First Flight

[Samurai Husky]

I think he beats me to PPL; There are just so many hurdles to go through at my club that its getting to the point of hilarity. I haven't flown in about 2 weeks now because the plane has been down for maintenance again and the other one was booked out a month in advanced. Unless work starts letting me fly during the day (which they wont); Then i will have many more days of sitting around looking up at the blue sky from my window. 

It seems you have the same problem i have with right steep turns. I haven't figured it out yet either so i cant really give any advice. As for landing. Just keep the plane on the center line and it really dosen't madder how big the runway is. From my point of view, I am sitting on the center line. Not the plane but my butt is on the center line. Because of the angle it just works out that the plane is on the center line from that view out the window. It helped a lot with crabbing and landing etc because if you are on the center line throughout approach you have time to keep speed and pitch right. If you are constantly fighting the center line, then you start missing out on your angle, when you add power or when to remove power etc and you end up fast or slow or low or high etc.

[Hank]

Skates, in my experience, most GA runways seem to be either 50' or 75' wide. The one I learned on was 3001 x 75' with trees at both ends and not taxiway. I practiced landing in the next county where it was 5000 x 75 with open approaches at one end until the CFI thought I was ready to try it at home.

But when I visit Mom & Dad, the runway is only 2770 x 30', and my Mooney's wingspan is 36'. It got my attention the first couple of times; now I go in at night without a problem. I was based at a 5000 100' field for a year and a half, and would practice somewhere short from time to time; now I've moved to a field 3200 x 75 with a parallel taxiway, so I'm only a little spoiled now.

[Skates97]

3 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

I think he beats me to PPL; There are just so many hurdles to go through at my club that its getting to the point of hilarity. I haven't flown in about 2 weeks now because the plane has been down for maintenance again and the other one was booked out a month in advanced. Unless work starts letting me fly during the day (which they wont); Then i will have many more days of sitting around looking up at the blue sky from my window. 

It seems you have the same problem i have with right steep turns. I haven't figured it out yet either so i cant really give any advice. As for landing. Just keep the plane on the center line and it really dosen't madder how big the runway is. From my point of view, I am sitting on the center line. Not the plane but my butt is on the center line. Because of the angle it just works out that the plane is on the center line from that view out the window. It helped a lot with crabbing and landing etc because if you are on the center line throughout approach you have time to keep speed and pitch right. If you are constantly fighting the center line, then you start missing out on your angle, when you add power or when to remove power etc and you end up fast or slow or low or high etc.

We'll see, like I said in an earlier post I think I have an advantage in the availability of aircraft and VFR days. They have 4 Cherokee 140's and a 180 so I haven't run into any problems yet getting a plane. I have only been flying once a week but am going to start working in a late weekday afternoon flight as well as my Saturdays starting next week. My CFI still has a student at a different airport he was teaching and once he finishes up with that student he is going to be available on Sundays so then I will be able to get in my 2x a week without problems.

3 hours ago, Hank said:

Skates, in my experience, most GA runways seem to be either 50' or 75' wide. The one I learned on was 3001 x 75' with trees at both ends and not taxiway. I practiced landing in the next county where it was 5000 x 75 with open approaches at one end until the CFI thought I was ready to try it at home.

But when I visit Mom & Dad, the runway is only 2770 x 30', and my Mooney's wingspan is 36'. It got my attention the first couple of times; now I go in at night without a problem. I was based at a 5000 100' field for a year and a half, and would practice somewhere short from time to time; now I've moved to a field 3200 x 75 with a parallel taxiway, so I'm only a little spoiled now.

I think your phrase "got my attention" describes my experience landing on the narrower runways. I didn't have a problem lining up, it was just the initial impression of how much narrower it was, and not really sure that I was ready for it. But, it all worked out just fine.  It will be quite some time before I would think about a 30' wide runway. The 100' didn't feel much different than the 150', it was the 60' and 50' that were a huge step down. All in due time.

[Hank]

One step at a time!

But my main gear are only about 6' wide, so even that 30' runway gives me 12' to either side. I hope I'm not often more than 12' off center!

Edited June 13, 2016 by Hank