Lesson 3 - 24th August 2019
Well today was a turn up for the books. 30 degrees and almost clear blue skies. A perfect day for a flying lesson.
I arrived at the airfield nice and early only to find that Martin, my instructor, was up on a reintroduction to flying flight and that the people had arrived late due to bad traffic. This was not a problem for me as I was in no hurry so I put the kettle on and had a coffee. I had a long chat with the lady who was waiting for her husband who was on the flight and discovered that he had previously held a licence, but had let it lapse due to health reasons. Before this lapse, he had flown gliders out of Nympsfield, near where I live, and he had also had lessons in the C42 out of Staverton, where I had looked in to learning from. It was a very pleasant way to spend half an hour waiting.
Then it was my turn. Today we were going to look at Exercise 7, Basic Climbing and Descending.
Climbing
There are 2 types of climb, Best Rate of Climb and Cruise Climb. Best Rate of Climb means putting the engine to full power and climbing at a rate of about 600 feet per minute. Cruise climb means setting the engine rpm to the aircraft climbs by itself, untrimmed, at a rate of about 200 feet per minute.
We were only looking at Best Rate of Climb and to enter this you do the following:
1. Lookout and check the airspace
2. P - Power - Apply full power watching for the turn slip indicator to keep it central using the rudder
3. A - Attitude - Set the attitude of the aircraft, nose up, to maintain a speed of around 65 knots
4. T - Trim - Use the trim control so you don't have to apply any back pressure on the stick.
During the climb, check the T&P's to make sure the reduced airflow over the engine doesn't cause the engine to overheat. Also keep a good look out and keep the wings level. Pick an object in the distance as an aiming point to make sure you stay on course. To check you are still on course, lower the nose briefly to have a look. This also allows you to look for any other aircraft that may have appeared.
Once you are about 50 feet from the desired altitude, get ready to level off. This is a similar approach to entering the climb, but steps 1 and 2 happen together:
1. A - Attitude - select the correct level flight attitude
2. P - Power - set the throttle back to around 3800rpm (best rpm for level flight at 65 knots for this C42)
3. T - Trim - Set the trim back so that you can fly hands off.
Descending
As with the climb, there are 2 types of descent, Best Glide and Cruise Descent. Best Glide brings you down at a rate of about 600 feet per minute and Minimum Sink at a rate of about 200 feet per minute.
We were only looking at Best Glide and to enter this you do the following:
1. Lookout and check the airspace
2. P - Power - close the throttle to idle
3. A- Attitude - Set the attitude of the aircraft to maintain a speed of around 65 knots
4. T - Trim - Use the trim control so you don't have to apply any forward pressure on the stick.
During the descent, keep a look out at the T&P's to make sure the engine doesn't cool too much or it may cause icing problems. To overcome this, run the engine up to 3000 rpm for a couple of seconds before returning to idle and do this every 500 feet of the decent. This keeps the engine warm.
Once you are about 50 feet from the desired altitude, get ready to level off. This is a similar approach to entering the descent but steps 1 and 2 happen together:
1. A - Attitude - select the correct level flight attitude
2. P - Power - set the throttle back to around 3800rpm (best rpm for level flight at 65 knots for this C42)
3. T - Trim - Set the trim back so that you can fly hands off.
Airmanship
Engine Management. As mentioned above, it is important to make sure the engine doesn't overheat on the climb and also to make sure it doesn't cool off too much on the descent.
General Observations
During the taxi, I felt a little bit more in control. As previously stated, this will take practice, and I think today was a little better. Still not good, but getting there. It is all about telling my brain to steer with my feet and not my hands!
Purchases this post
Flight - £130
Totals
Total Costs = £1177.39
Total Hours PA-28 = 1.05
Total Hours Icarus C42 = 4.05 hours
I arrived at the airfield nice and early only to find that Martin, my instructor, was up on a reintroduction to flying flight and that the people had arrived late due to bad traffic. This was not a problem for me as I was in no hurry so I put the kettle on and had a coffee. I had a long chat with the lady who was waiting for her husband who was on the flight and discovered that he had previously held a licence, but had let it lapse due to health reasons. Before this lapse, he had flown gliders out of Nympsfield, near where I live, and he had also had lessons in the C42 out of Staverton, where I had looked in to learning from. It was a very pleasant way to spend half an hour waiting.
Then it was my turn. Today we were going to look at Exercise 7, Basic Climbing and Descending.
Climbing
There are 2 types of climb, Best Rate of Climb and Cruise Climb. Best Rate of Climb means putting the engine to full power and climbing at a rate of about 600 feet per minute. Cruise climb means setting the engine rpm to the aircraft climbs by itself, untrimmed, at a rate of about 200 feet per minute.
We were only looking at Best Rate of Climb and to enter this you do the following:
1. Lookout and check the airspace
2. P - Power - Apply full power watching for the turn slip indicator to keep it central using the rudder
3. A - Attitude - Set the attitude of the aircraft, nose up, to maintain a speed of around 65 knots
4. T - Trim - Use the trim control so you don't have to apply any back pressure on the stick.
During the climb, check the T&P's to make sure the reduced airflow over the engine doesn't cause the engine to overheat. Also keep a good look out and keep the wings level. Pick an object in the distance as an aiming point to make sure you stay on course. To check you are still on course, lower the nose briefly to have a look. This also allows you to look for any other aircraft that may have appeared.
Once you are about 50 feet from the desired altitude, get ready to level off. This is a similar approach to entering the climb, but steps 1 and 2 happen together:
1. A - Attitude - select the correct level flight attitude
2. P - Power - set the throttle back to around 3800rpm (best rpm for level flight at 65 knots for this C42)
3. T - Trim - Set the trim back so that you can fly hands off.
Descending
As with the climb, there are 2 types of descent, Best Glide and Cruise Descent. Best Glide brings you down at a rate of about 600 feet per minute and Minimum Sink at a rate of about 200 feet per minute.
We were only looking at Best Glide and to enter this you do the following:
1. Lookout and check the airspace
2. P - Power - close the throttle to idle
3. A- Attitude - Set the attitude of the aircraft to maintain a speed of around 65 knots
4. T - Trim - Use the trim control so you don't have to apply any forward pressure on the stick.
During the descent, keep a look out at the T&P's to make sure the engine doesn't cool too much or it may cause icing problems. To overcome this, run the engine up to 3000 rpm for a couple of seconds before returning to idle and do this every 500 feet of the decent. This keeps the engine warm.
Once you are about 50 feet from the desired altitude, get ready to level off. This is a similar approach to entering the descent but steps 1 and 2 happen together:
1. A - Attitude - select the correct level flight attitude
2. P - Power - set the throttle back to around 3800rpm (best rpm for level flight at 65 knots for this C42)
3. T - Trim - Set the trim back so that you can fly hands off.
Airmanship
Engine Management. As mentioned above, it is important to make sure the engine doesn't overheat on the climb and also to make sure it doesn't cool off too much on the descent.
General Observations
During the taxi, I felt a little bit more in control. As previously stated, this will take practice, and I think today was a little better. Still not good, but getting there. It is all about telling my brain to steer with my feet and not my hands!
Purchases this post
Flight - £130
Totals
Total Costs = £1177.39
Total Hours PA-28 = 1.05
Total Hours Icarus C42 = 4.05 hours
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