Stalls theory and revision flying

After having lessons cancelled because of sickness and weather, today I was back for my next lesson.

Today's mission was to be stalls. We went through the theory during the briefing but when we went out to fly the visibility was too poor to actually do stalls.

First we went through what a stall actually is. Contrary to what most people think, stalls in aeroplanes do not have anything to do with the engine (unlike in a car). Stalls occur when the wing's angle of attack goes beyond the critical point.

The angle of attack is the angle between the chord line of the wing (an imaginary line running through the wing from the leading edge to the trailing edge) and the airflow.

The angle is the Angle of Attack (AofA)

When the wing goes beyond the critical angle of attack (16 degrees usually) it experiences a reduction in lift. It is possible to stall at any airspeed or attitude - it is possible to stall whether flying straight and level, climbing, descending etc. The wing does not 'lose lift' (which would imply that there was no lift at all and the plane would just plummet to the ground), it experiences a 'reduction in lift' which means that it will descend.

Relationship between Lift and Angle of Attack (AofA)

- the top of the red curve is where the stall occurs.

It is generally not possible to stall unless the pilot actually forces the plane to stall. It is not possible to be simply flying along and then stall, the pilot must do something to force the stall (such as raise the nose attitude). It is considered bad airmanship to go into an unintentional stall.

Before entering the stall, there are a number of checks to go through.

• H - Height
  
• A - Airframe
  
• S - Security
  
• E - Engine
  
• L - Location
• L - Lookout

Height refers to the height of the plane above ground level. The stall must be recovered from by 3000ft AGL so it is generally advised to be around 4000ft AGL before entering the stall. Airframe means checking that the landing gear is raised (if applicable) and the flaps are in the desired position. Security means checking that all hatches and harnesses are secure (basically doors and seatbelts) and there are no loose items that might fly around the cockpit during the stall. Engine means checking for normal engine operation. Location means checking that you are away from any towns and anything to crash into (other aircraft, mountains etc). Lookout means to make an inspection before performing the stall (generally do a 360 degree turn) to check that the area around (both to the sides, above and below) are clear.

Location is important with stalls as you can't perform stalls over towns or built up areas. This is because, as Jeremy put it, 'when people see a plane stopped in the air with no engine noise, they tend to crack the shits and call the police'.

In order to force the plane to stall, the power needs to be reduced to idle (around 900-1000rpm) and the nose needs to be raised beyond the critical AofA.

Symptoms of an approaching stall include:

• decreasing airspeed and noise level
• controls less firm and less effective
• pre-stall warning (noise)
• shuddering airframe
• relatively high nose-up attitude

During the stall the nose will drop by itself and the aircraft will descend.

To recover from the stall, the angle of attack is reduced by moving the control column to the neutral position as the nose drops. Then, as the airspeed increases, raise the nose slowly and simultaneously apply power. Raise the nose until it is back in the climbing position, as this will allow us to recover the height we lost during the stall.

I also got around to apologising for my vagueness regarding things like the handing over/taking over procedure. By the sounds of it though, I'm not the only one! Anyway, it's all sorted now, I know what I'm meant to be doing and why!

After the briefing we popped outside to see if the sky was clearing up (it was pretty cloudy). It did seem to be slowly clearing so we decided to wait 10 minutes and see what it was like then. To fill in the time, we started to fill in my logbook.
The logbooks are pretty easy to fill in, you just need to put in dates, the type and rego of the plane, the PIC (instructor's name), what we practiced and the time.

Example Logbook page (not mine, clearly)

While Jeremy was printing my training records, Neroli (the wife of the guy who owns Lilydale) came over and started talking to me. She sends out an email to all the female pilots and wanted my email address (which was fine). Then she asked me "So are you going to live in Australia permanently?" I was like "Yes. I was born here, really!" (I get this so much, apparantly my accent sounds fairly British). Jeremy was pretty amused by the whole thing.

Logbook complete, I was sent out to preflight Jab 4929. I've found out that some bright spark has removed the pull ring on the 4929 that allows the rudder pedals to be moved forward - unfortunately today I was back to stretching to reach the pedals.
I started the preflight and realised that the fuel drain tester had somehow disappeared so I had to pop back inside and find one. Then when I got back outside and was preflighting, these two guys came over and started doing stuff with the plane (checking the wheel I think) - I'm assuming they were maintenance guys. Luckily, they said it was all alright to fly! I went through the rest of the preflight and I'm getting loads more confident at it. When Jeremy came out I got around to asking the few questions I've been meaning to ask for a while. The first was about checking the brakes - to tell if the brakes are getting too worn, the brake pads will be scratched and clearly used looking (they weren't). The second was whether or not I'm meant to dip the fuel tanks during the preflight - apparantly I'm not since there isn't a dipstick. I'm quite pleased about that as, since the fuel tank lids are on the tops of the wings, I'm not sure I'm tall enough to be able to do it!

We jumped into the plane, went through the checks and I started it. I learnt from my experience last lesson and this time I checked my headset was plugged in before I put it on (luckily, since it wasn't). I taxiied us to the runway and Jeremy took control for the take off.

When we got to the training area the visibility was clearly not good enough to go up to 4000ft to do stalls, so we decided to do a shorter revision lesson. We did a mixture of climbing, descending and turns (all types). Although it was disappointing that we couldn't do stalls, it was good to have a refresher on all of this. We only flew for about 30mins today since the visibility was poor and when we started to head back to the airfield the wind was clearly coming up, it was getting a bit bouncy.

Jeremy took control for the landing. There was a slight crosswind so during the approach the nose of the plane was pointing slightly to the side. I taxiied us back, did the last checks and we jumped out.

I've booked lessons for this Saturday and for Wednesday 12th August. Jeremy is going on holiday in the week between and, although I could have flown with a different instructor, after my experience with Murray I figured it was easier to just wait. Hopefully the weather on Saturday will be good enough for us to do stalls.

I've been looking into buying my own headset. I was going to wait until Christmas (to try and get at least part paid for by my parents as a present!) but I'm not sure I'm going to wait that long. To put it nicely, the school ones aren't fantastic, so it would be nice to have my own. Headsets range in price from $200 (school ones) to $1,500 (like Jeremy's Bose). However when I do buy one I'm not going to choose one based on price, but based on comfort, because it is a long-term purchase that will (hopefully) last me for years. I'm going to ask next lesson if Jeremy has any recommendations and I'll try and find a shop with a good range where I can try them on. There are so many different options around, it's going to be a difficult choice!

Random things I learnt today:

• You can't move the rudder pedals in 4929 (gah)
• Jeremy likes Freddo Frogs
• People apparantly think I'm foreign
  

An unexpected side-effect

As it says in the blog description, sometimes things other than lessons will find their way into this blog. This post is one of those.

Learning to fly is having an unexpected side-effect on me - I'm learning a lot about myself.

I'm discovering that I have what I can only describe as 'perfectionist tendencies'. I'm not a perfectionist, not by a long shot, I know that, but I've no idea how else to describe how I'm feeling. I have this overwhelming feeling that I should remember everything after hearing it once and get everything right the first time. Thus, I don't ask nearly as many questions as I should be. I just feel that 'clearly' everyone else remembers everything easily and gets everything right straight away. Even though I know this isn't true, and logically can't be true, I still feel like it. So, I feel like, if I ask questions, I'll look like an idiot. And even though I know that learning is more important than looking like an idiot, it's still hard to get over these 'perfectionist tendencies' - that I should be getting everything right the first time.

I think part of the reason I feel like this is that I feel out of my depth when it comes to flying. It's been a long time since I've been a complete novice at something, so I guess I've forgotten what it feels like to only have limited knowledge and experience. Add to that the fact that I'm not mechanically or scientifically minded, yet I'm pursuing a hobby that has strong mechanical/scientific elements, and that just makes my 'out of depth' feeling worse. I guess this is partly the reason I feel I need to get everything right the first time - so I can prove I'm just as 'good' as all the other students (or at least what I imagine the other students to be).

I've also discovered that I'm vague about important things - like the whole handing over/taking over thing. I think that when I was first told to do it, I was thinking of so many other things as well (the whole overwhelming 'first flight' experience) and I didn't realise how serious things could get if that wasn't followed. Add to that my discomfort with the headset mic, and I'm a bit of a hopeless case. I feel I owe Jeremy an apology for my vagueness really...and will probably do so next lesson.

I think the main source of my problems is my insecurity in my own ability. When it comes to things I know, like music, I'm completely confident and in control and know exactly what I'm doing. With flying, I still lack confidence in myself. For example, with the preflight, I do the checks but I have absolutely no confidence in my ability to check and whether or not I'm doing the right thing. I think I need to start approaching it more professionally - I'm not just someone turning up to learn a bit about flying a plane, I am now a STUDENT PILOT and I need to act like one. I need to become more proactive about my learning.

I've decided that I'm going to start asking more questions from next lesson onwards, or at least try to. It is my own learning that is at stake here, and I am paying to be taught and have my questions answered. It will be entirely my own fault if I don't ask the questions and learn what I need to. I need to take control.

Checklists I need to learn

Climbing & Descending Turns

Today's mission was Climbing & Descending turns.

Climbing & descending turns involve the same three elements as medium level turns:

• Bank
• Balance
• Backpressure

The angle of bank for these turns is less than for medium level turns - only 15 degrees. This is because if you bank the plane too far during a climb, the plane will turn but no longer climb.

It was a shorter briefing today becaus the main basics had been covered previously with medium level turns and climbing & descending. So, I was sent out to do the preflight. I am slowly getting the hang of checking everything, althought it still seems to take less time than it should. I did, however, make a breakthrough today - I discovered that it is possible to adjust the position of the rudder pedals. One of the main problems I've been having is reaching the rudder pedals and moving them closer made a huge difference!

Jeremy came out, we climbed in and I did the startup. It took a few times to get the engine to start, I think the throttle might have not been fully closed, because it started after Jeremy adjusted something. I put on my headset and was a bit confused to find no sound! I looked around to find Jeremy plugging it in (oops) and gave him a rather sheepish grin :P.

I taxiied to plane to the runway (also easier with the moved pedals), went through the last checks and Jeremy did the takeoff.

It was rather windy today which posed more challenges. There were a few big bumps at the start of the lesson but luckily it was smooth enough to continue the lesson. It certainly was more challenging to keep the aircraft on a constant heading - it kept wanting to roll and turn. I managed to fight it and keep it going where I wanted though.

First Jeremy explained the basics of climbing (which I wanted a recap on). To climb, the power is set at full and the attitude is the horizon just below the bottom of the windscreen.

He then demonstrated a climbing turn, a descent and a descending turn. To descend, power is set at 2000rpm and the attitude is the horizon about halfway up the windscreen. Before I took over, he demonstrated what would happen during a climbing turn if the plane was allowed to bank at 30 degrees or over. It was interesting to see how the rate of climb slowed and then eventually the plane stopped climbing at all.

Then it was my turn. First I had to put the plane into a climb, and then do a climbing turn. It was a bit difficult to calculate the angle of bank (15 degrees) and at times I think I was banking too far. The bouncing of the plane from the wind made it harder to maintain the angle. I think I was also letting the nose drop a little too far too.

After that I had to put the plane into a descent, and then do a descending turn. These were easier as you don't need to apply backpressure, as the nose is meant to remain low (since it is descending). I also found it hard to calculate the angle here, although I was getting more used to what it should be.

We did more turns in both directions (a mix of climbing, descending and medium level) before it was time to head back. Jeremy took over control earlier than usual, probably because of the wind which made the landing more difficult. Interestingly, he landed without using flaps, I meant to ask why and totally forgot (sigh).

I haven't booked my next mission yet becuase the booking sheets had disappeared, but hopefully it'll be 8:30am next Wednesday. I ordered the theory books earlier this week and they arrived yesterday. They look interested but I also feel like there's just so much to learn, it's rather daunting. Excitingly, I now have a logbook!

Medium Level Turning

After two failed attempts at lessons last week (stupid weather), today I was back for a lesson on Medium Level Turns.

Medium level turns are the most basic and commonly used type of turn.

Elements of a medium level turn:

• Constant height
• 30 degree angle of bank
• Balance

When an aircraft flies, two of the main forces acting on it are lift (up) and weight (down).
When in a medium level turn, the lift force is tilted so it is no longer equal to the weight.

When turning, there are three main things to remember:

• Bank
• Backpressure
• Balance

Banking the plane moves it into a turn. The angle of bank for a medium level turn is about 30 degrees. When banking, the nose will start to drop and the plane will lose height. In order to maintain height, slight backpressure must be placed on the control column to keep the nose raised (increasing the angle of attack). During the turn the aircraft needs to be balanced with the rudder - when in balance, the ball on the turn indicator will be between the two lines.

When entering and during the turn, the work cycle ALAP has to be used:

• A - attitude
• L - lookout
• A - attitude
• P - performance

After the briefing, Jeremy told me to head out and preflight the plane and he'd follow in about 5 minutes. I wandered out to the plane and tried to remember what I'd been taught last lesson about preflighting a plane. I remembered to check the stall indicator (a small hole on the wing that you need to suck on to see if it whistles), the brakes, the flaps (bolts), the ailerons (movement and bolts), the elevator (movement and bolts), rudder (bolts) and checked the prop and the oil. The main thing I forgot was to check the fuel - to do that, you use a little tube to take some fuel from both the wing tanks and check that there is no water or anything in there. I felt pretty professional, walking around checking the plane!

We then climbed in and I got to do the startup. I ran through the checks, called 'Clear prop!' and started the plane. I taxiied us to the runway, ran through the next checks and gave up control for the takeoff.

After takeoff I got to take over the climb (I had mentioned during the briefing that I wanted to go over climbing & descending again). Even in that short time, climbing became so much clearer. I'll see how I go over the next few lessons, and I might still ask for another lesson devoted to climbing & descending.

Jeremy then demonstrated a left turn. First you lookout - in the opposite direction, in front then in the direction of the turn. Then is the turn - banking and applying backpressure and checking balance. We did a 360 degree turn back to a town that was the 'reference point' - when back to the town we rolled out of the turn. He then demonstrated again and then showed me some common faults of students when turning and what they would feel like.

Then it was my turn. It was (as usual it seems) harder than it looks, it definitely needed more backpressure on the stick than I expected. When turning left, the nose is just above the horizon. When I turned the first time, I totally forgot to look before turning - I remembered during the turn. After the turn Jeremy was like 'Just one criticism - you didn't look at all before the turn'. I was like 'haha oops, yeah'. I made sure I looked before every other turn! I did a few more left turns and it definitely got easier to maintain the height after a few tries.

Then we went through right turns. These are harder as I'm on the 'high' side of the plane so it's much harder to look out for other traffic. Jeremy demonstrated a few times and then it was my turn. When doing a right turn, the nose is quite a bit below the horizon, much further down than I expected. It was also a lot harder to look out, although I made sure I did so this time!

After a few more turns in each direction, it was time to head back. I got to go through descending again, although I still feel a bit vague on it. Jeremy did the landing and I taxiied us back and did the shutdown checks.

It is interesting, after last lesson I had lost some of my enthusasism for flying lessons but after today that enthusiasm is back. It's amazing how much difference someone's teaching style can make for my learning and enjoyment of lessons. I think I was lucky to end up with an instructor who's style works for me from my first lesson - now I just have to hope Jeremy doesn't dash off and join the airlines or something!

My next lesson is on Friday, and our mission is climbing & descending turns. Jeremy calls lessons 'missions' which amuses me no end, as it makes it sound like we're off to bomb Germany or something rather than just flying around Lilydale!