I'm all ready to solo, butterflies in my stomach, excited and nervous. Then the flight school calls two hours before my flight. It turns out that Zodiac 130AW, the plane I was training in, had an accident on landing at the hands of a renter.
The plane was landed hard in a crosswind without proper crosswind correction. This caused the nose gear to fold about ninety degrees, which in turn caused the nose to lower enough for the propeller to strike the runway. This is a Bad Thing, because it destroyed the prop, and the prop is directly connected to the crankshaft of the Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM) 0-200 engine. That means the engine must be removed from the plane, torn down completely, and inspected for damage. It could be fine, or it could be time for a costly major overhaul of all the internals.
What does this mean for me? Sigh...it means I will not be flying the Zodiac for several weeks, at least. There are no other nearby flight schools offering Sport Pilot training. Peachtree-Dekalb airport (PDK) has it, but it's farther away (about an hour's drive or more) and it's is one of the most busy class delta airports in the nation. I don't think I want that kind of pressure during training.
I could take a couple of weeks and go to an accelerated sport pilot training course and finish up quickly, but that's at the whim of the weather, and I've already taken something like 50 hours off work for flight training already, so I'm not thrilled about burning up the rest of my leave.
For now I think I'll just wait and see what happens with N130AW. If it will only be down a few weeks, I can tough it out. If it will be 6, 8, 10+ weeks, I'll have to reevaluate what to do to get this thing finished. In the meantime I'm studying so I can get my written test out of the way.
Sigh...
10 March 2009
06 March 2009
Pre-Solo Passed & Emergency Procedures
I passed my pre-solo test today with flying colors, so Eric told me to expect to solo either Sunday or Monday...gulp! I think I'm ready, but there is a natural amount or apprehension and nerves that go with getting in an airplane and flying it around with no safety net in the form of an experienced in the right seat.
This morning we practiced engine out emergencies in the Zodiac. First a simulated off field landing from 3500 feet. This is not hard, you just pick a landing spot you can glide to and pitch the airplane for best glide speed (65 knots in the Zodiac). One thing Eric mentioned and I definitely found is that a field that looks great at 3500 feet might look questionable down low. The field I picked looked great up high, but once we got lower it looked a little small and had tall trees on the side I was approaching from. Clearly another case of something in aviation you need to be very conservative about.
We then went to WDR and did some simulated engine outs in the pattern and power off landings. This is an area where a Zodiac is not like a Cessna; once you pull the power to idle in the Zodiac it starts to come down like a meteor. At the 65 knot approach speed we were seeing sink rates up to 1200fpm. Our firt try at this in a normal pattern made it clear we could not make the runway from abeam the numbers. On the second try as soon as I cut the throttle abeam the runway numbers I started a moderate 180 degree turn. This time we made it very well. I gave the plane a little throttle just before the flair to soften the landing, but we would have made it easily even with no power. It just would have been a hard impact landing.
The Zodiac is a great plane, and a lot of fun. A Glider it aint.
This morning we practiced engine out emergencies in the Zodiac. First a simulated off field landing from 3500 feet. This is not hard, you just pick a landing spot you can glide to and pitch the airplane for best glide speed (65 knots in the Zodiac). One thing Eric mentioned and I definitely found is that a field that looks great at 3500 feet might look questionable down low. The field I picked looked great up high, but once we got lower it looked a little small and had tall trees on the side I was approaching from. Clearly another case of something in aviation you need to be very conservative about.
We then went to WDR and did some simulated engine outs in the pattern and power off landings. This is an area where a Zodiac is not like a Cessna; once you pull the power to idle in the Zodiac it starts to come down like a meteor. At the 65 knot approach speed we were seeing sink rates up to 1200fpm. Our firt try at this in a normal pattern made it clear we could not make the runway from abeam the numbers. On the second try as soon as I cut the throttle abeam the runway numbers I started a moderate 180 degree turn. This time we made it very well. I gave the plane a little throttle just before the flair to soften the landing, but we would have made it easily even with no power. It just would have been a hard impact landing.
The Zodiac is a great plane, and a lot of fun. A Glider it aint.
05 March 2009
Pre-Solo Test Tomorrow
Has it really been almost a month?!? Oh well. In that month, I had seven flight lessons scheduled. Five of seven were canceled due to weather. Highly annoying. I had a lesson two weeks ago, and it was bad; my head just was not in the game. I made five landings -- one of them was really good, two were just okay, and two severely sucked. Nothing dangerous, just pretty marginal technique on my part.
Then yesterday I had another lesson. That one went very well. No major mistakes, though I did miss one ATC radio call. Eric made the reply and didn't say anything, so I guess it's not a biggie. My landings were much better, but I am still having a some problems holding off the nosewheel enough on touchdown...I'll have to play with my stick technique after the main gear touches down and see if I can figure that out.
Tomorrow I have another lesson, and it's going to be some ground school and the FAA mandated pre-solo test. Once that and some logbook endorsements are out of the way, eric will be able to spring my first solo on me whenever he chooses. That's pretty scary, but one learns by doing, right? Wish me luck!
Then yesterday I had another lesson. That one went very well. No major mistakes, though I did miss one ATC radio call. Eric made the reply and didn't say anything, so I guess it's not a biggie. My landings were much better, but I am still having a some problems holding off the nosewheel enough on touchdown...I'll have to play with my stick technique after the main gear touches down and see if I can figure that out.
Tomorrow I have another lesson, and it's going to be some ground school and the FAA mandated pre-solo test. Once that and some logbook endorsements are out of the way, eric will be able to spring my first solo on me whenever he chooses. That's pretty scary, but one learns by doing, right? Wish me luck!
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