ing, and what Mike had told me that, as the angle of attack increased, and with the really slow airspeed I would need quite a bit of right rudder to counteract the p-factor, gyroscopic effect, corkscrewing slipstream, and torque reaction. What I didn't know, or rather forgot, was that it is important to release that right rudder once the break happens. Well of course with the right rudder, and then I inadvertently turned the ailerons into the direction of our dropping wing, we started to spin. The caused a lot of pucker factor in my case and started saying, "mike, Mike, MIKE!". Of course, he calmly recovered from the spin I put us into, but he did say "that was the first for me with a student!". I think it was only 1/2 a spin but it got my attention at any rate. At least I better know what to do in a stall now, use the rudder to keep the wings level.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Lesson Three
Wow, this was an exciting lesson. We did mostly slow flight today and practiced stalls. The really interesting part was when we were practicing the power-on stall. I knew from my ready
ing, and what Mike had told me that, as the angle of attack increased, and with the really slow airspeed I would need quite a bit of right rudder to counteract the p-factor, gyroscopic effect, corkscrewing slipstream, and torque reaction. What I didn't know, or rather forgot, was that it is important to release that right rudder once the break happens. Well of course with the right rudder, and then I inadvertently turned the ailerons into the direction of our dropping wing, we started to spin. The caused a lot of pucker factor in my case and started saying, "mike, Mike, MIKE!". Of course, he calmly recovered from the spin I put us into, but he did say "that was the first for me with a student!". I think it was only 1/2 a spin but it got my attention at any rate. At least I better know what to do in a stall now, use the rudder to keep the wings level.
ing, and what Mike had told me that, as the angle of attack increased, and with the really slow airspeed I would need quite a bit of right rudder to counteract the p-factor, gyroscopic effect, corkscrewing slipstream, and torque reaction. What I didn't know, or rather forgot, was that it is important to release that right rudder once the break happens. Well of course with the right rudder, and then I inadvertently turned the ailerons into the direction of our dropping wing, we started to spin. The caused a lot of pucker factor in my case and started saying, "mike, Mike, MIKE!". Of course, he calmly recovered from the spin I put us into, but he did say "that was the first for me with a student!". I think it was only 1/2 a spin but it got my attention at any rate. At least I better know what to do in a stall now, use the rudder to keep the wings level.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
First Lesson
I had my first flying lesson today with Mike. It went very smoothly although the ride was a little bumpy. We covered the basics, four fundamentals of flight, best rate & angle of climb, cruise decent, and what it means to be in the pattern., Mike also showed me how to tune in the VOR and we even flew over it to see what a VOR looks like. More to come!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Condor Aero Flying Club
Thanks to a new friend I made on a recent dirt bike riding trip, who just so happens to be a private pilot as well as an excellent rider, I have now signed on as a member of the Condor Aero Club. After looking around at some of the other schools in the area, this one appealed to me the most, mainly because:
- one of the few flying clubs around (maybe the only one?)
- club has been in operation since 1957
- as a member, you actually become a part owner of the airplanes
- top notch CFIs and maintenance
- lower rental rates than any school I've seen
- 2 Cessna 152 trainers, 4 Cessna 172s, and 1 Piper Arrow - should be no shortage of planes to rent
Saturday, June 9, 2007
First ride
My wonderful wife bought me quite the unique Christmas present in '06, an introductory flight ride out at Butler Airport. So I head out there with my gift certificate for a airplane ride and pull into the parking lot forAirquest Aviation. Walk right up to the desk,
present my certificate and there just happens to be an instructor just hanging out in the lounge who agrees to take me up. We walk out onto the tarmac and up to a pretty nice looking red and white Piper Warrior N624AQ, (he informed me of the make and model, I had no clue). We did the walk around, but unfortunately, this guy was about as talkative as a rock. So after pulling some info out of him (I t
end to ask a lot of questions), we got loaded into the plane and off we taxied. Out to the end of the runway, he performed the "runup" after repeatedly slamming the door of this contraption to get it closed (worry?). The plane accelerated better than I thought it would and off we went for a trip over Lake Moraine. It was my first time in a long time in a GA airplane and I didn't recall how light they seemed, but we were certainly getting bounced around a lot from the turbulence. He let me feel out the controls a bit, and I really enjoyed being able to turn the plane this way and that, even though I'm sure he was doing most of the work. After about a 1/2 hr, we turned back and he had me follow the line on the GPS back to the airport. We got in the pattern and he executed an rather "interesting" landing in some very gusty conditions. So to make a long story short, I was totally hooked, I loved it, and am going to start looking into options as to how I can learn to fly!
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