Uhhh tower, Cessna two niner echo on final for three four right!?

Students can never get sick of pattern work. I am I right? At a business class D airport, listening to traffic is an experience in itself. Today was no exception. My instructor wanted to go over soft field landings and take-offs today. The fun began on preparation for my second trip around the pattern. After identifying kinks in my first attempts, I was ready to demonstrate a check-ride passing performance. At this time, the airport was buzzing with activity. I was waiting for Cirrus followed by a Citation short of the 34R. After the Citation cleared the runway, I was given clearance to take-off. No problems. My second soft field take-off went well. Things were quieting down. Somewhere around my turn onto downwind, the quiet was broken. The radio became active with conversation. Mid-field, still active. Abeam the numbers, still active. Turning to base, still active. At this point, the argument between the tower and a taxiing pilot was starting to get concerning. I could not interject and the idea of a go-around was crossing my mind. Turning to final, still active. Runway is clear. No traffic on approach and no other traffic in the pattern for 34R. I am still descending. Finally, a pause. The conversation is over! Quick, "Cessna two niner echo ON FINAL for three four right". Tower: "Cleared to land, three four right". Phewww!

Now, I am not making any judgements on the tower or the pilot involved in the argument. I will leave that to my instructor. It could have easily been just normal activity. Either way, it is a good exercise in patience and clarity for a student pilot. No matter what the situation, the wheels do not touch the runway without clearance.

So what of those soft field take-offs and landings? Forward pressure is required to hold the nose down during a soft field take-off after the mains leave the ground and before airspeed reaches at least 55 KIAS (Vr) or, better yet, 59 KIAS (Vx). This is an odd feeling. It feels like trying to push the nose back into the runway. But, it was easier than I thought and much more fun than a normal take-off. Short field take-offs are a bit different, requiring more back-pressure after reaching Vr.

Soft field landings made me look like I could land a plane smoothly. I am curious why I did not get this technique introduced earlier in the training. In my mind, it is much easier! With a soft field landing, a little power is used to keep pressure off the mains and hold the nose wheel till the plane is adequately slow to not cause damage or get stuck when the nose wheel contacts the ground. This little power maintains some of the four forces generated from the prop (gyroscopic, torque, p-factor and slip stream) meaning that the compensation for 'no power' is not so sudden. It is easier to hold the plane off and land softly with a little power. In addition, the student gets a better feel of the 'nose up' attitude, including the change in visual cues.

My instructor also provided some of these hints:
(1) When slowing the plane on downwind, use back pressure as the throttle is pulled back and then forward pressure AS the flaps come down. These combined and well timed movements will insure a level flight.
(2) Keep the plane slow on landing (65 knots) and, once over the numbers, start dropping the speed. To much speed raises the possibility of ballooning during the flare.

Next time: Short field landings and take-offs, review of emergency take-off procedures and, appropriately, forward slips.

Patience, young jedi.

I am a drummer. I have been for 28 years. I try not to own up to it as I am not as good as I should be by my standards. After that long, I should be playing like Dave Weckl did 10 years ago, even for a part timer like myself. Some reasons are obvious. Cats like Weckl play ALL THE TIME. I play, both practice and perform, on average about seven hours a week. The other reason is how I practice. For the longest time I would push very hard to get the most complicated patterns down without building on the fundamentals. The idea, bad as it was, is the the fundamentals will come and the end is the same. This is FLAT OUT WRONG. In the last five years I have stepped back and worked incrementally. Now, I am a solid drummer who can play in just about ANY setting. I recall those frustrating days where I was slamming my sticks down on items like the tape player (for youngs guys, this is device that amplifies sound stored on a magnetic tape), lamps and anything else close by that is designed as a percussion instrument.

Anything requiring motor coordination requires the same disciplines. I have seen 'natural' talent. What I see is a quick grasp of fundamentals. 'Naturals' do not SKIP fundamentals. This is evident in any activity requiring motor skills (e.g. Kung Fu, my son's Tae Kwon Do, other musicians, other sportsment, seamstress, etc.). FLYING IS NO DIFFERENT.

So when one of my instructors says 'CHILL OUT', it is instantly understood. Learning to fly is a well-established set of steps. They cannot be skipped. Moving on to the next step is not an option if the first set of steps is not performed with competency. For example, landing is difficult if a student cannot hold a plane steady in slow flight. Getting frustrated is counter productive and is a sign that the student (yeh, me) is trying to move to fast.

It is hard to maintain patience. With the monetary price of flying, it is preferred that each step comes quickly. So now I look back at yesterday with a different perspective. I had trouble landing. In the process of trying improve landing, I accomplished the following:

(1) Solid take-offs in a cross wind.
(2) Accuracy in holding a pattern including 20 degree turns, maintain altitude and heading.
(3) Incremental improvement in airport communications at a busy class D airport with a tower.
(4) Maintain focus while still having 'light' intermittent conversation.
(5) Solid approach on the glide slope.

So if I attempt to measure the whole 1.3 hours of flying on about on about 90 seconds of that time, I am doomed to be an unhappy and unsafe pilot. [ 90 seconds = 15 seconds during the flare and rollout multiplied by 6 landings. And yes, 1.3 hours for 6 pattern runs is a bit much, but, like I said, busy airport.].

The problem with 'home' simulators

When trying to land in a simulator like Microsoft 2004, the visual cues are limiting. For me, when landing a real plane, learning to take advantage additional visual inputs is a challenge. I botched five out six landings today. Nothing that would have probably injured me and my passengers (not saying much for the plane). Its either pulling back too fast or not pulling back enough during the flar. I am starting to realize that part of my problem is that I am 'ignoring' some visual information that would helpful. It almost as if I do not want to acknowledge that there is information to be used.

My take-offs are pretty good. There was a variable 8 knot crosswind today. This allows me to use some aileron during the take-off and feel the plane weathervane naturally into a crab position upon leaving the ground. Very smooth. I also had a better sense of rudder and aileron configurations for landing. In my 'good' landing, I came down on one wheel first--perfect for a crosswind landing, but unnecessary for the little wind today. Never the less, it felt good to land in that configuration.

My instructor did a quick recovery when I began to stall during the landing flare several feet above the ground (one of my more abrupt applications of the yoke). It is easy to say "apply power and ease the nose down a bit". In the simulator, I have no problem doing it quickly. I need to translate that into real flying. Once the stall horn goes off, it does not take much time before the plane drops.