Saturday, June 30, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6/30 C-152 N69011 Lou Lou Touch&go's landings: 12 1.4 hr ZC

1:00 Met Zach at the plane just outside Air Center One. I watched him fill up the fuel tanks. When I went out to preflight, I skipped the hop up on top to look in. When he came out he did a quick but complete walk around the plane, not touching, but looking at everything. He DID hop up on top to check those tanks that he'd just filled. Instructive. I like it.

I'm not sure whether Zach knew both reasons I was going up with him. (I know the other guys were wondering). I only addressed one of them with Zach. I told him I was having trouble at the final approach and landing, esp. flare and control at the last. This was a good idea, to go up with someone else.

I talked thru everything I was doing, which might be useful to do more of, anyway. I'm going to make a quick list of little things that we tried/did/talked about today, so I don't forget.

Hot weather: Instead of priming, pump the throttle in/out/in/out just before starting it. It worked like a charm, unlike the other day when I felt as if I was out with my lawn mower, which laughs at me when I try to start it.

Hot weather: 10º flaps on takeoff.

Go up to 1000ft. before beginning turn on climbout (we didn't, but he does.)

Before turn to base, pitch for 80 knots, even if it's a gain in airspeed. 70 knots on turn to final, 60 on approach.

Use of power on landing--ballooning,

There was a lot more. I should have made notes sooner. It was an comfortable session.

The real payoff: Displaced thresholds <--------- !!!!!!! Mystery solved, embarrassing as it is.

I solemnly promise (and I feel capable of promising this, now) that I am not going to get caught in any more "miscommunications" like that.

By the book.

"It sure was good to get down and open the windows!"--ZC

Friday, June 29, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6/29 Touch & Go's at Bowman Field
Runway 24. Crosswind landings.

(Twilight Zone theme here) Pattern too big. Pulled it in, turn downwind just over Watterson, turn base w. KT practically under. Hardest was trying to correct for drift, either not enough or overcorrected. Mike had to save two of them. Broke glide slope as often as not. Or came in too high.

As soon as you figure out you're too high, too low, drifting, correct immediately. Use right aileron, left rudder for forward slip to landing.

End--long taxi all the way to G, pull across the line, clean up the plane, contact tower same as usual.

This Saturday I'll fly with Zach for a short session.

Lisa sent Mike out to catch me with an Air Center One shirt. "Real pilots do props."

ps. We didn't do "six."
pps. "This mother's going flying."

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Pictures -- 1st solo











Pictures. What fun! The actual event was at Clark County Airport, but pictures happened after we got back to Bowman Field. Meet my CFI, Mike Bingham.

Zach gets credit for photography.

That's one of the planes I fly: N89933, and my name going up on the board at Air Center One, and my shirt being cut (an aviation tradition). Afterwards, Mike, Neill and I went to Mazzoni's for oysters (a Louisville tradition).

Pilot's logbook

Prep: Gleim:
Finish & take Chapter 5 Airplane Performance,Weight & Balance 82%
Work thru and take Chapter 6 Aeromedical Factors & Aeronautical Decision Making 93%
Work thru Chapter 7 Aviation Weather.
Six nifty flash cards: Runway too high, too low, just right, 1600ft out& 100 ft hi, 800ft out &50 ft hi, 400 ft out and 25 ft off ground.

We went to Clark County for touch-and-go's. I did the first, then asked Mike to do six. (the "magic" six). Then I went again. Hand position.

At some point I started coming out on final in the same place every time. Mike said do it again a couple more times and we'd go full stop.

First solo:
We stopped, and Mike reminded me of what I was going to do. Two touch-and go's, if I didn't feel like the second, make it one. "Use the checklist."

Runup: the oil pressure didn't go into the green in 30 seconds, or even longer. I turned it off and restarted. It felt like me and the lawn mower. Second time, same thing--sitting just barely above the red. (Well, I did just burn up the engine on my car last week. I'm a born-again believer in oil warnings.) So I shut down, got out of the plane, said something to some guys right near us, and started to walk toward Hap's. Mike was coming, walking pretty fast, but I have to say it again, he sure has the handle on body language. I can't imagine what he was thinking, but you'd never know it from his manner.

Well, Mike got it to run in the green, and we said ok. There wasn't any problem.

The hardest part was figuring out the taxiway, not that there's ANYTHING tricky about it, but I'd never been on the ground at Clark County before. Right before I was going to take the taxiway, a small jet took off on the runway in the opposite direction than I was planning to take. I was trying to figure out the ramifications of that, when I hear a quiet voice I don't recognize on the radio, "Maggie, take runway 18." Kindof like "Feel the force, Luke." I was grateful for that one.

Once I got on the runway, it was home free. The plane felt different, lighter. I'd wondered whether I'd be scared or nervous, but actually it just seemed right. Pretty darn good. So I did one touch & go, and once around again for full stop.

Back to Bowman Field, it started to rain (thunderstorms coming in). I waylaid Zach to take our pictures, which I'll post here as soon as I get them developed.

Thunderstorms meant even Mike wasn't going to be able to fly, so he and Neal and I went over to Mazzoni's to celebrate. Oysters.

Tomorrow it will most likely be raining. I set up a session with Zach for Saturday, and am looking forward to cross country to Columbus, In.

Big rainbow on the way home.

Pretty cool.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6/25 C-152 N69011 Lou Lou Touch & Go's Landings: 10 1.4 hr MB

prep: Gleim this morning: Pressure Altitude section, 2nd time, it was easy. The only mistakes were a couple of arithmetic and simple copying errors.
The Weights and Balance section was slower going. It's not really hard, just poky until you figure out what the angles and contexts are. I didn't finish it, maybe tonight.

(Seems like I must have done something else. A little gardening and housework. Oh yeah, I also spent time working on a couple of recordings, Resurrexi and Taylor's last session as a cantor, and two recordings of eclectic "feel good" stuff for a gift. Some of this really put me back into a different mode.)

5:00 Another inconsistent session. Bounced between breaking the glide slope 4 times in a row to too high, too high. Mostly too low. Pattern not safe.

"It gets pretty quiet in there."
Considerable right rudder on takeoff.
No left rudder in the turn downwind.
Need to slow it down by bringing the nose level sooner--you're doing it at 5 or 6 feet,I'd like it sooner, but it works for you.
"The angle"--get out far enough. Be high enough to make decisions.. power, flaps, (don't be losing 400 feet in the turn to base).
Breaking glide slope on checkride is a fail.

If you actually stall 20 feet above the runway and come down flat, you can break your back.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6/24 C-152 N69011 Lou JVY Lou Touch & Go's landings:10 1.7 hr MB

Church @ OLC, Baptisms @ St. Albert, then off to Bowman Field.

Today was fun. 3:00 PM. Cloudy, rainy, no-fly weather. So the place was full of instructors (Brandon, Jason, Mike and Tony) all sitting in the "boardroom" playing Flight Simulator. (Whatever version it was, it had the real terrain graphics. Awesome.) So I come in and Mike's flying, complaining about how you can't fly with that joystick. I have to say, if that's "not flying," I'm the monkey's uncle, but anyway, everybody was having fun.

While we were watching the rain, Brandon saw my Macbook and asked me whether I used X-Plane, so I pulled it up and we looked at it a little, but you really can't run it without the joystick. After that I showed them the slideshow of Alex R. and the cargo plane that he flies up in Alaska. I think the guys were pretty interested. I noticed Mike wrote the name of the company (Everts Air Cargo) on his hand. It might have been how many flying hours the dog has that caught his attention.

Ever optimistic, Mike called weather--800-WX BRIEF--but it was not VFR, so, we went over the pre-solo written test, and I've got that endorsed in my logbook. Mike corrected a couple of words, and the part that I thought (this morning) must be wrong--the problem where they ask you to figure takeoff distance for Bowman Field with a 50-foot obstacle and temperature and your training airplane--well, it turned out to be right. So. The 1340' takeoff ground roll (50'obstacle) on the Cessna POH becomes 1524' at 90º and Bowman Field. And the 1200'Landing Ground Roll (50' obstacle) becomes 1257'. The takeoff roll shows more difference because taking off involves engine performance (which is altered by altitude and temp) and the landing not so much because the engine is not involved in landing. It makes sense once somebody points it out.

We drew maps, traffic patterns, & approaches to Clark County. It wasn't complicated today. It just seemed like it last time we were up in the air.

Mike says I need confidence. I sortof agree, but the confidence comes from actually being on track with enough of the things I'm supposed to know and do, right?

Mike quizzed me on charts, we worked thru some of those performance problems in the Gleim book, and we kidded with Brandon about whether you could make the weather better just by looking at it on the computer every 5 minutes. Then I pointed out that there was a blue spot in the sky out the window behind Mike, and we got hopeful. Turns out it was good enough to go up.

We went to Clark County for touch & go's, then came back and made a few circuits at Bowman. It felt pretty good.

Things I didn't pick up on today:
"Taxiway Hotel closed between (whatever)" I'd have gone on and taxied the usual way, instead of asking ATC shouldn't we go around the southern perimeter.

I didn't understand ATC when they told us to extend our downwind, and then when they changed it to some version of "no, instead hurry up and just get down there," I didn't catch that either. Mike took us down. Sometimes I think he could make the plane go backwards if he wanted to. It's like, "OK, you want it where? (zing, zing, zing) There it is." Cool.

I mis-figured our time from the Hobbs.

But I wasn't missing as much this time. Landings were WAY better. (Still not nose-high enough, and I'm still misjudging approaches, but the wobbling on final was mercifully much reduced, and if I'm not getting them the way we want them, at least it's partially because I'm trying something and finding out how (or whether) it works.

Three or four times I had the same experience--that I thought we were about 2 feet off the ground when we actually touched down. Hey, at least it's consistent.

Back on the ground, Mike (who was tired) said it's a heck of a thing when your instructor has to work to keep from falling asleep during your lesson. I took that as a compliment.

Remember: Don't call the pattern legs at Bowman, unless ATC doesn't clear you for the landing, in which case you should call the final to jog his memory.

DO: read FAA handbook landing stuff.
Re-do performance problems.
Fly X-Plane back and forth from Bowman to Clark County.
Slips.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Will and Cheryl's wedding

at Huber Winery. Beautiful ceremony. Beautiful reception. Good dinner.

Kelli & Mark. April and Zedung. Henry. Faline. Colored sand. Ralph and Jamie. Dotti and John.

Leaving, the engine quit on my Saturn, just clicked a little and we coasted on down the hill to Hwy 60. A young man named Jared and at least 5 Southern Indiana people stopped to offer assistance. AAA tow truck.

No oil. $$$$!! What was it that Alex and I saw in there yesterday if it wasn't oil?

Pilot's logbook

6/22 C-152 N69011 LOU JVY LOU Touch& go’s Landings:14 1.7 hr MB

Prep: flight sim, Gleim (landing and takeoff distance problems), rehearsed takeoff checklist.



Before next lesson:
Pre-solo written test


Checklist. Checklist. Checklist. Checklist.

Distances. Bernheim bridge? 50 ft. 40, 30, 20, 15, 12, 10, 6, 3.


Write up and rehearse all radio calls Bowman to JVY & back. Complete routine. Absolute.
Flight sim From Bowman to Clark Co. & back. GET IT DOWN.
How do we get to the airport? Altitudes. Course headings. How do you enter the pattern? Figure out all runways. Figure out all radio communications. Draw the airports.

Clark Co. Airport Advisory Frequency.

Clark County Traffic, Cessna 96011 is inbound 2 miles East, will be crossing midpoint, entering left downwind for runway 18.

Bowman Tower, Cessna 96011 is over Six Mile Island, 1700 ft, information Victor, inbound.

Next lesson: Ask Mike to do six landings in a row.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6-21 C-152 N69011 LOU JVY LOU Touch & Go's 18 landings 2.2 hr MB
Seat belt tab, yank up to loosen.
Number the engine start checklist.
Runway 32.
Radio.

Clark County from Bowman.
Nose-high landing.
Center line.
Look down the runway
Nose up to the top of the runway(?)
Use glide slope.

Aviation is a field where effort doesn’t count for much.
Air conditioning. ← add to the list
Hopping crow. Split tongue to talk.
67 hours.

Alex

Met at airport.
Beth's battery dead. AAA. Watching airplanes and helicopters. Tornados and pilot headset.

Alex looked for fossils and watered plants with Grandpa.

Supper, Free Willy & popcorn.

Morning: He helped me with Density Altitude charts and arithmetic problems, corrected my figures by adding the commas after the thousands.

Then he took the flight simulator to new highs. He can fly the c-150 pretty well, but you should see him with the F-4, the Mars planes, the Mega-planes!

Leaving, the oil light came on on my car, so I pulled over. Alex was the one who found the levers to open the hood, put up the support rod as soon as I opened it, reached in, checked the oil, pronounced it OK, then when I asked "Are you sure?" said "it's over the line, but let's check it again," wiped it clean, put it back in and checked it again.

Piano: "Hold that Tiger" is his current favorite.

Pretty sharp.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

distances

Clark Co. Airport is 10 miles NNW of Bowman Field. (330º)
Clark Co. Airport is 5 1/2 mi west of 12-mile island.
Clark Co. Airport is 5 1/2 mi NW (315º) of 6-mile island.
The road grid in that area of southern Indiana (between the river and the airport)is diagonal--runs NW to SE, SW to NE.
The two big quarries are 1 1/2 mi. North of the airport and 5 mi. north of the airport.
The little quarry is 1 1/2 mi. east of the airport.
Bowman Field is almost 6 miles south (175º) of Six-Mile Island.

Lee Bottom is 25-30 miles upriver from Bowman field, about a mile upriver from the power plant.

Excerpt

Helping Memory
Our brain is ever changing and rebuilding itself. Limit your fat intake.
1. Improve your ability to remember times-three by writing out the material. Put it into your long-term memory by reviewing it three times the first day.
2. If we think of something as important we can remember it. Make a post-it of material that is important.
3. Review out loud material you need to remember tomorrow just before bedtime. Do not allow other sounds while studying. Check your memory recall the next morning.
4. Just as hearing a sight fail with age so does smell and taste. Eating properly maintains brain function.
5. You must have some activity for a considerable part of the day that provides brain stimulation. TV is not a brain stimulant.
6. Stress is the major cause of forgetting. Continuous stress can kill brain cells.
7. Meditation and similar activities will reduce stress and improve memory.
8. Focus on the pleasures begot by good memories. Be positive in your expectation to be able to remember.
9. Seek out and hang on to new ideas. Review the new ideas from lessons in the recent past.
10. You will remember new ideas if you can associate them with history and events.
11. Read and study applicable texts with emphasis upon vocabulary improvement.

pilot's logbook

6/20 C-152 N69011 Lou Jvy Lou Stalls, slow flight, ER procedures, touch & go's. 10 landings, 1.9 hr MB

I started doing the radio calls for landing pattern. Still don't land right. Depth perception. Hand/eye coordination. Concentration(?)

Inconsistent.
Too high.
Too fast.
More level approach.
More nose-up after flare.
Inconsistent.
"I can't think of anything else to tell you."

Look way ahead down the runway.

Beth, Alex & Ben. Dead battery.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6/18 C-152 N69011 Lou Lou XW Touch & Go's #lndgs:11 1.2 hr MB

I did a lot of flight simulator work today. Morning (before going to the dentist) and afterwards, too. I'm still doing it with joystick, which is actually going better. I didn't think it was possible, but I'm usually doing most of the pattern pretty smoothly. Today I used runway 24 at Bowman, and I had practiced the same runway most of today on the simulator. Now that I'm flying the sim better, I can see that I make some of the same mistakes on both of them: having trouble getting lined up on final, blowing through the turn on final, not losing enough altitude on the landing legs,



I took my flashcards to Dr. Derhake's office. I've got a couple in there that seem to conflict. Hmmm...

7 pm lesson with Mike. I was hoping I'd get the whole takeoff done without his having to say anything, but it didn't quite happen. Closer, though.

Cross-wind correction.
Nose-high landing attitude. Consistancy. Constant rate of descent on base & final.
Consistancy.

Airspeed for final. Too often coming in too fast.

On final: immediate correction with ailerons. Be patient on the flare.

Rats! I forgot to get the POH book. I need it for the Gleim & Jeppesen chapters.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

X-Plane

I'm still hoping that the gizmo I ordered on eBay will let me hook John & Theresa's flight yoke to my laptop. It hasn't come in yet. (Ordering problems online).

In the meantime, I'm flying with joystick. If nothing else, it shows me how much difference practice makes. Sometimes I actually fly smoothly.

The airport is accurate, and the roads and bodies of water are too, but the ground is "simulated" house and such. Between that and the fact that it's just plain hard to see, flying the sim is a lot harder than flying the plane. It is really worth doing, though. If nothing else, I get to be the voice saying, "Nose down." "500 ft. per minute." "Airspeed."

I've flown sim at Bowman Field, Clark County, Standiford Field. It gets the weather from the current METAR. Today it thought it was raining at Bowman Field, so I flew in the rain.

Since I have the baby MacBook. without the graphics processor, I don't know whether my scenery is the norm for this program, or if there's more to it if you have the processing power.

Regardless, the sim makes me use all the instruments and clues I can find, which is increasing my fluency a lot!

The new Microsoft Flight Simulator looks to be awesome, with real satellite imagery. It doesn't run on my Parallels. I checked.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

snippets

How to correct it? Forget the nose of th airplane. Put one of your
feet on each side of the centerline and keep them there. Even as you
flare, don't try to put the airplane on the centerline. Put your butt
on the centerline instead. If you do, you'll land on target every
time.

----------
Once established on a short final, use the AILERONS to keep the
airplane over the extended centerline of the runway. Use the
rudders independantly to keep the nose pointed toward the far
end of the runway. Once the wheels are firmly on the ground
you go ahead and steer with the rudders. Still, however, toward
the far end of the runway! :-) Keep trying to keep the airplane
over the centerline with the ailerons even when you are on the
ground. It doesn't hurt a thing, and helps a lot with directional
control.
---------------

Just hang in there. I, like others here, think the whole flare thing is a
feeling. Although I have noticed that for me I would momentarily pause at
level flight and wait for the sink. It almost feels like the seat falls out
from under you. It is not violent, it is subtle so you have to feel for it.
Then start an nice smooth rotation right to the stall hour and wait for it
to settle on the runway. For short field let the sink feeling settle a
little more than usual.

As far as the center line. On final, line it up between your peddles. Allow
it to slightly drift toward the center of the plane as you progress down
final. Most people want to line the center line up on their dominate eye.
Normally if you are right handed it is your right eye.
---------
Center it, Aim it, 60 knots (Cessna 152, anyway)
Your best bet is to roll out on the centerline for final. If you're
not on the centerline, sideslip. Sideslipping is great because you
can move quite far while still being parallel to the runway. If
you try just using the ailerons to center, you will be very frustrated
as you overturn the centerline and "overcorrect yourself to death".

Make sure you don't make the mistake of thinking the ailerons and
rudder are "welded" together - they are separate controls and a little
rudder goes a long way in centering over the theshold.

-------------
There are two parts to road out of the "never gonna get it" stage.

First is technique.
Make sure your approaches are as consistant as possible. A
consistant approach makes a consistant landing. If you're flying
from a controlled airport where you must constantly adjust your
pattern, try a couple sessions at a quiet uncontrolled airport
where you can fly a consistant pattern. You may find it helps
you to make a written list of what you should do at each point
ie "abeam numbers-pick a point to track towards, power to 1700,
10 deg flaps, trim for 70 kts. Check track. Rwy halfway between
wing and tail, pick a point to turn towards, check power 1500,
20 deg flaps, trim for 65 kts. Check track, look at runway rectange,
ask "am I too high or low?" Extended runway center just ahead
of nose (or as required for wind), turn final, pick aim point
and be sure it doesn't move, adjust power if necessary (decrease
if aim point is dropping in windshield, increase if aim point is
rising in windshield), 30 deg flaps if necessary, trim for 60 kts."
If you're not a written list kind of guy, you might try "chair
flying" through a pattern where you visualize everything which
happens, or recite what you need to do out loud. Strive to turn
final at the same height and distance every time. Go over this
list with your CFI before the lesson.

Airspeed is critical, be sure it is in and *trimmed*. If you're
having trouble with the pattern, you might just practice the
pattern or practice a rectangular ground reference maneuver using
a road as a runway, to help get the hang of the power changes and
when to turn.

You may find it helpful to ask your CFI to do the first landing,
while you watch. As you cross the threshold, look down at the
end of the runway and note both how the end of the runway looks,
and how the grass, runway edges, lights etc look in your peripheral
vision when your CFI starts to flare. Watch where the nose is
relative to the end of the runway as he flares (this is different
depending on how tall you are and what plane you're flying). Note
that the flare doesn't so much increase the pitch of the nose, as
constantly increase the elevator to keep the nose in the same place.
Now when you fly, try to reproduce this view. Ask for feedback --
too high, too low, flaring too soon, too late, too slow, too fast.
If you lose "the Picture" of what a good landing should look like,
ask for another demo.

You might try full stop landings if you're doing T&Gs, so that
you have extra time to think about and talk through each pattern
and landing with your CFI.
-----------

The other side of Bowman Field

Aero Club of Louisville, Ky

Jim Nolen OT’s (Old Taildraggers?) Hangar. Prices: $50/hr wet. “Bowman Eagles”
Works parttime at Sullivan University. Wife taught music at school for the blind 38 years. Daughter 1st violin Cleveland(?) Symphony, Son in Texas. Learned to fly at 55.
Switch to Sport pilot before you lose your licence on a physical

Young Eagles out of Oshkosh program that gets young people (13? To 17) a first flight at no cost, put their names in a logbook.
Lee Bottom 122.9 2nd Sunday of the Month 2:00 hangout & icecream.

For a gate pass, see Mike over across the driveway. Have friends in the Bowman Eagles Cost would be refunded, he thinks.

Laura Benson Putney Started Cardinal Wings Flying School, largest in the area for 9 years. Sold it to somebody, they sold it. She’s starting up a new flight school. 2 little kids.

Richard: construction. Parachuting. Free-form. He works for the construction company that just made a new taxi-way connecting the two parts of the airport. He says now they're working on a new parallel runway.

Visit the Tower. Call first.


Go over to Louisville Aviation. Starting a Flight School. Back porch has picnic tables and shade. Conversation between parent and a pilot I’ve seen before: He’s instructor since age 19, flies commercially, talking about teaching his son.

Fwd: [MD] tripartite reality



Begin forwarded message:

From: Maggie Hettinger <mhettinger@mac.com>
Date: June 13, 2007 3:18:40 PM EDT
Subject: Re: [MD] tripartite reality

In an obscure novel, Ursula LeGuin wrote:

"The difference
 between one and more than one
    is all the difference in the world.
Indeed it is the world."
^
|
____  yang, source, mechanism, creation reality, dynamic-->static



On Jun 13, 2007, at 3:29 AM, Rebecca Temmer wrote:

 The Tao gives birth to One.
One gives birth to Two.
Two gives birth to Three.
Three gives birth to all things.
^
|
____    yin, result, recreation, static-->dynamic






pilot's logbook

6/13 8:30 AM C-152 N89933 LOU JVY Stalls, slow flight, steep turns, touch & go's # lndgs: 9 MB

prep: lots of flash card study yesterday. One of the cards was Mike's landing pattern card, and I spent hours (literally, since one big family of piano students didn't show up for lessons, and I had spaces in there anyway) interspersing quick literal answers with "air flying" (like air guitar) and talking my way from Six MIle Island to Air Center One tie-down. I added the phrase, "899, student pilot, say again please," liberally to the radio calls so when I need it it might just come out nicely.

Last night I renovated my Pilot's Checklist: I added the word "LOCK" to the engine primer step, clipped a couple of notecards in the back so I don't have to fumble for notepaper, and made a sticker with a couple of maps of Bowman field for the other side of that page.

This morning I put a sprig of mint and a daisy in my pocket, put the daisy on the dashboard of the plane, and hoped for the best. It was night-and-day better.

We did simple things--turns (came out on the wrong heading on one, oops), slow flight, stall recovery, basic flying, looked for landmarks, flew over a beautiful grass airport which might be Lee Bottom, then touch-and-go's at Clark Co. Airport.

I'm trying to figure out why I wobble the wings on takeoff and landing. Mike says it's holding the controls too tightly--use 3 fingers. I think if I could clean that up the rest would be a snap.

So, the session was much better. Mike said the checklist work was text-book perfect. Good flying. 4 great landings.

(The last landing at Bowman Field was horrible.)

Walking back, we were talking (don't remember what, harmonicas or something) and Mike said he used to, or sometime does, strum a guitar. He made a strumming motion left-handed. In that instant, I felt a non-physical breeze or a brightening, or a Claritin Clear commercial. I asked him if he played left-handed, which he doesn't, he just had stuff in his other hand. The funny thing was that in that instant, I had my whole brain/self at my disposal, which obviously wasn't previously, even though things were going well. I'm gonna crack this nut.

Engine fire: If the engine catches fire on the ground, ie there's smoke and/or flames showing, you should hold the ignition key on for a minute or two to see if it won't suck the fire back into the engine where it belongs. If it doesn't work quickly, leave.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

pilot's logbook

6/10 C-152 N89933 Lou Lou Touch & Go’s #5 .8 hr MB

Sunday afternoon. I came in to Bowman Field from OLC, and Frank came in to watch and hang out. We've spent the last several Sunday afternoons poking around airports together, and we're thinking we could get used to going flying together on Sunday afternoons. He and I had talked about engines Saturday morning, so I said maybe we could open up the hood and look at it. When we came in, Mike was out with someone. I called over to verify we were taking 89933. We agreed we needed fuel. Preflight “Get her to teach you everything.” We looked at everything and talked about it, and found out you can't open up the hood of a C-152, but you can look thru a few holes.

Frank went in, Michael came on board. I was feeling on-target, which I mention because it was so out-of-sync with what followed.

I set the seat back so that the two holes show, and I showed it to Mike so we could discuss it if we needed to. He told me what matters to him is using the balls of your feet on the rudder, and also using the balls of your feet for the brakes.

I forgot we were intending to get fuel. At some later point Mike noticed the LH fuel gauge jumping around, and asked how much there was in it. I didn't really know. I'd climbed up there, showing Frank that we do it, but we had already agreed we were going to fill it. No reason to get the calibrated thingy and really check. Plenty of reason to actually remember to put fuel in. Which I didn't.

But it was the Engine Start checklist where I made a big mistake—primed the engine and didn’t lock the primer back. Mike caught it, saying real quietly, “You just killed yourself.”

In spite of that, I was feeling like I should have been on top of things once we got flying, but wasn’t. Touch&go’s were flaky.

Off the side of the runway taking off, first time. Pattern was never square. Not ever. Mike wanted to stay closer to the airport this time, so I needed to find new visuals, and it took a couple of times around to find them. My turns were too steep, consistently, and correcting them was ugly. A constant descent never happened. Several times I forgot to put in the last notch of flaps. I felt as if I was always dealing with time lags on turns and on adjusting the power, but there’s not time to wait for them. I had to estimate, go on to the next thing, and come back and see if it was right. Once, turning base, I said and did “throttle in,” when it should have been throttle back to 1700.

Coming in, keeping centered was hard, because I did need to correct, and then I was wobbling the wings. I’d think maybe it’s a rudder issue, but when I tried to work with that the other day, Mike specifically said, twice, “use ailerons to keep on center.” I think it was the same thing.

So.

The good thing is that Mike was actually not correcting my mistakes as much as he usually does, and if it isn't dangerous, that's probably what I'd like to try more of.

After a while, enough was enough, and Mike ended it. He says just put it behind and move on, sometimes it happens. He's got a great skill of being able to smile at you like he means it, even after something like this, but I think the session took the starch out of both of us.

Coming back Wednesday.

Afterwards Frank and I got cokes and just hung around looking at things, which we've done at one airport or another for the last few Sundays. We're thinking it might be interesting to just go flying together on Sunday afternoons. At some point, Lisa came out and the three of us sat and talked for quite a while, which I’ve never done with her before. (What she does, instructors, Southeast Christian, children, etc.) One of the things that really interested me was when she talked about evenings having supper there at the table we were sitting at. I've only been to Bowman Field once in the evening, but I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere, much like hanging out on the beach on vacation. I think she was inviting us to come.

ps. this session follows 2 1/2 days of not flying and doing LOTS of quick-recall and/or oral studying. Friday was 3 hrs conversation and Q&A on different topics, followed by about 3 hrs of index card practice with Natalie. Friday night I did the first chapter fo the Gleim book. (Airplanes & Aerodynamics: 95%), Saturday morning the second (Airplane Instruments, Engines & Systems: 85%) which took more follow-up time to make flash cards of all the ones I either had doubts on or missed), This morning before church I worked on getting ready to take the 3rd chapter test, knew I wasn't ready because I needed to drill on tower light-signals, Airspace rules and a couple of other things.

pps. What would you do if the throttle was stuck at full power? Lean the mixture all the way to stop it. Of course if it happened on takeoff, you wouldn't know until you tried to go to cruise.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

pilot's logbook

6/8 Ground School
Weather, Pre-solo maneuvers, sectional charts, instrument errors, emergency procedures, navigation w/VOR's, VFR equipment, Day/Night. 3 hrs. MB

Line of thunderstorms coming thru. Good for our drought.
One more thing to add to Maggie's growing list of things never to say at an airport: “We need the rain.”

Notes:
Controlled/Uncontrolled=blue/magenta. The difference between BCD&E controlled and E uncontrolled is the color of the runway graphic. The difference between E around an airport and E elsewhere is the height of the boundary between E and G. At the controlled airport it's 700 ft. Elsewhere it's 1200 ft. When the tower people go home to sleep the ceiling-G/floor-E becomes 1200 ft? (better check and see if this is right. I didn't write enough of it down.)

Rock quarry- pickaxe.

Four elements of flight (just do simple explanations):
Newton’s third law and Bernoulli’s principle, then how they apply to flight.

Lift:
"Low Pressure." "High Pressure."

Weight: Gravity, downward toward the center of the earth.

Thrust: The propeller pushes air backwards. This causes an equal and opposite reaction which moves the machine forward.

Drag:
Parasite Drag:
Form drag—the reason a streamlined Ferrari moves thru the air better than a big moving van. Air resistance can be cut back by streamlining.
Interference dra-- When the airflow of separate parts of the plane interfere with each other, multiplying the form drag. Significant examples happen where an airfoil (creating fast streams of air) meets with a 90º surface, such as the fuselage, which is not affecting the air at all(?).
Skin friction drag--caused by rough surface. (frost. bolts. It's why a Cirrus is FAST!)

Induced drag is “a byproduct of lift.” Vortex rolls inward as high pressure comes up and over the top of the wingtip.


Stall:
(Head into the wind.)
Power out. Flaps out. Get level with the horizon in slow flight, airspeed between Vx & Vy.

Nose up. Snap it back at 40 knots. At FULL pull-back, even if the plane doesn’t buck, you can go on and recover. Technically it’s a stall. (I tend to wait too long).

Side slip:
Nose down, power off. Full rudder, full opposite aileron. You are using the fuselage of the plane as a great big brake.

Forward slip to landing: Lower the nose. Use ailerons into the wind, rudder to counteract and keep you on the center line.

Clearing turns:
If going into a RH maneuver, do a clearing turn to the right, then back.
LH vice versa.

Required Equipment for VFR flight:
Tachometer
Oil Pressure gauge
Manifold Pressure Gauge
Airspeed Indicator
Temperature Gauge (one each engine)
Oil Temperature Gauge

Fuel Gauge
Landing Gear
Altimeter
Magnetic Compass
ELT
Seat Belts

Night Flying, add:
Fuses
Landing Lights
Anti-Collision Lights
Position Lights
Second Source of Electrical Energy (i.e. battery AND and alternator)

Engine Out Emergency:
A. Airspeed (best glide)
B. Best place to land
(emergency checklist)
C. Communications.

Mistaken landings on military airfields or restricted areas. Hmmmm.... DON'T ever let it happen!

Mike has a great explanation of how the reciprocating engine works. It's the hand movements that really make it. I'll have to ask for that one again.

Gleim's Private Pilot Knowledge Test book:
Don't write in it, but give it an hour and a half every night. Q&A, check, review.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

pilot's logbook

6/7 C-152 Lou Lou Turns@point, S-turns, XW Landing. Wind 15kn, gusting 32kn MB

Today was a busy day. I started by meeting Beth and the boys for a visit to the Nelson Co. library and then lunch on the grass outside their beautiful stained-glass KY window.

The a piano lesson for Alex, and one for Conor. I had promised Conor's little brother and sister (Erin & Finn) that we'd have another parade (march around the room to a steady beat, playing on instruments). I figured it would be more fun with Ben and Alex, too, and that way Beth could meet another family taking music lessons. Well, we couldn't find the key to the closet to get the instruments, so it didn't work out quite as well as planned, but it will probably stay in our schedule and we'll be glad we did.

Alex played amazingly (Hold That Tiger) and Conor is coming along great. Good rhythm, good musical sense, technique and independence from both of the boys.

Then either Gabrielle or I mixed up the time of her lesson. I thought she just missed, and didn't call, but they showed up at the next time slot, when Sharon had already started. Rats.

Sharon's lesson was exceptionally good, too. She's doing things she really couldn't do a few months ago--reading, counting & rhythm.

Elizabeth B had a good lesson, and then I zipped out the door to drive to Bowman Field stuck behind slow drivers all the way in Bardstown Rd.

I actually made it on time, barely, and then didn't have to feel bad about coming in at the last minute because Mike was catching a bite to eat, so we took our time and talked about the plan for the lesson--too much wind for touch&go's, so turns around point and S-turns, which were new to me. That was pleasant.

After that, it was a strange lesson in that I did a number of really dorky things (radio, checklists & directions), which really contrasted with an otherwise better-than-usual flying experience. I'm putting all this stuff in this journal entry in for the day I come back to it and figure out what the conflict is. I think Amy's the only one who reads this blog, so that's ok. I'm listing little details because I want to figure out what led to what.

It was hot, 90+º, but not really uncomfortable, except when the doors were closed before takeoff. I pre-flighted the plane quickly, and when Mike came he asked about fuel and oil, I said they were good, and he said "tire pressure?" and I said they look as good as they ever do, which wouldn't be good enough to have on our car. Then (remembering the carbon on the spark plugs the other day) I said something about maybe it was good for me to be flying a cantankerous plane, so if anything was going to go wrong on it, it could happen now. I was thinking about not having experience with engines, so if I'm going to recognize problems, I will probably help to see them now, when there's somebody else to recognize them. For some reason, that hit Mike more seriously than I ever expected. It was like you DON'T SAY THAT, it would, what? be a jinx? Actually, he compared it to making jokes about bouncing on landings in front of the owners of the plane.

Mike got in and said something about sunglasses (he's been joking it's time to get me a pair 'cause all pilots have cool sunglasses) , so I pulled out my "retro" pair. That was kindof fun.

I was doing the checklist out loud, I think, and then at the last item I got ready to call Bowman Ground, which was wrong since I hadn't listened to the ATIS yet, and didn't have what I needed to make the call. Did I actually start to call it? Maybe not.

So--fixed that, called it in, got clearance to taxi, responded OK and remembered what ATC said, then tried to think which runway was 24. Mike couldn't believe it, said if I didn't know that we should just get out of the plane. I just said, "there's a sign," and started to taxi, didn't do it very well (up too close in the seat). We talked about other things on the way out the taxiway--spinach & peanut butter sandwiches, vegetarians, etc. I pulled off to do before-take-off runup, and at some point, MIke took the list and told me he really needed to hear me say each item on the list, and to call off the results. He might have been annoyed, but it's hard to tell. OK. No big deal, right? (That IS the spot where I didn't catch the engine not running well last time.)

Done with that, we're to the last item on the list again, Get Tower Clearance For Takeoff. So, I reach for the mike button to do that, but, we haven't pulled up to the hold short line, so I do that. Then, I'm going to call for the clearance. I press the button, start to talk, and can't remember our ID number. I can't see it because we've got the ailerons turned into the wind and it covers up the number on the dashboard, and I don't think fast enough to find it. So I'm on the radio, saying something like "Bowman Tower, Cessna....ah.... shoot...." and then let go, which is a major no-no. Mike's really embarrassed. I mean really, really. He makes the call, hoping they don't know it was us that made the first one.

Takeoff is fine, heading up to Indiana is good, really fast with a tailwind. I'm flying ok even with lots of wind and gusts, and holding altitude, and mostly holding heading in spite of being bumped off it quite a few times. We do turns around point around the white and blue tower, and Mike says they're good, and we're having a good time. Then S-turns over a road. It's fun. Then slow flight, which I do fine, and we get it to where the plane is in a headwind, not moving over the ground at all. Mike crows, "It's like a helicopter--you believe it?" Then a stall and stall recovery, which is smooth. We talk about judging distances, what we think they are, and what they look like. So that was good.

Next thing, going back to Bowman. I turn over 12-mile island, thinking it's 6-mile island (gotta either find the RED roofs beside it, or check it with downtown Louisville). Besides, can you see the airport? Today was a clear day, and you actually could see the Kaden Tower and the airport from Six-Mile Island, but some days I can't see it from there, so it didn't tip me off when I couldn't. Once we got to Six-Mile Island I did radio ok. We came in on 24 on a long right base, call at 2 miles, aim for the center. Mike actually brought the plane down, big crosswind.

Lists and radio. Mike said something about "that other Maggie was scaring me, and you don't even curse," comparing that to flying pretty well the rest of the time.

"Oh Lord, put a guard over my mouth. Keep watch at the door of my lips."

Still, we were easy and comfortable afterwards, getting a laugh when Tony pointed to a little green Vespa tied to a post besides Mike's motorcycle and saying he traded one for the other, etc. I got out in time to take the long route back to Bardstown (I-65& 245) which got me there in about 50 minutes.

Fr. Bill Medley's 25th anniversary--multiple choirs and dancers. I played flute, and last night at rehearsal I played (mostly improvising) better than I've done in years, if ever. Tonight was almost as good, and people were all talking to me about it, even Frank Z made a point to say something, which I can take as a real compliment.

Weird day. Polar opposites. The highs are high, and the lows are really low.

Oh. And I went into Hawkins this morning to pay for gas with my belt hanging unbuckled. That's an unthinkable social blunder.

I just tried to look up a reference on Wikipedia to an article about RightBrain/LeftBrain function and immaturity that manifests itself when a person is using the non-dominant hemisphere. It's not where I remember it, which might be that it has been removed from the article, since it was in there with a cautionary statement such as "the articile by ___ is not accepted by...." Maybe Google search history can help.

I've spent over an hour poking around on this blog entry, listening to myself ruminate. I had planned to tackle the next chapter in Jeppesen.

Before tomorrow's lesson I need to: Sing that runup checklist. Sing the friggin tail number. Sing the radio calls. Get up with Frank to have time to hit Jeppesen hard.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to hang out with Natalie, and she says she'll help me study. We can do oral from the flashcards.

Whenever I pick it up, I'm having a hard time putting down "Fate is the Hunter." It's an account of an airline / Air Transport Corps pilot before and during WWII.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Donate to Kansas relief

The same company that made the "Nuts" campaign work to save Jericho is and has been contributing to tornado relief in real-life Kansas. Those of us who have been clicking the button to send nuts to CBS find it really easy to click the same button to send donations to Kansas.

Here's the link: http://www.nutsonline.com/jericho-greensburg.html

Jericho is back. Nuts did it!

After a sustained and reasonably polite campaign of letter-writing and sending tons of peanuts to CBS, my favorite TV show is resurrected, only 3 weeks after being cancelled.

Hopefully Jake Green will have his chance to take Grandpa's cropduster off the ground, or get his hands on some of those airplanes sitting in the airport. The EMP might have fried the new ones, but I bet any good ole C-150's or C-152's that populate general aviation don't have enough electronics in them to fry.

Anybody who hasn't seen the show should check it out online (click above), or watch for it this summer.

landing advice cache

OK. This sounds enough like what I think I'm trying to do to tweak the numbers a little and rehearse it a lot. I kiped it off rec.aviation.student:

Landing: The 'secret' to landing is learning not to try to land (so-to-speak). Here's a winning scenario:

First of all you have been very good about managing your airspeed in the various legs of the pattern. Remember a good landing is VERY much part of a good set-up.

So, there you are,,, abeam of the numbers--carb heat on, throttle to 1700, slowly bleed off the airspeed to the top of the white arc (the flap extension range), one notch of flaps, pitch for 75 knots [and trim to reduce yoke pressures].

Starting to turn to base, add the second notch of flaps in the turn (makes a difference) airspeed to 70 knots.

On final, third notch of flaps, airspeed 65 knots. If you are high on your VASI or PAPI, make a temporary reduction of power till the top of the VASI (for example) is starting to turn pinkish and then add back your 1500 RPM. Always remember power for altitude, pitch for airspeed, don't lower the nose to attempt to maintain the glide slope. Maintain airspeed, and manage altitude with power.

Over the threshold, throttle to idle, at this point look down the runway about the same distance you would if you were driving on the freeway at that speed (using the previous rule).

Round-out height (the point where you transition to flying level over the runway) is about a shoulder or waist length height above the runway (the mains, of course). So, there you are over the runway with power to idle. I don't want you to 'think about trying to land', 'TRY' to continue flying - that is, as you see sink apply a little back pressure for it, more sink,, more backpressure on the yoke. Remember keep trying to fly, you are not *trying* to land.... Soon you should find yourself in a nose high position touching down on the mains, just a split-second after there is a brief warble from the stall horn.

So, maintain a uniform, stabilized approach. Look down the runway the appropriate distance (if you look too close two things will happen; one, you'll be distracted by the ground rush AND also visually misjudge your height above the runway. Land by 'trying not to land' mindset can help you a lot. There is no rush,,, with power at idle (remember we reduced it to idle over the threshold) you WILL touch down,,, don't rush the flare,, you WILL land, beyond a doubt.

Once again, don't worry, it will all come to you and then you will be wondering why you couldn't do it before? ....


=========================
Hi Phil
Next time you go out take a felt tipped pen.
Sit on the runway on the numbers - look at the end of the runway - place
a dot on the windshield which aligns with the centre of the end of the
runway.

Go fly.

climb as high as you like - 4000 ft or 9000ft - the higher the better.

Pick a tree - aim for it with the dot on the windshield - at approach
speed. Fly down to it keeping it exactly under the dot and maintaining
approach speed (it is a REALLY good idea to flare before you reach the
tree :))

That exercise will quickly teach you how to maintain approach speed to
an exact point.
That exact point will eventually become your flare point over the runway.

After that, it's just a matter of learning the correct flare height.
Tip - you do that by watching the runway edges in your peripheral vision
- not by looking at the runway.

hope this helps

Give us a progress report,

Tony
--
Indiacharliee...@hotmail.com
Tony Roberts
========================================

pilot's logbook

6/6 C-152 N89933 Lou Lou Touch & Go’s 12 1.6 hr. MB

Altitude on takeoff, be sure and get at least Vy at the very beginning, if not, take it to Vx to get out off the end of the runway. Airspeed & altitude are the only things to be looking at until 800 ft.

Keep it square, tight. Consistent descent. Turn base between Kaden Tower and the two cranes. Airspeed on approach 70 or less. Can’t use glide slope for height, because if you came in all the way on it, and had engine trouble, you wouldn’t make it. Can’t break glide slope, either.

Power is usually out at the time the cowl touches the beginning of the runway.

"Wings level." When I pull the nose up, I’m not pulling up straight, maybe, and that banks us to the right.

“How high are we?”

Monday, June 04, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6/4 C-152 N89933 Lou Lou Touch & Go's, XW 13kt, gusting 26kt. #lndg 3 0.6 hr MB

First time I've flown in the evening. The airport was practically deserted. Crazy weather. The KLOU information sounded benign, but actually we had a crosswind and gusts. We did 4 touch & go's, and it was interesting and fun, but probably because I don't have any sense.

That's actually the big question in my mind--am I going to get to where I use good judgment in an airplane?

I went ahead and started the plane without Mike (who had gone back in to make a phone call), which felt brave but it's time. I had the hardest time understanding the ATIS, and must have listened to it 5 or 6 times before I got it, and by that time Mike was back.

I had my seat up too close, which screwed up my taxiing, which is embarrassing, and then when we did runup, and checked the magnetos, I did the first one, noted the rpm drop, and then did the second one, noted the rpm drop and almost registered that the engine didn't sound right, but was moving on (by habit) when Mike says "Did that sound right??"

"I don't know." I did know--it didn't sound right, but that's what I said.

"What do you mean you don't know? How many times have you done this?" Which is the point.

He says there's carbon on the spark plug--you run the engine real hot to burn it off. He spent some time with throttle on full, moving the mixture in and out, and then had me check it again, but again it was loping when the magneto2 switch was on, so he worked it some more. On the next check it ran normally, so we went back up the list a little and checked the engine running sequence again.

So does adding air to the fuel mixture make it run hotter? I should have asked afterwards, but I had other questions, and I forgot all about it until too late.

Lots of unpredictable wind, beautiful sky , and it would have been great fun to be up playing around.

I never asked before, but we should be at 750 feet to clear the trees on landing. That displaced runway marker is for the trees.

We practiced coming in a (partial?) forward slip, where you turn your ailerons into the wind and use rudder to keep on the center line. There wasn't any bouncing this time, just difficulty with aiming.

I know/knew I was supposed to be holding ailerons into the wind, but it's funny how several times (over the course of the evening) I straightened them up without realizing it.

Mike took the controls during the last takeoff, and said afterwards that he was considering setting us back down. I didn't recognize that we were in any kind of trouble like that. He did say it was wind, not something I did, and that we were going to call it a night.

When we came in, it was on a long final because someone else came in in front of us. After we came down, ATC told us that it was interesting that we'd been moving 160 knots on the downwind leg. Fastest that plane's gone, I bet.

I had questions about the Airspace chapter in the Jeppeson book, so we stayed to talk about that. Controlled (blue) or uncontrolled (magenta)? Class G airspace (except at ground+ level) mostly doesn't exist, not in this part of the country. Class E starts at 1200 feet EXCEPT when it's underneath Class B or C airspace, in which case it's usually 700 feet, but can be different. If you are anywhere, it's controlled or it's Class E. An airport that has a magenta fuzzy outer circle and a blue dashed inner circle is one in which the tower closes at night. When the tower is open, inside the 5-mile blue dashed line is Class D. When it's closed, the 10-mile fuzzy line is the boundary for wait a minute, Class E? Then why a boundary line? Outside the line is Class E. Class-E-uncontrolled-but-still-the-communication-between-pilots??? Rats. What is it?.

The big difference in all this is in knowing what your visibility and cloud avoidance minimums are.

I'm realizing that I need to practice all this information verbally with someone. Maybe I'll hire one of the Perma Herdes. Or Natalie. I'm going to have to do an oral exam, and besides that, I think when I need the information, it needs to be available to the oral (procedural) part of my brain. I say this after talking to Mike about charts. I've said it before. Sometimes, he can ask me about things that I know, even things I've known all my life, and I have to grope to verbalize the answer. (For example, I was deciphering the markings on the chart and said that the altitude of the airport was 700 msl. Altitude? Do airports have altitude? Can you believe I could NOT come up with the word "elevation"?)

Is this related to the judgment issue?

There are two possible explanations for this dichotomy. One is the philosophic/procedural gap, and the relationship to the theory of right-brain left-brain functioning in which a person is functioning in their non-dominant "hemisphere" (which would actually be a non-customary cognitive set) the person behaves/reacts differently, has different knowledge available, even behaves/talks immaturely.

The other possibility is that it's related to my crash-and-burn four/five years ago, and I still haven't come all the way back from it. I should probably delete this.

The other possibility is that I'm making mountains out of molehills and every student pilot goes thru this. It seems possible.

When we came out of Air Center One, the air was calm, and except for a big, lone white cumulonimbus thunderhead to the south, it might have been a different evening.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Pilot's logbook

6/1 C-152 N89933 Lou Lou XW Touch & Go's # Lndgs: 12 1.6 hr. MB

Getting there.