Short & Soft field Take-offs & Landings... and a Flooded Eingine

Another lesson learned, another step taken.

The next lesson after my big "First Solo" day, was learning how to take off and land in different situations. I learned how to take-off and land in a short-field situation, which means a short runway. I also learned how to take-off and land in a soft field situation, which, one might guess, is a runway made out of grass!

Different techniques are involved in each situation. Without getting too technical, the take-offs in these situations are made with 10 degrees of flaps, and with back pressure on the controls, as well as a few other technical details. This causes the airplane to become airborne at a slower speed - just before 50 knots, while the normal speed for the airplane to become airborne is around 60knots.

Because 50 knots is close to a stalling speed, we use a technique of floating across the runway in order to gain more speed once the airplane is airborne. So, basically, once the airplane becomes airborne, we glide across the runway at about 10 feet height in order to gain sufficient speed in order to go into a safe climb. Once we reach about 68 knots, I can then put some more back-pressure on the controls to get into a normal climb.

While one needs to remain extremely focused in this situation, these types of take-offs are loads of fun to preform.

The landings are a bit different as well. They are preformed with 40 degrees of flaps, and an approach speed of 52 knots. This is also near the stalling speed, and one must remain very diligent not to go below 52 knots in this situation. The normal approach speed of the airplane I fly is around 60 knots... depending on how many degrees of flaps I have extended.

I didn't get to land at 52 knots this lesson yet, because I just began practicing these types of landings, but the more I practice them, the more I'll feel comfortable going at a slower speed on the approach.

You can find more information about short-field and soft-field techniques HERE.

Speaking of practice, yesterday I took another big step in my training, but not before making a bit of a fool of myself.

After a few Short & Soft field take-offs and landings, Eric, my instructor, told me to go park the airplane. Once I did, he explained to me that from now on I can schedule an airplane when I want, and, weather permitting, go up by myself and practice circuits to my hearts content - and to my wallet's discontent...

We walked into the airport dispatch desk to fill out some paper-work relating to me being able to rent an airplane on my own. Once we filled everything out, and he explained everything to me, I was off to fly my first practice flight on my own!

I got to the airplane we just flew, and here's where things get a little embarrassing for me. But I will have to preface this with an explanation.

Modern cars have something called an "automatic fuel injection system". As far as I understand, this system injects fuel into the engine when one starts up a car. In the old days, one had to pump the gas pedal in order to inject fuel into the engine while starting it up. Well, the Cessna 150 is from the old days. It has a manual pump called a "prime", that one has to pump a couple of times before attempting to start the engine.

Since we just flew the airplane, and the airplane was still warm, it's safe to assume that the engine needed very little priming. I, instead, gave it the usual number of pumps. The engine wouldn't start. I tried a couple of times, but no dice.

Well, it was the walk of shame back to the dispatch desk. I told them what happened, and they explained to me that I probably flooded the engine. It's not that much of a big deal, it does happen. There are different techniques to try to start the engine when it's flooded, which I did not attempt, because I knew well that there's a chance of starting an engine fire when the engine's flooded. Now, I could live with a flooded engine, but starting an engine fire is not something anyone wants to do, let alone do the first time they are laden with the responsibility of flying an airplane on their own for the first time.

I'll give it a go on my next booking. It should be a lot of fun to practice circuits on my own!

Next lesson I have with Eric, I will learn how to take-off and land with obstacles on the approach and take-off paths!

See you back here soon!

My First Solo!

My first solo flight - February 11, 2011 - Cessna 150 C-GSCP

Finally!

Yesterday was, as they said it would be, a day I'll never forget. I got a message from Eric, my instructor at about 6am confirming the lesson for 10am. I couldn't fall back asleep, predicting that this was probably the day I would get to fly solo.

I got to the airport, got the airplane ready, and we were off to fly some more touch-and-go circuits. After two or three circuits, Eric told me to land the airplane, and go back to the main apron (the part of the airport where airplanes are parked). I did so, and when we shut down, Eric asked me a few emergency questions.

When he felt I answered the satisfactorily, he reassured me that I've been flying the airplane all along, making most of the decisions, and to trust myself to make the right decisions, and with that, he stepped out of the airplane. He instructed me to fly one circuit and come back to park the plane.

It was a weird, but invigorating feeling to go through the start-up checklists by myself. I took my time to make sure I didn't miss anything on the checklist. As I turned the ignition on, and the propeller began to move, a smile came over my ugly face. This was it. I was going to fly an airplane on my own.

I got on the radios to ask for permission to taxi to the active runway for a circuit. Hearing my own voice in my headset actually comforted me. I think I was expecting to sound nervous, but instead my voice sounded calm and collected.

I got permission to taxi, and started taxiing down to the active runway.

When I got to the active runway, there must have been the heaviest traffic that I've encountered yet. there were two airplanes ahead of me waiting to take off, as well as about five airplanes lined up to land. This made for a lot of "holding" time, but it was good for me. It gave me a chance to double check everything and settle into the moment.

"Buttonville Tower, Sierra Charlie Papa ready for take-off Runway 33" I said.

"Sierra Charlie Papa, negative, hold for landing traffic" said ATC. Right, yet another airplane approaching to land. Some more time to think.

And then finally I heard "Sierra Charlie Papa cleared for take-off Runway 33".

I taxied onto the runway, and slowly pushed the throttle. I got to 60 Knots, pushed up, and there I was, in the air.

About 100 feet up, the reality of the situation hit me. I remember thinking to myself "Ok, I'm up in the air in an airplane. It's all up to me to get this thing down to the ground safely". And so I said to myself, out loud: "focus at the task at hand". And from there on, I was locked in and focused.

The flight itself was relatively smooth. I didn't have to follow any traffic on the approach. That would have made things a bit more nerve-wrecking, but I would have managed it as well. The approach and landing was very smooth - probably the best landing I had done that day.

I did it - and I managed to do it without injuring anyone or anything, and it felt incredible. Great success! Taxiing back to the main apron, I had a permanent smile on myself. All I could think to myself was "Wow, finally, I did it".

Eric came over to the airplane, and asked me how it was. I hugged him and said "It was a dream come true". It's not what he wanted to hear. It's not what anyone who asked me how my first solo flight was expects to hear. He wanted to hear how the flight went - technically. But the flight itself was good, smooth, uneventful - just the way I expected it to be. But what it really was, was a dream come true. It's the first thing I've said to anyone who's asked me the question since yesterday, because it's simply the truth.

This solo flight has been a long time coming. A really long time. This winter has been a write-off for flying so far. Had everything gone smoothly, I could have flown this solo flight a couple of months ago. But I'm starting to realize that things hardly ever go smoothly when you deal with airplanes, and flight. Still, being up in the air makes up for all the troubles you go through on the ground.

I have gotten lots of congratulatory messages on Facebook and what not over the past 24 hours. My parents were ecstatic to hear about my accomplishment. It's felt really good. The road is still long and difficult from hear on. I've realized a dream, but I have bigger dreams for myself regarding aviation that will be harder to realize. But the support I've gotten from my friends and family, and my girlfriend, has been amazing so far. I have a lot to be thankful for.

So thank you! See you back here soon.

Back at it!

Hey there! did you miss me?

Well, after more than a month of not flying due to the weather and a rather brutal flu that I caught, I managed to catch a lesson yesterday, finally.

Since I haven't flown so long, this lesson consisted of circuits reviews. Yesterday was probably the windiest day that I had flown yet. I had some major crosswinds on the landings, so much so that I ended up no flaps on my landings.

Using no flaps on landings makes for some interesting approaches and landings. Since the airplane tends to glide much more when no flaps are retracted, the whole angle of descend is a much less steeper angle than if I would be landing with flaps. This means that I have to plan my approaches differently compared to when I land with flaps. The profile of the runway also looks different since you're approaching at a shallower angle.

After not flying an airplane for so long, I expected myself to feel uncomfortable in the airplane. It's happened to me before, where there's a few weeks where I don't fly because of weather, and when I get into the airplane, It's almost like I have to learn everything from scratch again.

While I did shoot some blanks the first time I spoke on the radios, I quickly got over it and focused on what I had to do. Even with the winds being as strong as they were, I handled the airplane well. I had no anxiety about it, I just made sure to focus at the task at hand and be sure of myself. When it comes time for my first solo flight (and I know I've been mentioning it for months - outside circumstances have prevented me from soloing, but I think it's coming up sooner rather than later), I know that staying focused and being sure of myself are the things I'll need to do when I'm in the airplane alone for the first time.

I apologies for not keeping you up to date, but on the other hand it really didn't seem like anyone cared. I did promise to myself that I'll keep this blog thing going, so I'm sticking to my promise - whether you like it or not!!

Please come visit me again.

Cheers