20.Apr.2017
Flight 4
1.6 flight hours
2.0 instructor hours
What we did today:
At one point today we were coming in for a landing and got tied up in other landing traffic. This requires more skill than I posses so Rick took the plan and got us down to land.
I have been fighting the plan to maintain specific speeds and altitudes as I am under the impression that '62 knots' means just that, not 60, not 64 and '3200 feet' is within 10 feet.
When Rick took the plane, landed, and then took back off it was interesting to see that these numbers are not quite as tightly limited as I expected. As he climbed out at 62 knots, his speed was running from the high 50's to the mid 60's.
There are specific limits when I am tested that I'm just starting to learn but they give you some leeway for any maneuver. For instance, a turn must end within 200' of where it started. Rick trains to the private pilot standard of 100' so I should be good when it's time for the test.
We also talked about flight physicals. For sport pilot, you only need a driver's license and don't need a physical. We both agree that this is pretty insane since the reason for flight physicals is to keep everyone safe from people who are prone to things like strokes, heart attacks, or seizures. Why would I not need a physical?
I have decided to at least talk to a flight doc to see what they think about going ahead and getting a physical. This feels like the right thing to do even though, at my age, the chances of being disqualified kind of start to go up.
Flight 4
1.6 flight hours
2.0 instructor hours
What we did today:
- Steep turns.
- Power on stall and recovery
- Lots of basic flying, climbs, descents, straight and level, slow down and stay at the same altitude, speed up and stay at the same altitude.
- Flying in traffic and not hitting other planes. This was unexpected and unplanned but for some reason the airport was busy today. When you fly in uncontrolled airspace, you can find aircraft anywhere and everywhere. No radar...no avoidance tools beyond your eyes. We passed within a mile of a small jet flying maybe 100-200' above our altitude. Kind of wakes you up.
- Not hitting birds. Looked out the window once and there was a hawk 50' from the plane.
- Taxiing. This is surprisingly hard to do; you steer with your feet using the rudder and, when going slow, left and right wheel brakes.
- Takeoff and climb out at a specific speed
- I can do steep right turns and maintain altitude pretty well
- Straight and level with proper trim
- Regular turns
- Steep left turns...I tend to drop altitude like a wounded bird.
- I'm still having some trouble maintaining a specified heading and If I'm not paying attention I wander all over the sky.
- Figuring out which runway to land on based on wind direction and airport traffic. This requires that I remember the runway orientation and wind direction and from that derive the correct runway and then figure out how to get into the standard landing pattern from where I am.
- Still head down more than I should be. It's getting better but still not where it needs to be.
- Paperwork. I need to just start memorizing all the stuff required for flying.
- I have enough study material now that I can start marking it up and organizing it for learning/memorization.
At one point today we were coming in for a landing and got tied up in other landing traffic. This requires more skill than I posses so Rick took the plan and got us down to land.
I have been fighting the plan to maintain specific speeds and altitudes as I am under the impression that '62 knots' means just that, not 60, not 64 and '3200 feet' is within 10 feet.
When Rick took the plane, landed, and then took back off it was interesting to see that these numbers are not quite as tightly limited as I expected. As he climbed out at 62 knots, his speed was running from the high 50's to the mid 60's.
There are specific limits when I am tested that I'm just starting to learn but they give you some leeway for any maneuver. For instance, a turn must end within 200' of where it started. Rick trains to the private pilot standard of 100' so I should be good when it's time for the test.
We also talked about flight physicals. For sport pilot, you only need a driver's license and don't need a physical. We both agree that this is pretty insane since the reason for flight physicals is to keep everyone safe from people who are prone to things like strokes, heart attacks, or seizures. Why would I not need a physical?
I have decided to at least talk to a flight doc to see what they think about going ahead and getting a physical. This feels like the right thing to do even though, at my age, the chances of being disqualified kind of start to go up.
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