No Solo Yet
So the check ride was difficult. I was really upset right afterwards, if you couldn't tell. But after thinking about it a lot, I came to one conclusion: The check ride instructor was a jerk. No two ways about it, nothing I can do about it. I need to not get nervous. Jerks get more jerky when you're nervous. Fine, I can do that. Anyway, I'm over it.
I met with Kevin on Monday and he had exactly the reaction to the check ride report as I thought he'd have -- basically he thought most of it was BS and there were a couple of things we needed to go over. I now know about adverse yaw: When you turn using the ailerons, the outside wing develops more lift (you can tell, because it goes up), but also more drag, thus if the plane is turning to the right due to the bank, the natural tendency is to yaw to the left due to the drag. Adverse yaw.
I was also reminded of the four reasons for left turning tendencies, which I could not recite on command: Torque, P-Factor, Spiraling Slipstream, and Gyroscopic Precession. I'll have it tattooed to my forehead. Maybe we can name conference rooms after these at the office. Or kids: Hey Torque, stop screwing around! And Slipstream! How many times have I told you, stand up straight!
So we were going to go up and work on my rudder technique and then maybe do my supervised solo, but when we went out to 9849L, it was a no-go -- the front landing gear strut was completely down. It needs to have a couple of inches of clearance, otherwise (a) you have no suspension in front, and (b) the prop is right next to the ground, which is NOT good. There's been a lot going on in the maintenance department of the club. Basically, the head mechanic owns a dozen or so planes in the fleet, including 5346D, which as you remember almost crashed in a field. This clearly presents the potential for a conflict of interest; at the least, he could preferentially work on his own planes first and get them back in the fleet first. I don't know if that's actually happened, but it certainly brings up the possibility.
Second, and more seriously -- 5346D was never serviced. The mechanic took it into his hangar, worked on it for a while, took it out flying and declared it to be fine. Is it? If nothing was done, I'm sure as heck not flying it again. Turns out, another one of his planes had an engine problem only a few days later. Same deal, he worked on it for a little while and declared that nothing was wrong. The next day, a club member tried to start it up, and it wouldn't. Turned out a part of the starter was broken. So that was the explanation for the engine trouble, right? Maybe, but if so...how did he start it up in the hangar??
Anyway, lots of politics that I'd rather not deal with. I just want to fly, not navigate a complex political landscape.
I finally bought a copy of Stick And Rudder. It's a highly recommended text, and it reads really well. Yeah, it's a little simplistic, but who can fault a book on flying for being too simplistic? You have to start simple and then learn the intricacies.
Anyway, so we'll try again for the solo on Monday, if I can land better.
I met with Kevin on Monday and he had exactly the reaction to the check ride report as I thought he'd have -- basically he thought most of it was BS and there were a couple of things we needed to go over. I now know about adverse yaw: When you turn using the ailerons, the outside wing develops more lift (you can tell, because it goes up), but also more drag, thus if the plane is turning to the right due to the bank, the natural tendency is to yaw to the left due to the drag. Adverse yaw.
I was also reminded of the four reasons for left turning tendencies, which I could not recite on command: Torque, P-Factor, Spiraling Slipstream, and Gyroscopic Precession. I'll have it tattooed to my forehead. Maybe we can name conference rooms after these at the office. Or kids: Hey Torque, stop screwing around! And Slipstream! How many times have I told you, stand up straight!
So we were going to go up and work on my rudder technique and then maybe do my supervised solo, but when we went out to 9849L, it was a no-go -- the front landing gear strut was completely down. It needs to have a couple of inches of clearance, otherwise (a) you have no suspension in front, and (b) the prop is right next to the ground, which is NOT good. There's been a lot going on in the maintenance department of the club. Basically, the head mechanic owns a dozen or so planes in the fleet, including 5346D, which as you remember almost crashed in a field. This clearly presents the potential for a conflict of interest; at the least, he could preferentially work on his own planes first and get them back in the fleet first. I don't know if that's actually happened, but it certainly brings up the possibility.
Second, and more seriously -- 5346D was never serviced. The mechanic took it into his hangar, worked on it for a while, took it out flying and declared it to be fine. Is it? If nothing was done, I'm sure as heck not flying it again. Turns out, another one of his planes had an engine problem only a few days later. Same deal, he worked on it for a little while and declared that nothing was wrong. The next day, a club member tried to start it up, and it wouldn't. Turned out a part of the starter was broken. So that was the explanation for the engine trouble, right? Maybe, but if so...how did he start it up in the hangar??
Anyway, lots of politics that I'd rather not deal with. I just want to fly, not navigate a complex political landscape.
I finally bought a copy of Stick And Rudder. It's a highly recommended text, and it reads really well. Yeah, it's a little simplistic, but who can fault a book on flying for being too simplistic? You have to start simple and then learn the intricacies.
Anyway, so we'll try again for the solo on Monday, if I can land better.
posted by MKT at 10:13 PM
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