Dec 27, 2010 - Illusions of Drift (Ex 20)
So, it was terribly windy today, and I anticipated a ground lesson, which was fine, since I am planning to fly a few more times still this week. I figured I'd write my PSTAR, and then we could do some ground stuff; I had several questions needing answers...
Ahhh, but Lari! Why let Vera enjoy a moment of comfort when he can continuously push her outside the zone? Lol! He reminds me of a French massage therapist I used to see, who got great pleasure out of mashing my muscles just a little bit too hard, especially when I yelped in pain!!! Anyway, so Lari decided this windy day would be the ideal time to teach me about illusions of drift. (Ex 20 in the flight manual). I had of course not read the exercise, so what did I know, lol!
Up we went -- he demo'ed a cross wind take-off; kind of interesting -- aileron into the wind -- and then it was turbulant city all the way out to the practise area. Happily, Lari is increasingly proficient at distracting me, so although I was a bit freaked out, my mind was simultaneously engaged in other topics of interest. This allowed me to pratise steering the plane in windy conditions while maintaining altitude without being too terrified.
Once we got east of the Zoo, Lari demo'ed the effect of wind; we "hovered" near the Zoo; it was quite the experience. Stall horn was blaring, but we weren't going anywhere, very strange. Anyway so then we selected a landmark to circumnavigate, and I experienced the illusion of slip and skid (oops, need to review those in my FTM!!), although the plane was in fact coordinated. The message was to "trust the instruments" (especially the turn coordinator).
I can only imagine the challenge of flying in windy PEI. Maybe... one day...
On the way home, Lari had me track a line to the city while heading north of that. So basically, turning into the wind and letting the strong wind push the plane where it needed to go. (If we had been heading the "proper" direction, we would have been blown off course, so we had to do a different heading in order to maintain track. Now I get the difference between the two... sort of). From a technical perspective, I think there was also some rudder involved, though I can't entirely remember what or how exactly.
I am looking forward to the consolidation phase of my training -- when there is NOTHING NEW for a while, and I can actually practise, refine and consolidate what I already know.
Ahhh, but Lari! Why let Vera enjoy a moment of comfort when he can continuously push her outside the zone? Lol! He reminds me of a French massage therapist I used to see, who got great pleasure out of mashing my muscles just a little bit too hard, especially when I yelped in pain!!! Anyway, so Lari decided this windy day would be the ideal time to teach me about illusions of drift. (Ex 20 in the flight manual). I had of course not read the exercise, so what did I know, lol!
Up we went -- he demo'ed a cross wind take-off; kind of interesting -- aileron into the wind -- and then it was turbulant city all the way out to the practise area. Happily, Lari is increasingly proficient at distracting me, so although I was a bit freaked out, my mind was simultaneously engaged in other topics of interest. This allowed me to pratise steering the plane in windy conditions while maintaining altitude without being too terrified.
Once we got east of the Zoo, Lari demo'ed the effect of wind; we "hovered" near the Zoo; it was quite the experience. Stall horn was blaring, but we weren't going anywhere, very strange. Anyway so then we selected a landmark to circumnavigate, and I experienced the illusion of slip and skid (oops, need to review those in my FTM!!), although the plane was in fact coordinated. The message was to "trust the instruments" (especially the turn coordinator).
I can only imagine the challenge of flying in windy PEI. Maybe... one day...
On the way home, Lari had me track a line to the city while heading north of that. So basically, turning into the wind and letting the strong wind push the plane where it needed to go. (If we had been heading the "proper" direction, we would have been blown off course, so we had to do a different heading in order to maintain track. Now I get the difference between the two... sort of). From a technical perspective, I think there was also some rudder involved, though I can't entirely remember what or how exactly.
I am looking forward to the consolidation phase of my training -- when there is NOTHING NEW for a while, and I can actually practise, refine and consolidate what I already know.