Unusual Attitude Recovery
Unusual Attitude Recovery sounds a lot like what happens when I get really upset about something, become really negative for a while, and then try to get back on track. But today it was about getting up in the mildly turbulent air over the beautiful coast, putting on the hood, and letting Kevin do bizarre things to the plane so that I could recover using only the instruments.
It went fine; I had one little slip-up where I wasn't really sure whether we were going up or down. As Kevin puts it, this is the training that JFK Jr. was lacking. But we didn't die, and we made it back to the airport OK in spite of having to avoid directly oncoming traffic, which was a bit disconcerting. Two soft-field landing attempts -- first one was terrible, and porpoised. Second was good, but needed help.
Now things are moving quickly. After one more lesson to try to figure out how the heck to do these landings, I'm going for my phase check. Not sure where I'll be going yet, but I got the name of a phase check instructor, and scheduled him for Friday. I'm a lot less nervous this time around; all the tasks are intellectual, and I know I can do them. Sure, I might sound like an idiot on the radio, but so be it. I just need to review my airspaces, just to be sure.
I'm also going through the Jeppeson Private Pilot Manual chapter by chapter, in preparation for the written test. As Kevin says, after my phase check, I'll have about six more flights, and then my FAA check ride, and I should have my written done before then. So far I'm still pretty early in the book, reading about aerodynamics, reviewing instrument errors (LAGS/ANDS/LEADS, left turning tendencies, adverse yaw and Fries ailerons, all that) but it's nicer because the Jepp book has great illustrations, which help my visual learning tendencies. I do need to review VFR airspace limitations, and all the weight/balance stuff -- though I'm sure I can do that. Oh, landing distance, fuel usage, basically anything that involves a chart from the POH.
I'll have two days to study; I scheduled a solo flight Wednesday morning so hopefully by Thursday's lesson with Kevin I'll be an expert at these darn landings..
It went fine; I had one little slip-up where I wasn't really sure whether we were going up or down. As Kevin puts it, this is the training that JFK Jr. was lacking. But we didn't die, and we made it back to the airport OK in spite of having to avoid directly oncoming traffic, which was a bit disconcerting. Two soft-field landing attempts -- first one was terrible, and porpoised. Second was good, but needed help.
Now things are moving quickly. After one more lesson to try to figure out how the heck to do these landings, I'm going for my phase check. Not sure where I'll be going yet, but I got the name of a phase check instructor, and scheduled him for Friday. I'm a lot less nervous this time around; all the tasks are intellectual, and I know I can do them. Sure, I might sound like an idiot on the radio, but so be it. I just need to review my airspaces, just to be sure.
I'm also going through the Jeppeson Private Pilot Manual chapter by chapter, in preparation for the written test. As Kevin says, after my phase check, I'll have about six more flights, and then my FAA check ride, and I should have my written done before then. So far I'm still pretty early in the book, reading about aerodynamics, reviewing instrument errors (LAGS/ANDS/LEADS, left turning tendencies, adverse yaw and Fries ailerons, all that) but it's nicer because the Jepp book has great illustrations, which help my visual learning tendencies. I do need to review VFR airspace limitations, and all the weight/balance stuff -- though I'm sure I can do that. Oh, landing distance, fuel usage, basically anything that involves a chart from the POH.
I'll have two days to study; I scheduled a solo flight Wednesday morning so hopefully by Thursday's lesson with Kevin I'll be an expert at these darn landings..
posted by MKT at 9:44 PM
1 Comments:
Unusual attitude training is fun but a little scary in that your realize how your body can trick you and how important it is to trust those gauges.
Good luck with the last part of your training.
Post a Comment
<< Home