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.