Flight Debrief: 5th Lesson

Time this lesson: 2.4
Total Time: 9.7
Landings: 30

Two words: Crosswind Component. That was today's lesson in a nutshell. My FI and I set off for Ann Arbor (ARB) with winds out of the south at 6-10 knots in clear skies and haze. My FI remarked that this amount of visibility restricting haze would be considered a "good flying day" in Los Angeles where he did his commercial training. I had mapped out an outbound radial from the Salem VOR that would put us just north of Ann Arbor outside the airspace for ARB and it was fun tracking the radial. My first clue of what was to come should have been my crab angle necessary to stay ON the radial!

Tried my first radio call to someone other than UNICOM, and was told they couldn't see our transponder and to "recycle" it... which flustered me enough that I froze. Thankfully my FI picked up the mike, and filled the silent airwaves with a readback. (10 demerits for missing "Transponder to ALT" in my Before Takeoff checklist)

Descended down toward pattern altitude while passing over "The Big House", the stadium where the Michigan Wolverines play football. Entered a left downwind for runway 6 and was cleared for the option. A good thing it was an "option" since I ended up exercising the option to make it a full stop. This is where the aforementioned crosswind component rears its ugly head... let's just say my landing was ugly and leave it at that. We taxied back for another try, this time right traffic... radio calls went ok. My first landing was with full flaps, the next ones were with 20 degrees flaps. I understand that using less flaps helps to keep the speeds up for more stability through the whole final approach, flare, and landing. In my case it just made "newbie" crosswind landings not only ugly, but ugly and fast :)

Since conditions were not improving, we headed over to the FBO to pick up the training syllabus we would be using, and an FAA Knowledge test book. We decided to head over to Monroe / Custer Field (TTF) to see if the winds would be better there, and we practiced pilotage navigation. Glad to say it worked, as we found the airfield with little difficulty... unfortunately the winds were now a direct crosswind for runway 3/21 at Custer! By the time we finished at Custer it was getting towards sunset, and I managed to get a landing that was reasonably good. My FI also demonstrated a landing for me from downwind, which was very instructional.

Tracked the Carleton VOR direct, then slightly NW on the outbound and down to 2000 ft to skirt underneath Detroit's Class B airspace. Called up Willow Run tower (YIP) and asked for a transition. I must have sounded convincing, because they let us through! It was very cool flying directly over the field.

Back to Mettetal and a wind check from UNICOM tells us 18 is in use. Midfield crosswind at 2100 ft, one other plane in the pattern (on final) so we descend to pattern altitude on our wide downwind. Mettetal's runway seems tiny compared to the 5000 ft behemoth we had just come from. A landing I would rate a 7 out of 10 got us on the ground and that brought the lesson to a close. Phew!

The good: Tracking VOR radials, establishing crab angles, pilotage, takeoffs, a calm FI
The bad: Forgetting the transponder at the beginning, calling tower instead of ground at ARB
The ugly: Seeing the side of the runway get closer and closer, feeling like I am balanced on one wheel.

Next lesson: Thursday evening. Back to ARB, short / soft takeoff and landing variations, more ATC communication.