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Flight 8 at SpanaFlight (Total: 10.3 Dual, 28 Landings)

10/4/99

No ground school today, but we did make up the time in the air.  I have enjoyed these longer flights.  Today's mission was to perform some emergency procedures, and then some ground reference maneuvers.  We pre-flighted the plane, got in, and took off on runway 16 this time.  Headed out to the now somewhat familiar practice area.  

We arrived after a few minutes, and climbed to 3500 feet.  We started with Matt showing me how to perform an Engine Failure Emergency.  He pulled the power, and set the pitch for 65 knots.  He found a field, which we were already heading towards.  We flew downwind, base, final, and then performed a go around instead of landing.  Didn't look too tough.  I do have a heck of a time estimating distances in the plane, and I knew that at 3000 feet, we could only go 3 miles, but I couldn't figure out that well how far that was. 

We started climbing out, and he pulled the power and simulated one for me.  I had some difficulty transitioning to a glide from powered flight, but eventually got situated.  I picked a field, and started heading towards it.  One, I was way too close to the field to get a good pattern on, and second, I picked a field that had ditches running across it.  Ok, so my first engine-out drill wasn't a huge success, but I learned a lot.

We then proceeded to go to 1700 feet and start some ground reference maneuvers.  I found a lone tree in a field that I decided was good to do circles around a point with.  It just happened to be right next to the farm that I circled incessantly last time I performed these. I performed the maneuver pretty well, however, there was hardly any wind.  

Next was the rectangular course.  I did a couple of legs too close to the box, and had a little trouble with my altitude, but overall, not too bad.  S-turns were next, and those were not as good.  I had difficulty keeping the same sized semi-circles on each side of the road.  One was too large, and the other too tight.  I'll keep practicing until I get these right.

We flew back to the airport, which planes were now using runway 34 to land on.  I was a little disappointed because I wanted to land on 16, but I'm sure I'll get the opportunity.  We did 3 touch-and-goes and one full stop.  Matt had to help some this time too, but he said I am still improving.  

We went in, debriefed, and called it a night.  The weather is supposed to be fairly crappy this week, so I am expecting to get a call on Thursday canceling the flight.  If it doesn't get cancelled, we are going to work on some more emergencies, the regular high-altitude maneuvers, and possibly do some instrument work.  I am looking forward to it.

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