Buying your own plane for training

[rcpilot]

So remind me not to complain about missing a lesson again. We met at 3 PM and we did our dual x-country from KHWV to KWST. It's about 58 miles, a lot of it over water. Nice scenery. We flew at 5500' to give us a good margin of safety if the engine decided act up. Followed the sectional and my GPS. Took about 40 minutes. We did our full stop landing then did some touch-n-go's. We then flew back to KHWV. Did a couple more touch-n-go's and then he had me do my third supervised solo. Spent about an hour doing takeoffs and full stop landings. Six in total and then, after 4 hours, it was time to go home. Tomorrow I get to fly to KWST by myself. We'll meet at 7AM, discuss the trip, he'll look over my flight plan and then I'm on my own. Fly there and back.

[Cluemeister]

YES! Nice job and good luck tomorrow!

[Cluemeister]

Here's the xc on iflightplanner. Very scenic!

[rcpilot]

Well, it's done. Got to the airport about 6:45, preflighted the plane and put my chart, flight plan etc in the passenger's seat. Instructor showed up, went over my flight plan and of course he says you should do one for the trip back too! Now why didn't I think of that. I guess just following it in reverse isn't the way to do it. He reminds me don't hurry, if the landing doesn't look good, go around. We discuss where I should start my decent (since some of this is over water, I'm flying at 5500 then and 4500 on the way back to give me a good safety margin). What to do if I get lost. Relax and take your time. We go over to the self serve and gas up the plane. Then it's call me when you get back. Setup the GPS, do my run up and off I go. Climb out and follow the GPS. Check the landmarks on the navlog as I go. Keep an eye out for traffic and enjoy the scenery. Get to my altitude then dial in Westerly weather, currently favoring runway 32, the same one we used yesterday so that makes things easier. It's a little hazy this morning and I'm hoping it's not going to be problem finding the airport. I have no problem seeing the ground, just can't see as far ahead. GS is like 120 mph so I'm moving along. Finally see the airport. I've already started my descent. Setting up to enter the 045. The airport is pretty busy already. I make my announcement. When I enter the downwind, I see I'm a bit fast, I figure no flaps. Still a bit fast on final, I might have been able to land, but it would have been uncomfortably long so I power up and announce I'm going around. Next one much better and a great landing right down the middle. Clean up the plane, have a drink of water, reprogram the GPS for the trip back and taxi back to the runway. Pretakeoff checklist, announce and off I go. Turn back towards Long Island. Poking along now with a GS of 88 mph. Enjoying the scenery, take some pictures. get back to Brookhaven, which is getting a bit busy by now too. Overfly at 2000'then setup for the 045 entry. Again I was a little fast, so no flaps but the landing was good. Taking back to my parking spot and I'm done. It's a great feeling, especially considering where I was last October. Call my instructor and let him know. Call my wife and tell her I'm back safe. From where she says. I tell her(I did not tell her beforehand because since my accident she worries). So now we're going to focus on getting me ready for my checkride. And get my solo time up where it needs to be.

[rcpilot]

Congratulations. I don't understand the "a little fast, so no flaps." Just reduce power, raise the nose, slow down, add flaps. I usually add 1/3 abeam landing point, 1/3 on base, and 1/3 on final. If it's a long runway, I usually land with 2/3 flaps just to keep up my speed a little and get to the turn-off a little sooner, basically blend-in with the other traffic.

Well, the power was already at idle. This happens a lot with my plane, just doesn't want to slow down sometimes. We've made many no flaps landings.

[3Dreaming]

Congratulations. I don't understand the "a little fast, so no flaps." Just reduce power, raise the nose, slow down, add flaps. I usually add 1/3 abeam landing point, 1/3 on base, and 1/3 on final. If it's a long runway, I usually land with 2/3 flaps just to keep up my speed a little and get to the turn-off a little sooner, basically blend-in with the other traffic.

Well, the power was already at idle. This happens a lot with my plane, just doesn't want to slow down sometimes. We've made many no flaps landings.

In addition he has a very low Vfe speed.

[drseti]

The fact that your throttle was already at idle is irrrlevant as far as airspeed is concerned. Unlike an automobile, throttle does not control speed.

Here's a different way of looking at things: in a light aircraft, the throttle is your altitude control. it is elevator (pitch) that controls airspeed, and you can then think of elevator trim as cruise control.

Flaps are mainly drag devices, so they control rate of descent. To slow the plane down, apply subtle back-pressure on the stick (setting a particulate pitch angle that corresponds to the speed you want), and then trim to keep the nose there, hands-off. If your programmed speed is now inside the white arc, you can control your rate of descent (and hence your touchdown point) with flaps, while gliding power-off at your selected approach speed (which ideally should be near optimum glide speed).

Zero flap landings are acceptable, but only to compensate for being too low on final (which is usually caused by flying too wide a pattern). If you keep it in close, you are assured of making the runway, even if the engine should happen to fail.

[Cluemeister]

Congratulations RCPilot! It's a lot to absorb the first time around.

[Cluemeister]

Did your instructor have you call 800 wx brief? Or did you use fore flight?

[rcpilot]

Did your instructor have you call 800 wx brief? Or did you use fore flight?

I didn't. Just checked the AWOS(you can call it), the local weather and the NOAA winds aloft. The instructor may have checked other sources. I might breakdown and get an ipad one of these days.

[rcpilot]

Congratulations. I don't understand the "a little fast, so no flaps." Just reduce power, raise the nose, slow down, add flaps. I usually add 1/3 abeam landing point, 1/3 on base, and 1/3 on final. If it's a long runway, I usually land with 2/3 flaps just to keep up my speed a little and get to the turn-off a little sooner, basically blend-in with the other traffic.

Well, the power was already at idle. This happens a lot with my plane, just doesn't want to slow down sometimes. We've made many no flaps landings.

Any airplane will slow down if you raise the nose. That's the reason you practice slow flight and stalls.

Absolutely. But my plane has always been a bit of a struggle keeping it in the white arc with the flaps deployed. And of course if you raise the nose you also don't lose altitude quite like you'd want. I guess I just need more practice.

[drseti]

Somehow, I can't imagine a CFI sending anyone out on a solo XC without the student getting a full, formal weather briefing, and going over it with his or her Instructor prior to the flight. I mean, how can you be sure there aren't any pop-up TFRs you're going to be violating? Wx briefing is a skill you're going to have to demonstrate on your checkride (along with filing, opening, and closing a VFR flight plan).

[drseti]

if you raise the nose you also don't lose altitude quite like you'd want.

But losing altitude is what the flaps (or slips) are for, and to use either, you have to slow down into the white arc! Remember, pointing the nose down just increases your airspeed - not a recommended way to lose altitude.

[3Dreaming]

Did your instructor have you call 800 wx brief? Or did you use fore flight?

I didn't. Just checked the AWOS(you can call it), the local weather and the NOAA winds aloft. The instructor may have checked other sources. I might breakdown and get an ipad one of these days.

You really should check for TFR's before each flight, especially when going cross country.

[rcpilot]

I use Skyvector which displays the TFRs and actually let's you create a nav log that I can use to check my calculations.