fortunately there is room for everybody.  It directly helps the aviation community to be inclusive.  

You want to continue to improve your skills to be able to handle everything.  Crummy weather, tiny runways and errant Cessna/cirrus/Piper drivers.

take no comfort in pointing out other people's weaknesses.  It won't help you or the other pilot.  There are ways to help the other guy out.  one day, you will find the way that works for you to help other people.  

Your stress is showing.  Stay focussed.  Set your goals. Stay on target and keep sharing.  restating Your experience is helpful for you, and the next guy.

Best regards,

-a-

[Samurai Husky]

stress? the only thing stressed is my bank account

I dont expect people to be good on comms; but you should at least either A. respect the plane on final and wait. B. Announce that you will be taking off prior to the plane entering final. The only thing is maybe he accidentally had his RX volume off and didnt hear any of the calls, but this wasn't a student, this was an older gentleman, so he either didnt check his radio or just didnt care. He was in run up for a good 2 landings (it was me and another student doing a ring around the rosy for landing practice); So i would have thought that he would of thought 'there are planes landing and i dont hear them calling, i should check my radio'; 

The only reason I am even bringing this up, is this is now the 2nd time it's happened at uncontrolled airports. I guess i just hold pilots to higher standards than the average person on the freeway.

We already did some slow flight practice earlier on; Overall I am being told that we are moving into the 'finesse' stage of landings. Meaning i can land safely but not to maybe check ride standards or better. What we are mostly working on now are fine touches (ie better speed control, getting on the center line, flaring at the right height (what to do if i flare high, ie add power, etc.); Everything is serviceable right now, but now we have to make it consistent and fine tune it so that its smooth and i can recover if i make a bad decision along the way.

[TWinter]

It's interesting to hear people talk about difficulty or becoming familiar with uncontrolled airports vs. a controlled field that they are being taught on. Then on the flip side you have some students getting PPL that get apprehensive talking to controlled tower fields. Just depends on what you are familiar and how comfortable you are when you start. Hopefully what to expect at either field eventually becomes second nature..

 

-Tom

[Guest]

19 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

YEP! its funny because my CFI is starting to get pumped up too. Even after the training he was pouring on the compliments which is really unusual. 

Its amazing how fast things are clicking now; I am far from perfect and probably still far from being independent, but the confidence is building fast. 

BTW, all of you pilots out there that think just because you are at a non towered airport you get to skip on the comms, SHAME ON YOU! We had a old cessna today that only announced he was taking off even after we had announced we were on short final. We ended up having to go around because the dork pulled out in front of us. Then we asked him which way he was turning so we could turn the opposite way and NOTHING. Guy just completely stayed off the comms after that. So we ended up having to climb higher and faster then him just so that he didnt decide to turn into us. 

Whats even more funny, about 30 minutes later we caught up to him outside of KPAO; Tower reported 'unknown' traffic and it was the SAME GUY. ATC called him 3 times to IDENT and he never did. I think he was skimming the area between KPAO and SFO's airspace in route to hayward, but who knows. Seems he was trying awfully hard to stay off the radio.

We're assuming that he has radios right?  Perhaps his airplane has none and he is Nordo, it's still legal, even Oshkosh has Nordo procedures.

I does not however excuse departing in front of you.

Clarence

[Hank]

3 hours ago, TWinter said:

Then on the flip side you have some students getting PPL that get apprehensive talking to controlled tower fields. Just depends on what you are familiar and how comfortable you are when you start. Hopefully what to expect at either field eventually becomes second nature..

That was me! I only rarely visit controlled fields, and still have to think about my first call for clearance, whether VFR or IFR. I'm now based at my third non-towered field, and it's been quite a variety. I do miss having a nearby Class D tower to call for whatever I need, including IFR departure when necessary. Other than that first call, towered fields don't bother me. Yeah, I know, CRAFT, but I still gotta walk through what they all are and get it straight in my head.

Learning and living literally on the edge of Class D airspace got me used to talking in the radio pretty quickly, though. It's a good thing, being comfortable talking to pilots, controllers, Center, whoever.

[MyNameIsNobody]

4 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

stress? the only thing stressed is my bank account

I dont expect people to be good on comms; but you should at least either A. respect the plane on final and wait. B. Announce that you will be taking off prior to the plane entering final. The only thing is maybe he accidentally had his RX volume off and didnt hear any of the calls, but this wasn't a student, this was an older gentleman, so he either didnt check his radio or just didnt care. He was in run up for a good 2 landings (it was me and another student doing a ring around the rosy for landing practice); So i would have thought that he would of thought 'there are planes landing and i dont hear them calling, i should check my radio'; 

The only reason I am even bringing this up, is this is now the 2nd time it's happened at uncontrolled airports. I guess i just hold pilots to higher standards than the average person on the freeway.

We already did some slow flight practice earlier on; Overall I am being told that we are moving into the 'finesse' stage of landings. Meaning i can land safely but not to maybe check ride standards or better. What we are mostly working on now are fine touches (ie better speed control, getting on the center line, flaring at the right height (what to do if i flare high, ie add power, etc.); Everything is serviceable right now, but now we have to make it consistent and fine tune it so that its smooth and i can recover if i make a bad decision along the way.

Agree 100%. There really is no excuse for not monitoring and timing your departure.  It has cost people their lives.  Like riding a motorcycle you must always expect the "worst" from other operators.  I have experienced far more courteous and strong communication from fellow pilots than poor self-centered me first behavior.  FYI one of the worst landing I had was on my check-ride.  I think I passed because I rejected his request to make the turn-out.  I could have, but I would have had to lock up the brakes.  I said "unable" and rolled out to next turn-out.  Most of what they are assessing is your decision making and overall competence.  Not looking for perfection...My Private FAA check-ride was with a former WWII P-38 Lightning pilot.  Pretty cool.

[Shadrach]

On May 1, 2016 at 10:15 PM, Bob_Belville said:

SR@: Vs 65 KIAS, Vso 56 KIAS. So 1.2 Vso would be about 67 KIAS and touch down should be less than that. 

At MGW.  With just two pilots and gas, probably 5kts less. 

[Shadrach]

5 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

stress? the only thing stressed is my bank account

I dont expect people to be good on comms; but you should at least either A. respect the plane on final and wait. B. Announce that you will be taking off prior to the plane entering final. The only thing is maybe he accidentally had his RX volume off and didnt hear any of the calls, but this wasn't a student, this was an older gentleman, so he either didnt check his radio or just didnt care. He was in run up for a good 2 landings (it was me and another student doing a ring around the rosy for landing practice); So i would have thought that he would of thought 'there are planes landing and i dont hear them calling, i should check my radio'; 

The only reason I am even bringing this up, is this is now the 2nd time it's happened at uncontrolled airports. I guess i just hold pilots to higher standards than the average person on the freeway.

We already did some slow flight practice earlier on; Overall I am being told that we are moving into the 'finesse' stage of landings. Meaning i can land safely but not to maybe check ride standards or better. What we are mostly working on now are fine touches (ie better speed control, getting on the center line, flaring at the right height (what to do if i flare high, ie add power, etc.); Everything is serviceable right now, but now we have to make it consistent and fine tune it so that its smooth and i can recover if i make a bad decision along the way.

What standard would that be? There is no Reg that requires radio calls or even a radio to be installed in the airplane at uncontrolled fields. Blending with NORDO traffic is something you should feel comfortable with.

Re: speed control - if you are truly over the numbers much less touching down at 80-85kts, your instructor should be on you until you stop doing that. Steering more than a ton of metal and plastic on tiny wheels with your feet is less than optimal in any situation (I'm reminded of a Chris Rock joke, but I digress); its best to do it with as little kinetic energy as possible.  You should always try to touch down as slowly as practicable for the aircraft you're flying...There is no down side. Do you ever hear the stall horn before touch down? 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

stress? the only thing stressed is my bank account

I dont expect people to be good on comms; but you should at least either A. respect the plane on final and wait. B. Announce that you will be taking off prior to the plane entering final. The only thing is maybe he accidentally had his RX volume off and didnt hear any of the calls, but this wasn't a student, this was an older gentleman, so he either didnt check his radio or just didnt care. He was in run up for a good 2 landings (it was me and another student doing a ring around the rosy for landing practice); So i would have thought that he would of thought 'there are planes landing and i dont hear them calling, i should check my radio'; 

The only reason I am even bringing this up, is this is now the 2nd time it's happened at uncontrolled airports. I guess i just hold pilots to higher standards than the average person on the freeway.

We already did some slow flight practice earlier on; Overall I am being told that we are moving into the 'finesse' stage of landings. Meaning i can land safely but not to maybe check ride standards or better. What we are mostly working on now are fine touches (ie better speed control, getting on the center line, flaring at the right height (what to do if i flare high, ie add power, etc.); Everything is serviceable right now, but now we have to make it consistent and fine tune it so that its smooth and i can recover if i make a bad decision along the way.

Just curious, before you are allowed to go solo in the Cirrus will/does the instructor have to train you on the CAPS?

Clarence

[gsengle]

The guy that took the active runway when you were on final just told you how important he is.

Minor peeve

Remember there is never any such thing at an uncontrolled airport as an active runway... Anyone can use any runway at any time, there is no agency there (tower) that declares an "active". When at an uncontrolled airport you don't "take the active", you are never "clear of the active", it's just runway xx.

[Samurai Husky]

Sorry lots to go over today; Before i go over today's lesson,

The guy defiantly had a radio, he called out that he was departing on the runway and that was the only time we ever heard from him. I know he didnt break any rules and that you always have to be prepared to go around, but just because there isnt a rule for it, doesn't mean that its a a good idea not to communicate. I'm over it now, again, I just hold pilots to a higher standard then just a guy on the freeway. Im starting to learn that my adoration is misplaced and that pilots are just sky drivers, including those that fly with their blinkers on

So another block buster lesson; We were in search of cross wind and we couldn't find anything of real value, so instead of ground school i said 'lets do pattern work here!' and so we did. 3 hours of pattern work at palo alto. You might say to yourself 3 hours?! thats a lot of pattern work. Which is true, buutttt, we did EVERYTHING; Plus there was a ton of air traffic. At one time we had 6 students in the pattern plus normal traffic; So i had a ton of practice on slow flight as the SR20 is doing 110kts on the downwind and the cessna's were doing maybe 90knts.  I feel really bad for the ATC guy, he was probably ready to pass out by the end. 

But once people gave up, we had a nice clean pattern to play with and we were able to do power off landings and side slip landings at palo alto. Needless to say, after today, its no longer my white whale. I had 1 gold star landing that was just perfect; 1 i thought was perfect but was another one of those lucky flare onto the runway kisses and a bunch of okay ones which were serviceable. I had a few go arounds on the first few power off landings; One that my instructor said go around, but said we could make it, tried it out and landed like a champ! I had one complete failure of a landing where i did a side slip but came out of the slip late and just was completely misaligned, touched down on one wheel all crooked and correctly called a go around and one perfect side slip landing with out him saying or doing anything. We also did some short field landings, which after the side slip was really no big deal at all. I was a bit nervous because it involved heavy breaking, but somehow i managed.

We are starting to get into a pattern of letting me call the go around, he will let me take it to the edge to see if i will call it; If i dont then he say go around with his hand hovering above the stick just in case. 

Overall the final result was 'we'll see how you do in cross winds, you get through that and we'll try solo'  He also offered to adopt me, i said i was a little old and already taken, but he said if that changes to let him know

I thought i had to do cross country and night flight before solo, but i guess not. He said thats reserved for the last 3rd of training.

He also does ferry flights, I said if the other guy is paying i would be happy to go with. I guess he needs to pick up a DA-40 in new mexico in 2 weeks and the new owner keeps canceling. My CFI said that he doesn't do 800nm solo for ferry flights and always wants a 2nd; So i offered, we'll see if anything comes out of it. I figure its a good experience and basically follows the route i want to take to PHX, so why not  the pups will need to spend a night in doggy day care, but for one night it should be no problem.

 

[MB65E]

Keep it up Sam! That extra time in the seat of another airplane will surly be worth the SWA ticket. 

 -Matt

[carusoam]

First solo is traffic pattern activity.  

No need for night flying or other things like weather or flight plans because you don't go far away and nightfall has been pretty predictable for the last few hundred years.  If the weather craps out, land...

There is some logic to flight training and how long a leash your CFI will give you.  If it doesn't make sense, ask.

If you ask here, think before typing...

use the brakes not the breaks...,

How many things do you need to learn to get the PPL?  100, or 1,000, or 10,000?

Best regards,

-a-

[Samurai Husky]

We are following jeppesen curriculum. So the only things left are cross wind landings, night and x-country. We also need to do all the ground work to get signed off. The club requirement is 2 practice check rides with different instructors before they will endorse for the FAA one. So from the sounds of it, a lot is just on me to insure i can do all of the maneuvers correctly to check ride standards. Whats funny is that all during my early training, we had tons of cross wind, now? nothing.... 4 lessons in a row, little to no cross wind.