Sure it’s simple to tell when you’re flying over the clouds, but what about anticipating whether you’ll be flying into the clouds if you maintain your current altitude? This is a pretty important concept for any VFR pilot.
Category Archives: Lessons
Too busy flying to blog
Wow, it’s been a few months since my last post, I hate when that happens. I have a bunch of topics queued up, but for now I’ll quickly get you caught up.
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Simulated engine out spiral descent
Simulated engine failure at 4,500′ with a spiral down for landing at Hartford Brainard, KHFD. The prop is moving but the plane is at idle so it’s basically just a glider. The descent is sped up 800x, it actually took quite a bit longer to get down.
The Logic Behind Class E Airspace
Need help understanding Class E Airspace logic? This is a must read.
The Logic Behind Class E Airspace
Night Time is the Right Time
After about 5 weeks of the weather gods having their way with my plans, I finally got in my first night lesson. It was a perfect night, 50 degrees, some patchy clouds at 20,000′ eventually cleared to unveil the stars. The moon was nowhere to be found. The air was perfectly still. Continue reading
Flying as a Workout
I’m usually an active person and try to keep a steady workout routine. Unfortunately flying and studying has definitely stolen a good chunk of my workout time. When I do workout I usually monitor my heart rate to optimize performance. Since I just love data, I decided to wear a heart monitor during my first solo cross-country flight. The Garmin Virb Elite that I use to record the video of my flights can also capture GPS and heart monitor data. Combining all of this with the cockpit audio recording I get a detailed analysis of my stress levels during various parts of the flight. Continue reading
Solo Cross Country Endorsement with ATC Radio
Last weekend my instructor put me through a flight test to make sure I was ready for my solo cross country endorsement. The test consisted of multiple towered and non-towered airports to see how I handled the workload with a number of radio handoffs and airspace navigation. Continue reading
Landing on a sidewalk
No I didn’t try to land on a sidewalk but it sure felt it when I was landing at a strip that’s a third of the width of my home airport. Sure I’ve read about the illusions caused by different runway widths or slopes, but I finally experienced it. As stated in the PHAK:
“A narrower-than-usual runway can create an illusion that the aircraft is higher than it actually is, leading to a lower approach. “
Most references to runway illusions have drawings to demonstrate the difference. Here’s a real world example. Leveraging GPS data from the Garmin Virb Elite that records my flights I was able to get two shots that are close to the same altitude above the runways. On the left is my home base, Hartford Brainard KHFD runway 2 at 4417×150 ft. On the right is Simsbury 4B9 runway 3 coming in at skinny 2205×50 ft. I overlaid the HFD runway perspective on the Simsbury runway to show the difference.
To add to the challenge, there were the snow banks packed to the edge of the runway. Luckily I fly a Cessna Skyhawk 172, a high-wing. Yeah, I know the wings on the 172 are only 36 feet which gives me more than enough room. Somehow it made me feel better knowing I had a less of a chance of doing some snow clearing then if I was in a low-wing.
So how’d the rest of the story play out? Well as expected, I did think I was higher than I actually was and the runway sure did sneak up on me. It wasn’t a bad landing and it sure wasn’t a soft one. The good news is that the 2 follow up landings were much better once I understood the brain games that were in play. Another lesson learned. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Now on to find some sloped runways to round out my runway illusion series. I heard Sky Acres 44N is a good one. Anyone have other recommendations in the area?
I’ve got an attitude problem, it’s unusual
I’m always impressed with the amazing abilities of the human brain. Today I experienced how the brain sets priorities for the body. I spent 30 minutes doing unusual attitude recovery drills on a moderately turbulent day. I felt fine while in the air, I think it was because my brain knew I had to focus on flying. Once I was on the ground my stomach went a little sour. I wasn’t close to being sick but I wasn’t exactly feeling great. Enough of that, here are the flying lessons I learned today.
Flight Following in the Real World
If you’re early in your training and haven’t yet used Flight Following then this post is for you. What seems like a simple concept to get traffic advisories can actually be a bit overwhelming the first time. Here’s an overview of the communications from my latest cross country round trip flight between Hartford Brainard (KHFD) and Dutchess County (KPOU). Continue reading
Three Papa Foxtrot 