Weather Briefing: Lesson 8 "Broken Record"

I am predicting a bust for tomorrow's lesson, the weather pattern has been the same broken record for the last three days. Accuweather is actually calling for t-storms at 6pm, which is the start of my block time. Weather.com is forecasting some form of t-storm activity (scattered or isolated) from 1pm to 6pm. In any case, I think the atmosphere is going to be just a bit unstable for flying practice.

Weather Reality: Lesson 8 rescheduled

Turns out the thunderstorms did not evaporate. We had a nice little storm cell pop up to our southwest and quickly sent its tops to 50,000 ft! I got treated to some nice cloud to ground lightning several miles to the west during my pre-flight. My FI and I used it as a learning opportunity and decided to call off the lesson, aeronautical decision making at its finest. The weather forecast for my next lesson block on Friday looks to be about the same. This pattern of hazy days, with warm temps won't change until the low pressure system that is off to our west moves on through.

Weather Briefing: Lesson 8 "Evaporating T-storms"

Accuweather says temps in the mid 80's, partly cloudy with winds out of the SSW at 9 mph. Weather.com is calling for similar temperatures, clouds, but they have the winds generally out of the south shifting SE at 9 mph. At one point the Weather channel was saying a "stray thunderstorm" might pop up tomorrow afternoon and evening. We shall see.

Flight Debrief: 7th Lesson "Pick a field, any field"

Time this lesson: 2.4
Total time: 13.8
Landings: 45

Great flying weather as predicted, not a cloud in the sky and thankfully minimal haze. The winds ignored the forecast and wandered between NW to SW, with variable (light) velocity. Today my FI tasked me with getting to our practice area to the southwest of KYIP (Willow Run airport) without busting the Detroit Class B.

After a normal departure from runway 36, it was a matter of tuning YIP's ATIS while climbing to 2500 ft. I discovered a new "rule of thumb", that being that from the tip of my thumb to the middle of the first knuckle is about 5 nm on a sectional chart! With this handy distance estimator, and with the current ATIS information, I called up YIP tower and requested a transition of their airspace.

After crossing Willow Run, we turned to the southwest to assure clearance of the Class Bravo and to get out to the practice area. Lucky for me, the practice area for my first engine out simulated landings happened to be farmland for miles and miles. Up to 4000 ft, clearing turns (90 left, 90 right), my FI took the aircraft and demonstrated the engine out procedure. Got the chance to experience my first forward slip, as my FI showed how to increase descent rate without gaining airspeed by cross controlling the aileron and rudder. Cool!!

The next three engine outs were mine, and by the third time I was getting good at picking a farmer's field to "land" in. The biggest lesson learned from today's flight is that when trimmed for best glide (65 kts) a Cessna 172 will glide alot longer than you think it will. The second biggest lesson is that a no flaps, slip approach is your friend. Once you throw the barn doors out, you can't just decide to pull them back in if your landing zone is not "assured". Also, slips with flaps down are discouraged in the 172.. so a certain level of commitment is required before reaching for the flap selector.

Back up to 2500ft and headed east via pilotage to KTTF (Custer/Monroe Airport), grab the AWOS weather report (winds 110 at 6), set up for a downwind entry into left traffic for runway 3, and make a full stop landing. Back up into the pattern for touch-n-goes, this time with the added wrinkle of pulling the throttle to idle abeam the numbers. The previously learned gliding habits of the bird comes in handy at this moment, trim for 65 kts, turn towards the runway, flaps/slips optional depending on how things go. I was sweating a bit for these, even though I knew the engine had not failed for real. Fun in a "that was stressful and I made it through it" sort of way.

With that practice finished, my FI asked me to track direct the Carleton VOR once again navigating us outside the Class B, and back to Mettetal. Another tune of YIP's ATIS, and a call to the tower to request the transition... "Willow Run tower, Skyhawk 9900Q is about 7 miles south at 2000ft, request to transition your airspace to the north". What's missing? I have all the elements, WHO, WHERE, WHAT... and then completely forgot to mention that we had the current WEATHER. Ugh! It was no biggy, as tower cleared us for the transition and gave us the current altimeter setting anyway.

More pilotage navigation to take us back to just west of Plymouth, monitoring the CTAF to hear what the active runway is. A poorly executed entry on the 45 into the downwind for runway 36 flubbed the setup for my approach, so I ended up executing a go-around for another try. My next pattern terminated in a full flaps approach to a full stop landing.

Next up: My pre-solo written test, more maneuvers, emergency procedures, failures (in a different area with fewer farm fields), etc.

Weather Briefing: Lesson 7

Looks like a fine day for flying is in store for us. Temps in the mid 70's, partly cloudy with winds out of the WSW at 8 shifting to S by the end of my block of flying time. We just had a frontal system finally move through today, so I hope that gives us good in flight visibility for tomorrow. Using the quick cloud base calculation, the cloud bottom's will be at 6,800 ft.

Flight Debrief: 6th Lesson

Time this lesson: 1.7 hours
Total Time: 11.4 hours
Landings: 40

So today's weather was much like the previous lesson, strong winds out of the south, sunny skies, and haze. My FI recommended that we stay at Mettetal and work on landings. I had no problem with this, as I wanted to get my "mojo" back after having left remnants of it along runway 6-24 at ARB the other day. The winds were pretty gusty at the beginning of my block time, so my FI and I sat down and went over the course syllabus and checked off areas we had worked on, and talked about what we would be doing next.

Our extended pre-flight discussion allowed for the winds to die down a bit, so we headed out to the plane and prepared to get into the pattern. We ended up flying 10 circuits of left traffic for runway 18, with a new kink added to my technique... noise abatement. The noise abatement procedure for departing to the south calls for a turn to a SE heading of 145 as soon as possible to lower the amount of noise heard by our neighbors to the south of the field. This is no biggy, it just involves turning to the proper heading at about 900 ft, or around 200+ AGL. The only complication is that the early turn away from the runway heading eliminates the crosswind leg, and you must fly a climbing turn to downwind.

The other change we found necessary was to climb at Vx, or best angle, which corresponds to about 65kts. This was necessary, since today was a record setting temperature kind of day, and warmer air is less dense... and provides less lift. There were only three circuits of the pattern where 00Q actually made it up to pattern altitude (1700ft) at or before "abeam the numbers" on the downwind leg!

So what about the approaches!? Well, my FI said I was making my turns in the pattern at consistent locations which is good, and I also managed to get in the habit of re-trimming the plane after each configuration change (flaps, power, pitch). I can remember two of my turns to final being wide, but that was at the beginning, and all the rest were gentle turns that I started earlier on my base leg. The first approach was with full flaps, all the rest after that were with only 30 degrees. It was interesting to note the different pitch attitude that resulted from this small change in flap setting, as well as the extra speed the aircraft carried as a result of the reduced drag compared to hanging all the barn doors out.

I tried many different permutations of power reduction, round out, and flaring and got some good results... though I never seemed to combine all the right elements into one awesome landing (I think this comes with alot more practice). My touchdowns were vastly improved over my previous lesson, as I concentrated intensely on not having "dead feet" right before my wheels hit the tarmac. Focusing on rudder inputs all the way to the point just before the nose gear touches down does wonders for keeping the nose pointed in the right direction. I can think of two or three landings where I still ended up askew of the center line, but nothing that made my FI think "uh oh" <---his words!

Overall I gave myself a score of 6 for one landing (I bounced and recovered correctly), and 7 (out of 10) for 7 of my landings with two 8's where I seemed to get more things right than the others.

Coming up: Emergency procedures, takeoff variations (if the winds ever cooperate), and ground reference maneuvers.

Weather Briefing: Lesson 6

In my block of flight time (6-8pm) Accuweather is calling for winds out of the SSW at 17 mph decreasing to 14. Weather.com is calling for winds out of due south at 14 mph decreasing to 13. Either way the winds will be hefty again. Other than the winds, the temps are supposed to reach a record high tommorow and the sky should be sunny and haze will likely be affecting our in flight visibility again.

My trusty airplane

I've been reflecting alot on yesterday's events, and I am actually hoping to get more crosswind experience soon.


I also forgot to mention in my debrief that I got to meet my AOPA Project Pilot Mentor yesterday... Hi Tom!

If you don't know what "Project Pilot" is all about... click the link here: http://flighttraining.aopa.org/projectpilot/

Above is a picture of "00Q" just before yesterday's flight.

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.

Weather Briefing: Lesson 5

I don't think clouds will be a factor for today's flight. Since this weather briefing is "day of" I feel confident that the weather will be as forecast. Sunny, Temps in the high 70's, with winds being the only tricky part of the equation. Winds are supposed to be from the SSE at 11 mph, shifting to the SE at 9 mph as my "block" time comes to an end at 8pm.

If we do head over to Ann Arbor (KARB) with runway's 6-24 as is the plan for today's flight, I will be getting a good introduction to crosswinds!

Maintenance Squawk

I tried to do some simple Google searching to see if I could find anyone who has had a similar experience like our fuel "leak" yesterday.

Here is what I found:
________________________________________

"Any fuel leak of any significance should be cause to ground the airplane... I suspect that the leak is showing up close to the sample drain. (Inboard aft area) A few scenarios here, Is the sample valve leaking? If not I would suspect the rear tank outlet nipple that attaches the aft fuel line to the tank. It could also be the tank neck, this is dependent on how the airplane is fueled. Tank neck leakage is primarily caused by letting the fuel hose "hang" in the tank unsupported. The tank neck is a weak point and cracking is common and usually only shows up with full fuel. Could also be the fuel tank sending unit gasket. To verify all of these with the exception of the sender require removal of the fuel tank. The most common cause of fuel tanks leaking in Cessna's is the retaining straps either coming loose or breaking, causing the tank to move around thus cracking the rear tank outlet nipple. This repair is a simple welding job if you can find a welder that will do it. The tank must be purged with nitrogen during the welding process, a lot of welders will not touch fuel tanks due to the possibility of explosions. Good luck hope the info helps... "

and

"I have a 1965 C-172F and the last two trips it has burned fuel from the almost all out of the right tank, even if the selector valve is on the left. When I stopped for fuel the left tank had 16 gallons and the right had 6. The right tank cap is vented, but the left is not. Greg P.
......................................................................Hi Greg, The Hawk originally had only one fuel vent tube under the left wing I believe. After some venting problems it was determined that a vented cap was also needed on the right wing. My guess is that either the left vent is plugged with "mud dobbers" or else it has been positioned wrong. Simply blow into the tube and see if any fuel small comes back at you( these are the crude things we mechanics sometimes due). Your mechanic can check the 172 manual and determine if their vent has somehow been moved."

_______________________________________

I intend to check the filler neck of the right wing fuel tank with a higher level of scrutiny on my next preflight. Since the C-172M has a separate tank inside the wing (as opposed to a wet wing system), I suppose it is plausible that any spilled fuel could accumulate outside the tank, but still inside the wing and then be siphoned out by the air rushing past the most convenient opening while in flight. This would explain why no "active" leak could be found when we returned to the airport.

My nerdy self would love to see a diagram of the fuel system on a Cessna 172M.

Flight Debrief: 4th Lesson

Time this lesson: 2.4
Total Time: 7.3
Landings: 21

As predicted, clouds ended being the major factor for today's flying. At the beginning, cloud bases were right around 2500 ft. Soon the smell of gas, and a view of fuel streaming down the right window had us turned back towards Mettetal with my FI at the controls for a precautionary landing to try and ascertain the nature of what looked to be a serious fuel leak. Once groundborne, we checked for obvious sources (gas cap was secure, no leaks around the cap seal), and non-obvious (over fueling spill). It became clear that it was a transitory situation, and likely resulted because I had the line guy fill the tanks completely full in anticipation of our 3 hours of block time.

With that all taken care of, we headed back out only to find the visibility reduced to "marginal VFR" and the overcast cloud bases nearer to 2000 feet. My FI made the call that we would just stay at Mettetal and practice takeoff and landings, rather than potentially get stuck out at Ann Arbor because of weather.

So what did we do? Landings and takeoffs... lots of 'em. Even though the weather curtailed our plans to get out and see another airport, it was great fun to practice at the "home field" and be in the pattern with other folks learning how to do the same stuff.

I had a couple landings which I would like to purge from my memory banks, or maybe kept in a file called "let's not do that again". Most of the trouble with those stemmed from getting too slow on the approach between short final and the flare, resulting in the aircraft not having enough control authority to manage little gusts of wind. Things went better as I started to hold a bit more airspeed on final, and really concentrate on flying the plane completely through the landing. Getting slow results in a tendency to "chop and stop", meaning chop the throttle because the runway is getting shorter, and stop flying and hope that the flare works out ok. Chop and stop is not a good long term landing strategy.

Several things I learned from my trips around the pattern today:

1. Radio calls can be tailored to the amount of traffic in the pattern
2. There are two "pulses" of left turning tendency on takeoff, one shortly after applying full throttle, and another around 40kts.
3. It's amazing how much a little throttle can help arrest your descent rate on final approach, one of my best landings came after an 80 rpm adjustment on short final.
4. The base to final turn doesn't need to be a strict, square, 90 degree turn. The best way is to curve from base to final, thus keeping the bank angles lower and you get a nice view of the runway the whole time.
5. The shimmy monster penalizes any relaxing of the elevator on rollout!
6. When calling traffic in sight, don't say the type of aircraft, just say "traffic" ... I don't think the guy in a Bonanza likes to be called a Mooney!
7. When a go-around is appropriate, and how to execute one.

Next flight scheduled for Tuesday evening, with Ann Arbor set as the destination.

Weather Briefing - Lesson 4

Clouds might be the biggest issue for tommorow's flying. Both Accuweather and Weather.com are calling for basically the same thing: Temps in the mid to high 50's, winds out of the NNW at 12, and mostly cloudy. I guess it all depends on how fast this disturbance moves through (if at all) overnight.

Just for fun, here is what the cloud bases would be (57-46) * 227 = 2497 ft.

Dicey really, that temp/dew point pair are for the end of my block of flight time! 2500 ft is usually the altitude we fly at just to get to the practice area.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for fair weather.

Flight Debrief: 3rd Lesson

Wx: As predicted, light winds out of the NW, just a bit hazy to be considered CAVU (Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited), but blue skies with no clouds in sight nonetheless.

Time this lesson: 1.4
Total time: 4.9


00Q was a quart low on oil, and had less than half tanks of fuel so the line guy was kind enough to pull the airplane over and add the necessary fluids. Having been a line worker on two seperate occasions in my life, I can appreciate good service!

My FI discussed the plan for today's flight, and we reviewed the custom checklist I've been working on. One of the wrinkles I added to the checklist was a radio check to be performed on the taxi to the run-up area, which worked well since you primarily use your feet to taxi anyway and there isn't much going on other than keeping the aircraft headed in the right direction.

Run up complete, and another of my FI's students in a C-150 let us "cut in" to be #1 for departure. CTAF call done, line up, throttle in, engine gauges checked, and a call of "airspeed alive" as the needle started to register our acceleration, soon we were airborne.

Getting better with coordinated flight using the rudder on climbout, I still feel I need work on coordination when making roll inputs using aileron. Departing to the NW, and headed towards the GM proving grounds in Milford, which is in our practice area. Heading and altitude assignments, clearing turns, and soon we were onto a slow flight refresher, then power off stalls. The plane behaves differently with full fuel, all my previous flights have been with less than full.

We practiced 3 power off stalls, then made a clearing turn back to the south and a climb to a higher altitude for power on stall practice. My FI demonstrated two, then let me have a go at one. My biggest lesson from this practice is that power on stalls require alot of rudder to compensate for the left turning tendencies. Oh, and uncoordinated flight during power on stalls = bad mmmkay? I think this will come with practice, and I might suggest to my FI that we do some more practice with straight and level, climbs and turns so that I can increase my coordination skills.

My FI identified "Mt Trashmore" and asked that I navigate us back to Mettetal. Eased the throttle back a bit to set up a cruise descent so that we would be down to 2500ft by the time we crossed Trashmore. Once there, it was easy to turn to a heading of 120 and start looking for the airfield. Mettetal has some sort of Doppler radome on a tower that sits west of midfield, turns out it makes an excellent landmark to spot!

"Mettetal traffic, Cessna 00Q turning left downwind Runway 36, Mettetal" Just like last time, the intensity begins to pick up right here, though this time we are in a traditonal pattern. My FI is giving me engine RPM's, and airspeeds to hold, as well as flap settings and turn points. Another guy in front of us is on short final just after we arrive "abeam the numbers". I manage to scrape together an ok approach... 5 clicks on the mike to wake up the approach lighting (VASI). I did a better job of shifting my view focus to the end of the runway and did a much better roundout than last time. Pulled back on the yoke as my speed bled off to prevent the nosewheel shimmy, and rolled all the way to the end of runway 36.

I guess we were good on time, because my FI said "Let's go take another trip around the pattern", to which I responded in my best Homer Simpson "Sweeeeeet".

This landing I overshot my turn to final a bit, and added a smidge too much power on final which resulted in being a bit high. Still put it on the ground ok, a little side load, and some more nosewheel shimmy just for kicks. As we were rolling out to our end of the runway turn off point, I joked about someone's eagerness to brake as witnessed by two black-as-ink skid marks on the runway. My FI responded that those were from another one of his students, must have been a wild ride!

Next flight is scheduled for Sunday. The plan is to head over to Ann Arbor, grab a syllabus from the pilot shop there and hopefully get more landing practice, stalls, and my first time talking to ATC. Should be fun :)

Weather Briefing - Lesson 3 (2nd attempt)

Looks like it will be a go on this one. Forecast is for sunny, temps in the high 60's, light winds out of the N, shifting to the NW by the end of my lesson.

Weather Reality: Lesson 3 -rescheduled-

Got the call from my FI telling me today's flight was cancelled. Not a huge surprise really, the clouds are still low and the winds are still blowing harder than they should be! Time to use this as a learning experience in Forecast vs Actual Conditions.

Current conditions: Temperature 54F, Dewpoint 45, Cloudy with winds out of the NW at 15mph

Accuweather is calling for rain sometime around 7pm, with the conditions at 8pm forecast to be: Temp 52, Dewpoint 40, winds out of the NNW at 13mph (Turns out they don't report in knots as previously thought in the WX briefing post below)

Where does that put our cloud bases? [54-45] x 227 = 2043 ft

This confirms what my FI was talking about in terms of reasons for cancelling. low ceilings, turbulence at altitude, and strong winds make the NO GO decision a good one! What happened to the forecast!? Well, it's just that... a prediction. Checking the surface maps, it looks as if a Low that was over Wisconsin this morning has been pulled south and east by the northwest wind that filled in the "back side" of the stronger Low that moved through yesterday evening with a cold front and the associated thunderstorms.

My next scheduled lesson is Friday, when I will do this all over again. I think it might be fun to keep track of who does a better job of predicting the weather, sort of a Accuweather vs Weather.com grudge match!

Weather Briefing: Lesson 3

Accuweather is forecasting a temperature range of 60-56F, dewpoint range of 43-40, partly cloudy, with winds out of the NW at 13 decreasing to 10 (assuming windspeed is mph).

Weather.com is forecasting a temperature range of 60-57F, dewpoint of 39, partly cloudy with winds out of the NW at 15 decreasing to 12 mph.

Using the conversion factor: 1 mph = 0.868 kts we see that worst case scenario the winds would be 13 kts decreasing to 10. Methinks Accuweather reports winds in knots after all.

Kitze Aviation (my FBO) has a max wind limit of 12 kts, and max crosswind component limit of 8 kts. Fingers crossed that the winds calm down during pre-flight, I wouldn't mind using some of the crosswind technique I've been studying.

Another cool "Rule of Thumb" calculation for the height of cloud bases uses the temp. and dew point:

Air temp (F) – Dew point temp (F) x 227 = Base of clouds

Plugging the numbers in gives us: [60-39] x 227 = 4767 ft

In our past flights we have never gone higher than 3500 ft msl, we would have 1200+ ft of vertical cushion to the base of the clouds if Lesson 3 takes us up to 3500 ft.

Flight Debrief: 2nd Lesson

Wx: Light winds out of the NE for takeoff, shifted to SE for landing, few high clouds, excellent vis.
Time this lesson: 1.2
Total time: 3.5 <- Having proven my citizenship, the .6 from my discovery flight has been added.

What a great day for flying! Blue skies, and light/variable winds had me itching to get to the airport today. Pre-flighted 00Q solo today, and had a few questions for my FI concerning control surface movement and how to log mechanical squawks on the aircraft. Got approval from my FI to make the 172M checklist I found online a bit more customized and permanent (updated and laminated). The intercom/radio volume issues from lesson 1 did not make another appearance, everything was loud and clear.

Through all the checklists, "clear!" and start up the engine. Another aircraft was departing 36, and the windsock was mostly limp, so we elected to taxi south for a departure on 36. Just finishing our run-up and we hear a Piper calling "inbound, landing 18 Mettetal". Such is life at an uncontrolled airfield. I didn't want to end up nose to nose with this guy so I just stayed in the run-up area, and let him pass by on the taxiway.

Departure intentions announcement complete, I lined up and advanced the throttle to full. Tracking the centerline felt much better today, with only light pressure on the rudder pedals required to keep everything headed in the right direction. Airspeed alive, 55 kts rotate, I could really tell she wanted to fly.. so I obliged and pulled back gently on the yoke. Positive rate, and trim for target Vy of 78 kts. Climbed straight out on runway heading, scanning for traffic on our way up to 2500ft.

Rudder feel, and inputs required felt alot better today, even with some lumpy wind gusts aloft. Heading to the NW, my FI asked for certain headings and altitudes on our way to the practice area. Once there we commenced to practice procedures for getting into and recovering from slow flight. Targets +/- 10 deg. on the heading +/- 100 ft on the altitude. Not too bad, wouldn't pass a flight test just yet... but hey this is lesson 2 right? Need to improve on slowing to the bottom of the white arc without losing excessive altitude, pacing of flap extension/retraction, and good manners with the turn coordinator "ball".

Headed back to base, using "Mt. Trashmore" (a local garbage dump) as a navigation point. My FI asked for more climbs and descents, while holding or changing heading. For the memory banks, to find Mettetal fly direct Mt. Trashmore then a heading of 120 outbound. Since the winds had shifted we would be landing 18, and my FI instructed me on the procedures for crossing midfield and entering a left downwind for 18. Everything gets faster paced now, and I would love a slow-mo feature right about here. Made the radio calls for turning base and final, all while starting a descent, extending the flaps, and lining up with the runway at a target speed of 65 kts. Get on the VASI, throttle inputs, watching the numbers, trying to get them to stay put in the windscreen. Short final, gradually ease off the power, start my roundout... my FI helps me pull more elevator (he claims he did not help) to arrest the descent. A tiny little bounce upon contact with terra firma, so I held the yoke steady and we were down for good! Brake for the midfield turnoff and its time for the after landing checklist. Phew! My FI gives me credit for my "1st landing"... thanks FI!

Next lesson: more slow flight, and power off stalls.

Flight Debrief: 1st Lesson

Wx: Light winds out of the N, shifting to breezy out of the ENE, some clouds, hazy
Time this lesson: 1.7
Total time: 1.7

Went through a very thorough pre-flight with my FI, could not find Vx or Vy in the POH as the various speeds called out on the aircraft's checklist card are in MPH instead of KTS. First time taxiing in a 172, a little swervy but not "drunken sailor" swervy. Will have to check on volume issues we had with my headset and the intercom in the airplane. Departed to the practice area to the NW, and got right into climbs, descents, turns, and various flavor combinations of those three. Touched on slow flight, and my FI demonstrated 2 power off stalls. Our next lesson will be more slow flight and stalls, so I know what I need to read about for homework. Back to the airport, nobody in the traffic pattern so it was a stress free entry into the left downwind for 36. Ended up a bit high on short final, but made it to the runway without too much drama. Surprised by a nose wheel shimmy on rollout, have to remember to keep back pressure on the yoke!

Bonus flying: Got to be a passenger in a Cherokee piloted by Jim, who made his first three landings in a Piper look easy.

Things to improve: Step on the ball, coordinated flight is your friend. Proper and correct application of carb heat. Transitions into, and out of slow flight. Capturing altitudes, anticipating capture, correct throttle, no undershoot/overshoot.

Homework: Slow flight, Stalls

Before Start Checklist, update May 9th

1) Take AME 3rd class medical exam.... DONE
2) Pay off remaining school loan.... DONE
3) Arrange renter's insurance..... DONE
4) Schedule first lesson..... DONE
5) Start Flying!....Almost

Today would have been my first official lesson if not for a pesky weather system that made today a washout. Looking to Friday, the weather outlook looks favorable.

Before Start Checklist update May 6th

1) Take AME 3rd class medical exam.... DONE
2) Pay off remaining school loan.... DONE
3) Arrange renter's insurance
4) Schedule first lesson..... DONE
5) Start Flying!