Slow Flight - Dec 5, 2010
Well, now I know what it's like to fly with crappy weather approaching! We had done a fairly in-depth ground brief on slow flight last time, so despite light snow and streamers, we got up quickly before the weather got worse, and Lari demo'd slow flight. The knuckle tensening turbulance (due to mech turb.) as I took off and climbed was NOTHING compared to my lurching stomach when we approached stall speed -- every fibre of my body resisted Lari's instructions for experimenting with aileron control while the stall horn was blasting outside!!!
Seeing a small possible break in the clouds, Lari decided we should proceed to the practice area and see if we could get enough height (I just figured out why he wants to be at 2500 ft... recovery by 2000, but we're also a few hundred above sea level, so 2500 is really more like 2250 --AHHHHH!!! Boy, I'm slow!)
Tatiana and a student I had chatted with on the boat on the way over were also in the practice area; it was kind of neat to see another plane and hear a familiar voice on the radio.
Anyway, one thing I did pick up was that when you're in slow flight, you should use your feet to control the direction of the plane. So, rather than moving the aileron control, you use rudder if the plane yaws or rolls, to level out. Foot control also critical with stalls, which Lari demo'd and I had to correct with rudder -- it was terrifying!!! He was also doing steep turns to get a good lookout now and again. I am kind of hoping that just being present and experiencing this enough times will begin to make me more comfortable. (I don't really see how closing my eyes and hoping for the best when things get scary is going to be helpful to me once I am PIC, lol!)
And of course the added complication was the weather. All kinds of snow clouds and stuff, which you have to stay 500 feet under (how the hell would I know what 500 feet feels like??!! Anyway, I think we managed it).
Seeing a small possible break in the clouds, Lari decided we should proceed to the practice area and see if we could get enough height (I just figured out why he wants to be at 2500 ft... recovery by 2000, but we're also a few hundred above sea level, so 2500 is really more like 2250 --AHHHHH!!! Boy, I'm slow!)
Tatiana and a student I had chatted with on the boat on the way over were also in the practice area; it was kind of neat to see another plane and hear a familiar voice on the radio.
Anyway, one thing I did pick up was that when you're in slow flight, you should use your feet to control the direction of the plane. So, rather than moving the aileron control, you use rudder if the plane yaws or rolls, to level out. Foot control also critical with stalls, which Lari demo'd and I had to correct with rudder -- it was terrifying!!! He was also doing steep turns to get a good lookout now and again. I am kind of hoping that just being present and experiencing this enough times will begin to make me more comfortable. (I don't really see how closing my eyes and hoping for the best when things get scary is going to be helpful to me once I am PIC, lol!)
And of course the added complication was the weather. All kinds of snow clouds and stuff, which you have to stay 500 feet under (how the hell would I know what 500 feet feels like??!! Anyway, I think we managed it).
I am praying for good weather next time...