A few months ago, I saw a link on twitter to the following video: I recently remembered this and thought I might post it here and offer some analysis of the overall situation. The biggest talking point I've come up with is "Attitude is everything." I mean that in two ways: attitude of the pilot... Read more »
Continue ReadingTag archive for "stalls"
Stall practice
I am mostly ready for my check-ride. I was 1 hour short or 40 and I need some work on controlling my stall recovery. That was the plan for this lesson. In the last lesson we had done a lot of work on the maneuvers and revisited stalls. This idea behind this flight was to get some more practice with stalls to make sure that the procedure sticks. The last thing I want is to get out and spin it on the check-ride.... Read more »
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Practical Test Prep
Just to clear the air, I am getting very close to the check-ride. Prior to this lesson all that was left to complete is an hour or so of practical test prep. The plan for this lesson was to perform all the maneuvers required for the check-ride and then work on anything that needs improvement. That means we will do stalls, steep turns, slow flight, ground reference maneuvers, and unusual attitudes.... Read more »
Continue ReadingPractical Test Prep and Last Night Landings
Josh let me know on the very end of the downwind, that my electrical system had just failed. He turned down all the lights, and we were in the dark. All I had was runway lights, engine sounds and a stall horn to guide me. My response to this was, "Oh...does that mean I have no flaps either?" (The Skyhawk has electric flaps.) So now it was a no flap landing too. Nevertheless, I made a really good, short landing.... Read more »
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A Short Dual Lesson
The lesson culminated with a thoroughly normal landing which was excellent. It was another landing that really made me look good and really makes me feel bad about the terrible landings I had been making. After securing the plane and paying for the lesson, I received a bit more debriefing. As things stand right now, I'm looking to be done by end of year and that is a distinct possibility given the schedule we worked out.... Read more »
Continue ReadingSeventh Lesson
In an effort to be smooth I was trying to maintain glide as best as possible and I was doing perfectly. As we got near the runway I slowed the descent as smoothly as I could and let the speed bleed off. I new we were in ground effect so I just let it float a little bit as we slowed down maintaining pitch so that we didn't slam down on the runway. By the end of the relatively short float the stall horn went off and the airplane settled silently onto the runway. There were no bumps or anything.... Read more »
Continue ReadingFifth Lesson
I read back, "Expect 23l, fly runway heading, err 230 after takeoff squawk zero three three three, skyhawk 21693." The response I get is "Actually, runway heading is different, that's 230 and squawk ZERO THREE THREE THREE." Be sure to read that in the most pissy tone you can muster.... Read more »
Continue ReadingFourth Lesson
Our final task was steep turns. I had but one question, what is the steepest one should go? This was answered with Josh performing a 60 degree steep turn. I felt like I was looking almost straight down at the ground. Then it was my turn I stayed closer to 45, which is nothing to shake a stick at. I lost some altitude but not bad for a first try. Josh had me do a steep turn to the right and we headed back to the airport straight away.... Read more »
Continue ReadingAbout Me
Hello, my name is Matt Everett and as of 1/1/2010 I am a private pilot ASEL. I started this blog early in my training and used it primarily as a place to keep notes of my lessons. Since then it has grown to much more than that, but my main focus is still on aviation experiences.
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