Lesson 20 - More cross wind landings

November 27

Warrior III VH-TAE

Weather QNH: 1011, Wind: WSW 12-15kts crosswind, Temp: 15  Drizzle, cloud base @ 1700ASL (sometimes less)

Runway17L

Was looking forward to another lesson after another set back this week.  CASA returned my Student licence and ASIC forms again.  This time because the credit card details I put on the form 3 months ago had expired.  Rather than give me a call for updated details they mailed it back!!

While the day was not looking great for heading to the training area, it was looking good for practicing crosswind landings. Due to the WSW winds we used 17L which is a left hand circuit and the crosswind would be coming from the left.  There are only 2 of us in the circuit (crosswinds, drizzle and a low cloud base kept most pilots in bed).

My landings aren't too bad and I managed to get the left main down first followed by right main and nose.  I do need to make sure I maintain the left aileron will rolling along the runway and as you'll see from my tracklog I keep getting pushed right on take off and my crosswinds aren't to square either. 

After about 3-4 circuits we get an interesting request from the tower.  There is someone practicing an IFR GPS approach for 17L and would we please make the next one a right hand circuit!!  Not even my instructor had been asked to do this in the past. 

I don't know why others weren't out practicing - I had fun despite the weather.


View Cross Wind Landings And A Right Circuit Of 17L. in a larger map

 

VH-TAE Piper Warrior III  - Circuits 1.1hrs Dual (Total time 21.6hrs)

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Things to watch in the future.

1. Maintain ground track after take off
2. Maintain ailerons turned into the crosswind during the ground roll.

Lesson 13 – Circuits (5)

1 October 2011

VH-TYD

Off for more circuits today, and while I’m not progressing as fast as I'd like, at least it is progress.  Jason would be back in the right seat today after he managed to shift some other lessons around.  We would be using 13L and the weather was looking ok.

Moorabbin's runways

As we taxied out of the northern run-up bay, the RVAC formation team taxied in.  They were heading out to the training area to practice and I must admit, they look pretty cool just taxing around together.

Today's lesson was a lot better.  I managed a couple of ok landings and that felt really nice – very exciting!!  I’m starting to realise just how high I’ve been flaring, and how important it is to get the speed right on final. But not everything is perfect. 

Firstly, I forgot to do my pre landing checks a few times when I became distracted by other traffic and trying to maintain 1000ft on downwind.

 I’m still jerking the yoke back during the flare.  It is not a smooth round out more a series of sharp pull backs followed by pauses as the plane balloons.

I’m also getting too low on my turn from base to final.  I should still be at least 500ft AGL when I stabilized on final.   The fact the plane in front is doing a very late turn on to base and hence we have a long final only makes matter worst.  I need to use a lot of power to maintain height on final,

And lastly on one occasion I forgot to fully close the throttle before the flare.  This of course resulted in the plane ballooning.

I general things are starting to look up. I’ve managed a couple of ok landings and getting closer on the rest. 

VH-TYD – Piper Warrior III 1.2hr (total 14.0 hr)

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Things to watch in the future.

1. Remember to do my pre-landing checks early,
2. Smooth round-out, don’t jerk the controls,
3. Remember to fully close the throttle before I start the round-out,
4. Watch my height on base .  I’m starting the turn to base to low.
5. Get out the runway map before I request the taxi to the apron.  (Today’s read back was – “Turn right onto echo, cleared to cross 35R, turn on to alpha 1, cleared to cross 35L to the main apron”)

Lesson 12 - Circuits (4)

25th September 2011  VH-TXH

CIRCUITS

Today I wouldn’t be flying with Jason, he already had another booking and I really want to get in a couple of weeks in a row.  So Warren would be taking me up.  Having another point of view turned out to be a good thing, it gave me a different focus.

The day was nice, with light winds from the southeast.  This meant we were going to be using 13L – a first for me.  As the threshold of 13L and 17L aren’t that far apart, I was doing to need to make sure I was aligned with the correct runway.

Off we went.  After the first circuit Warren got me to do a couple of things. 

1. Do less – He took over the radio calls, so I could focus on flying,
2. Use my feet more – It was rough coming in over the golf course and I was using the ailerons to try and keep the plane level and lined up with the runway (At low speeds the ailerons are less effective and once I got my feet going it was much easier)

Unfortunately, I’m still flaring to high and I need to watch my power control on finals.  I must admit that by the end of the lesson I’m feeling more relax (until the last 50 ft) and starting to feel like I have enough time to start thinking about landing properly.  

VH-TXH – Piper Warrior III 1.0hr (12.8hr)

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Things to watch in the future

• My height on downwind (a couple of times I let this wander)
• The height of my flare – I still strating to high.
•  Still have the urge to push forward on the york when we float or bounce.
•  Use my feet.  Ailerons are less effective than the rudder at slow speeds
•  Don’t taxi under landing planes – One distraction for them and two don’t want them landing on top of you.
• Use Power to manage height on Crosswind and final.

Lesson 11 - Circuits (3)

18th September 2011  VH-TXU

CIRCUITS

It had been a couple of weeks since my last lesson but it was a better day for flying  – still overcast (with low cloud) but much less wind.  I was concerned about the low cloud while heading for the airport but luckily we were doing circuits again.

This time we would use 17L – this was only the second time I’d taken off to the south and the first time for left hand circuits.  This meant different taxiways, different reference points and of course, left hand turns.  The other thing this meant was the wind was coming from the south, something I almost forgot as I entered the run-up bay and started to line up to the north for my run ups!.

The low cloud meant at one point Jason needed to request “Special VFR” (In Class “D” VMC requires you to be 500ft below cloud ) however for most of the time the cloud stayed above 1500ft and we always had the required 5km visibility.

So around and around we went again.  Flying the circuit is starting to come together, I’m trimming better and quicker, getting through the pre-landing checks more effectively, but still struggling with the landings.  While I managed a couple of rough landings, my biggest problem is wanting to "push" the plane onto the runway – especially when I “balloon” or "bounce".   I need to relax and wait for the plane to settle itself onto the runway.

Being a better day also meant there were other aircraft in the circuit.  It one stage we were following a slower aircraft doing looong finals.  This meant we needed to slow down on the  downwind leg in order to give ourselves some space.  Luckily the tower gave as the option to “pass” them after a very late landing clearance.  Jason took over and rather then best rate of climb (79kt) we climbed at “best angle of climb” (63kt) and at ~300ft we turned crosswind and joined downwind ahead of the other aircraft.  

Another enjoyable but frustrating lesson.  I making progress and while I managed a couple of rough landings, I was far from consistent.  –  maybe next week.

VH-TXU – Piper Warrior III 1.1hr (11.8hr)

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Things to watch

1. Think about the wind direction when entering the run-up bay.
2. Make sure to stay on the ground frequency until ready for take off.
3. Watch the turn on to final (especially overshooting as this puts you in conflict with the aircraft landing on the parallel runway.)
4. DON’T push forward on the yoke once I’ve started the round out. Pause and wait for the plane to settle or go-around.
5. Make sure to keep my feet off the brakes while landing,
6. Relax on the flare (couple of times I yank the yoke back which caused the plane to balloon) Aim is for a smooth round out.

Lesson 9 - Circuits (1)

21 August 2011  VH-TAJ

CIRCUITS

It was time to learn how to fly "the circuit" and land the aeroplane.  We would be using 35R, which meant right hand circuits, for what was to be the first of many circuit lessons. The winds were light and almost straight down the runway - another great day for flying.

 

Lesson 7 – More stalls

31^st July 2011  VH-TXU

Back with my normal instructor this week and off to practice some more stalls and my radio calls.   I feel like I’m starting to get the preflight, start, taxi, and run-up, but there is always little few to improve next lesson.  Next week I want to focus on ; learning to to operate the transponder fully, making sure I have my “radio calls” cheat sheet with me for each flight, maintaining good taxi speeds.

Once cleared , we took-off and head straight for the turning area without issue.  (Need to watch my heading and height control, as well as making better use of the trim during the climb.)

Like last week we did our HASEL checks then a number of stalls. (couple of “clean” stalls with powered recovery, couple with no power recovery, and a few with flaps.) Again I’m surprised by how much back pressure I need to get into the full stall and how benign the plane behaviours when it does finally stall.  (review HASEL checklist,  don’t be timid pulling back, Power then retract my flaps)

All too soon, it’s time to head back to Moorabbin via Carrum.  By the time we get to Carrum We need to be at 1500ft.  To do that we start descending from 3500ft around Cranbourne (2000ft @ 500ft/min requires 4 mins, @ 100kts GS = approx  7nm). 

Before I get to Carrum I need to check the ATIS on 120.9 and swap to the West tower (123.0).  It’s worth doing this early, so I can get a chance to listen to any another aircraft making their inbound calls. (Thus building situational awareness of the other aircraft).  Finally we need to switch the transponder from 1200 to squawk 3000 and call the tower.  “Moorabbin tower, Warrior TXU, Received <ATIS>, Carrum One thousand five hundred, Inbound.”

As I’ll be starting circuits soon, Jason gives me an introduction to “landings”.  We a doing a straight in approach, so first we need to get down to pattern altitude 1000ft (before we reach 3nm) and do the pre-landing checks (Will cover these in my circuits post), set up the descent, power back, flaps, attitude, & speed. If we  get a bit low add power and if too high reduce it. Finally the flare and landing.    This is going to take some practice.  (I’ve got a million thinks going through my head and felt way behind the plane.  Need to relax )

Another great lesson with the promise of more fun to come.

Piper Warrior III VH-TXU,  Flight Time 1.2hr (Total 7.9 hrs)