08/16/03 – It was nice to finally get back in the plane. I was getting tired of flying circles in the simulator. Today’s flight was nothing really new, but just a continuation of skills that I am working. The topics covered included: VOR tracking and interception, climbs and descents, steep turns, (timed and compass), and least favorite unusual attitude recovery.
The wx was pretty good, but there were no clouds in the area and the wind was calm. I completed all of my pre-taxi work and called up ground. They actually gave me the option of using 18 because of the calm winds. It is much closer to Thunderbird so for the sake of saving that all too valuable hobbs time ($$$) we took 18. The take off was uneventful but it did seem to take a little bit longer to rotate. I just wrote it of as a cause of the heat; approaching 90 degrees and terrible humidity. We were off the ground I went through my climb checklist, retract flaps…Ooops, flaps are already ready retracted. That would explain the longer takeoff roll. CHECKLIST CHECKLIST
Once the climb checklist was complete the hood shades came down and it was IMC time. I had to intercept a radial out from KFCM. After a few minutes Drew had me dial in the Farmington VOR and track that. I started to track it but forgot to identify it. A quick identify and we were off to Farmington. I tracked the radial to the airport and did fairly well until I got really close. After reaching the VOR Drew had me take us direct to Flying Cloud using the GPS. I got the GPS dialed in and started on my way. There was little or no wind, but I kept getting blown off course. Hmmm…those darn left turning tendencies. I would turn to the DTK (305) and then stop. I did a good job of holding the deflection, but I never intercepted the DTK. After some prodding from Drew I took a steep intercept angle and the DTK finally came in. Did I mention that the entire time I was tracking to the Farmington VOR I was partial panel? It went fairly well though.
Prior to the VOR tracking we went over some maneuvers and they all went well except for one small but important thing. When I did the first steep turn I rolled out perfectly and Drew even said great turn, but one small thing. You would have failed the checkride. What ??? He then asked me, “What is Va for this aircraft?” Point taken. Va is 105 kts and we exceeded that for a second.
We came in from the southeast so we were set up to use either 28l or 28r. I made the call at 10NM and the tower came back, “report 3 southeast for 28r”. About 3.5NM SE, the tower actually called up “Cessna 5088Q, cleared to land enter left base for 28r”. Just as we entered the left base, I flipped up the shades and only had to maneuver slightly to get lined up with the centerline. We were slightly high and I added a couple of notches of flaps and got on the glideslope. Once on the GS I added the last notch of flaps and was set to land. I crossed the threshold at 65 kts, pulled the power and started the flare. The stall warning horn came on and I released a little backpressure and reflared. The horn came on again and I kept the flare going. The airspeed bled off and before you know it, there was a little squeak and we were on the ground. I believe you could call that a “greaser”. It was the best landing I have had by far. It even elicited a Great Landing from Drew. I am getting the hang of landing the 172. It helped that the winds were calm, but I will take that landing anyway, wind or not.
Lessons Learned Today:
1. Va is 105 kias. Remember to be under that speed when performing maneuvers.
2. Don’t forget the left turning tendencies of the aircraft.
3. Within 10 miles of the field, use an intercept of 30 degrees. Otherwise use a 45-
degree intercept.
4. Anticipate the radial coming in when rolling out.
5. When intercepting a radial, use the number 2 VOR to center up your current
course. It will help in knowing when the desired intercept is coming in.
6. CHECKLIST, CHECKLIST, CHECKLIST. Be very thorough !
