With the results of my eye exam last week in hand, I returned to the AME’s office today. The AME was satisfied that my eyes were not going to cause any issues for flying and that I met the requirements for a class III medical certificate. I now have my combination Class III medical and student pilot certificate. At some point in the not distant future, I should be able to do my first solo flight. Woo hoo!

Today was supposed to be soft field take-off and landing (either snow/slush on a paved runway or a soft grass runway). Due to a medium but gusty cross-wind, we mostly worked on cross-wind landings.

Soft field take-offs are a little different than normal take-offs, but nothing horrible. In a normal take-off, you taxi from the run-up area (generally, the big slab of pavement at the end of the taxiway, right before the runway) at a slow speed (since it’s almost all turning), line up with the runway centerline, stop for a second to double check instruments one last time (since one should know the runway heading, it’s a good time to sanity check the directional gyro* one last time), run the throttle up to full (for a fixed-pitch prop, anyway), pull back on the stick when rotation speed is reached, feel the wheels leave the ground, climb with an airspeed of V_y (or V_x if there is an obstacle to clear), and off you go. For soft-field take-offs, it’s a bit different. Because the wheels may sink into the mush / ground, the taxi speed is slightly higher and there is no pausing in the transition from taxi to take-off — you just run up the throttle and go. For a tricycle gear aircraft, the elevator is held back all the way from the start, so that the front wheel almost instantly comes off the ground. The elevator pressure is released slowly as speed increases, keeping the front wheel off the ground, but keeping the nose down enough that the tail doesn’t slam into the ground. The plane will take off before stall speed due to ground effects, and the plane is held in ground effect until normal rotation speed is obtained. The rest of the takeoff (reaching V_x and all that) is basically the same as a normal takeoff.

Soft field landings are very different than normal landings. In a Cessna 150, a normal landing has an approach angle of at least 3 degrees, usually more (since one usually flies a C-150 in a tight pattern, as the thing can practically descend vertically for a landing, compared to other planes). With soft field landings, one comes in on the shallow end of things (a bit under the standard 3 degree approach angle) and a bit short of the runway (not much). When close to the ground, the plane is “pulled” onto the runway, using more power than normal to land the plane at a shallow descent angle. The shallow descent angle reduces the impact pressure at touchdown, reducing the drag instantly added by the wheels. Because of the shallow approach, soft field landings are pretty difficult to learn in a cross-wind when normal cross-wind landings are still a bit of a challenge. So for most of the flight, we worked on normal cross-wind landings. I did better, but still need a lot more work before I’m really comfortable. I think I’m to the point where Willis is confident in my ability to land safely, but would prefer I be a bit more refined in the effort.

*The Directional Gyro (aka Heading Indicator) is a gyroscopic instrument that gives a directional heading similar to a compass. Unlike a compass, it only provides change of heading indication — it only gives an accurate heading indication if it is aligned with a real compass heading at some point. The advantage of the DG over a real compass is that the readings are stable and accurate in a turn (unlike a compass which is nearly unreadable in turbulence, as it bounces around, and can give false readings when in a turn).

Since hopes are high that my medical issues will resolve themselves (or be resolvable), I decided not to cancel today’s flight lesson. Today was bitterly cold (22 degrees) with winds out of the south/southwest at a bit under 20 knots. In other words, blowing like mad. Took off on 24 for the first time in a while, headed out to the south to practice some slips. Slips aren’t anything too difficult – bank one direction, full rudder in the other direction, use bank to control direction. The point is to cause the airplane to go slightly sideways, greatly increasing drag (and therefore rate of sink). Slips are generally used on approach to lose altitude if flaps aren’t available (either because they’ve gone inoperative or the plane doesn’t have them). Actually slipping to lose altitude on the approach was pretty easy. For some reason, my final approach (after coming out of the slip) onto 24 was a bit tougher than I expected. I don’t know if I was just improperly compensating for the nice head wind or what, but I don’t think it was a big deal.

The second half of the flight was cross wind landings. I did better than the last time — I actually put the plane on the runway once. I decided to go-around once and needed help on the last approach of the day. The last one was really nasty, with winds at about 22. We were right at the max of what one can do in a Cessna 150 — in order to slip to wind correct, we were using nearly all the rudder to correct for the bank necessary to compensate for the wind. For slips to lose altitude, one uses full rudder all the time and does not point in the direction of travel. When slipping to compensate for a cross wind, the airplane is always aligned heading down the runway, bank is altered to compensate for the wind by controlling direction of travel, and rudder is altered to keep alignment. So yeah, you land on one wheel – it’s great fun.

Next up, sorting out the medical mess. And when I get back to Bloomington from winter break, a lesson on short field / soft field takeoffs and landings. For soft field takeoffs, the idea is to get off the ground below stall speed by taking advantage of ground effect, build up airspeed in ground effect, then begin the climb. Should be interesting.

Today was cold (no surprise there), clear, and absolutely no winds. Flew simulated instruments from take-off until the last two miles of approach. Take-off was much smoother than my last simulated instrument take-off. Overall, felt much better than the last time I was up. Flew some VOR tracking, some steep turns, altitude adjustments, and the like. Nearly drilled the steep 360 turn, but gained too much altitude returning to level flight. Oh well – next time. I’m still not great at those in visual flight, so it’s no surprise I have trouble in instrument flight. Willis simulated an AFR approach onto runway 35, so that I would have some idea what it was like before we ran one with the tower at Terre Haute during our cross-country flights. Didn’t setup too horribly, although I was a bit high for most of the approach. Landing was smooth and pretty.

Now I just need a slightly windy day so I can get some cross-wind approaches in.

Once again, cold and high pressure dominates. Once again, no wind. It was a pretty day, after the snow storm last night, although the bit of snow on the taxiways made moving around on the ground entertaining. Three little wheels on a light bird make life entertaining, that’s for sure — much better in the air. Today was more landings — woot for touch and goes. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the approach and landing and I think Willis is as well, so that bodes well for being able to solo before I die. I screwed up one approach that I’m not happy about – had to go-around. Also had one approach cancelled by the tower – the plane ahead of me was slow to get off the runway, probably because the tower made the taxiway conditions sound really bad (and there was that whole Southwest flight sliding off the runway last night).

We practiced a couple of power-off approaches, and I’m feeling much better about those — I drilled every one of them. Also flew the last three landings without an altimeter or airspeed indicator, practicing approaches and landings with instrument failures. I had no problems with it – actually, it was a bit easier because I was flying the plane looking out the window instead of looking at the instruments — I should really try that more often. The last approach, he also declared a simulated flaps failure after I had put down the initial 10 degrees of flaps. And here’s where we have “Brian’s dumbass moment of the week”. Willis made some comment about how it was no problem to fly without instruments and with flaps stuck at 10. I, of course, made some remark like “I’m good as long as we don’t lose the engine”. So he decided to simulate losing an engine. We did make the runway, no problem. Actually, my smoothest touchdown of the day. Last landing, there was traffic close behind us on approach, so we were asked to expedite the approach. We were abeam of the runway and made a 180 degree turn onto landing. I think I even made it look good.

Things left to do before my first solo: pass medical exam (and thereby get my student certificate), get non-owners insurance, cross-wind landings, an hour of instrument flight, and short field / soft field takeoff and landings.

Yes, more take-off and landing work. Today was also extraordinarily cold, this time a nice balmy 15 degrees. Wind was variable from the north to west at 4 knots and was completely unnoticable. The cloud ceiling was at 1400′, so not even enough room for a standard pattern (1). This time, the plane did not spend the night in the maintenance hanger, but instead was in an unheated hanger. That was not the most comfortable preflight ever. But no one froze to death and we managed to get into the air before the windshield fogged up, so no worries. Today was the first day I can honestly say I was the one putting the plane on the runway. Still far from perfect, but I felt much more in control than the last two flights. Still sometimes a bit too aggressive with my control usage, but getting better. Also let my speed get a bit out of control at a couple of places, which is something that I definitely need to correct in the next couple of flights.

Had one practice go-around, which was no big deal. Since the plane performs so well when it’s so cold out, there’s nothing hard about aborting a landing. With no flaps, two people, and a full load of fuel, the plane was still climbing at 800 FPM. At full flaps, it probably would have made 200 FPM no problem. As opposed to the summer, where that plane is lucky to make 50 FPM climb rate with a full load and full flaps. I’m sure that next spring when it’s warm and we practice aborting a full flap landing, I’ll be looking back at this abort with longing.

Also had one practice engine-out landing. Abeam of the end of the runway, the instructor declares an engine failure simulation and brings the engine to idle. The trick is to then land on a runway :). Because of a rouge cloud at 1200′, I was already low and because I was (poorly) recovering from an overspeed from descending to avoid said rouge cloud, I was a little slow at this point. And then I poorly adjusted to best glide speed (70 knots in a Cessna 150), so it went bad. We made it, but it wasn’t pretty. I would not have tried to make 35 if not instructed to given my attitude when the engine “failed”. I think I would have instead applied flaps and made for runway 6, which would have been an easy turn and not stretched the glide distance from position of failure. But Willis, my instructor, is a better pilot than I am and wanted to show how one would get there if it had to be made. In post-flight conversation, he said that he would have done the same thing my instincts told me to and head for 6. The disadvantage of that is that you’ve landed without clearance. Not a problem in a real emergency, but not so good in a simulated emergency :).

More landing practice is clearly needed, but I’m making progress. More go-rounds, emergency landing simulation, and cross-wind landings are in my future. But if it’s nice on Friday for my next flight, I’ll probably be flying simulated instrument to get my second hour of that out of the way. The third hour will be when I’m doing cross country flights.

(1) The FAA rules for visual flight rules in class D airspace (small airports with control towers) are 500′ below, 1000′ above, and 2000′ horizontal from any cloud. So if the base of the cloud cover is 1400′ AGL (above ground level), the highest we could climb is 900′ AGL. Standard traffic pattern at US airports is 1000′ AGL. 100′ is not a big deal for visual flight rule landings – easily accounted for along the way. By the way, minimum cloud base for visual flight rules flight is 1000′.

It was just cloudy enough that it would have been difficult to find space to fly simulated instruments, so instead we had hour 2 of take-off and landing. Flight was at 8:00am, and it was very cold (under 20 degrees) when we started. Thankfully, the plane was in the BMG maintenance hanger overnight, which is heated. So preflight and all that was done in the hanger, where it was not toasty but not so cold that your fingers went numb trying to get the oil cap off. We were taking off and landing on 35 today (1), which was the opposite end of the runway from last time. There was a 7-10 knot cross wind out of the west. I managed to get relatively comfortable with the cross wind approach. You end up in a cross-control situation when making a cross wind approach. The plane is banked into the wind to stay on course directly down the runway and the rudder is used to put the plane into a slip so that the nose continues to point directly down the runway (2).

Once again, had trouble rolling out at the proper altitude or rolling out too quickly, leading to slight ballooning and a harder landing than I would like. I still didn’t feel like I was in control of the craft to the extent that I would like – I was letting the plane get away from me as we got closer to the ground. My approaches weren’t as clean as I might like, but I think I was getting more comfortable during the lesson. One thing I need to work on is the accuracy of my adjustments. I tend to over-adjust, leading to me chasing the plane. For example, I would take off too much bank when I noticed that I was overslipping against the cross wind and end up on the downwind side of the runway, then have to bring it back. At least the oscillation was dampened, I suppose.

(1) If you ever wondered how runways got their designations, it’s the magnetic compass reading, rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, with the last digit (obviously always a zero once rounded) removed. So if you are pointed down runway 35, you should have a compass heading of 350 degrees. Obviously, runway 17 is the other end of runway 35. If there are two parallel runways, you end up with 35 L and 35 R, for Left and RIght. Left and right are in reference to the position you would be when looking down runway 35 from the 35 end.

(2) Normally, if you want to follow a course with a cross-wind, you do what is called crabbing. You have a heading slightly into the cross wind such that the cross wind is cancelled out and you follow your intended heading. So if you want to go due north and there is a cross wind out of the west, you might hold a heading anywhere from 1-30 degrees west of due north.

Wow – footnotes in a log entry…

Today was an absolutely beautiful day – about 40 degrees, with calm winds, almost clear skies, and great visibility. Rather than waste such a day on simulated instrument flying, we worked on take-offs and landings. Well, the hard part was the landings – the take-offs are easy at this point, but it’s hard to land without taking off first. Landings were on runway 17, which is 6500′ long, plenty of room for a long landing, roll-out, and take-off. I think we got 5, maybe 6 landings in during the hour we were in the air. I usually could get the plane lined up pretty well and on a decent glide path onto the runway. I had some trouble with the rollout to bring the plane out of the descent and onto the runway. I would start at about the right altitude but then get a little over eager and get into level flight too high. At that point, the plane isn’t going to glide until the runway quite as smooth as one might like. And since I was sitting in ground effect for so long, I’d have a tendency to let one wing drop a little bit and drift or yaw or such. I started feeling pretty comfortable with the whole thing, but need much more practice. I get my chance either Friday or Monday, depending on whether Friday gets allocated to instruments or not.

Hopefully I’ll get to the point where I’m ready to solo by early January. I need to schedule my physical and all that in the not too distant future… woo!

Today was originally supposed to be the last hour of simulated instrument flight until cross-country flights start. However, the cloud ceiling was pretty low and it was pretty windy. So I was going to be flying low in heavy winds, which is not the ideal way to do simulated instrument flight. Instead, we moved on to the next set of lessons, turns about a point and s-turns. Both of which are easier to see (and more challenging) with a strong wind, as the plane gets moved much more with the strong wind. I got the hang of both pretty quickly, although I need some practice on s-turns. I was slightly misestimating where I was compared to the reference line, so I would roll out a bit early. But nothing that I can’t correct with a little bit of practice.

Next flight (on Monday) is either more simulated instrument practice or landings, depending on what the weather is doing.

Today was more simulated instrument flying (and that’s about it). Took off with the foggles on, which was interesting. Did not deal well with that at all, but hopefully will do better with that next time up. Worked on stalls (power-on and power-off), steep turns, and VOR intercept / tracking. I was turning way too steep when I was trying to do the VOR navigation, which was irritating me. Oh, and IFR unusual attitude recovery, which has to go down as my least favorite part about flying at this point ;).

Tomorrow is (hopefully) the last of the IFR for a little while. I believe we’re going to be working on more VOR navigation. And probably something else that makes me want to smash the glasses into little itty bitty pieces.