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#11
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Well I haven't started yet, but the airport is named Van Sant and is
located just across the Delaware River from NJ in Pennsylvania. Dave zatatime wrote in message . .. On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 03:48:26 GMT, "Dudley Henriques" wrote: . But I would also like to get as much time before the hard NJ winter arrives, May I ask what field you take your lessons? z |
#12
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Sounds like a valuable day spent. I've never met Rich but I've heard good
things about him. Well done for recognizing the value in that kind of training and seeking it out. Once you start flying aeros you'll find that some of the unusual attitude training you did isn't just an academic exercise. I've never actually spun out of the top of a botched loop but that's only because I've recognized what was coming, cut the power, and just let the aircraft have it's head and find it's own way out. But blowing it at the top of a loop and having to recover from the hihg-AOA, high-power, low-energy state is a fairly common occurance when starting. Actually, I performed the loveliest slow half snap roll from inverted to erect at the top of a botched loop. Still not sure what happened but I know it had nothing to do with me! Still, it was lots of fun, very gentle, and looked fantastic. I just wish I could do it on purpose now! I eventually learned not to float them quite so much at the top. I was easing the back pressure off too early which kept the nose up too high and bled speed off which, with full power and high alpha is the making of a spin. If you take up aeros on a regular basis, for my money, spin recovery is about the most valuable skill you can learn. I reckon, and I hope Dudley will correct me if I'm wrong, that nearly any maneuver I screw up is going to end up in a spin as a worst case scenario. This assumes no serious gyro maneuvers as I'm not up to them yet. So, I reckon if I can recover from developed or insipient spins pretty well, it's like an insurance policy, protecting me from my own hamhandedness. At any rate, keep up the training, keep pushing your limits just a bit, do it all way up high, and have loads of fun with it! Shawn Pitts S-1D, G-BKVP "David B. Cole" wrote in message m... Good advice Shawn. I most likely will schedule weekly in order to hedge against the weather. And while I'm at it I'll post my most recent aero experience below. Dave Last week I completed my second year of participation in the annual spin and emergency maneuver training offered by Rich Stowell here in NJ. But unlike last year I had to battle a number of obstacles that didn't exist last year. The first was that I had knee surgery about a month ago and although I'm recovering fairly well, I'd only flown once within the last month and a half. I was also recovering from some type of stomach virus that continues to make me somewhat queasy. In fact this was my biggest concern as I didn't want to blemish my record of not tossing my cookies. I also started coming down with a cold which I fiercely fought against and won. The weather also stood as a possible deal breaker as low ceilings on Friday caused the six flights for that day to be rescheduled. Fortunately the weather held up until the time we were returning to the airport from the flight, when a light rain started. But enough of that. I arrived at the airport, Alexandria Field, at about 1:30 where I was greeted by Rich, the airport owner Linda Castner, and the two other guys flying that afternoon. I happen to know one of the guys fairly well and the other in passing, as we all had the same instrument instructor. We went back to the classroom where Rich discussed what we would be doing that day. Myself and one of the other pilots had gone through the course the prior year so Rich asked what we wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to review spins, but to also add some control failure exercises and unusual attitude recoveries as well. I will admit that while I had a terrific time the previous year doing spins and some basic aerobatic maneuvers, I was a little anxious and felt like I was doing it again for the first time. I was the second of the three to fly, just enough time for the jitters to build back up. But when it was my time we strapped on the chutes, hopped in the Super Decathlon, and were on our way. We started with some coordination exercises, followed by a few steep turns to clear the area and two power off stalls. Then Rich asked me if my stomach was up for a spin, to which I agreed. As Rich prefers to allow the student to perform the entire maneuver, I pulled the power to idle and allowed the airspeed to bleed off. I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been in getting the stick back, but eventually got it down to just above stall speed and then kicked in the left rudder. While it had been a while since I had last seen the earth from that perspective, it seemed like a familiar friend and I didn't have to urge to say "Oh Sh&t!", as I did with my first spin the year before. We went on to do three more spins with the power off before moving to control failures. These consisted of Rich first having me perform coordinated left and right turns, then telling me whether I had an aileron failure or rudder failure. For an aileron failure I simply put the plane into a slip by applying opposite rudder. But in the SD with slips at 100 kts, the degree of uncoordinated flight is so high that it's almost uncomfortable, especially if you don't lean into it. For rudder failures in the turn I went from aileron deflection in the direction of turn to opposite aileron to enter the slip. In both cases I applied enough forward pressure on the elevator to get the AOA down, and adjusted the available control surface to maintain the heading. The last part of this exercise was Rich blocking a control surface at random, me figuring out what had failed, and applying the appropriate corrections. The last module was recovery from unusual attitudes. But these were far more unusual than the one I experienced as a student pilot as they all ended in spins. Rich took the controls, I put my hands in my lap, and waited to see what was coming next. The first unusual attitude was a steep climbing left turn into a spin. This was followed by a spin out of a botched loop, and finally a spin out of a snap roll, which in itself was interesting. The difference between these three spins and those I had done before was that they all were entered with power on, so I had to complete all the steps in the Power, Aileron, Rudder, Elevator recovery. In fact I had to call out each action as I did it. I was surprised that I didn't feel rushed, and the reason for the callouts was to have me think consciously about my actions and to assess about what I was seeing. On the way back to the field I got to perform a loop, which I did last year as well, in addition to a hammerhead, which was a blast. While the experience was a tremendous benefit last year when I did it, the components that we added this year increased my knowledge and confidence that much more. As I plan to take between 5-10 hours of aero before starting the commercial, this will be a good refresher before starting. Dave "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... David, As usual, I agree with what Dudley says, but only based on my own experience, as I'm not a flight instructor. I'll also add that I really learned how to fly when I got hold of a Supercub one summer and was flying several times a week. Not long flights, most of them spent in the pattern doing every concievable kind of take off and landing combination I and my mates could think of. There were rest periods in between, and lots of analysis and hangar flying to boot, but there was definitely something about frequency in there for me. This wasn't the old "get your PPL in two weeks" kind of pressured course, it was just me flying after I got my PPL as much as I could. Flying more often allowed me to retain more between lessons, requiring less relearning during each. I developed a feel for the airplane during that period that I've never matched since, simply because of how often I was flying. I would suggest you give that some thought as a balancing argument to having weeks beetween lessons. Also, depending on where you live, if you schedule for every other week, in reality you'll get weathered out at least part of the time and end up only flying one weekend per month sometimes. Consider scheduling every weekend and let weather and other factors give you the seperation you're talking about needing. Just my .02 worth, Shawn |
#13
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On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:16:24 GMT, "Dudley Henriques"
wrote: "zatatime" wrote in message .. . On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 03:48:26 GMT, "Dudley Henriques" wrote: . But I would also like to get as much time before the hard NJ winter arrives, May I ask what field you take your lessons? z I'm a bit confused here z; not that I didn't learn something every time I strapped on an airplane, but I'm the instructor in this equation :-)))) Do you mean the OP perhaps? Dudley Henriques International Fighter Pilots Fellowship Flight Instructor/Aerobatics/Retired L O L ! Yes, I meant the OP. Tried to be clear by snipping one of the lines from his post, altough I did send the response out of your reply. Sorry for the confusion. z |
#14
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On 26 Oct 2004 07:38:28 -0700, (David B. Cole)
wrote: Van Sant Thanks. I didn't know they did aero out of there. Thought it was mostly gliders. z |
#15
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You hit it right on the nose. :-)
Dudley "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... Sounds like a valuable day spent. I've never met Rich but I've heard good things about him. Well done for recognizing the value in that kind of training and seeking it out. Once you start flying aeros you'll find that some of the unusual attitude training you did isn't just an academic exercise. I've never actually spun out of the top of a botched loop but that's only because I've recognized what was coming, cut the power, and just let the aircraft have it's head and find it's own way out. But blowing it at the top of a loop and having to recover from the hihg-AOA, high-power, low-energy state is a fairly common occurance when starting. Actually, I performed the loveliest slow half snap roll from inverted to erect at the top of a botched loop. Still not sure what happened but I know it had nothing to do with me! Still, it was lots of fun, very gentle, and looked fantastic. I just wish I could do it on purpose now! I eventually learned not to float them quite so much at the top. I was easing the back pressure off too early which kept the nose up too high and bled speed off which, with full power and high alpha is the making of a spin. If you take up aeros on a regular basis, for my money, spin recovery is about the most valuable skill you can learn. I reckon, and I hope Dudley will correct me if I'm wrong, that nearly any maneuver I screw up is going to end up in a spin as a worst case scenario. This assumes no serious gyro maneuvers as I'm not up to them yet. So, I reckon if I can recover from developed or insipient spins pretty well, it's like an insurance policy, protecting me from my own hamhandedness. At any rate, keep up the training, keep pushing your limits just a bit, do it all way up high, and have loads of fun with it! Shawn Pitts S-1D, G-BKVP "David B. Cole" wrote in message m... Good advice Shawn. I most likely will schedule weekly in order to hedge against the weather. And while I'm at it I'll post my most recent aero experience below. Dave Last week I completed my second year of participation in the annual spin and emergency maneuver training offered by Rich Stowell here in NJ. But unlike last year I had to battle a number of obstacles that didn't exist last year. The first was that I had knee surgery about a month ago and although I'm recovering fairly well, I'd only flown once within the last month and a half. I was also recovering from some type of stomach virus that continues to make me somewhat queasy. In fact this was my biggest concern as I didn't want to blemish my record of not tossing my cookies. I also started coming down with a cold which I fiercely fought against and won. The weather also stood as a possible deal breaker as low ceilings on Friday caused the six flights for that day to be rescheduled. Fortunately the weather held up until the time we were returning to the airport from the flight, when a light rain started. But enough of that. I arrived at the airport, Alexandria Field, at about 1:30 where I was greeted by Rich, the airport owner Linda Castner, and the two other guys flying that afternoon. I happen to know one of the guys fairly well and the other in passing, as we all had the same instrument instructor. We went back to the classroom where Rich discussed what we would be doing that day. Myself and one of the other pilots had gone through the course the prior year so Rich asked what we wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to review spins, but to also add some control failure exercises and unusual attitude recoveries as well. I will admit that while I had a terrific time the previous year doing spins and some basic aerobatic maneuvers, I was a little anxious and felt like I was doing it again for the first time. I was the second of the three to fly, just enough time for the jitters to build back up. But when it was my time we strapped on the chutes, hopped in the Super Decathlon, and were on our way. We started with some coordination exercises, followed by a few steep turns to clear the area and two power off stalls. Then Rich asked me if my stomach was up for a spin, to which I agreed. As Rich prefers to allow the student to perform the entire maneuver, I pulled the power to idle and allowed the airspeed to bleed off. I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been in getting the stick back, but eventually got it down to just above stall speed and then kicked in the left rudder. While it had been a while since I had last seen the earth from that perspective, it seemed like a familiar friend and I didn't have to urge to say "Oh Sh&t!", as I did with my first spin the year before. We went on to do three more spins with the power off before moving to control failures. These consisted of Rich first having me perform coordinated left and right turns, then telling me whether I had an aileron failure or rudder failure. For an aileron failure I simply put the plane into a slip by applying opposite rudder. But in the SD with slips at 100 kts, the degree of uncoordinated flight is so high that it's almost uncomfortable, especially if you don't lean into it. For rudder failures in the turn I went from aileron deflection in the direction of turn to opposite aileron to enter the slip. In both cases I applied enough forward pressure on the elevator to get the AOA down, and adjusted the available control surface to maintain the heading. The last part of this exercise was Rich blocking a control surface at random, me figuring out what had failed, and applying the appropriate corrections. The last module was recovery from unusual attitudes. But these were far more unusual than the one I experienced as a student pilot as they all ended in spins. Rich took the controls, I put my hands in my lap, and waited to see what was coming next. The first unusual attitude was a steep climbing left turn into a spin. This was followed by a spin out of a botched loop, and finally a spin out of a snap roll, which in itself was interesting. The difference between these three spins and those I had done before was that they all were entered with power on, so I had to complete all the steps in the Power, Aileron, Rudder, Elevator recovery. In fact I had to call out each action as I did it. I was surprised that I didn't feel rushed, and the reason for the callouts was to have me think consciously about my actions and to assess about what I was seeing. On the way back to the field I got to perform a loop, which I did last year as well, in addition to a hammerhead, which was a blast. While the experience was a tremendous benefit last year when I did it, the components that we added this year increased my knowledge and confidence that much more. As I plan to take between 5-10 hours of aero before starting the commercial, this will be a good refresher before starting. Dave "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... David, As usual, I agree with what Dudley says, but only based on my own experience, as I'm not a flight instructor. I'll also add that I really learned how to fly when I got hold of a Supercub one summer and was flying several times a week. Not long flights, most of them spent in the pattern doing every concievable kind of take off and landing combination I and my mates could think of. There were rest periods in between, and lots of analysis and hangar flying to boot, but there was definitely something about frequency in there for me. This wasn't the old "get your PPL in two weeks" kind of pressured course, it was just me flying after I got my PPL as much as I could. Flying more often allowed me to retain more between lessons, requiring less relearning during each. I developed a feel for the airplane during that period that I've never matched since, simply because of how often I was flying. I would suggest you give that some thought as a balancing argument to having weeks beetween lessons. Also, depending on where you live, if you schedule for every other week, in reality you'll get weathered out at least part of the time and end up only flying one weekend per month sometimes. Consider scheduling every weekend and let weather and other factors give you the seperation you're talking about needing. Just my .02 worth, Shawn |
#16
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David,
That's where I got my private in 1992. Are going with Azher? He's a great instructor. I'm trying to schedule some time with him in my citabria, 7ECA. We did about an hour of acro last year but I have been too busy to dedicate time to acro. I've just bought a new chute and hope to get with Azher soon. Will you be using the Decathalon? Good luck - you've picked a great place to learn. Dave 68 7ECA David B. Cole wrote: Well I haven't started yet, but the airport is named Van Sant and is located just across the Delaware River from NJ in Pennsylvania. Dave zatatime wrote in message . .. On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 03:48:26 GMT, "Dudley Henriques" wrote: . But I would also like to get as much time before the hard NJ winter arrives, May I ask what field you take your lessons? z |
#17
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Thanks, Dudley. I take those seven words as high praise coming from you...
:-) Shawn "Dudley Henriques" wrote in message link.net... You hit it right on the nose. :-) Dudley "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... Sounds like a valuable day spent. I've never met Rich but I've heard good things about him. Well done for recognizing the value in that kind of training and seeking it out. Once you start flying aeros you'll find that some of the unusual attitude training you did isn't just an academic exercise. I've never actually spun out of the top of a botched loop but that's only because I've recognized what was coming, cut the power, and just let the aircraft have it's head and find it's own way out. But blowing it at the top of a loop and having to recover from the hihg-AOA, high-power, low-energy state is a fairly common occurance when starting. Actually, I performed the loveliest slow half snap roll from inverted to erect at the top of a botched loop. Still not sure what happened but I know it had nothing to do with me! Still, it was lots of fun, very gentle, and looked fantastic. I just wish I could do it on purpose now! I eventually learned not to float them quite so much at the top. I was easing the back pressure off too early which kept the nose up too high and bled speed off which, with full power and high alpha is the making of a spin. If you take up aeros on a regular basis, for my money, spin recovery is about the most valuable skill you can learn. I reckon, and I hope Dudley will correct me if I'm wrong, that nearly any maneuver I screw up is going to end up in a spin as a worst case scenario. This assumes no serious gyro maneuvers as I'm not up to them yet. So, I reckon if I can recover from developed or insipient spins pretty well, it's like an insurance policy, protecting me from my own hamhandedness. At any rate, keep up the training, keep pushing your limits just a bit, do it all way up high, and have loads of fun with it! Shawn Pitts S-1D, G-BKVP "David B. Cole" wrote in message m... Good advice Shawn. I most likely will schedule weekly in order to hedge against the weather. And while I'm at it I'll post my most recent aero experience below. Dave Last week I completed my second year of participation in the annual spin and emergency maneuver training offered by Rich Stowell here in NJ. But unlike last year I had to battle a number of obstacles that didn't exist last year. The first was that I had knee surgery about a month ago and although I'm recovering fairly well, I'd only flown once within the last month and a half. I was also recovering from some type of stomach virus that continues to make me somewhat queasy. In fact this was my biggest concern as I didn't want to blemish my record of not tossing my cookies. I also started coming down with a cold which I fiercely fought against and won. The weather also stood as a possible deal breaker as low ceilings on Friday caused the six flights for that day to be rescheduled. Fortunately the weather held up until the time we were returning to the airport from the flight, when a light rain started. But enough of that. I arrived at the airport, Alexandria Field, at about 1:30 where I was greeted by Rich, the airport owner Linda Castner, and the two other guys flying that afternoon. I happen to know one of the guys fairly well and the other in passing, as we all had the same instrument instructor. We went back to the classroom where Rich discussed what we would be doing that day. Myself and one of the other pilots had gone through the course the prior year so Rich asked what we wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to review spins, but to also add some control failure exercises and unusual attitude recoveries as well. I will admit that while I had a terrific time the previous year doing spins and some basic aerobatic maneuvers, I was a little anxious and felt like I was doing it again for the first time. I was the second of the three to fly, just enough time for the jitters to build back up. But when it was my time we strapped on the chutes, hopped in the Super Decathlon, and were on our way. We started with some coordination exercises, followed by a few steep turns to clear the area and two power off stalls. Then Rich asked me if my stomach was up for a spin, to which I agreed. As Rich prefers to allow the student to perform the entire maneuver, I pulled the power to idle and allowed the airspeed to bleed off. I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been in getting the stick back, but eventually got it down to just above stall speed and then kicked in the left rudder. While it had been a while since I had last seen the earth from that perspective, it seemed like a familiar friend and I didn't have to urge to say "Oh Sh&t!", as I did with my first spin the year before. We went on to do three more spins with the power off before moving to control failures. These consisted of Rich first having me perform coordinated left and right turns, then telling me whether I had an aileron failure or rudder failure. For an aileron failure I simply put the plane into a slip by applying opposite rudder. But in the SD with slips at 100 kts, the degree of uncoordinated flight is so high that it's almost uncomfortable, especially if you don't lean into it. For rudder failures in the turn I went from aileron deflection in the direction of turn to opposite aileron to enter the slip. In both cases I applied enough forward pressure on the elevator to get the AOA down, and adjusted the available control surface to maintain the heading. The last part of this exercise was Rich blocking a control surface at random, me figuring out what had failed, and applying the appropriate corrections. The last module was recovery from unusual attitudes. But these were far more unusual than the one I experienced as a student pilot as they all ended in spins. Rich took the controls, I put my hands in my lap, and waited to see what was coming next. The first unusual attitude was a steep climbing left turn into a spin. This was followed by a spin out of a botched loop, and finally a spin out of a snap roll, which in itself was interesting. The difference between these three spins and those I had done before was that they all were entered with power on, so I had to complete all the steps in the Power, Aileron, Rudder, Elevator recovery. In fact I had to call out each action as I did it. I was surprised that I didn't feel rushed, and the reason for the callouts was to have me think consciously about my actions and to assess about what I was seeing. On the way back to the field I got to perform a loop, which I did last year as well, in addition to a hammerhead, which was a blast. While the experience was a tremendous benefit last year when I did it, the components that we added this year increased my knowledge and confidence that much more. As I plan to take between 5-10 hours of aero before starting the commercial, this will be a good refresher before starting. Dave "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... David, As usual, I agree with what Dudley says, but only based on my own experience, as I'm not a flight instructor. I'll also add that I really learned how to fly when I got hold of a Supercub one summer and was flying several times a week. Not long flights, most of them spent in the pattern doing every concievable kind of take off and landing combination I and my mates could think of. There were rest periods in between, and lots of analysis and hangar flying to boot, but there was definitely something about frequency in there for me. This wasn't the old "get your PPL in two weeks" kind of pressured course, it was just me flying after I got my PPL as much as I could. Flying more often allowed me to retain more between lessons, requiring less relearning during each. I developed a feel for the airplane during that period that I've never matched since, simply because of how often I was flying. I would suggest you give that some thought as a balancing argument to having weeks beetween lessons. Also, depending on where you live, if you schedule for every other week, in reality you'll get weathered out at least part of the time and end up only flying one weekend per month sometimes. Consider scheduling every weekend and let weather and other factors give you the seperation you're talking about needing. Just my .02 worth, Shawn |
#18
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Dave,
I will be flying with Ahzer in the SD. I've heard from several people that he's a good instructor, but it's always good to hear from one more person. Dave dave wrote in message ... David, That's where I got my private in 1992. Are going with Azher? He's a great instructor. I'm trying to schedule some time with him in my citabria, 7ECA. We did about an hour of acro last year but I have been too busy to dedicate time to acro. I've just bought a new chute and hope to get with Azher soon. Will you be using the Decathalon? Good luck - you've picked a great place to learn. Dave 68 7ECA David B. Cole wrote: Well I haven't started yet, but the airport is named Van Sant and is located just across the Delaware River from NJ in Pennsylvania. Dave zatatime wrote in message . .. On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 03:48:26 GMT, "Dudley Henriques" wrote: . But I would also like to get as much time before the hard NJ winter arrives, May I ask what field you take your lessons? z |
#19
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Why thank you sir. I deeply appreciate that, and the respect is mutual.
D "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... Thanks, Dudley. I take those seven words as high praise coming from you... :-) Shawn "Dudley Henriques" wrote in message link.net... You hit it right on the nose. :-) Dudley "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... Sounds like a valuable day spent. I've never met Rich but I've heard good things about him. Well done for recognizing the value in that kind of training and seeking it out. Once you start flying aeros you'll find that some of the unusual attitude training you did isn't just an academic exercise. I've never actually spun out of the top of a botched loop but that's only because I've recognized what was coming, cut the power, and just let the aircraft have it's head and find it's own way out. But blowing it at the top of a loop and having to recover from the hihg-AOA, high-power, low-energy state is a fairly common occurance when starting. Actually, I performed the loveliest slow half snap roll from inverted to erect at the top of a botched loop. Still not sure what happened but I know it had nothing to do with me! Still, it was lots of fun, very gentle, and looked fantastic. I just wish I could do it on purpose now! I eventually learned not to float them quite so much at the top. I was easing the back pressure off too early which kept the nose up too high and bled speed off which, with full power and high alpha is the making of a spin. If you take up aeros on a regular basis, for my money, spin recovery is about the most valuable skill you can learn. I reckon, and I hope Dudley will correct me if I'm wrong, that nearly any maneuver I screw up is going to end up in a spin as a worst case scenario. This assumes no serious gyro maneuvers as I'm not up to them yet. So, I reckon if I can recover from developed or insipient spins pretty well, it's like an insurance policy, protecting me from my own hamhandedness. At any rate, keep up the training, keep pushing your limits just a bit, do it all way up high, and have loads of fun with it! Shawn Pitts S-1D, G-BKVP "David B. Cole" wrote in message m... Good advice Shawn. I most likely will schedule weekly in order to hedge against the weather. And while I'm at it I'll post my most recent aero experience below. Dave Last week I completed my second year of participation in the annual spin and emergency maneuver training offered by Rich Stowell here in NJ. But unlike last year I had to battle a number of obstacles that didn't exist last year. The first was that I had knee surgery about a month ago and although I'm recovering fairly well, I'd only flown once within the last month and a half. I was also recovering from some type of stomach virus that continues to make me somewhat queasy. In fact this was my biggest concern as I didn't want to blemish my record of not tossing my cookies. I also started coming down with a cold which I fiercely fought against and won. The weather also stood as a possible deal breaker as low ceilings on Friday caused the six flights for that day to be rescheduled. Fortunately the weather held up until the time we were returning to the airport from the flight, when a light rain started. But enough of that. I arrived at the airport, Alexandria Field, at about 1:30 where I was greeted by Rich, the airport owner Linda Castner, and the two other guys flying that afternoon. I happen to know one of the guys fairly well and the other in passing, as we all had the same instrument instructor. We went back to the classroom where Rich discussed what we would be doing that day. Myself and one of the other pilots had gone through the course the prior year so Rich asked what we wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to review spins, but to also add some control failure exercises and unusual attitude recoveries as well. I will admit that while I had a terrific time the previous year doing spins and some basic aerobatic maneuvers, I was a little anxious and felt like I was doing it again for the first time. I was the second of the three to fly, just enough time for the jitters to build back up. But when it was my time we strapped on the chutes, hopped in the Super Decathlon, and were on our way. We started with some coordination exercises, followed by a few steep turns to clear the area and two power off stalls. Then Rich asked me if my stomach was up for a spin, to which I agreed. As Rich prefers to allow the student to perform the entire maneuver, I pulled the power to idle and allowed the airspeed to bleed off. I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been in getting the stick back, but eventually got it down to just above stall speed and then kicked in the left rudder. While it had been a while since I had last seen the earth from that perspective, it seemed like a familiar friend and I didn't have to urge to say "Oh Sh&t!", as I did with my first spin the year before. We went on to do three more spins with the power off before moving to control failures. These consisted of Rich first having me perform coordinated left and right turns, then telling me whether I had an aileron failure or rudder failure. For an aileron failure I simply put the plane into a slip by applying opposite rudder. But in the SD with slips at 100 kts, the degree of uncoordinated flight is so high that it's almost uncomfortable, especially if you don't lean into it. For rudder failures in the turn I went from aileron deflection in the direction of turn to opposite aileron to enter the slip. In both cases I applied enough forward pressure on the elevator to get the AOA down, and adjusted the available control surface to maintain the heading. The last part of this exercise was Rich blocking a control surface at random, me figuring out what had failed, and applying the appropriate corrections. The last module was recovery from unusual attitudes. But these were far more unusual than the one I experienced as a student pilot as they all ended in spins. Rich took the controls, I put my hands in my lap, and waited to see what was coming next. The first unusual attitude was a steep climbing left turn into a spin. This was followed by a spin out of a botched loop, and finally a spin out of a snap roll, which in itself was interesting. The difference between these three spins and those I had done before was that they all were entered with power on, so I had to complete all the steps in the Power, Aileron, Rudder, Elevator recovery. In fact I had to call out each action as I did it. I was surprised that I didn't feel rushed, and the reason for the callouts was to have me think consciously about my actions and to assess about what I was seeing. On the way back to the field I got to perform a loop, which I did last year as well, in addition to a hammerhead, which was a blast. While the experience was a tremendous benefit last year when I did it, the components that we added this year increased my knowledge and confidence that much more. As I plan to take between 5-10 hours of aero before starting the commercial, this will be a good refresher before starting. Dave "ShawnD2112" wrote in message .uk... David, As usual, I agree with what Dudley says, but only based on my own experience, as I'm not a flight instructor. I'll also add that I really learned how to fly when I got hold of a Supercub one summer and was flying several times a week. Not long flights, most of them spent in the pattern doing every concievable kind of take off and landing combination I and my mates could think of. There were rest periods in between, and lots of analysis and hangar flying to boot, but there was definitely something about frequency in there for me. This wasn't the old "get your PPL in two weeks" kind of pressured course, it was just me flying after I got my PPL as much as I could. Flying more often allowed me to retain more between lessons, requiring less relearning during each. I developed a feel for the airplane during that period that I've never matched since, simply because of how often I was flying. I would suggest you give that some thought as a balancing argument to having weeks beetween lessons. Also, depending on where you live, if you schedule for every other week, in reality you'll get weathered out at least part of the time and end up only flying one weekend per month sometimes. Consider scheduling every weekend and let weather and other factors give you the seperation you're talking about needing. Just my .02 worth, Shawn |
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