Will Samurai Husky pass his checkride?

[Dave Colangelo]

4 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

Ok; I am always coordinated, so i dont think i would have entered a spin; there was also no buffeting which i am normally used to feeling. Either way without thinking i acted appropriately, released pressure on the stick to drop the nose, left rudder (opposite) wings level, full power, pull up to level. It wasnt super smooth, but the steps were right. 

There is a nice quote you can find here that they took from the airplane flying handbook.

"An airplane will stall during a coordinated steep turn exactly as it does from straight flight, except that the pitching and rolling actions tend to be more sudden. "

 

But it sounds like you took the correct path of action so its all good, solid learning experience if anything!

[Yetti]

19 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

I tried going around several times the last time i went out; Except about half way though the second turn the wing dropped and for some reason i thought i was entering a spin; I asked my instructor and I was doing 105knts when i looked down. He said i wasnt stalled and so wasnt entering a spin; He didnt have an explanation on why the wing dropped. What ever it was, it freaked me out.

You may have hit your wake.  Remember the wake will sink. Need to figure out what speed to do this at.  Say 110. set by a certain RPM.   Set that fly straight for awhile, clearing turns, establish straight and level.  Make sure you are at your set speed on reference point.  In the mooney to turn left you actually let up on the right pedal since you hold a little P factor. gently bank to 45.   as the plane takes a set about 1/4 way through the turn pull back just a bit and add just a bit of throttle. Hold altitude with a tad more back pressure.  Watch for your reference point start rolling out about 20 degrees prior.  If you have a lot of wind, it may be helpful to start heading up wind.  The wind will help turn the plane when you expose a wing to it.

[Samurai Husky]

Everything i read says you (the plane or the wing) needs to be stalled and the plan needs to be uncoordinated. A wing can stall and drop, but from what i understand it will not inherently enter a spin unless you are uncoordinated. The plane doesnt want to stall, its the pilot that makes it stall. 

There was a good video online about turning stalls for the check ride. 

 

[Samurai Husky]

Separate post for the original topic. So i went out today and boy, trim is everything. I think that pretty much solved all my right turn problems. I didn't figure out the exact trim level because it was windy and required constant adjustment depending if i was with the wind or into the wind, but i was easily able to keep it +/-50ft. Once or twice i scraped the lower boundary for 100ft, but recovered before the end of the turn. With not having to chase and focus on how hard i was pulling, i was able to react quicker and more accurately to the changes. For instance, i started one turn at 65% power at 120knts. Well that quickly dropped down to 115knts and was going lower. Because i wasn't chasing my altitude i was able to add in some power get that speed back up and keep turning with out dropping down to bad. 

On a few of the turns i even for got to roll out and ended up running into my own wake. Good thing you guys told me about that because each time i hit it I was like 'what was that... oh yea'

I still cant use the horizon as a guide, even when i was out in the central valley it was just too inaccurate for me. But scanning my speed, my angle and my altitude (not my VSI, because that it too laggy) i was able to keep a lot of it in check. Early on the wind was only like 8knts, but when i got out to the tracy area it spiked up to 23knts, but consistent, so it was not choppy at all (except over the hills); 

I think the bonus of the day was my landing back at the airport. When i left the winds were only 33012 for runway 31. by the time i came back they were 30017 on the ground, On final my wind speed indicator said 30024; While it wasnt a perfect landing by any means, high wind has always given me issues. Today not so much; 

I had it on the center line and used a combination of crabbing and some slipping, idk why but that just come more natural. Entered level flight a little high and had about 10% power on, then lowered it to 5%, plane floated a little and then came down nice and easy on its own and basically did a soft field landing. Pulled the power and the yoke back and coasted. The only problem i had with the landing is that after touch down i started to get pushed right and was about 10ft off the center line before i realized i was still trying to use rudder to steer and not brakes. Started to use brakes and was able to regain the center line and actually stop the plane (i also wasn't slowing down fast enough ) 

All in all I think it was a really good day!. 

[carusoam]

Castering nose wheel?

That can be tricky on a windy day.

i hear real airplane's have steerable nose wheels.  Could be a rumor....

Best regards,

-a-

[Samurai Husky]

having a steerable nose wheel would have saved me about 3 hours of hobbs time

 

[Pictreed]

On June 26, 2016 at 11:00 PM, Samurai Husky said:

He didnt have an explanation on why the wing dropped. What ever it was, it freaked me out.

 

It happens sometimes.  We were doing hood work on an approach in a 172 and an updraft so strong lifted the right wing and it felt like all the aileron input I could give wasn't enough.   Then it just went away.  Now I just accept it the turbulence but it was disconcerting. 

 

[Yetti]

If you put in full defection with the airlons that should keep you from getting pushed around.  so if you are holding a bit left or right coming in, then go full once you are on the ground.

[Samurai Husky]

4 hours ago, Yetti said:

If you put in full defection with the airlons that should keep you from getting pushed around.  so if you are holding a bit left or right coming in, then go full once you are on the ground.

yea, i think that was my  mistake; the wind was coming from the left/center; which is unusual, normally its always coming from the right. So i didnt have my left wing down which explains the ending up right of the center line. 

[Samurai Husky]

Well, just flew in from my cross country and boy are my arms tired.... 

But in all seriousness, things went rather well, my stories are pretty uneventful but i will share anyway. 

First leg was to los banos. I decided to go though SJC airspace. So on take off they handed me right to nor cal they cleared be through moffet and san jose. At one point they had me level off at 3500 then handed me off to the next guy that cleared me to my 5500.... In all honestly, very uneventful. I thought it was going to be crazy like when we go to KRHV and you are talking to moffet tower, then SJC tower,crossing mid field then switching to KRHV, but nope. 

I went farther along and they told me to go higher, so instead of 5500 i ended up at 6500. At one point they asked if i was going to turn, because at that alt normally people just cut right over the mountains, i said 'nope, im a student and they want me to follow the valley road' he laughed and said he understood. 

Landed in Los Banos with no problems at all, its a narrower runway than PA, but longer. I took that oppertunity and left the power on a little longer and flew it to the ground nice and easy. Would have been perfect if the runway wasnt all chewed up like a east coast highway. I thought i landed funny but nope...

Took off again headed for SAC, the temp wasnt oppressive.... yet..... Climbed up to my 7500 and thought, man its still toasty, sure enough OAT was still in the upper 20's C. But i said i was going to 7500, so there i stayed. 

Got to SAC and boy is that a interesting airport. 3 runways in a tee-pee type pattern. Called in expecting runway 32 because of winds being 300@5, but they considered that 'light' and said go to left pattern 20. 20 is huge..... Made my landing and started to taxi to transient. 

Let me say this,. The ksac guy was SUPER NICE. He was doing both tower and ground. I said i was new to the area and he gave me full taxi instructions. Some other guy landed and he congratulated him on his solo (no call signs just very casual); I jumped in and said i was on my solo XC, he congratulated me on that. Though here is the fun part:

"Congratulations you two on your firsts, but why would you choose a day when its 110 on the ramp!"

other pilot "got to want it"

Me "im just here for my $1000 hamburger"

tower "uh, bad news, I think the restaurant closed at 3"

me "Whatttttt? ohhhh nooooooo"

Tower "let me check" few minutes later "yea, thats going to be more than a $1000 hamburger, they are closed, you can still tie down and park if you want"

Me "yea, its like 120 in here, i need to cool off" 

So I tie down and went into the terminal. Pulled out my phone and see that there is a burger king about 1/2mile away. I said screw it im getting my burger. So i walk to the burger king in 110F sweating bullets, got my burger, fries and shake and walked back. 

Get the plane all set to go and its the same guy on the radio. 

Tower "Cirrus 490CD clear to taxi to runway 20, also cleared through the intersection in route. Sorry about the hamburger'

Me "Forget that, I got my hamburger, i just had to walk a mile to get it!"

Tower "lol, If i known that, you could have borrowed my suburban!"

Me "NOW YOU TELL ME! you guys need to up date the airport director 'hamburger transportation available, contact tower'

Tower "hahaha, but you need to leave your plane keys with me'

Me 'ok, its not my plane anyway'

Was basically how it went on my taxi to the runway. On leaving i thanked him for the hospitality, he said to come back soon. Overall cant say enough on how nice it was there. KPAO is so busy its like a international airport. Very text book, be on your game type of place. This was so laid back it was refreshing. 

now the second part is a good lesson in density altitude. On leaving the temp was 42C; This thing took off like i had a load of bricks in the back. It was then i noticed that my #4 CHT was getting hot. So i leveled out a little bit. Still hot, like 430 hot. I increased speed until it was down to 400 then started to climb again. I was about 4 miles from the airport and still only at 900ft. I called norcal said i was going up to 6500. But the CHT just stayed hot, so i would back off the climb again. I had to maintain about 130kph to keep the temps from climbing. 

At 4000ft the OAT was still 37C, but at least the CHT started to back down; At 6500 it was down to 370 and all was good. Temps continued to drop the closer i got to the bay area. When i landed it was 21C and it felt like a winter storm to me when i opened the door.

I managed to botch my first landing at kpao. Winds were 33015; Overall i think part of the problem is that i am not flaring to a steep enough angle, which causes these bounces. 2nd time was better, was still flat still got a little bounce going, so i just pulled back on the yoke and it stopped and came down normal. So i think thats the problem. 

Overall i think it was a good day. Now for the bad news..... Because my plane was overheating, i ended up finishing the last leg well ahead of schedule.... So I have to do another XC to finish it off. Which is a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. I was told to go to Salinas this time, which is only 51nm away and a pretty flight along the ocean. 

As always, Obligatory pictures; i dont have any good ones from early on; It was just so hot and hazy you couldnt really see anything. So these are the keepers

 

 

[Andy95W]

Good stories!  Welcome to aviation and the pleasure of dealing with some of the best people around.

Uneventful is good.  The goal of nearly everything we do is to have an uneventful flight.

[rbridges]

I haven't flown in the last week or so because it's been so hot.  Good for you for doing it!  I love the pics in your area.  Definitely more scenic than middle Georgia.  Of course, being flat has it's advantages; no CFIT into mountains.  lol

[Samurai Husky]

3 hours ago, rbridges said:

I haven't flown in the last week or so because it's been so hot.  Good for you for doing it!  I love the pics in your area.  Definitely more scenic than middle Georgia.  Of course, being flat has it's advantages; no CFIT into mountains.  lol

ha, I imagine the central valley is pretty similar to that of middle Nebraska. So it really wasnt all that scenic. Those pictures were just the highlights. It seemed once i got to altitude i was coming back down and starting my landing procedures. Our mountains are small, I think the largest peak in all of the bay area is 4400ft. Otherwise they are down around 2200-3500. If you want to see snow, you need to go to Tahoe or Mt. Shasta (which is 1 giant mountain surrounded by flat-ish land, kinda like a small Mt Fuji). So in general you are flying at reasonable heights. 

I was debating which way i should fly today. I think going down i will just go direct since the ocean will be on the left side. Might come back Via VOR along the ocean so i can grab some good pics with the sun hanging low. 

 

[chrisk]

You might want to take the opportunity with your CFI to  review your procedures on dealing with a hot engine.   Reducing climb like you did is a good way.  Mixture, Cowl Flaps, and power reductions are other tricks in the bag. --Does a Cirrus have cowl flaps and mixture control?

[bonal]

Your almost there Sam, local flights can be done without much climb but to leave the state in most directions flying an airplane with modest climb you need to start climbing as soon as possible to assure that you have the altitude needed once you have the granite clouds getting close. A while back Hank put the challenge of time to climb and it was a fun test but also gave me some real numbers to work with in terms of time but more importantly distance to altitude 

[Hank]

3 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

ha, I imagine the central valley is pretty similar to that of middle Nebraska. So it really wasnt all that scenic. . . .Our mountains are small, I think the largest peak in all of the bay area is 4400ft. Otherwise they are down around 2200-3500. If you want to see snow, you need to . . .

 

The highest point is the State of Alabama is Mt. Cheaha, a whopping 2411 msl. Mobile Bay is, of course, on the Gulf of Mexico. My home field is 326 msl.

If we want to see snow, we just wait--every few years, we usually get a half-inch or so.    You don't know how happy I am to be back down South!!

[Skates97]

Sam,

Great story, thanks for sharing!

Hank, I've been in the snow there in AL. I was living in the thriving metropolis of Sylacauga, AL back in 1993 when that blizzard came through. Crazy stuff.

[Hank]

2 hours ago, Skates97 said:

Sam,

Great story, thanks for sharing!

Hank, I've been in the snow there in AL. I was living in the thriving metropolis of Sylacauga, AL back in 1993 when that blizzard came through. Crazy stuff.

I was in Dalton, GA, up near Chattanooga that year. Had 22" . . . I-75 was closed from Atlanta to Knoxville. That was billed as "the storm of the century."

It's all what you're used to. I'm getting used to,nothing again, my blood thinned back out in just a couple of months.

But Husky did get some nice photos!

[Samurai Husky]

6 hours ago, chrisk said:

You might want to take the opportunity with your CFI to  review your procedures on dealing with a hot engine.   Reducing climb like you did is a good way.  Mixture, Cowl Flaps, and power reductions are other tricks in the bag. --Does a Cirrus have cowl flaps and mixture control?

Truns out there is a squawk on the plane for that CH; So it wasnt the only one running into the issue. No on the cowl flaps; yes on mixture. I had already put it to full rich. Power reductions are actually discouraged as you want maximum air flow through the engine. So maintain alt and accelerate is what i was told. My CFI said i did the right thing, just that if it went any higher i should have turned around and headed back. 

 

[gsengle]

An SR20 has cowl flaps? :-o

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Samurai Husky]

New post after follow ups. 

Next Chapter of "As the Husky fly's" FINAL XC to KSNS

So today is what i would call a day of 'almosts'

 

The first one. I almost didnt go. My plane was booked, my CFI was booked. Everything looked like a no go. But late last night someone cancelled on the other Cirrus and opened a window of oppertunity. I sent my CFI a email and even through he was 100% booked, said he would give me 15 minutes and review my flight plan.

 

Everything checked out and i was 'released' but then....... winds were 35015 way above my sign off for XW, but it was still early and i know that the winds start to change the later it gets. After about 40 mins i called the ATIS and they said 32015. So good to go, but i was a little nervous the whole trip about 'what ifs' Just in case i looked at Livermore and SJC and both were reporting winds well within my tolerances and figured if i couldnt make it at KPAO i could divert there and wait until past 7 when the wind is supposed to die down a lot. 

Literally as i was zooming down the runway they updated the winds to 33017..... crud..... at this point i figured it would be better to go and come back later when the winds had a chance to realign, no use in trying to force the plane back down. 

 

Took off and the flight to KSNS was pretty uneventful. about 1000ft up they were exactly what i had on my flight plan 27008. When i got to Watsonville things changed,and there was a finger of clouds blocking my path to the airport; I couldn't even see the airport. 

Turns out, i almost missed it because It was closer and farther left than i thought. But there were still clouds. 

i turned west to get around the finger and by the time i got there i could see through them, so not what me and my CFI considered to be clouds. 

 

I was already in contact with the tower and he said to report mid field for runway 26. Well because of the clouds i was all turned around and still high. By the time i identified where 26 was, i was less than 1 mile from the numbers and no where near mid field. So i immediately turned down wind. I could have flown over the field and made left traffic like the actual airport directory says to do, but the Tower explicitly said to make right traffic.... sooo., i did.

Tower saw me and just said 'turn for the numbers and make in, clear to land 26' knowing that not only had i failed to report, but also that i was dang close to the runway.

 

So i kept flying out until i thought i was far enough out to make a tear drop since i ended up to close to the runway. I was still bleeding off speed and the winds were causing things to be very bumpy, 27015g17; so i was bouncing around on my turn, trying to kill speed and Alt, trying to get flaps in, making sure i was coordinated, making sure i wasn't slow.... basically making sure i didn't end up like that girl from Houston because with the wind, all my instruments were all over the place. 

About 1.5miles out and 800ft everything calmed down and i was fine. Landing was uneventful, thank god the runway is 150ftx5000ft and i could float longer and leave some power on for the wind correction.

 

Tower asked intentions, i said taxi back for return to Palo Alto with flight following, he said ok and didnt make me talk with ground. Or at least didn't tell me to. He said taxi via Golf Charlie as i was still on the runway.

I think he expected me to take off before crossing 31, but i stopped asked for permission to cross 31, but forgot to say where i was. I just said 'holding short of 31 permission to cross'; He just said '2 papa golf holding short of runway 31 at charlie clear to cross'; So oops for got the at charlie. 

Taxi back and took off after getting my squawk code and watching someone else land.

 

This is the part of the trip i wish i could take back. On leaving i ran into those same clouds, but they were broken. I ended up going between the clouds that might have been a little closer than i should have. But i dont have a tape measure so i cant be sure. I should have kept turning west and staying below 800ft until i was sure, but for some reason i thought i would be above them before i got there. They were only 50ft thick, so really thin. Either way should have played it safer there. 

Got norcal on 133.0 on the way out; He was not a very nice person. 

I missed a call twice, because there was someone else he was talking to going to palo alto with 'golf' as the last digit. He asked 'are you following shoreline to palo alto' Well i thought he was talking to the other guy about shoreline amphitheater which is a VFR marker to KPAO. Turns out he was talking to me about actually following the coast.... 

I asked if the call was for 532pg and he said 'thats you right?' 'i said yes, repeat the last call' and answered him. 

Well at this point between the winds leaving palo alto, the winds at SNS, the clouds the missed calls etc. I figure i should do less damage an just head straight back via Lexington reservoir. I orignally planned to follow the coast farther and take pictures, but things were just not going right the whole trip and decided not to force things.

So thats what i did. Once handed off to norcal on 120.1 i had another guy that was mean. 

 

Coming off the hill line i was told to stay at or above 4500 which i was already at 4500. Then he said no and meant the other guy. 

Then I got another call this one for sure me, that said at or below 4500; So said ok an stated to descend. Then he said what are you doing i said at or above 4500. 

I finally just said 'THIS IS 5-3-2 Pappa Golf AT 4 thousand 5 hundred. 

Well the traffic ended up passing 1400ft below me, so i got the next call '2PG talk to moffet' said the numbers really fast and didnt say the first '1' just 19.5 then ignored me when i read back the frequencies wrong (because i wasn't expecting to talk with moffet)'

Broke out my map found the frequency 119.55 (so not only did he not say the 1 but also the other 5); 

Got Moffet who was busy but actually really nice. There were a bunch of people coming in at once. First he told me to slow down for a Cessna and that i had 50knts on it.... I was like ooook so i started to slow down, got 1 notch of flaps in and pulled some power, but that didnt really help because i was at 4500 longer than i wanted to be because of norcal. 

Then he just said, stay east of 83 you can fly over the field. 

Excellent. So i continue my decent which i had to 'rush' because now i am over moffet field at 2000ft; 5 miles from KPAO's 31 and TPM of 800ft.

after about 10 sec he said to talk with Palo Alto; (thank god);

Call Palo Alto, and simple 'make straight in for 31, number 2 behind Cessna on final'

Then some how the plane gods aligned and some how i nailed the entire approach. 

Was 100knts and 800ft over the amphitheater, 500ft 80knts at the chevron markers where we normally turn final for right traffic patterns, 0 wind it was great. 

 

But as soon as i passed 200ft alt Wham, wind. 33015. I was like great.... But something i should handle. 

Left a little power on and unfortunately didn't have my right wing down enough. I caught a guest in the flare that lifted the wing and i touched down on my left wheel first. I immediately knew i didn't have the wing down and corrected, the plane eventually out and while i was left of the center line by about 10ft, i was able to regain control and slow it down. Though i was a little worried there for a second, so another 'almost'

 

Overall, not overly happy with this trip, but I guess not all flights are going to go quite as planned. 

I didnt get very good pictures because i was either busy dealing with norcal or figuring out clouds; so i only had time on the way out to take some pictures. 

Picture 1 Leaving San Jose - In the lower left you can see the new Apple HQ being built. 

Picture 2 Those Damn Clouds; You can see the finger of clouds dead ahead, they are basically pointing at the airport that i almost missed; The airport was VFR skys clear..

Picture 3 - Pretty?

Picture 4 - getting out of dodge before i break something.

 

 

[Hank]

And the education begins!

things don't always go according to plan, and weather happens. Sounds like you dealt with it, no damage to the plane, and your ego will recover. Good job, good day learning.

[Skates97]

I love the write up and hearing about your adventures. Hopefully will be on to my own XC solo adventures in the next month or so. Great pictures! Keep on keeping on...

[chrisk]

17 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

Truns out there is a squawk on the plane for that CH; So it wasnt the only one running into the issue. No on the cowl flaps; yes on mixture. I had already put it to full rich. Power reductions are actually discouraged as you want maximum air flow through the engine. So maintain alt and accelerate is what i was told. My CFI said i did the right thing, just that if it went any higher i should have turned around and headed back. 

 

A direct quote from Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, published by the FAA: "Under normal operating conditions in aircraft not equipped with cowl flaps, the engine temperature can be controlled by changing the airspeed or the power output of the engine. High engine temperatures can be decreased by increasing the airspeed and/or reducing the power." 

 

--Maybe the Cirrus is different, but for many planes, reducing the power can have a dramatic effect on the engine temperature.   Going from 100% power to 65% can make a huge difference in temperature, typically with a much smaller change in % air speed.   It's a tool in the box.  Just remember its there.

[carusoam]

A case for related rates...

A balance of the rate of cooling the engine with the rate it is heating itself up.

the rate of heating is somewhat directly related to the gph of fuel it is burning.  Cut back on the rate of fuel burned.

the rate of cooling is somewhat directly related to amount of air passed over the cooling fins.  Increase airflow through the cowl.

 

Additional engine cooling techniques can be found by using:

- more excess fuel, running deeper ROP.

- more excess air, running deeper LOP.  

- Excess air has a lower direct cost than excess fuel.

 

Cooling techniques during the climb often include.

- 200-300°F ROP

- Cowl flaps open, if you have them...

- Lower attitude, increased airflow...

 

kind of like calculus for pilots! 

Best regards,

-a-