Back in the Saddle (Lesson #15 - Start Phase 3)

I missed writing up a lesson or two with Kern last summer, I think, plus a rather poor showing in a C152 flight with a CFI named Jim, a real old-timer at Sterling (3B3) when I decided to try that out right when I was moving to this area (I just learned that Jim died of lung cancer last week, leaving Sterling with but one very busy CFI). So here I am in the next millennium, re-immersed in sims and deciding at age 47 (+1 day) that the clock IS ticking, and I better get some real flying in if I ever want to solo and get a PP certificate. I fixed up my insurance situation with a pilot-friendly level term policy. Yesterday we stopped by the Worcester Regional Airport (ORH, elevation 1009 feet) to pick up some info at the Amity Flight School. We were driving on to gigantic Quabban Reservoir, almost to Amherst, on a birthday outing to enjoy the wonderful weather and scenery -- and it turns out I did a power-off stall over the very same body of water today!

I should have reviewed these notes first, but it was a bit impulsive -- I called this morning and scheduled a one-hour lesson with a CFI named Mario for 1 pm. Things ran late due to ATC problems (a no-radio student pilot in the pattern was part of it). So we actually took off closer to 2:30 pm, from runway 29. ORH is a controlled airport with ATIS, ground control, and tower control. I did most of the radio work with guidance from Mario (early forties, African-American who reminds me of Arthur Ashe). Pre-flight, taxi, and runup went OK, a little weak in parts of the checklists as I got distracted by things like a two-engine turboprop airliner landing just in front of us as we held short! Takeoff was OK, though I drifted off the centerline as usual on climbout (hold that DAMN RIGHT RUDDER and figure out a reference point to use during this nose-high climb!). It was a "straight out" (not "direct" as I said on the radio) departure to the west.

By drifting, I ended up directly over the Spencer Airport, not a good place for maneuvers! We continued west (a bit NW) and did some steep turns, 45 degrees right and left. Surprisingly these were OK -- I lost about 150' on one and shallowed the banks a bit. Then he had me try some climbing and descending turns to specific headings and altitudes -- e.g. from 3000' heading north, climb and turn to reach 3500' at 180 degrees (south). I was not good on the timing, but I got better on the 3rd or 4th try -- need to (quickly!) establish the best speed for the climb or descent, THEN dial in the bank angle that will allow you to turn in the time it takes to reach the new altitude. Pretty cool.

Then over the Quabban itself, I did a power-off stall that was pretty good, though I didn't pull back hard enough to get a clean break without a bit of coaxing at the end. Mario said the examiner will most often ask for an imminent stall -- horn, buffet, identify, recover. Safer and quicker for them (full stall could lead to a spin if you botch the rudder too badly, not likely but posisble). Mario was always pointing out airports and good fields for emergency landings -- many out that way and good practice.

Finally I headed back SE toward ORH -- Mario asked me how to get back to the airport, and for once I KNEW! I spotted Mt. Wachusett and deduced the correct heading back to the airport. Spotted it about 6 miles out (it helps that it's on a large hill!). Do I have SA, or what? Well, "not" is probably correct, but in fact I had been looking at the charts a lot and flying test flights around Worcester in the new Fly! flight sim (I installed USGS-based scenery for Eastern Mass, using a freebee called TerraScene - now I need to get the Quabban area files to add to my region, since that's the typical practice area).

We called the tower to report our position over the town of Spencer (first flying there so we would be in position to get a left hand pattern, my preference -- ATC was handling both at ORH, and a glider who strayed too far from Sterling was in a right pattern for runway 29 -- the other two runways are closed for service, to make them wider and longer). We had to set up for a 45º entry onto the left downwind (for 29), which worked out to roughly north from where we were, and we used a pond as a guide to entering at the right (45º) angle. We had to call the downwind and then extend it for an arriving helicopter that I spotted first, low above the Worcester skyline to the east of the airport. I told Mario I was task-saturated with the pattern and traffic (and flaps!) and asked him to call the tower to report base and final. I turned base, rolling out early when I thought Mario said to do so, then corrected. I overshot the turn to final (surprise!) and had to S-turn far to the left to line up (careful to stay coordinated on this turn).

There was a moderate cross-wind that Mario thought I could handle, and I sorta could. He said "push hard right rudder to line up the nose, then bank to track the centerline. This was a cross-control maneuver, a slip really. I started OK but released the rudder too soon, then swayed back and forth with the ailerons, trying to correct the line up. Got the right rudder back in (maybe Mario helped on this part) and thought I was lower than I was, so I flared too high (another shocker!). I slipped some more, lined up, and landed mid-field, using up most of the remaining runway. Not my finest landing, but we walked away from it.

Overall Mario thought I did great considering no real flights since August 1999. I like him -- if I can fly with him once a week, I think I can make real progress. He doesn't seem as slick as a pilot (vs. Kern), but he is a lot more easy-going as a teacher. So now I have maybe 18 hours (and 47 years, as of yesterday!). I think the sim stuff, especially Fly! with the actual area airports, terrain, and navaids, will really help me -- even got rudders again -- Fly! supports multiple game devices, so stick/throttle can be USB and rudder (with a "dummy" stick to make Win98 see it) in the game port. Cool, cool, cool! But I want to fly for real once or twice more before Korea (less than two weeks -- that will be an interesting but nightmarish flight in itself, from Boston to Seoul to Germany and back home in maybe 10 days -- around the world, as they say).

Hey, I can fly today's flight in Fly! Dial in that crosswind…

Time: 1.0 hrs dual, TT 18.1 hrs, C152 at ORH

My "Flight of Passage" (Lesson #7 - Start Phase 2)

It's funny how I met Kern Buck -- in September 1998 I read the book his brother Rinker Buck wrote about their flight across the US in a radioless Piper Cub back in 1967 (Flight of Passage). Then I heard his name in the waiting room at Jiffy-Lube in Milford when we were both having our cars serviced, and I introduced myself (maybe March '99?). We talked on the phone a few times, kinda fun, he was renewing his CFI rating and said we'd go flying when he did.

Well, he did, and we did! Flew a C172 (N738NL) on a gorgeous, windless Saturday morning in Hopedale, where Kern is now a freelance CFI (I guess). We preflighted the airplane together, and I handled all the operations, taxi, and takeoff (he did the radio calls). We worked on the four fundamentals since it had been so long since I flew (climbs, glides, straight & level, turns). He talked me through the approach and I followed through on controls for the landing (he had some trouble finding the airport when we were out west near Mendon -- it's a new flying area for him, he took his IFR instruction at Hanscom).

I did OK on taxi, takeoff (a little hesitant on pulling back at Vr), straight and level, and climbs. Turns were pretty good too, I think, though I gained or lost some altitude on some of them. On glides, I got so hung up on speed that I lost track of my directional control and let the nose wander all over the place. NEED TO HOLD SOME LEFT RUDDER ON A GLIDE. Why??? Shit, I forget!

I don't really have the money for frequent lessons, but I'd like to fly once a month and not worry TOO much about "progress" -- make some slow progress, keep my hand in the flying game. Maybe do self study to take the written exam. Kern would really like to "solo me" this summer or fall, and at $90/hour, we're talking "only" about $1000 for the 10 or 11 hours that this would probably take (I thought I had more time than I do -- there are some unlogged hours, but I probably need around 10 hours of "recent" time to really be able to solo. I'd also have to get my medical exam -- don't have to take the written before solo, but that would be cool too). It's "only" $1000 but with everything else I'm doing, it's kinda tough. I should really level with Kern on this -- if he wants weekly flights, he needs to get an additional student, not just me!

I like Kern -- he's an interesting guy, certainly, and seems OK as a CFI, pretty relaxed, but not as relaxed as Bjorn. Of course this was our first flight, and his first flight in a long time as CFI (though he has 2000 flight hours, 1000 of them as CFI). We need to get our goals in synch -- I'd love to fly a lot and solo and get my ticket ASAP, but money is too tight for this right now.

Follow-up: I spoke with Kern about scheduling more lessons. During the call, Kern told me that he thought my flying was really good, and that I knew most of the basics pretty well. He said I really just need work on integrating it all, practice and pointers, and that within about 2 lessons we could start to work on takeoffs and landings, with the idea of solo by the end of this summer! That would be so cool! Trouble is that 8-10 hours will cost $800-1000, and with house plans underway, money and time are tight. BUT IF NOT NOW, WHEN? Kern says if you love it, then find a way to do it -- don't keep putting it off. And it's important to fly regularly, like once a week (travel permitting) so I don't keep backsliding and having to review for half the lesson. I'M GONNA TRY FOR IT!!! Take a look at the budget...

Time: 0.9 hrs dual TT 8.9 hrs, C172 at 1B6

The Separated Man Also Rises (Lesson #4)

The separated man also rises! This was my first lesson since the whole separation (and soon divorce) mess started in fall 1997, just after I got back from Germany. Quite an interruption there (of a lot of things!). A few little changes at Hopedale too – Jason and Joe both gone south, and Jeff has a new CFI, Bjorn, a very young Swedish guy who is really nice and has excellent English. I preflight checked the C172 (the C150 is gone too – bummer), and also did all the taxiing, the takeoff, and climbout (let it get a bit nose high/slow on the climbout). It felt OK. Scenery was different with snow and no leaves – a lot easier to spot the airport!

I did OK on straight and level, climbs, turns, etc. except for a tendency to drift right (too much rudder and/or not adding left aileron to compensate for the right rudder held against full-power engine torque). I also looked at the instruments too much and trimmed too early. Bjorn had me do some slow flight, which was pretty good once I got the power and trim set right. I asked for stalls and he let me do power and power off stalls. I let the nose come up too high after one and got a secondary stall (actually was close and Bjorn pulled it back the rest of the way to show me – the left wing dropped a lot, but we recovered fast before any spin possibility – I also allowed the nose to drift high after recovery other times, and was off on timing the raising of flaps. NEED TO GET A POSITIVE RATE OF CLIMB BEFORE CUTTING POWER OR RAISING THE NOSE TOO HIGH.

I was able to spot the airport better with water tower landmark and black strip vs. white field. He talked me through the turns as we glided down to pattern altitude (1300 feet). He let me do the final approach, but I turned from base to final WAY too late (I thought he would take it at that point). Had to make S-turns and come in rather steep and fast – Bjorn took the plane and saved the landing, but touchdown was beyond mid-field (still plenty of room to stop, but not exactly slick).

I’m thinking I’ll try to do maybe a lesson a month – slow progress at that rate, but better than zero, and all I can likely afford (if that!). I like Bjorn – hope he sticks around a while. I should start my ground school study again, but I’m too busy looking on the Web for prospective dates! I’m finding women who sing, but so far none with an airplane! Maybe I should join a pilot’s club of some sort?!?!

Time: 0.9 hrs dual TT 6.0 hrs (C172 at 1B6)

First Official Lesson (Hopedale)

This was also a good flight, and my first official (non-demo) lesson with Jason. Jason is not exactly Mr. Congeniality – he seemed a bit irritable at first, but I guess he's never one to be too chatty. It's a job, right? In flight is where it counts, of course, and he's very patient and appropriately educational. Today we again focused on the four fundamentals, and I think my over-controlling was a little better (different airplane too, C172 – I wanted to try the C150 but it was out later than expected, and I didn't want to wait again – it's a critical path when they only have one of the aircraft you are learning in, but it's a small, convenient flight school, so c'est la vie – C172 seemed HUGE after flying the 152). I have a couple of new problems (well, let's say more obvious): instrument fixation, and getting flustered on new stuff.

· Preflight seemed to take me a long time – Jason watched and helped when asked, but it was my job to run the checklist (I need to write out and memorize the pre-flight checklists so I can go more smoothly through them). Taxi was still awkward, but less so than before (need smaller inputs on the rudders). Weather looked suspicious but was fine except for a very dramatic looking rainstorm over Worcester (visibility must have been 15+ miles)

· Takeoff was runway 18, to the south, with a right turn (west) departure. I did OK on takeoff except I rotated a bit late (I need to write down and memorize the V-speeds for the C172 and C152, or better yet, get the POH for both). I wish all the planes had either knots or mph and not un peu de tout.

· Problem one: instrument fixation. After a couple of turns, Jason zapped this by plastering black rubber suction-cup disks over all but the tach! No airspeed, attitude, altimeter, or turn and slip! This forces you to look outside the airplane for your flight cues, which is a great idea. I think sims have made me an instrument junky (but everybody probably does this to some degree).

· Steep turns, 45 degree bank, 360 degree turns -- cool

· Stalls - procedure - got flustered, problem two ("don't go bonkers on me now") – stalled once in a turn – Jason thought I was nervous on the stalls (I don't think so, but maybe my switch from light touch to death grip on the yoke says more than I know!). I have to start memorizing some stuff – procedures, RPM's, V-speeds, etc.

· Fluster example: letting nose go down a lot in a turn after stall recovery, then adding lots of power and yanking back on the yoke – nice G-force, but bad form!

· MCA – mushing along indeed – swing the yoke all over for nil effect – cool.

· Altitude control in turns, often good, but inconsistent (inconsistency is probably my problem 3, but it takes practice – I'm only a 3 hour student pilot – Jason even gained 100' in his "blind" 360 degree demonstration turn)

· Fly back home (no joy on 1B6! see satellite pic above, needle in a haystack!) – 120 mph on downwind seemed fast, but Jason said no – 65 mph landing speed (seems fast in a Taurus but slow in an airplane you are riding onto the ground – maybe this is why I like knots, a different unit for the airplane)

· Landing – Jason's plane, but really following through on controls, and talking it down – "Flare-flare-flare-flare-flare-flare-flare-flare-flare!"

· The bottom line: $92.25 (I didn't get a receipt, oddly enough – paid cash)

· Next: more turns, MCA, stalls, starting pattern work, rectangular course (ground reference) – scheduled for September 4 before Germany trip.

Time: Dual 1.0 hrs, TT 3.1 hrs (C172 at 1B6)

Thumbs Up (Intro Flight at EMT)

As Hades says in Disney's Hercules, "Two thumbs WAY, way up!" This was a great flight (it was with Valley Flight Center, 818/444-7739). I even did maybe 80% of the landing! The CFI was supposed to be "Brian," and maybe that's his nickname, but he's actually Sergio Guevara, Jr., and he has 1700+ hours, CFI/CFII, working on multi-engine with hopes for ATP and airline flying. Nice guy, and very instructional (kept quizzing me on various stuff on the preflight checks, e.g., FAA no longer requires that a radio license be in the aircraft with the air worthiness and registration, but the POH must still be there – I didn't know some things like "dorsal fin," the forward extension of the vertical stabilizer – gotta study harder I guess).

ANYWAY, we did a real thorough pre-flight (but no paper checklist for the outside walkaround – I would have to buy a handbook for that, and he knew it, as did I from this morning – we could have used the POH itself, but I would have gotten oil and gas on it like this morning at CCB). He even put water in a fuel sample to show me what that looks like (sinks to bottom, color is different, beads up on ground). We had to tighten screw on the right wing. Switch to bullets (as opposed to AMRAAMs?):

· I really like that little C152, and I may try to switch to C150 back home and save some money.

· I made the radio calls and did pretty well thanks to some recent practice with sound files I got from the web (ATIS and other radio samples in VOX format). Got ATIS, requested taxi clearance and takeoff, and even called the tower when we were at the West Covina Mall heading west for landing.

· I did the takeoff myself (wind was 190° at 14 kts, essentially straight down the runway, no crosswind), swerving a bit on the rudders, but not too bad (I made sure the door was securely latched this time!). Got fast on climbout (80 kts -- you want to gain altitude fast over the I-10 and other dense ground features, so cruise climb has to wait – 65 kts for best rate I believe – if I knew which plane I was flying back home now, I would have bought a handbook and checklists, because both Valley and F.A.S.T. down the street had these for C150, 152, 172, etc.).

· We had asked for a left downwind (north) departure to the Santa Fe Dam practice area, just a few minutes away. I tried to scan for traffic and I did not particularly notice any ground features other than the I-10 and I-605 freeways.

· We started with climbing to 3500' and then did some turns at various bank angles – as usual, I was overcorrecting. One problem I have is overcontrolling for the overbanking tendency in steep turns (30 and 45° today) – it only requires a slight touch of opposite aileron, and if you add too much, it shallows out the bank. I did this a lot but improved a little, and I did one really nice 45 degree bank (feels steeper than that – you can feel the 1.4G's)

· Speaking of G's, I couple of times I pulled a few more (maybe 2?) when I started to let the nose go down too much then added power and pulled up too abruptly. CFI didn't say anything. My altitude control in turns was so-so.

· There was one close airplane that I spotted at my 9 o'clock, turning away (west) from us on the way to the practice area. I think he was maybe 2000 feet away and only 300 feet below us when I saw him – some sort of Piper. I spotted and called clock positions on other traffic a few times, 5+ miles away, except for an escaped helium balloon that passed us at 2500 feet near the mall!

· We did both power-off and power-on stalls, with flaps (landing and takeoff configs) – cool, though I didn't really feel the pre-stall buffet (I heard the horn loud & clear though). The nose seems WAY, way high, but I know it's not. I lost over 200' on the second stall.

· After the stalls when I was straight and level again (at 3000 feet I think), he cut the throttle to idle and said "What if you lose your engine right now, what do you do?" I said, OK, establish best glide speed (he said good, 60 kts, do it), then I proceeded to put the nose DOWN and speed up to 90+ knots! DUH! So then I'm saying, look for an airport (nope, we don't have one), or a flat, open field to land on – there's a sports field just to the left, there's another one. He said "what about that big dirt field there to the right?" It looked like one of the quarries near Duarte to me! But on closer inspection there was one that looked like a huge parking lot under construction. I made a shallow bank that would have made the field, then he said add power and make for EMT. It was cool that he pulled this on the demo flight – he was really testing my knowledge and maybe even "coolness under pressure" (I know this was low key – any "coolness" I may have WILL be tested more in the future I'm sure). One funny thing is that I don't feel any sense of fear with this stuff – stalls, simulated engine failure, steep turns, etc. all seem OK to me. My nervousness is performance pressure – I want to show the CFI that I can do all this stuff.

· The CFI basically told me where to start my turns for most maneuvers, calling out headings (I got better at rolling out on heading, still a little sloppy, but close – I only forgot to lift my wing to check for traffic once or twice). This was true especially when we entered the pattern – I tried to note my position and altitude, but I missed a lot (I was pretty jazzed by the end of the hour and started overcontrolling more again after improving in mid-flight – thinking about tuning and getting ATIS and calling the tower for landing got me flustered as I was trying to follow the I-10 back to the airport – BTW, need to keep such ground reference features a bit further to my left so I can keep the freeway in sight – those freeways are great nav aids, though!).

· When he had me start the turn to final (he was making the radio calls after I called the downwind), I couldn't believe he wasn't taking the airplane! He was guiding me on adding flaps, reducing throttle, carb heat, adjusting lineup, but I did all of that myself! (He may have tweaked the controls a time or two.) When we got over the threshold, he had me pulling the yoke back, and I actually flared to a very slight bump and landing (he added a skosh of power at the flare I believe to slow the descent a bit). This was shocking, but actually quite cool! At Hopedale, the landings seem to go too fast, but in this case I was involved in it, and it seemed OK, or at least possible!

· One slight worry on the turn to final – I hesitated (checked traffic maybe?) and started the turn a tad late, so I had to steepen it to get aligned with the runway. I remember reading that this is a spot where accidents happen, when the pilot misjudges the timing or the wind, and you are fairly close to stall speed (not to mention the ground). This can be a problem especially because of the increased stall speed you have in a bank, though it probably was not more than 30° (you should not do more than 30°of bank in the pattern).

· I held back pressure to slow us then applied brakes and turned left at the center to go to the fuel pit – tower ignored my call for this, so we switched to ground anyway and got permission. My taxiing was still not smooth, but the best effort so far, even using differential braking. One thing is for sure – with all the visual and physical information, landing the real airplane is WAY easier than landing in FS95! I never mentioned flight sims to either CFI today – it just didn't seem especially relevent.

I guess the bottom line is that it is starting to feel a bit familiar and if not easy, at least "doable." Brian/Sergio said I did well on everything except that over-control thing – I really need to work on that part. It was really a fun flight – in a way he really threw me into the deep end of the pool and covered a lot of topics for a demo flight. In my log book, he noted "Demo flight, preflight, taxi, runup, takeoff, stalls power on/off" – an excellent lesson for my 60 bucks. And today I more than tripled my logged flight time (TT from 0.6 hours to 2.1 hours). I think I can solo this fall if I can just get those weekly flights in with Jason! Note: FLY WITH THE LEFT HAND! Have to keep the right free for throttle and radios and all, so get used to it. Also, TRIM and USE A LIGHT TOUCH ON THE CONTROLS.

Time: Dual 1.0 hrs, TT 2.1 hrs (C152 at EMT)

Flight log supplemental: Ground school etc.

I'm working on a plan to get started on lessons sooner rather than later... (financial and marital negotiation notes omitted, though these are certainly part of the process of learning to fly!)

I also sat in on a ground school session with Jason at HAS (Hopedale Air Service) last night. It was on METAR/TAF weather reports (new ICAO coding for weather and formats info). Jason was OK as a lecturer for the short part I sat in on – he then switched us to a King video on this stuff, which was fairly good (I think I can actually read those things now!). So I'm thinking that it will be worth it to do the ground school with them too rather than try to do only self-study – the discipline of weekly classes and readings and the chance to "show off" my knowledge in class will be good for me, I think. HAS also has a new CFI, and I do mean NEW, just out of flight school, and just off the boat from Germany. I forget his name – he's 23 and he's really green, with a strong German accent. I'll stick with Jason, thanks – but I better get going before he signs up too many students and dumps me on someone else!

I also began to read and study my new "Jepp" materials in earnest – chapter one on fundamentals of flight and stability, including the exercises. Pretty much review, though I need to get to the "second nature" point on some things like what the control surfaces do when you move the yoke (i.e., left yoke, left aileron goes UP, right goes DOWN). This was also covered in the demo video that came with the Jepp kit, and it will be lesson one of ground school, next Tuesday 6:30-9:30 pm (when I will be in LA). They will allow you to make up two lessons for free, or sit in on another class if they cover one you missed. I guess this is tied to their having to sign off in your log book for covering the required material before you take the written test.

Introductory Flight at Hopedale (1B6)

It was cool and cloudy for July, and I would not have guessed it was VMC, but I called up HAS and it sure was (visibility was something like 20+ miles – I could see Boston and Providence from 3000' MSL – a lot of high clouds). Drove about 40 minutes from Framingham to 1B6 (new office will be much closer). Flew with Jason (don't these guys have last names?) in a Cessna 172. I liked him better than Kris or Kelly, and I liked the C172 better than the Cherokee, oddly enough. This was the most comfortable or relaxed of three intro flights, to the point that I felt more "there" and able to observe and react to what was going on and even enjoy the view a bit. Some miscellaneous points to maybe flesh out as time permits (while ideas are fresh).

· Turn to final hard to judge in FS95, "real airplane too!" (sez Jason)

· I did "OK" with typical new student tendency to over-correct on the controls – with emphasis on light touch (trim) and visual (look outside) orientation, I think Jason will teach good habits

· Cross wind landing, wind from NE, substantial crab angle, slip? Fair amount of bank correction in close (turbulent), judging sink rate, line up, position, getting awful close to those cars on the road at the S end of the runway – landing does NOT look easy, and of course it is not, so it's why you practice that stuff a zillion times before you solo

· Stratus clouds 12K+ (I have a lot to learn about weather!)

· Visibility about 20+ miles despite the look of very solid (high alt.) clouds and impending rain (even felt a few drops)

· Reference points for turns - landmark on left wing moves to nose for 90 dg, moves to right wing for 180° turn – gotta learn to pick out landmarks quickly for ground reference maneuvers – also rolling out on correct heading and not too early (shallowing out the bank) or too late (overshoot)

· Better ground SA from high wing – Jason starts from basics, I claimed little knowledge, asked about ground references, other questions

· Lift wing on turn side first to clear traffic, then turn (main concession to high wing) – I liked seeing the ground below to the left, and I liked how roomy the C172 felt (also liked having trim wheel in the panel rather than between the seats on floor)

· Taxi and radio– still weak, pedals and brakes not real distinct feel, just squishing around down there – keep hands off that wheel (except for wind compensation)

· Jason – easier to communicate with, patient but tells you stuff, says it takes a few hours to get the feel for even the basics of level flight and coord, generally comfortable feeling (important to feel relaxed in airplane)

· Preflight brief – he did one based on the 4 fundamentals, climb, glide, straight/level, turns – I thought he was setting up for an hour lesson, but he said since I flew before, may as well have a plan, and I liked this – no shame if he explains how an airplane turns, even if I know it pretty well. Back taxi 360° to visually check the pattern for aircraft to the west (left pattern for runway 36). Throttle seems backwards (in for full power – HOLD IT IN on takeoff, keep hand on throttle much of the time, especially when low).

· Visual attitude reference for level - top of compass on horizon

· For climb - dash on horizon? Glide - need a reference (two thumbs, 8° my guess) - need to pay attention to correct amount of right rudder against torque in full-power climb (leads to drifting off course if you hold too much or too little)

· Tried rule of thumb! 4° below horizon, etc

· Preflight trick – he sometimes tapes a coin on a flap or something to see if student is really inspecting everything in preflight (thorough, checklist based – Jeff must have told him my comments from Kris) – suck on the stall warning port to test it (has a reed like a clarinet)!

· Still no joy on finding airport despite spotting landmarks (including Boston for east) – though overall SA seemed better when he pointed out big picture landmarks like Boston (east), Providence, Woonsocket, Worcester (we could even see mountains of S NH beyond Worcester's buildings), all from 2500-3000 feet MSL

· Turn coord so-so

· Trim works! Fly with 3 fingers, light touch - let go of the wheel and see where the nose goes

· Got an actual pilot log book with one entry of 0.6 hours – cool enough!

· Power off stall – hard to enter, faint buzz of stall warning, gentle recovery (nose level, power full) – not the least bit scary

· Fly at least once a week - he's there maybe 8 am most mornings – general impression: an American "airport bum" (flew on his daddy's lap from a young age) – slightly reserved guy, a bit scruffy – I can relate better than to foreign CFI's trying to build time here in the cheaper American skies (unfair generalization based on 2 of 7 CFI's I've spoken with or met having strong foreign accents – guess I prefer American CFI's for whatever reason). His verbal patter (e.g. talking his steps on pattern/approach/landing) was smoother than Kris's

· Some say 70% out the window, Jason says 99% -- less reliance on instruments and airspeed and more on attitude/pitch (reference cage for attitude indicator kept slipping - vacuum problem)

· I want to start the real hour-long lessons soon.

Time: Dual 0.6 hrs, TT 0.6 hrs (C172)

Introductory Flight at Hopedale Airport

It was very clear and warming fast when I drove over to Hopedale for an intro flight with Hopedale Air Service (HAS). I watched a C150 do some practice landings from 8-9 am while I waited for Kristian to return from his lesson (Jason was the CFI for the C150 - the first landing was VERY rough, fast and with 2 big bounces, too fast, or he flared too early, perhaps). I spoke with Jeff (the owner), but he said he was too busy to take on new students now. He seemed like a nice enough guy.

After Kris arrived and debriefed his last lesson, we went out to the Cherokee 140 for the pre-flight inspection (he first found me a headset to borrow). We checked power off and keys on dash, then flaps, control surfaces, fuel (visual check on quantity, drain some for contamination check), landing gear, oil (he actually could not get the cap off, and we taxied out with the access door open!). Inside the plane we checked RROW (registration, radio license, operational limits [POH], weight/balance), making sure the paperwork was in the aircraft (we actually didn't check W&B per se with just the two front seats occupied and no baggage). We also double checked that tie-downs were removed (he told me of one C150 lesson he gave where the student forgot the rear tire-down and flew once around the pattern with a cement block dragging – this caused it to handle very strangely – I'll bet! -- way out of W&B limits so a wind gust could have been real bad news).

Next he showed me the startup procedure, which I don't remember in detail (cautionary note: there was no written checklist for any of this, other than the POH). He basically showed me the controls and let me do everything from this point until I entered the downwind for final approach, when he took the controls for landing and taxi back to ramp. There should be a checklist (for students or renters) because the order of operations for lights, amp check, fuel pump, carb heat, etc. was not obvious to me. We also checked all controls for free movement (with visual, except for rudder, which won't move anyway due to nosewheel steering linkage). Yell "Clear!" and start the engine (full rich mixture, throttle 1/8" or so, turn key full right and push).

Then I (or Kris?) removed the parking brake and I taxied to the edge of the ramp. It was hard to not try to steer with the "wheel", only with the feet, and the toe brakes were kinda weird too. We stopped and did the runup check (set brake, 2000 RPM, Magnetos both, right, both, left, both and watch for slight RPM drop, ditto with carb heat on/off). This is when Kris noticed the oil check door was open, so I stopped the engine and he opened the door and closed the hatch. All OK, so now I have to make a very newbie-sounding radio call, "Hopedale, Cherokee 3569 Foxtrot, blah-blah-blah for runway 36." This was very awkward (hope nobody was listening!) – gotta read those radio procedure web pages now! I had to do the departure call as well, and one or two others I forget (mostly for "traffic," warning any planes on approach that we are on the runway – typical uncontrolled airport stuff).

Checking again for traffic, I taxied very awkwardly to the south end of the single 3200' runway 36, experimenting a little with the toe brakes en route. Not very smooth! A little better when I finally put my hands in my lap. I did a U-turn near the end and found myself well left of center, but OK. Release brakes, full throttle, steer with feet to stay roughly lined up (a bit wobbly), and the end of the runway seemed to be getting close when Kris said "start to pull back," so I did, and we lifted off and began to climb.

At about 1000' (I think – Hopedale is 269' so this would be only 730' AGL), I began a turn to the left. Coordination was OK, a little slip when I peeked at the ball. I wasn't sure where he wanted me to turn, so I made several "partial" turns before I started asking him what headings he wanted to roll out on. The view was – not much! Rather hazy and all trees and quarries and a lake or two. My outside SA was minimal! We leveled off at about 2500' and set throttle for cruise (1800 rpm?). I never noted the I-495, which I assumed would be a major landmark. I held altitude fairly well in turns (climbing with too much back pressure on one, gained 100' to 2600), but I held airspeed (angle of attack!) less reliably, I think.

We made some more turns, and Kris pointed out that we were over Mendon, with Uxbridge off to the left. We turned back and he showed me a couple of landmarks for finding the Hopedale runway (one was an industrial building or tower, the other a water tower) – not an easy thing! It's just a 3200' strip of asphalt among a lot of trees. We turned to a heading of about 140° (S.E.) and got within about a mile of the runway before I spotted it at an angle to our flight path. He had me turn (right I guess!) to line up with the runway on the downwind leg (180°, south), then he took over the controls for the rest of the approach. He said to begin a turn to base when abeam of the numbers, but we overshot this (he had to extend further south because we were too close to the runway, a very narrow pattern).

Final went very fast and seemed steep to me. I was not very aware of the "sight picture" (though I had this TERM in mind) – looking for our aim point, the point that was not moving on the windscreen. The S end of the runway is very close to the road, and we seemed very low over a passing car. He touched down long (I think), not on the numbers, and I recall some last minute bank correction (there was a small but noticeable crosswind as the day was heating up – going to 95+ today, it was 86 at the start of the flight). He said "that was not such a good example of a landing!"

Kris is amiable enough, and his accent is not TOO hard to understand. He was very laid-back in the cockpit, didn't seem rushed or nervous, and he let me fly the plane the whole time, with barely any correction or criticism. This was an introductory flight, and I had taken pains to try to show I was somewhat savvy about all this flying stuff, so maybe he was holding back. I think I could train with him, but I wonder if I should "audition" Jason as well, just to compare them?

(That's a lot of writing for a 30 minute intro flight – no wonder people generate web pages on this stuff!).

Time: 0.5 hours (unlogged).