Flight 5 - short evening flight with GPS track!

Ok, I haven't got much time to write, but I do have some time to post some very interesting graphics and photos. The sky still has a lot of smoke haze which means a very interesting and colourful sunset. Check out the pre-flight photo with red sun in the sky, then the in-flight photos with a very strange sunsetting. On the photo to the right above, the light coloured circle in the centre of the frame is actually the sun. Later that evening we had a light show of a sunset, a great time to be flying!

GPS track

This time I remembered to bring my GPS. It's just a simple hiking unit made by Timex which is linked via radio to my watch, and a separate recording unit. You can download the recorded data and convert it to a Google Earth format so you can view where you went in full 3D! I've annotated an overhead view to show the left and right traffic patterns that we covered this evening. The normal traffic pattern is to the right, 800ft Traffic Pattern Altitude hence shorter and lower than the left pattern which is 1000ft.

Tonight's flight was short but eventful. A surprisingly large amount of traffic coming back from a weekend away. We did a right pattern, touch and go, left patten touch and go, left pattern, landing, take off, right pattern, and short approach/descent. This is all plotted nicely on the chart to the right. This chart has two vertical axis, one speed and one altitude. You can see the difference between the 800ft pattern and the 1000ft pattern.

This picture shows the traffic pattern as viewed from the air, you can kind of make out the tracks but there are altitude errors in the recording which make it look like we dropped to the ground briefly before popping back up again. Of course this didn't happen during the flight!


Touch and go

As the name suggests, this is where you touch down on the ground like a normal landing, but then full power and 0 flaps before taking off again. Saves a lot of time taxing down the parallel and waiting turns with other aircraft for access to the runway. Everything seems to happen very quickly!

Short approach/descent

I can't remember exactly what this was called, but as you can see from the GPS track one of the right hand circuits was much shorter than the others. The ATC asked if we could do a short approach and we did. This meant dropping the engine throttle back to idle, full 30 degree flaps, and then gliding down at 60knts (no engine power!) in what felt like a very short and fast descent down to the runway. It was actually a real buzz! I'm looking forward to practising these for real.

Parking up

One final picture showing just how much detail is available on Google Maps and Google Earth now, you can see exactly where I parked the plane!

Flight stats: 29 June 2008, 8pm, 0.7hrs flight, N24351 (starting with 15gal fuel).

Lessons/Skills: Practiced patterns, including 2 left patterns, and 1st short approach.

Next lesson: Stalls?

Flight 3 - patterns, fly-bys, landings and take offs!

This was THE most challenging flight yet, 11 times around the pattern including 8 landings and 3 go arounds. Towards the end of the 1.6 hours of flying I was starting to get the hang of the approach and the landings were not too bad. But it gets tiring doing that many circuits!

The original plan was to do some stalls, but the visibility has been getting worse with all the wild fires in California at the moment, see the photo to the right to see how strange the sky and the sun look at the moment. Apparently the weather is forecast is predicting more lightning at the weekend, which could mean more fires and bad vis. So instead of stalls I was taught the airport's holding pattern and we were going to do a number of low altitude fly bys. The fly bys went well so we tried a few landings... then a few more... and a few more. At the end of the lesson I was surprised to find out I'd done 8 landings with various degrees of assistance from my instructor Patti. Towards the end they were 99% mine, with some verbal coaching on when to 'flare'. I've just checked the flying handbook and it looks like I've got a few chapters to catch up on: 5) Takeoff and departure climbs, 7) Airport Traffic Patterns, and 8) Approaches and Landings.

Palo Alto Airport Traffic Pattern

The traffic pattern at PAO (and I'm sure most airports) is a rectangle, 800ft up in the air on the bay side, and 1000ft up on the city side. This altitude is called the TPA, Traffic Pattern Altitude. A complete rectangular traffic pattern includes 4 sides (but 5 legs), departure, crosswind, downwind, base and final.

The departure is probably the obvious one, this is straight after take off. At PAO you have a great view of interestingly shaped water features in the mud flats of the bay (see photo). The aim is to climb at Vy = 67 kts, this is the best rate of climb for the 152. When you reach TPA - 300ft (500ft) you make the turn onto the 'crosswind leg'. For the "right closed traffic" pattern this is a medium 30 degree turn which will put you parallel with Dumbarton Bridge (see photo, note the terrible visibility).

The Crosswind leg is a short one, maybe 3 seconds of level flight before the next turn which puts you on the downwind leg. By this time you reach the 800ft TPA and can level off the plane (pitch, power, trim).

During the downwind leg you get a few seconds to relax before starting to prepare for the landing. When you are directly across from the mid point of the runway it's for for a pre-landing flow check: fuel on, flaps up, mix in, throttle 2100, carb heat off. By the time you reach the point where you are abeam the end of the runway ("key position") it's time to prepare for the landing and start the descent.

Descent and Landing

You start the descent with the following: Carb Heat on, throttle at 1700rpm, trim 70knts, flaps 10 degrees. Assuming you have clearance from the control tower you can then turn onto the 'base leg'. If there is no other traffic then this would ideally be when you are at 45 degrees to the end of the runway, for the 152 this is when the runway is fully visible in the back window. After the turn you continue the descent by setting flaps to 20 degrees and lowering the speed to 65 kts with the attitude of the plane (not the rpm). The next turn puts you on 'final' approach, again lower flaps to 30 degrees, lower speed to 60-65 kts and line up with the runway. Assuming a constant speed and pitch, the glide slope and rate of change of altitude are now controlled by the throttle, and this takes some getting used to. As you reach the point just before the runway you cut the throttle back to idle, perform the roundout (or flare) and land the plane.

This last part sounds easy but along with the approach is probably the most difficult thing to master when learning to fly. A smooth landing requires a balance of the right speed, the right descent slope, the right angle of attack and the right timing on the 'flare'. The flare is where the plane is transitioned from the descent angle, to level flight just a few feet above the ground, before pitching back some more to touch the back wheels on the tarmac. The perfect landing would be where the plane almost reaches a stall just as it touches the ground. The most difficult thing here is to get the feeling for when to pull back on the elevator, and this part of the flight is so different to being in the air. The ground comes up to you and moves past you at a high speed, and when you're looking out the front it's difficult to get a sense for how high you are.

Post landing checks

Once you are on the ground it is time to apply the brakes gently then pull off the runway once you are down at taxi speed. Once you are off the runway you can do the post landing checks: flaps up, mix lean (about 1" from fully rich), throttle 1000rpm, carb heat off, landing light off, transponder to standby.

And again...

A lesson like this involves practising again and again. A taxi up to the courtesy line, or straight on to the runway depending on clearance, and flow check: Lights (landing), Camera (transponder Alt), Action (Mix rix) then take off.

Takeoff and aborts

From my experience so far the take off is much easier than the landing. The sequence is full throttle, use the rudder to keep the plane straight and accelerate until you reach Vr = 60 kts at which point you pull back on the elevator and the plane leaves the ground. If there is any problem during the take off, e.g. the engine not sounding right, some obstruction on the runway or an issue with the controls, then you abort the landing but cutting the throttle back to idle, breaking gently and leaving the runway. Also during the acceleration you should perform one last check of the engine instuments: rpm, oil pressure and oil temp before declaring "engine instruments are green".

Crosswinds

If flying wasn't difficult enough, then cross winds add a whole other complication. A crosswind is where you have wind coming across the runway rather then straight down it. This has a tendancy to push the plane to one side and makes the process of takeoffs and especially landings that but more challenging. For take off you tilt the ailerons in the direction of the wind, but landings you need to do some kind of sideslip or crabbed landing approach. This is one area I need more practice as it doesn't feel natural, and the controls are crossed (e.g. right aileron but left rudder).

Radio calls

Some notes for myself about the radio calls used.

When parked up in West Valley you call Palo Alto Ground (125.00) with the following message:

• Palo Alto Ground
• C24351 in west valley
• Taxi with Hotel (or whatever it happens to be)
• Right closed traffic
  

After getting permission from ground you change the radio to the tower frequency (118.60), taxi to the run-up area, perform the run up checks then:

• Palo Alto Tower
• C24351
• Ready at 31 (the runway entrance)

The response from the tower will then be one of the following:

• "Clear for take off" - at which point you do just that
• "Position and hold" - move onto the runway but hold
• "Hold short" - move ot the edge of the runway but don't move onto it, e.g. someone else is coming in to land first
• "Hold position" - stay where you are, don't move
• "Hold position #2" - e.g. you are #2, there is someone else ahead of you in the line

Summary

I learned a LOT of things on this flight, at times it was quite overwhelming but as the landings improved and I learned the flw checks and sequences I got a real sense of achievement and a buzz. After the lesson I felt really tired! It's been a busy week at work and I'd only just flown in from England over the weekend; I need some time to relax before the next lesson!

Flight stats: 1.6hrs flying + 1.4hrs groung, N24351

Lessons covered: 11 (part: rectangular pattern), 12 (part: aim point, low approach),

Next time: Good weather - stalls, bad weather - more pattern work.

Flight 2 - California on fire and slow flying

My first evening flight after work, and in fact my first proper flight of the PPL training including a white board learning session and some challenging flight maneuvers. It was also my first landing.

So why is California on Fire? Apparently there was a lot of lightning over the weekend and there are as much as 700 small wild fires spread across the state. See this story on Yahoo. In fact, when I flew back from England over the weekend while flying over California I could see various fires spread through the countryside. The haze in the air from the smoke has been bad at the ground level and was no better at altitude, except you could fly above it.

Pre-flight

The practical part of the lesson started with the usual pre-flight. The test for me was to see how much I could remember from my discovery lesson. Also Patti didn't tell me I would have a test :) Luckily I did ok, the checklist for the plane is a great help, it lists everything you need to check, and it's much like a short service on a car. As usual the fuel was low and we needed to radio the gas truck (Avionics on, switch to speaker, "PA Exxon, this is Cessna xxxxx in West Valley, refuel please").

Slow flying

The flying lesson started with some theory about slow flying. The concept is that if you pitch up the nose of the plane and lower the flaps you can fly very slowly, 45-50 knots compared to a more normal cruise of 90 knots. The interesting thing is that at both of these speed the thrust from the engine is the same, around 2100 rpm. The reason for this is that the drag is very different. When flying straight and level the plane is efficient, there is some 'parasite drag' and the usual lift generated over the wings. In slow flying the front of the plane is pitched up, more of the plane is creating drag and more of the lift is Newtonian, the drag is mostly 'induced drag'. At this slow speed the plane is not efficient, there is very little extra power, and the controls are much less effective than normal. Also the way the propeller cuts the air means that a lot of rudder is required to keep the plane straight.

The aim of slow flying was to keep the speed constant at 50 knots and keep the altitude fixed. After this we slowed down to 45 knots by pitching up further. Then we experimented by adding more power to see if we could gain altitude. The surprising thing was that even at full throttle it didn't make any difference, we continued at the same speed and altitude. This shows you that if you have a bad landing approach and are running short of the runway then extra power and pulling back may not help, in fact it would be better to pitch forward and increase airspeed and glide.

Notes: Carb heat on, Throttle off, Full flaps, pitch up, Throttle 2100rpm.

Rudder turns

Another learning point from this lesson was getting a feel for the Rudder. I found out it's possible to turn the plane with the rudder only. It's not efficient, it takes a lot of pressure on the rudder pedals, but it's interesting how it even causes the plane to bank. The most important use of the rudder is to make the normal turns smooth and efficient, this is called a coordinated turn. If the turn is not coordinated then it is either a slip (tail inside the turn) or a skid (tail out of the turn, like a car skidding around a corner with over steer).

Steep turns

After the success of the slow flying we did some practice on steep turns. The aim being to get a feel for when to pull back on the elevator while transitioning from straight and level flight into the turn. In a steep turn the lift from the wings has two components, one working up against gravity, and the other to the side to turn the plane. As less lift is going up the elevator needs to be pulled back to balance this to keep at the same altitude. The challenge for PPL flying test will be to perform a steep turn keeping the speed within +/-5 knots and the altitude within +/- 100ft! Apparently, to my surprise I managed to do this a couple of times.

Airspace

Another thing I learned today was some basics of air space. When leaving the airport we need to get above 2500ft by some boundary line on the GPS (I need to understand more about this). The other constraint was that we need to stay below 4000ft, else we would be in SFO air space (as I understand it). Clearly I need to learn more about these details!

The views!

This time I was disappointed I didn't take a camera as the views were great. The fog was covering the ground east of the Santa Cruz mountains so we were constrained to fly over the bay area. We flew up and down the east side of the hills and during the flight we watched the sunset. The wild fires added an interesting smoke layer which we passed through, and in the small plane you can smell the burning wood.

The landing

At the end of the lesson it was time to head back, the fuel doesn't last forever, nor does the daylight. Back to Ikea, 101, then a left turn into the airport. Patti helped direct me onto the correct glide path onto the runway, and controlled the throttle to get the airspeed right etc, but apparently I did most of the landing (though it felt like Patti helped fine tune this one).

What an excellent second flight!

Lessons covered: parts of 5 and 6

Next time: Lesson 8, stalls

Time for TSA checks - Alien Flight Student Program (AFSP)

If you are considering learning to fly in the US but are not a US citizen then you will need to apply for the AFSP (Alien Flight Student Program). Basically they want to understand what kind of risk I am to US security if I were to get my pilots license. I think it's a good thing they have these checks, and I was actually quire surprised how efficient the application process is. Basically they needed to know where I was from, where I have lived in the last 5 years, get a copy of my passport and visa, and also get a copy of my finger prints. The flight school also need to confirm you as a member, and they take a copy of your passport also to verify what you have sent the TSA.
The whole process from start to finish took about a week and a half including getting digital fingerprints done at SFO airport. As of today I'm permitted to start my flight training! How much did it cost? An extra $130 application fee, and $110 for the finger prints.

Flight 1 - first flight!

The discovery flight

What a fantastic experience, flying over the bay area and scenic highway 1!

For me, the first flight was a chance for me to understand what's involved in learning to fly, at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to just do the one lesson, or use it as the start of a full (Private Pilots License) PPL training course. My instructor, Patti, gave me a short interview to find out what I wanted from the flight, and with the PPL in mind she treated the first flight as a proper flying lesson. I mentioned my experience with model aircraft like planes and helicopters, and my understanding for all things mechanical. It seems this comes in very useful when learning to fly full size aircraft also.

Pre-flight

Maybe it's not that surprising, but a significant part of the lesson is taken up by the pre-flight checks on the aircraft. This includes checking all the control surfaces, flaps and hinges; checking the fuel levels and quality; checking the electrics and lighting; checking the wheels, tires and breaks; checking the engine mechanics including alternator belt and oil levels. In many ways this is similar to a simple service on a car, the engine is a flat-4 cylinder and is basic much like my old mini. The plane itself is a 2 seater Cessna 152 built in 1978.

The flight

After going through the start up procedure and I taxied us to the runway, took off from Palo Alto Airport and headed west to the hills and the coast. Apparently just after take off I had a big smile on my face :) On the way there was a fair amount of turbulence in the air just over silicon valley which made for an interesting way to learn the aircraft controls. The views on the way were fantastic, we flew over central Palo Alto, Stanford University, SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator), and Woodside (a very posh housing area in the hills!). On the way out of the valley I learned how to keep the plane at a fixed attitude and pitch, and how to use the trim on the elevator so that the plane nearly flew itself.

Once we reached a good practice area above San Gregorio, we practiced some maneuvers like turns (30 degrees), steep turns (45 degrees) and experimented with the affects of the flaps. The challenge with the steep turns was to keep the plane at that constant angle without losing height. This meant a careful balance of pulling back on the yoke, adjusting the ailerons and in theory using the rudder to prevent skidding and slipping in the turn. I say in theory because I didn't concentrate much on rudder with all the other things to look after.

The weather and views were great. Looking north you could see half moon bay and its airport, and looking south you could see where the coastline curved around Santa Cruz and Monterey.

On the way back the route is to fly towards the bay heading for the Dumbarton Bridge then as you get closer to the 101 you head for IKEA, turning right to follow the 101 south, before turning left 180 degrees and lining up with the runway. Ok, so I didn't do the landing on the first flight, it was a little too windy for that, but I did nearly everything else on the flight including the radio calls.

After landing
The strangest thing about taxi-ing the airplane on the ground is that you have to use your feet on the rudders to make the turns. It's too instinctive to try and steer the yoke like it's a steering wheel but of course it has no effect!

After taxi-ing close to the parking spot you turn off the engine and push it back into the space with a special attachment. This attachment gives you a bar with which to push and steer the plane.

Skills practiced: 4 fundamentals, pre-flight, flaps, taxi, run-up, 30deg and 45deg turns, post flight.

Lessons covered: 1 to 4

Next lesson: slow flying

Welcome to Neil's Learning to Fly Blog

Welcome to my blog which will detail my adventures in training for my Private Pilots License (PPL). The aim is to log each flight so that I have a record of what I have learned, and it gives me a way of sharing my progress with my friends and family. If you're considering learning to fly then maybe my posts will be of use to you.

Where did this flying thing start? My lovely wife Fran bought me a voucher for a flying lesson for my 30th Birthday and after having a fantastic first flight I decided to pick up a new hobby and train for my own license. I would estimate flying in the US could be as much as 1/2 the price of learning to fly in the UK. Also, being in California the weather here is often very good so it should be rare to need to cancel lessons. Right now the days are long so it's easy to have lessons after work in the evenings.

Please feel comment on my posts, or drop me an email.

Neil.