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I have the MOONEY BUG!


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On April 5, 2017 at 8:05 AM, cnoe said:

SERIOUSLY?!! Did my post REALLY show up FOUR TIMES?!!

I'll work on that.:)

 

Edited: Removed duplicate posts. JEEZ!

Chuck, maybe the forum just thought what you wrote was important enough to repeat!:)

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5 hours ago, FloridaPilots said:

So just an update from last weekend. I'm having a difficult time with ground references and "S" turns.  The wind was beating us up pretty badly (As a beginner that is probably not saying much 30 knot winds) and I had trouble turning on target. My CFI is tough but I will make it through no matter what!

And now you know what people mean by staying ahead of the airplane.  If you know the wind is going to shove you around anticipate and plan for it. Like when I was setting up for the landing with a big cross wind.  I did not line up on centerline for final, I lined upwind of centerline and let the wind shove me down to the centerline of the runway.  As you get down lower to the ground the wind will be less than up higher.  This is because of friction of wind against buildings and trees and such.  Do you slow flight with a high wind.  Get the airspeed to 0 and the airplane will be moving backwards.  Fun stuff.

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10 hours ago, Yetti said:

And now you know what people mean by staying ahead of the airplane.  If you know the wind is going to shove you around anticipate and plan for it. Like when I was setting up for the landing with a big cross wind.  I did not line up on centerline for final, I lined upwind of centerline and let the wind shove me down to the centerline of the runway.  As you get down lower to the ground the wind will be less than up higher.  This is because of friction of wind against buildings and trees and such.  Do you slow flight with a high wind.  Get the airspeed to 0 and the airplane will be moving backwards.  Fun stuff.

You are right, I have to keep that in mind next weekend.  We are doing slow flight next so this will be interesting. This time I really hope the winds are pushing us around a bit so I can get use to how it feels. With the Champ you feel EVERYTHING. Every gust of wind pushes the plane up or down, left or right. What about ground effect? wouldn't that cause your airplane to float as well?

Thanks for your input!

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15 hours ago, thinwing said:

No better ,more economical bird than a champ...it's trained a lot of ppl long before there was such a thing as sport pilot license.I bet to make the weight limitation this one has no electrical system and you will learn the lost art of hand propping! Persoanally I think you are in a great spot ,none cheaper but as others have said..renegotiate the total fee for the ppl!Either way you will learn just what 65/85 hp can do and what the rudder pedals are for..good luck

That is exactly right. Bill has to hand turn the prop three times slowly and then just once to start it. It starts up every time. Next mission : I want to see if I can learn in a retractable gear airplane for the PPL that is the goal because I'm going to spend the rest of my flying in type. I can't look too far ahead I have to master these "S" turns first :-)

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11 hours ago, FloridaPilots said:

 What about ground effect? wouldn't that cause your airplane to float as well?

Thanks for your input!

One of the reasons you are learning slow flight is it is part of the landing process.  There is alot of flying several feet above the runway.

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1 hour ago, Yetti said:

One of the reasons you are learning slow flight is it is part of the landing process.  There is alot of flying several feet above the runway.

That's what made landing click for me. I always tried to force the plane, but another cfi said to fly it as long as you can and let the plane tell you when it's done. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just wanted to update you guys on my progress.  Thank you for all of the responses thus far.

#1. S turns I have become really good at, finally believe it or not Flight Simulator has helped me get it. I improved with ground references I would pick a spot on the ground and see if I can bring the plane around to fly over it and that has worked well. My turns are a lot better as well.  I'm a little nervous with steep turns though and I tend not to bank to sharp.

#2. We did slow flight and I appear to be good at it. Trimming I'm not bad but I have a little more work to be done. 

#3. Weather hasn't helped on the weekends.  It's been really too windy to go out a few weekends so it's held me back.

 

As of this writing I have 7.7 Hours in my log book...This .7 was because of the weather today.

 

Here are some more videos:

 

 

 

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And a contrarian's opinion... I would often get a call from my CFI saying, the wind is up and all the flight schools are grounded. We'll have the pattern to ourselves. Lets go fly. Consequently strong crosswind conditions have never been an issue for me. I'm thankful for those windy days and a CFI who would go up with me on those days.

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Just now, gsxrpilot said:

And a contrarian's opinion... I would often get a call from my CFI saying, the wind is up and all the flight schools are grounded. We'll have the pattern to ourselves. Lets go fly. Consequently strong crosswind conditions have never been an issue for me. I'm thankful for those windy days and a CFI who would go up with me on those days.

It's just air. 

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1 minute ago, gsxrpilot said:

And a contrarian's opinion... I would often get a call from my CFI saying, the wind is up and all the flight schools are grounded. We'll have the pattern to ourselves. Lets go fly. Consequently strong crosswind conditions have never been an issue for me. I'm thankful for those windy days and a CFI who would go up with me on those days.

Once he has good control, that's great. But he needs decent air to learn (and demonstrate) adequate aircraft control. My initial CFI kept saying that she was not going to let me become a fair weather pilot . . . And it seems to have worked. Maybe my repeated desire to fly from furthest WV to Asheville, NC to see family had something to do with it, too

Edited by Hank
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2 minutes ago, Hank said:

Once he has good control, that's great. But he needs decent air to learn (and demonstrate) adequate aircraft control. My initial CFI kept saying that she was not going to let me become a fair weather pilot . . . And it seems to have worked.

I'll respectfully disagree... It was pre-solo for me. But that's what the CFI is there for. To make up for anything I lack as a student.

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1 hour ago, gsxrpilot said:

And a contrarian's opinion... I would often get a call from my CFI saying, the wind is up and all the flight schools are grounded. We'll have the pattern to ourselves. Lets go fly. Consequently strong crosswind conditions have never been an issue for me. I'm thankful for those windy days and a CFI who would go up with me on those days.

I had a very similar CFI.  Pre-solo we spend 2.5 doing 15kt+ direct x-wind landings one day.  I am not bothered with crosswind, basically at all.  My first flight as a brand new PPL was to KSEZ.  Near direct crosswind 18G27. I'm glad he really pushed me in my training.  

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10 hours ago, Hank said:

Here's another one you may have gotten a taste of on your short, windy lesson:

It's better to be down here, wishing you were up there, than to be up there, wishing you were down here. 

Yeah, my CFI told me that this past Saturday! :)

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Trim is your friend...

Get to know how it works and how to adjust it on the fly.  Steep turns become really easy when you can go directly to a proper trim setting from old memories...

a point learned from my CFI in a C152.  Some planes will fly steep turns without much input from the pilot.

No need to be going as fast as possible while doing this.

Having cloudahoy attached to a waas source is pretty helpful at recording and grading your maneuvers too.

PP thoughts only, not a CFI.

Best regards,

-a-

Edited by carusoam
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