Chris just called. Less than 5 miles visibility means no solo tonight. In fact, it means there's nothing Chris and I can really spend our time on except just messing around. It was my call, but we cancelled.
Trying again tomorrow. Hope these thunderstorms avoid Connecticut.
Showing posts with label visibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visibility. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Cross Country & Rain
Well, the rain went away in time for the weekend! In fact, the weather forecast for Saturday was "calm winds, clear below 12,000' and visibility greater than 10 miles." In other words, perfect conditions. When I got to the airport though, Chris seemed skeptical. He showed me AviationWeather.gov and showed how everything was great -- except the dew point. You see, the closer the tempature and the dew point are, the more hazy the conditions are. Well, turns out they were pretty close on Saturday.
After telling me we weren't going to Groton (which has only 1 "T" in it, oops!), Chris said we could still go up and possibly divert somewhere else. So we went, using the flight plan I made the previous night.
The ride was smooth (except under one cloud), but hazy the whole way. I kept waiting for Chris to tell me to divert to another airport, but I kept finding my checkpoints en route and he seemed pleased with that. He showed me how to use the VOR, which I grasped the basics of, and we used that until Groton was in sight. I got ATIS and called the tower. The guy there was CRANKY! Chris warned me that all ATCs are like this, and that the guys at Oxford are just really cool. Great.
There was a lot of traffic at Groton, and the ATC's voice was speaking faster than I could listen. As soon as I finished talking to him, he'd already be on the radio again talking back to me -- so fast that I'd miss the "984" that he'd start his reply with to indicate he was talkign to me. I had to turn to Chris a few times and ask "was that directed to us?"
We did our landing and taxiied back, giving me a chance to see the airport a little. There are two runways (and a third that had been closed down) which cross each other to make an "X", runway 23/5 and 15/33. We landed -- and took off -- on runway 23, right over the water. After we climbed to 1000' we turned right and Chris made me fly back with no navigation tools: no flight plan, no map, no VOR and without the digital system (which basically acts like a digital VOR). All I could use was my eyes and memory. I made a mistake at one point of thinking Meriden was Waterbury, but corrected it as we got closer.
My big mistake of the flight actually took place within the traffic pattern. We were #2 to land, so I was extending my downwind before turning to base. Then I made a stupid mistake -- part out of stupid reasoning and partly out of just not thinking -- I extended my base. Here's a visual:
The problem is that the traffic patter isn't just flown to the left of the runway, but to the right of it too. Sure enough, I flew into the right side when I extended my base, while there was traffic there. I never saw any, so I couldn't have been about to hit it, but Chris took the controls and jerked the plane to the left. I don't know if it was really as dramatic as he made it seem, but you can be sure I won't forget a sudden 60 degree bank left just before landing. That's a mistake I'll be thinking about more when I'm in the pattern from now on.
We landed and Chris told me that (aside from that stupid mistake) my navigation was great. My radios with Groten could have been better (I called them "Oxford" before take-off, and told them we were North-East -- when we were really North West -- when entering their space, though I corrected myself on that one), but overall he was VERY impressed. He sincerely didn't expect us to make that flight, but I had done well. If the weather on Sunday was good, I'd be making the trip solo. I was nervous at the idea of that, but if Chris trusted me, I could too. He has pretty high expectations.
I left that afternoon praying for good weather.
That night I woke up between 4 and 5 am to pouring rain and sounds of thunder. "Shit," I thought. "Flying's off." When I woke up around 9:30 (what good's the weekend if you can't sleep in?) the rain and thunder had passed, but it was cloudy and wet outside. Chris called and we agreed to meet anyway, but not go flying unless it really cleared up. Thirty minutes later there was signs of the sun and Chris called again. We were flying. I called 1-800-WX-BRIEF to get a forecast to Groton, and they warned me of thunderstorms on my route. So we were flying, but I wasn't going to solo even if Chris let me.
I got to the airport and things were looking down again. Any signs of the sun had hidden behind the clouds. Chris and I sat down and he explained VORs to me in more detail -- how they work, how to read them, etc. Then he pulled out the "pre-cross-country solo exam." I wasn't prepared for this; I quit studying after I passed the written. I filled it out as best I could, certain I failed. After I handed it to Chris he informed me that the score didn't matter: I just had to go over it with him. In fact, he thought a few of the questions were wrong as he graded it, but it was done, and that was the important thing.
We checked the weather and he suggested a few touch-and-gos. I informed him I would not do them solo, but that if he was up for it, alright. So we went for "three landings" Chris said. When we got to pattern altitude (1700' at Oxford) visibility was 5 miles at best. I made a tighter turn from base to final to not repeat past mistakes and came in for the landing. Chris told me to perform a go-around, so I gave it full throttle, carb heat (I was thinking of the Goodspeed incident as I did it) and the first notch of flaps up. Chris radioed that we were doing the go around. Second and final notches of flaps, sequentially. I nailed it.
Just before turning to base some rain appeared on the windsheild. I asked Chris if we should land it, cause I wasn't looking to fly through rain. "Nope, we do one more," he said.
While on final it was raining more. I wanted to touch-down and stop. "You sure?" I asked.
"Positive," Chris said. So we did the touch-and-go.
Upon the final turn to downwind I found myself entering a cloud (which Chris called "fog"; I don't see a difference) at 1700'. We decended to 1600' to get clear of it, but I had had about enough. The visibility must have been down to 3 miles and it was still raining. We performed the final landing (worse than the previous one) and taxiied back.
Overall it wasn't too bad. Chris said I "freaked out", but I just don't think Chris has ever seen me freak out. I thought I was using good judgement to say "hey, let's not fly through rain." It wasn't until we finished that Chris said it was good practice in case I ever find myself in that situation. Good point. Thinking about it that way I wish we'd done more practice. He's always got a good reason for what he does -- I'm just a little to slow to pick up on it sometimes.
The next flight is schedule for 6pm on Tuesday. Weather pending, I'll solo to Groton then. Wish me luck.
After telling me we weren't going to Groton (which has only 1 "T" in it, oops!), Chris said we could still go up and possibly divert somewhere else. So we went, using the flight plan I made the previous night.
The ride was smooth (except under one cloud), but hazy the whole way. I kept waiting for Chris to tell me to divert to another airport, but I kept finding my checkpoints en route and he seemed pleased with that. He showed me how to use the VOR, which I grasped the basics of, and we used that until Groton was in sight. I got ATIS and called the tower. The guy there was CRANKY! Chris warned me that all ATCs are like this, and that the guys at Oxford are just really cool. Great.
There was a lot of traffic at Groton, and the ATC's voice was speaking faster than I could listen. As soon as I finished talking to him, he'd already be on the radio again talking back to me -- so fast that I'd miss the "984" that he'd start his reply with to indicate he was talkign to me. I had to turn to Chris a few times and ask "was that directed to us?"
We did our landing and taxiied back, giving me a chance to see the airport a little. There are two runways (and a third that had been closed down) which cross each other to make an "X", runway 23/5 and 15/33. We landed -- and took off -- on runway 23, right over the water. After we climbed to 1000' we turned right and Chris made me fly back with no navigation tools: no flight plan, no map, no VOR and without the digital system (which basically acts like a digital VOR). All I could use was my eyes and memory. I made a mistake at one point of thinking Meriden was Waterbury, but corrected it as we got closer.
My big mistake of the flight actually took place within the traffic pattern. We were #2 to land, so I was extending my downwind before turning to base. Then I made a stupid mistake -- part out of stupid reasoning and partly out of just not thinking -- I extended my base. Here's a visual:
The problem is that the traffic patter isn't just flown to the left of the runway, but to the right of it too. Sure enough, I flew into the right side when I extended my base, while there was traffic there. I never saw any, so I couldn't have been about to hit it, but Chris took the controls and jerked the plane to the left. I don't know if it was really as dramatic as he made it seem, but you can be sure I won't forget a sudden 60 degree bank left just before landing. That's a mistake I'll be thinking about more when I'm in the pattern from now on.
We landed and Chris told me that (aside from that stupid mistake) my navigation was great. My radios with Groten could have been better (I called them "Oxford" before take-off, and told them we were North-East -- when we were really North West -- when entering their space, though I corrected myself on that one), but overall he was VERY impressed. He sincerely didn't expect us to make that flight, but I had done well. If the weather on Sunday was good, I'd be making the trip solo. I was nervous at the idea of that, but if Chris trusted me, I could too. He has pretty high expectations.
I left that afternoon praying for good weather.
That night I woke up between 4 and 5 am to pouring rain and sounds of thunder. "Shit," I thought. "Flying's off." When I woke up around 9:30 (what good's the weekend if you can't sleep in?) the rain and thunder had passed, but it was cloudy and wet outside. Chris called and we agreed to meet anyway, but not go flying unless it really cleared up. Thirty minutes later there was signs of the sun and Chris called again. We were flying. I called 1-800-WX-BRIEF to get a forecast to Groton, and they warned me of thunderstorms on my route. So we were flying, but I wasn't going to solo even if Chris let me.
I got to the airport and things were looking down again. Any signs of the sun had hidden behind the clouds. Chris and I sat down and he explained VORs to me in more detail -- how they work, how to read them, etc. Then he pulled out the "pre-cross-country solo exam." I wasn't prepared for this; I quit studying after I passed the written. I filled it out as best I could, certain I failed. After I handed it to Chris he informed me that the score didn't matter: I just had to go over it with him. In fact, he thought a few of the questions were wrong as he graded it, but it was done, and that was the important thing.
We checked the weather and he suggested a few touch-and-gos. I informed him I would not do them solo, but that if he was up for it, alright. So we went for "three landings" Chris said. When we got to pattern altitude (1700' at Oxford) visibility was 5 miles at best. I made a tighter turn from base to final to not repeat past mistakes and came in for the landing. Chris told me to perform a go-around, so I gave it full throttle, carb heat (I was thinking of the Goodspeed incident as I did it) and the first notch of flaps up. Chris radioed that we were doing the go around. Second and final notches of flaps, sequentially. I nailed it.
Just before turning to base some rain appeared on the windsheild. I asked Chris if we should land it, cause I wasn't looking to fly through rain. "Nope, we do one more," he said.
While on final it was raining more. I wanted to touch-down and stop. "You sure?" I asked.
"Positive," Chris said. So we did the touch-and-go.
Upon the final turn to downwind I found myself entering a cloud (which Chris called "fog"; I don't see a difference) at 1700'. We decended to 1600' to get clear of it, but I had had about enough. The visibility must have been down to 3 miles and it was still raining. We performed the final landing (worse than the previous one) and taxiied back.
Overall it wasn't too bad. Chris said I "freaked out", but I just don't think Chris has ever seen me freak out. I thought I was using good judgement to say "hey, let's not fly through rain." It wasn't until we finished that Chris said it was good practice in case I ever find myself in that situation. Good point. Thinking about it that way I wish we'd done more practice. He's always got a good reason for what he does -- I'm just a little to slow to pick up on it sometimes.
The next flight is schedule for 6pm on Tuesday. Weather pending, I'll solo to Groton then. Wish me luck.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Back Flying
It's been a little while since my last update, I apologize. Between working, visiting people on weekends and other random tasks after work I simply haven't had the time. Let's remedy that now:
Ok, so the lesson I was supposed to have right after my test never happened: weather. Last week I was back at the airport on Thursday night with bad weather coming in. Chris and I decided to try to squeeze in two landings before the weather hit.
We get into the 152 and I call up ground: "Oxford ground this is Cessna 48984 with information Whiskey, request taxi to runway 18 for closed pattern." Then comes the call "984, I suggest you wait this out a few minutes." Chris seemed to have mixed emotions about it but we turned the plane around and taxied back. We got out and walked back inside when he got a call on his cell phone. It was Ben, the lone ATC in the tower apologizing. Apparently ATC isn't supposed to tell you not to fly -- it's your call as the pilot in command, which is why Chris was a little annoyed.
About 60 seconds after the phone call the clouds opened and it started POURING. That explained Chris's other emotion: appreciation. "I think Ben just did us a favor," he said. That was shortly followed by a strong gust of wind and, "let's go tie up the plane!" We ran outside and did just that. I'm sure we would have been able to land the plane in that weather, but I would have let Chris do it (though knowing him he'd have made me land and just saved us from any potential mistakes). I told him before we even decided to taxi out that I wouldn't go up in that without him or Melanie, my original flight instructor.
The rain passed fast, but ominous clouds lingered on so we didn't go up then either. My last lesson was on Tuesday, and that's where I'll continue...
Tuesday morning I call Chris from work. The visibility looks bad, and I'm almost certain Chris is going to cancel. I call ATIS and hear that visibility is 10 miles. "Bullshit" I thought. I check www.aviationweather.gov (a great weather site for pilots!). It tells me visibility is 7 miles. I'm still not buying it. When Chris calls me back he says we're still on for 6:30. Alright!
When I get to the airport visibility isn't any better, but I see Chris taking off with someone for a quick trip in the 152. He better not say we can't fly today after all this! Sure enough, when he gets back down he says "we can't go anywhere, but we'll practice landings in the pattern." Sounds great to me! I always enjoy working on my landings; I'd like to make them so smooth that a sleeping baby wouldn't wake up -- it's not easy in a plane this small.
When we taxi out Chris comes up with a new plan:
"I've got a better idea. I want you to land short and do an entire touch-and-go without letting your nose-wheel touch down."
"Uhh... what?"
"You can do it! Just don't let the nose-wheel touch the runway."
"At all?"
"Yeah!"
Chris really liked this idea. I wasn't so sure. Normally I touch-down with my mains (the two wheels under the wings are referred to as the "mains") first, as you're supposed to and hold the nose off as long as I can until the plane slows down to a nice taxi speed. But holding it off that long, then giving it power as I balance holding the nose off... I told him "I'll do my best."
When we got up the visibility was HORRIBLE. I could see the airport alright, but Waterbury (which was only a few miles to the East) was hard to see and fading fast. It wasn't bad enough to effect my landings though, so the terrible first landing was my fault. I started landing sideways on the gear. Chris jammed the rudder in and saved it. We wouldn't have crashed, but it wouldn't have been comfy on the plane -- or us.
After that the landings just got better -- slowly. The 2nd to last landing I didn't let the nose touch at all, and both the landing and take-off were smooth. I nailed it! The final landing (full-stop, not a touch-and-go) Chris told me to "do a regular landing." I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to after practicing so many of those, but I responded the same "I'll do my best."
Coming in everything looked good. I thought I flaired a little too late and a little too hard, but was surprised when I felt the mains touch down in one of the smoothest landings I'd ever had. Chris told me that I would have passed my check ride with that one. I was pleased.
"Well, that was short and soft fields" Chris commented when we got back inside. "I wanted to surprise you." Apparently we practiced the skills of short and soft fields and Chris didn't want to waste too much time repeated it.
"I'd still like to land and take off on a short soft field at least once, to see how the landing gear feels on grass," I pointed out.
"Oh yeah, we'll still do some of that."
Chris and I planned for lessons the rest of the week, but yesterday's got cancelled (weather). Today the sky is blue, the humidity and haze have finally broken and the temps dropped a good 10 degrees and the wind seems to have died down. PERFECT flying weather! Hopefully tonight we make a cross country -- or at least start it and practice diversions. Tonight should be fun!
Ok, so the lesson I was supposed to have right after my test never happened: weather. Last week I was back at the airport on Thursday night with bad weather coming in. Chris and I decided to try to squeeze in two landings before the weather hit.
We get into the 152 and I call up ground: "Oxford ground this is Cessna 48984 with information Whiskey, request taxi to runway 18 for closed pattern." Then comes the call "984, I suggest you wait this out a few minutes." Chris seemed to have mixed emotions about it but we turned the plane around and taxied back. We got out and walked back inside when he got a call on his cell phone. It was Ben, the lone ATC in the tower apologizing. Apparently ATC isn't supposed to tell you not to fly -- it's your call as the pilot in command, which is why Chris was a little annoyed.
About 60 seconds after the phone call the clouds opened and it started POURING. That explained Chris's other emotion: appreciation. "I think Ben just did us a favor," he said. That was shortly followed by a strong gust of wind and, "let's go tie up the plane!" We ran outside and did just that. I'm sure we would have been able to land the plane in that weather, but I would have let Chris do it (though knowing him he'd have made me land and just saved us from any potential mistakes). I told him before we even decided to taxi out that I wouldn't go up in that without him or Melanie, my original flight instructor.
The rain passed fast, but ominous clouds lingered on so we didn't go up then either. My last lesson was on Tuesday, and that's where I'll continue...
Tuesday morning I call Chris from work. The visibility looks bad, and I'm almost certain Chris is going to cancel. I call ATIS and hear that visibility is 10 miles. "Bullshit" I thought. I check www.aviationweather.gov (a great weather site for pilots!). It tells me visibility is 7 miles. I'm still not buying it. When Chris calls me back he says we're still on for 6:30. Alright!
When I get to the airport visibility isn't any better, but I see Chris taking off with someone for a quick trip in the 152. He better not say we can't fly today after all this! Sure enough, when he gets back down he says "we can't go anywhere, but we'll practice landings in the pattern." Sounds great to me! I always enjoy working on my landings; I'd like to make them so smooth that a sleeping baby wouldn't wake up -- it's not easy in a plane this small.
When we taxi out Chris comes up with a new plan:
"I've got a better idea. I want you to land short and do an entire touch-and-go without letting your nose-wheel touch down."
"Uhh... what?"
"You can do it! Just don't let the nose-wheel touch the runway."
"At all?"
"Yeah!"
Chris really liked this idea. I wasn't so sure. Normally I touch-down with my mains (the two wheels under the wings are referred to as the "mains") first, as you're supposed to and hold the nose off as long as I can until the plane slows down to a nice taxi speed. But holding it off that long, then giving it power as I balance holding the nose off... I told him "I'll do my best."
When we got up the visibility was HORRIBLE. I could see the airport alright, but Waterbury (which was only a few miles to the East) was hard to see and fading fast. It wasn't bad enough to effect my landings though, so the terrible first landing was my fault. I started landing sideways on the gear. Chris jammed the rudder in and saved it. We wouldn't have crashed, but it wouldn't have been comfy on the plane -- or us.
After that the landings just got better -- slowly. The 2nd to last landing I didn't let the nose touch at all, and both the landing and take-off were smooth. I nailed it! The final landing (full-stop, not a touch-and-go) Chris told me to "do a regular landing." I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to after practicing so many of those, but I responded the same "I'll do my best."
Coming in everything looked good. I thought I flaired a little too late and a little too hard, but was surprised when I felt the mains touch down in one of the smoothest landings I'd ever had. Chris told me that I would have passed my check ride with that one. I was pleased.
"Well, that was short and soft fields" Chris commented when we got back inside. "I wanted to surprise you." Apparently we practiced the skills of short and soft fields and Chris didn't want to waste too much time repeated it.
"I'd still like to land and take off on a short soft field at least once, to see how the landing gear feels on grass," I pointed out.
"Oh yeah, we'll still do some of that."
Chris and I planned for lessons the rest of the week, but yesterday's got cancelled (weather). Today the sky is blue, the humidity and haze have finally broken and the temps dropped a good 10 degrees and the wind seems to have died down. PERFECT flying weather! Hopefully tonight we make a cross country -- or at least start it and practice diversions. Tonight should be fun!
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