07/29/03 - Today's lesson included a two new topics: power-on/power-off stalls and unusual attitude recovery. Along with each new flight we cover anything from the previous flights in order to maintain the learning curve. The big review topic for today was steep turns. Some of the other review stuff was partial panel, climbs/descents, hdg's/altitude changes, and VOR tracking.

Drew was a few minutes late, but no big deal. I was early as usual so I went ahead and preflighted the plane so we would be ready to go when he got there. We got in the plane and went through the preflight. Everything was working and we were set to go. I even remembered to do my instrument taxi checks this time. I would not this time. Traffic was light today so we went through our runup and were ready to go.

I was to fly a heading of 180 and then track the 180 radial outbound from KFCM forr a short time. I got the radial dialed in and that seemed to go better this time around. Once we were clear of the airport I climbed to 3500 and got set up for the steep turns. First up was a left turn and it went well except that I rolled out to late and was 15 degrees past 180. We got set up again and went back to the left. This workled out much better. I started my rollout about 20 degrees ahead of time and I ended up on the heading 183. Not too bad the second time around. Now it was time for the right turn. I started out and when I hit 30 degrees I just added a little trim up and some power and like magic it worked and lost less than 50 ft of altitude in the entire turn. My rollout was much better as well. I just missed the heading by less than 10 degrees.

Now it was time to climb back up to 4500 and get set-up for the slow flight and stalls. I got set up but went through everything too fast. I need to slow it down and get set up correctly. On the power-off stall I need to slow to 60 kts and then start the flare. I should wait for the horn, buffeting, and then once the plane fully stalls I can recover. The biggest thing to remember is maintain heading and altitude until I hit the proper airspeed. Once I have the airspeed I can start the flair. For the power-off stall the steps are mostly the same. I reduce speed until 65 kts, maintain altitude until that speed. Once the airspeed is nailed I can add full power and add the back pressure until the plane stalls. Don't forget to add the right rudder to offset the left turning tendencies. The power on stall was next. I got setup and then added full power. As I pulled back on the yoke, the horn started almost right away. A few seconds and then it was buffeting and WHOA ! the plane drops. Time to recover. The recoveries from the various stalls went pretty well. This was the first time doing stalls in the C172 and there was a definite difference in the stalls from the Piper Warrior.

The last thing to cover today was unusual attitudes and recovery. At first Drew had my place my chin to my chest and then make a couple of turns to try and get me in an unusual attitude. No luck, it did not work. Drew took the plane and had me close my eyes and then he went through some turns and things and then had me recover. The first time we were in a climb to the left. I took a look at the ASI and could see the speed bleeding off. I added power, pitched the nose down, rolled wings level, and then like magic I was recovered. The second time around he had me set up in a dive to the left. After checking the ASI I pulled the power, rolled the wings level, and then added power and back pressure. One more attitude recovery from a climbing turn to the left; add full power, pitch the nose down, roll the wings level, and recover. I was glad to be done. After the steep turns and stalls, my head was pounding and stomach was getting woozy. Where is the sic-sack?

It was time to head back to the airport. I dialed in the VOR and twisted the radial. We were on the 030 radial and heading back home. I dialed in ATIS to get my info and was set to head back. I started with a 40 degree intercept angle and and got on track but that did not last long. I hit the radial and rolled right through it. I finally got on the radial with a hdg of 60 degrees but forgot to slowly roll back to a hdg of 30 degrees or so once I was on the radial. I ended up making a criss-cross course back to the airport when it should have been a straight line. There was not much wind, I just ended up rolling out to late and going right through my radial. Lesson learned. Once on the radial, turn back to heading and correct for the wind if needed. Drew is taking me closer and closer to the RW before having me flip up the shades. This is to simulate coming out of the clouds as you approach the airport. I got set up for the landing and it went o.k. I crossed the threshold slightly fast and as I started my flare, I started to float up. I reduced the flare and started again. The flare started and I let the airspeed bled off. The stall horn started and before you know it I was on the ground. The landing was not as good as the last one, but it was o.k. I taxied back to Thunderbird and shut the plane down. Another day, another lesson. Overall a pretty good flight, just work on the VOR tracking. Next up, Stage 1 check. Yippiee, this is going fast.

Lessons Learned:
1. keep the plane trimmed out properly.
2. get set-up properly before starting maneuvers.
3. inside of 10nm from the apt. only use a 20 degree angle for intercepting the radial. if outside of the 10nm you can use a 45
degree intercept, but be careful.
4. once you intercept the radial, slowly roll back to the radial hdg and correct for the wind as necessary.
5. and as always SCAN ! SCAN ! SCAN !

Until next time !!!