That is a good idea. we have several that are 25-50 miles away that would work.
KACB 22 Miles
KFKS 27 Miles
KCAD 29 Miles
KCVX 36 Miles
Any one of them would be easy to get to.
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- Thread starter Jimpick
- Start date
KACB 22 Miles
KFKS 27 Miles
KCAD 29 Miles
KCVX 36 Miles
Any one of them would be easy to get to.
I think my average is 1.33 hours for the 2 hour block. So right there with what you said.
MacCool
Well Known Member
The manuals and Quick-Start guides for all of those avionics will be downloadable from the mfgr's site and it's very likely that there are Youtube videos on the use of most of them. That will provide a baseline introduction but learning to use them effectively will come only with flying behind them and guidance from your instructor. I remember the first time I ever had to use a GNS430W for navigation. That was a struggle, largely because of Garmin's crappy user interface. My current RV is the first all-glass cockpit I ever used. There is a LOT of information that can be pulled from a relatively small area and it took me awhile to learn how to sort out information priorites, but again....practice practice practice. This from a guy who learned to fly in an era before GPS had even been invented.
I promise, if she closes her eyes during a properly executed turn, she will never know you are tuning. This has been demonstrated millions of times.
Have her watch a little bit of auto racing and explain why the turns are banked.
Roadjunkie1
Well Known Member
Unless you are Wanda! It had nothing to do with coordinated turn or G forces or anything, but it was the SIGHT of that WING coming DOWN!
Flat turns are not a normal thing to be doing but, when she was in the airplane, the only way I could keep her from slapping me in the back of the head.....which was dangerous.,.. 
I am NOT advocating flat turns....unless you are with Wanda.....and don't want to get slapped.....
MacCool
Well Known Member
As you progress in your training, you will have to overcome many situations and experiences that make you uncomfortable. The normal Human Experience is almost entirely two-dimensional. There are MANY sensations in a small airplane that even experienced airline travelers have never felt. The flight instruction experience is in large part about learning to be comfortable with them. As to passengers.....my wife is an experienced helicopter flight nurse but I find myself flying more conservatively when she is aboard, even though she doesn't complain. Similarly, I have to drive differently when she is a passenger although in that situation she isn't quite so reticent to comment.
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Bill Boyd
Well Known Member
Correct. I'm a case study on this. I learned to fly at two towered airports, D and C airspace. Once I was cut loose with my PPL, I tended to seek out less busy destination airports to avoid fees, crowded patterns and find cheaper fuel. Along with that came less need to talk to controllers. With the advent of GPS nav and computer based weather info and NOTAMs, the need to talk to anyone official decreased still more. I literally cannot remember the last time I used flight following or filed a flight plan. We have 406 MHz ELT's, APRS, ADS-B, FlightAware if anyone needs to find us. Living with my plane on a private airstrip well outside controlled airspace adds to the atrophy of comm skills. When I take friends up for a hop, one of their first questions is whether I have to talk to anyone "in charge" before or during the flight. Nope! 'Cuz 'Murica, baby. Freedom!
The end result is a guy who spends a lot of his BFR's asking the instructor to review radio protocol for getting into and out of controlled airspace. Kind of pitiful for a guy who has HF radio gear packed into his truck because he's loved talking to random strangers on the ionosphere for 4 decades. It's not mic fright, I just don't much like talking to "people with badges," as it were. I don't like ramp checks for the same reason.
Don't become me. Get comfortable in the system and stay that way. If you base your plane at a towered airport, this will take care of itself. If you do the rugged inividualist/hillbilly thing, it's a temptation to skill loss and unreasonable shyness.
ronrapp
Well Known Member
Mel is referring to skidding turns, I believe. The safest turn is the coordinated one, where the angle of bank is appropriate for the rate of turn.
Angle-of-bank limitations imposed by instructors might be well-meaning, but they can ultimately create the kind of stall/spin accidents that the CFI believes they're helping to prevent. I wrote an article about this: https://www.rapp.org/archives/2014/03/stall-spin/
The reason I wrote the article is because Richard Collins, of all people, thought angle-of-bank limitations in the pattern were a good idea.
Angle-of-bank limitations imposed by instructors might be well-meaning, but they can ultimately create the kind of stall/spin accidents that the CFI believes they're helping to prevent. I wrote an article about this: https://www.rapp.org/archives/2014/03/stall-spin/
The reason I wrote the article is because Richard Collins, of all people, thought angle-of-bank limitations in the pattern were a good idea.
rocketman1988
Well Known Member
I took pictures so that I could study what is on the display. I found myself looking around the screen to much because I was not sure where something was. There are still alot of screens I dont know. But the basic flight data I need I know where it is so I can pay attention to what is out side around the plane.
The other screens I took picture of to know what was there so like you said I can watch a youtube video or find on a web search. But not knowing what to look for in a search leaves me not knowing what there was to look for. So a picture helps me focus more on what to look for.
Thanks
I know exactly what you are talking about. My first motorcycle ride I was on the back. I sat straight up all the way around a turn. It must have been terrible for the driver. I think she will be fine after a bit of flying but will be unnerved at first. And I dont want to get her to dislike flying the first few times. So I will try to stick with shallow turns if possible at first.
Right now I am trying to get use to tilting into the wind to keep the nose of the plane pointed down the runway in a crosswind. Just seems unnatural to be coming in to land at a angle to the ground.As you progress in your training, you will have to overcome many situations and experiences that make you uncomfortable. The normal Human Experience is almost entirely two-dimensional. There are MANY sensations in a small airplane that even experienced airline travelers have never felt. The flight instruction experience is in large part about learning to be comfortable with them. As to passengers.....my wife is an experienced helicopter flight nurse but I find myself flying more conservatively when she is not aboard, even though she doesn't complain. Similarly, I have to drive differently when she is a passenger although in that situation she isn't quite so reticent to comment.
I am at a towered airport. I had no idea how I was on the comms till I flew in the afternoon with 7 students flying. I thought I was real bad till then. I am not perfect but seem to be better than them.
It might have something to do with going over what I need to say with the CFI before I say it with no one in the pattern. I don't have to watch out for anyone or listen to a lot of chatter on the comms. I guess that is a benefit of fly at 7:00 AM. The draw back is that I dont get the training of being on a busy radio where there are a lot of other planes.
Thanks I read the article and all the comments. I will have to come back and do that again to digest all of it and put it to use.
MacCool
Well Known Member
Crab vs slip-to-landing is a perennial discussion point among pilots. I was taught that on final approach in a small plane, coordinated flight goes out the window. You use rudder and ailerons in whatever combination is necessary to stay on the runway centerline and keep the nose pointed down the runway
Richard Collins didn't believe in practicing stalls. I practice stalls, steep turns and power off landings on most local flights. The Pitts S1S will do a wings level 180 turn with rudder only. Starting about 180 statute and finishing around 120. The Pitts will fly in level flight the length of a 3000' runway in a 90 degree bank. Rudder controls pitch, elevator controls heading. Ailerons are just a trimming device once the bank is established.
I usually fly a crab, and only transition to a side slip in the flare. But with students, I usually have them fly most of final in a slip - just because it may seem unnatural, so they need the practice. BTW, I’ve noticed that some low wing pilots - especially those who learned in a high wing with a ‘both’ fuel selection - rarely think about what tank to select for a long sideslip approach.
Don’t get too complacent. We all know ‘that guy’ who refuses to use his radio if the FARs don’t require it. And maybe more common, the pilot who’s on the wrong UNICOM frequency.
I have no problem using the radio. Just saying that I had more time to practice the radio calls before making them. It showed when I was listening to the other student pilots who flew in the afternoon. They were timid and unsure of themselves and made many mistakes.
MacCool
Well Known Member
Yeah, in any significant crosswind, I crab as necessary on final until the approach is nice and stable. I abandon the crab start the slip when I'm sure I can make the field. It's not a really a specific conscious maneuver as much as just doing what's necessary to land on the centerline pointing and down the runway.
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MacCool
Well Known Member
What's more problematic, especially on a busy day at our uncontrolled airport, is the guys that are kind of unsure about the radio and draw out their radio calls and prevent others from making their own calls.
That was happening. Long pauses with ums.
Roadjunkie1
Well Known Member
One of the essential pieces of equipment you should have is a radio so you can listen to aircraft radio chatter. It can just be UNICOM, tower, approach/departure and even ground frequencies. That does several things including getting you used to what is said, what needs and does not need to be said, what you would say, what other people screw up. I would sit at the end of the runway with my little RadioShack radio and just listen. Learned a lot. I have no problems using the radio except wanting to ask other pilots exactly what they are trying to say.
