Dec 24 - (Review) Slow Flight, Instruments Climbs and Descents
Even when I was first introduced to it, I
found Slow Flight to be one of the most difficult flight exercises. I remember commenting on with one of my
Ground School buddies when I was first learning to fly. He noted that I should remember to use rudder
to steer/turn when in slow flight, and I was reminded of that again this morning
while out in the practice area with my instructor.
Entering into slow flight came, with some practise, and I managed to keep my altitude pretty well. It was directional control that caused some struggles. I also found it extremely challenging to isolate salient auditory information on the radio and discard the rest, so that I could focus on maintaining altitude (with power, mostly) and heading (with rudder and aileron). This being the first fine day in terms of weather, many people were out in the practice area. I know from personal experience that position reports are not always accurate, and with the reduced look-out slow flight affords, I was over-focussed on the radio for fear of being plowed into by another airplane, which distracted me from maintaining directional control!
I do feel like I have a slightly better handle on slow flight now, though, and I also think I am beginning to really understand the link between SF and best range/endurance. Like with everything, so much understanding and knowledge depends on knowledge and understanding of other things, and I have known for a while that I didn’t really have a firm grasp on slow flight, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. This morning, however, I realised that I didn’t really “get” range and endurance (which I also realised was largely due to the fact that that was the one exercise Korkka had me do on the dreaded flight simulator, and I was so distracted at having my hopes dashed for isolating and working on problems – the flight simulator at Island Air will NOT, for t he record, solve such problems for you!!! – that I didn’t really concentrate on the whole range and endurance thing. Plus, it’s so much math/physics, and who are we kidding? I have NO IDEA, lol!) Now that I know all this, I can fix it. I am planning to review both exercises in the FTM, and have a good, long chat with my flight instructor about the theory.
The practise for slow flight, btw, is below:
1. HASEL check
2. Reduce power slightly, then bring the nose up gently
3. Pull the control column all the way back and let the speed come down; put down flaps if desired (we did 20 degrees), once in the white
4. As the speed really gets low, anticipate (and avoid) drop in altitude by smoothly brining the power back, in some cases,
almost to cruise setting (today’s conditions dictated about 2200 RPM)
5. Maintain heading and altitude in slow flight
RECOVERY:
Full power – carb heat cold – flaps up in stages as the speed comes up again – control alt w/ power, and continue to maintain heading
Enroute we did a specialty take off – soft field – and the weather was so cooperative, I felt like I did a great job keeping the plane in ground effect before climbing out. It was cool. I even remembered to retract my flaps. Eventually. :-)
We also practised a bit more instrument stuff, this time climbs. The primary scan moves – when climbing – from Attitude Indicator --> Heading Indicator --> Attitude Indicator --> Altimeter to Attitude Indicator --> Heading Indicator --> Attitude Indicator --> ASI (increase in speed = descent, whereas decrease in speed usually means a climb).
Entering into slow flight came, with some practise, and I managed to keep my altitude pretty well. It was directional control that caused some struggles. I also found it extremely challenging to isolate salient auditory information on the radio and discard the rest, so that I could focus on maintaining altitude (with power, mostly) and heading (with rudder and aileron). This being the first fine day in terms of weather, many people were out in the practice area. I know from personal experience that position reports are not always accurate, and with the reduced look-out slow flight affords, I was over-focussed on the radio for fear of being plowed into by another airplane, which distracted me from maintaining directional control!
I do feel like I have a slightly better handle on slow flight now, though, and I also think I am beginning to really understand the link between SF and best range/endurance. Like with everything, so much understanding and knowledge depends on knowledge and understanding of other things, and I have known for a while that I didn’t really have a firm grasp on slow flight, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. This morning, however, I realised that I didn’t really “get” range and endurance (which I also realised was largely due to the fact that that was the one exercise Korkka had me do on the dreaded flight simulator, and I was so distracted at having my hopes dashed for isolating and working on problems – the flight simulator at Island Air will NOT, for t he record, solve such problems for you!!! – that I didn’t really concentrate on the whole range and endurance thing. Plus, it’s so much math/physics, and who are we kidding? I have NO IDEA, lol!) Now that I know all this, I can fix it. I am planning to review both exercises in the FTM, and have a good, long chat with my flight instructor about the theory.
The practise for slow flight, btw, is below:
1. HASEL check
2. Reduce power slightly, then bring the nose up gently
3. Pull the control column all the way back and let the speed come down; put down flaps if desired (we did 20 degrees), once in the white
4. As the speed really gets low, anticipate (and avoid) drop in altitude by smoothly brining the power back, in some cases,
almost to cruise setting (today’s conditions dictated about 2200 RPM)
5. Maintain heading and altitude in slow flight
RECOVERY:
Full power – carb heat cold – flaps up in stages as the speed comes up again – control alt w/ power, and continue to maintain heading
Enroute we did a specialty take off – soft field – and the weather was so cooperative, I felt like I did a great job keeping the plane in ground effect before climbing out. It was cool. I even remembered to retract my flaps. Eventually. :-)
We also practised a bit more instrument stuff, this time climbs. The primary scan moves – when climbing – from Attitude Indicator --> Heading Indicator --> Attitude Indicator --> Altimeter to Attitude Indicator --> Heading Indicator --> Attitude Indicator --> ASI (increase in speed = descent, whereas decrease in speed usually means a climb).