I've been terrible about updating my most recent flights, but I promisse I will go back and post my photos and writeups about my past three flights.
I should have the time, since I've decided to delay my flight training until the beginning of April.
It really is driving my crazy to take this short break, but since I'm getting ready to close on my first house purchase, I really need to save as much as possible to plan for any unexpected expenses at closing.
Expect to see new posts starting with the first of the month, and my past three posts (which are currently just placeholders) filled in over the next week or two.
Today's flight was my first dress rehearsal of my checkride. We took off out of Boeing Field towards Bremerton, where we started with instrument flight. We then headed south towards Tacoma, practicing steep turns, slow flight, and stalls. My steep turns were much better, but I had a hard time getting a good stall going in my power on stalls today, so I did a few extra for the practice.
That was followed up with turns around a point, S-turns and an emergency landing over McNeil Island.
We then flew to Tacoma Narrows (KTIW) for a soft field and short field landings, as well as one go-around. This go-around, which I'll have to do on my check ride, wasn't just for demostration. The tower called me as I was on final and asked me to go around because a coyote was crossing the runway. Wildlife was all over the place today, and before getting to Tacoma, we saw quite a few eagles and hawks up close.
Other pilots were also out in large numbers, obviously drawn by the first really nice day we've had in a while. After leaving Tacoma, we flew back towards Bremerton to practice a few more emergency landings. I had to call off two landings because of nearby planes that practicing or flying too close to where we were, but was able to go through the steps on my third attempt. My final approach was a little bit to low, so I had to call it off early, but I think I would have made it in a real emergency if my power really had been out.
We went in after just 1.7 hours in the air, and Ed and I parted ways with plans to meet a few hours later to prepare for my night cross country.
I'd love to have more photographs for your from today's flight, but today I took my first night flight, and getting nice crisp photos in a plane that's moving over 100 mph is easier said than done.
I pulled into Boeing Field just as someone else was taxiing my plane back into the parking area. I waited around a few minutes for them to get their things together before beginning my pre-flight inspection of the plane.
As with most of the rest of night-flying, pre-flight inspection at night is a whole different ball game. Because the parking area isn't lit, you have to use a flashlight to see whatever you're looking at. Surprisingly, I found this to be better than inspections during the day, since the light helps you focus more intently on the section of the plane you're inspecting.
There was one other effect of using the flashlight for the pre-flight inspection - Ed could tell exactly what I was looking at as I went through the steps.
Today's flight took us to the east towards Bremerton, where we practiced some navigation (I was able to find the airport because I remembered that the bay near Bremerton makes points at the airport like a finger).
Stop-and-goes, though, were a different story altogether. Maneuvering in the traffic pattern in a rural area with few lights is much more challenging than maneuvering around Boeing Field which is covered in lights.
I found that I had to rely on my instruments much more, because without lights there was no way to easily tell how high I was other than my altimeter. I found myself mentally thanking any cars that passed by as I moved around the pattern, because they gave me an instant reference point of how high I was above the ground. During final approach, I usually needed to add more power to maintain altitude (sometimes too much altitude) until I was over the runway, since the ground was just a big black hole.
Maintaining the correct heading and square pattern was also more of a challenge because of the lack of reference points on the ground and I found myself leaning forward to better spot the horizon each time until reaching pattern altitude. Once I got more comfortable relying on the instruments for my heading, it got much easier, and I could look out the windows towards the airport to verify my location.
Judging when to begin flaring was also much more difficult in the dark because it was harder to judge my height above the ground, even with landing lights. This actually helped me a bit and by extending my flare more than normal I found I was landing much more smoothly. I'll have to remember that next time I fly during the day.
After a few stop-and-goes at Bremerton, Ed had me navigate to the southeast to find the Tacoma Narrows Airport. I ended up turning too far to the south, mistaking the lights from Tacoma for south Seattle. Fortunately Ed corrected me and I was able to make my way in the right direction with little deviation.
We practiced a few stop-and-goes out of Tacoma, which unlike Bremerton had an active tower at the time. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, Tacoma also has a 300 foot cliff rising up from the water to the beginning of the runway, so I made sure to stay higher than I needed to until I was sure I had passed it.
I was getting more comfortable in the pattern with each progressive stop-and-go, so Ed, in true CFI spirit, had me simulate an engine out on downwind. I ended up extending my downwind too far and didn't have enough altitude to clear the cliff, so I had to add power to get back on the glide slope. That's one more lesson learned the hard way: In engine outs, cut the downwind as short as you can--especially with a long runway--then once you know you've got the runway made, drop in full flaps and slip if you need to in order to get down. It's easier to lose altitude than it is to gain altitude with no power.
From Tacoma we flew back to Bremerton to practice a simulated electrical failure. Most untowered airports have automatic, pilot controlled lighting. With this system, you tap your transmit button a few times to turn the lighting on and up to the level you need to see. Without electricity, your radios don't work, so you can't turn on the lights.
The lighting system had turned off while we were in Tacoma, so we flew in to a darkened airport. I entered the downwind leg, misjudged my turn to base and came in sloppily to my final leg. By this point it was pretty clear that I wasn't going to be able to land, since I couldn't see the runway, and only really knew that I could land within a hundred feet or so to either side of it. At that point, I clicked my transmit button three times and the runway lit up. I discovered that I was about 100 feet to the left of the runway, so I maneuvered to the right and put the plane down fairly easily now that I could actually see my target.
After that last stop-and-go at Bremerton, we headed back to West Point in north Seattle, so we could get the straight in approach to Boeing Field from the north. This gave us an amazing view of downtown Seattle as we came in to land. I remarked to Ed as we flew past downtown that moments like that were the reason I'm learning to fly. I'll have to find a way to get some decent pictures of Seattle from the sky at night, because there really isn't anything like it.
It's been about a month and a half since my first solo and I was finally able to get up to solo again (seven scheduled solo flights since then cancelled due to weather - what a winter).
It was my first full solo, meaning my instructor wasn't there for any part of it. It was short since I didn't have much time, but the weather was perfect and the plane was free. I was able to get up for half an hour and a whopping three touch-and-goes.
I filmed the whole thing, and then sped it up so it only lasts a tad under three minutes (to make it watchable).
I'm rounding out my base to final turn a bit trying to avoid an incursion into the final to the parallel runway. I'll definitely need some more touch and goes at my home drome to work that issue out. The long downwind on my last lap was because I was waiting for a 737 that was on a long straight-in approach to pass.
It was short, but after an additional 10 hours of dual time I was finally able to get in my second solo! I'm crossing my fingers that Sunday's weather will also be good so I can take full advantage of the three-hour reservation I have on my 172.
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