Short version: 12.5 hours and no solo as of yet. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not as if I’m way behind the curve or anything; but I suppose I had some odd (and highly unrealistic) fantasy that I would take to the stick and throttle like Art Scholl or something. Heh. Ok, I’m over myself now, let’s talk about the real world some more.
As the title alludes, the thing preventing me from soloing is that evil slice of time at the end of short final. I’m getting better, but I’m still far from consistent- so today’s flight essentially consisted of going out to do some touch & gos and pattern work. PDK being, well, PDK, this essentially requires going elsewhere; our chosen target was Monroe, GA. (D73)
My first concern going into today was the state of the airplane; I was actually supposed to fly this past Friday morning, but the battery was too low to get the engine started; then once we brought out the jumper cables (yes, they do exist for aircraft), the ignition switch proceeded to fail. My concerns were not allayed when I arrived at PDK and noticed old 546DC with the canopy cover on- there had been reservation before me, and they would have left the cover off after their trip. Up in the office, Scott confirmed that the previous folks hadn’t gone- the switch was replaced, but the battery was low again. Out came the cables again; with the help of the other instructor on duty, we got the airplane started and the day was saved.
Taxi and takeoff were uneventful, save for a dude in a Baron who put a lot of effort into getting in front of us for the taxi and then proceeded to sit at the hold-short line for at least five minutes waiting on an IFR clearance. Oh, and since the long parallel runway was closed for resurfacing, I had the somewhat odd experience of taking the runway with construction guys in hard hats about 75 feet away. But before long, we were pointed east.
Since one thing offered today was a decent wind, I got to work on using trial-and-error to work out a wind correction angle. Not following? Well, unless you’re flying directly into or away from the wind, you’re not going to track a course identical to the aircraft’s heading; the wind pushes you off-course. So in order to maintain a desired course, it’s necessary to point the nose into the wind slightly, and in order to evaluate the wind correction angle, some kind of reference is needed. In this case, Scott set up the VOR receiver to track the course to D73, and I also had the course line on the GPS for extra guidance. In fact, the line on the GPS gives a nice visual of the crab angle; I could look over and see the little airplane pointing to the right of the course line, yet tracking straight. All in all, an enjoyable exercise.
Arriving at Monroe, we overflew the field, got a look at the windsock, and picked runway 3 for the day’s fun. Alas, but the wind was abut 45 degrees of runway heading, so it was going to be a day of learning to deal with the crosswind. Has to be done… I established my downwind, and flew a decent pattern. I’ve got a pretty good handle on maintaining a good rectangular course and keeping my speed right in the pattern. All was well until I turned final… whoa, that wind does a lot more than I expected. I felt as if I was fighting it all the way down, but in the end I was over the numbers at a decent height. It all went to crap from there… ugly flare, long float, and then a bounce that might have been impressive under conditions. Scott reinforced my thoughts; that a go-around was in order. Up with the throttle and flaps, and we’ll try again. Second time around was better; good pattern, good final, pretty good flare, smooth touchdown, and we’re going again. I was more prepared to deal with the wind this time, and wasn’t so far behind the airplane.
At this point, we took a quick break; a glider had been staging on the ground during our first two times around the pattern, and they asked to go after our second one. No problem… we headed west and found a water tower so I could try turns around a point with some real wind. Having just come from D73, and with the field still in sight, I had a good sensation of where the wind was coming from, and stayed on the tower fairly well, though I still have a tendency to gradually spiral in towards my point. Scott also showed be a little cheat for the ground reference maneuvers- glancing at the ground speed readout on the GPS. Since I’m (hopefully) not playing with the throttle in the turn, my airspeed should stay more or less constant; so checking the ground speed tells me whether I’m in head- or tailwind territory. It was actually pretty impressive to watch; as I turned away from the wind, I watched the ground speed jump 10 knots in about 15 seconds. Good tip.
Well, the glider and tow plane were clear of the field, so back to the pattern we went. Since we were roughly parallel to the runway, we just flew a really wide downwind instead of angling in for a close pattern. This required me to adjust my cues a bit, since we’d have a base leg about twice as long as normal. This landing wasn’t bad, except that I floated way down the runway; as a precaution, Scott decreed a full-stop. No problem, except there I go zigzagging across centerline on the rollout. I really must stop trying to steer with the brakes on rollout. There’s plenty or airspeed to use the rudder, and the brakes are sensitive enough that steering that way tends to become a losing battle and makes things get hairy in a hurry. Nobody likes that, least of all me. (Scott may disagree on that point, though)
After taxiing back, we shot a couple more touch & gos, none of which were stellar, but then again there weren’t any go-arounds either. After #2, the glider wanted to go up again, so we headed on back to PDK- my time block was starting to run out anyway. On the cruise back, I was feeling frustrated. It seems like the touch & go sessions always tax me near my limit, and just five or six times around the pattern can be pretty draining, especially with a crosswind like we had today. I suppose what gets me about this is that it’s really the only thing that I feel isn’t coming to me easily at all. Climbs, descents, turns, stalls, slow flight, ground reference- not bad at all. If I bugger one of those up, I correct and go on. Perhaps part of the thing with landing is that it’s not a constant thing I can correct and work with like flying straight and level. Instead, it’s about 15 rapid seconds followed by five minutes to think about it.
Anyhoo, the cruise back was, in a way, a welcome relief, a respite from the concentration of pattern work, a time to get myself back under control and in control. Scott asked if I wanted to do a touch & go or two back at PDK. Actually, yes. I always feel like that last landing of the day is a chance to redeem myself for my earlier transgressions, and I had felt like I left Monroe on a sour note. PDK was a bit busy, but the tower controller was amenable to giving us a touch & go. This one went much better, as did the following full-stop, though I did a bit of zigging again and even locked up a brake a couple times on the rollout.
Back at the ramp, as I took off my headset, I had a revelation. This was my first flight where I’d not once thought about how the headset was hurting my ears. The reason was that I had my newly acquired Lightspeed set in hand, or maybe on head is a better term. I’m not convinced the ANR on these does a lot, but then again, it is the bottom-tier model. I’ll have to try switching the ANR on and off in flight to see how noticeable it is. Regardless, the new set is worth it in sheer terms of comfort.
In the office, we debriefed, discussing flaring some more. For my part, despite my issues, I felt a lot better at Monroe today with maintaining my glide slope by visual reference. It was probably a questionable thing that I came into this knowing how to read a VASI or PAPI (glide slope indicators placed beside the runway), and I’d come to rely on them too much. Since Monroe lacks these things, I’m forced to do without. Last time out there, I actually felt lost on the slope a bit, but today I had a much better feel for the slope.
Sounds like next time, we might go west to Fulton County instead of Monroe. The main benefit is that it’s far closer to PDK than Monroe, so there’s more time for pattern work and less time boring a hole in the sky. And Lord knows I need more practice flying in the pattern than cruising. The downside is that the FTY airspace borders the airspace around Dobbins ARB- better keep that pattern good and close! (Who knows, maybe I’ll see a Raptor fresh off the assembly line)
Next flight: Monday afternoon.
