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Lesson 55: Circuits in the Sun

I set out early this mornign for SJC for my lesson. Nine O'clock was a bit early for me, but there was no reason not to manage it - except - I still hadn't recovered from a murderous sleep deficit that I'd accumulated over the week. Went down to the San Jose Jet Center, marvelled at the twenty parked police cars ( _serious_ security down there at San Jose International! Nobody would bother with that kind of muscle for a mere GA airport ). Met my instructor at the Jet Center building.

We went in, had a cup of coffee, and went inside for some ground instruction. We went through a sectional chart "What does these blue lines mean?" "What do these magenta lines mean?" "Is this airport controlled?".. all the usual basic stuff. Then we started planning for our first dual cross-country: SJC ->Pine Mountain Lake ->Cameron Airpark -> SJC.

He asked me what I would use for pilotage landmarks - I pointed to a couple of lakes - "You'd be surprised, all those lakes and reservoirs will look the same from the air". He recommended a nuclear reactor; apparently these have distinctive cooling towers. Anybody else have favorite VFR landmarks?

He showed me a flight planning form, and introduced me to the wonders of 1-800-WX-BRIEF. Then we went out to the airplane.

It was shaping up to be a hot day. We'd planned to go out to South County to do airwork, but the heat made us both lazy: "Why don't we just stay in the pattern?". So that's what we did.

He asked me how I wanted to take off? Like my old instructor taught me, holding the tailwheel on the ground until rotation, or like he teaches: lifting the tailwheel as soon as possible, and taxiing down the runway with the tailwheel in the air until rotation speed? I opted for the latter because

  1. According to "The Compleat Taildragger Pilot" it's the right way to take off.
  2. It's fun to learn new stuff.

I'd called him on the phone a few days previous, and gotten his perferred numbers for the descent from pattern altitude.

  • 2000RPM, 80MPH straight and level on downwind. 1800RPM, 80MPH, One Notch Flaps abeam the tower, sink rate about 200fpm
  • When the numbers appear 45degrees to the rear, 1500RPM, 2 notches flaps, trim for 70MPH
  • turn base ( verify sink < 500fpm )
  • On turning final, power to 1200, full flaps, trim for 65-70.

This was a lot more stuff than the flapless C120, in which I'd learned to merely set power=1500, trim for 70, and ride her down to base and final. I made up a sheet with all the new flapstuff on it and memorized it all. Drove home from work chanting: "2000-80-ONE-NOTCH-FLAPS". You can say anything you want in your car, people just think you're singing along with rock music :-).

So we went out and did our ten circuits. I did some things well, and other things not so well. Things I did well:

  • Radio Work: Might not master Bernouilli, but I got Marconi by the @#$@#! Called the right people at the right time, answered the tower the way I should. Good thing, too. My instructor's PTT switch was still Tango Uniform.
  • Airspeeds, coordination: Did these pretty good, once I remembered that the airspeed gauge had TWO rows of numbers, and I really needed to use the big (MPH) numbers rather than the little (knots) numbers. Ooops. :-)
  • Memorizing the power and flap settings was a big win.
  • I did a good job keeping the nose down all the way down to the runway, and not "choking the yoke".
Things I did not do so well:
  • Flailing the rudders: Only a problem on the ground. This is taildragger stuff, in fact - the heart of taildragger art. When I sense the A/C going veering, say, left, I have a tendancy to put in a *lot* of right rudder - well, really more than it needs, then let it off quick. Only sometimes not quite quick enough :-). He wants more gentle rudder action. The moment after landing, when I'd reach over and let down the flaps, tended to be especially traumatic. I'd lean to the right, the A/C would veer to the left. Then I'd desperately search for the carb heat while bashing right rudder. Another nervous moment was when the tail came off the ground on takeoff; the nose would slew left for a moment from gyroscopic effect.
  • He wants a complete L check for landing on downwind. I don't have this down to a "flow" yet. It goes like this:
    • Check the flaps
    • Check the trim/airspeed
    • Check the throttle/power.
    • Verify carb heat out.
    • Verify mixture in ( full rich )
    • Verify primer IN and LOCKED
    • Verify Mags on BOTH

    If the airplane hits pattern altitude abeam the tower, all this needs to happen between the tower and the numbers. I was getting behind the procedure, flailing about in the cockpit looking for items to check. Practice makes perfect....

    • During our post-flight discussion, he said I was coming right along, and we were right on our previously-discussed schedule for solo. His notation in the logbook reads:

    "Pattern for Presolo. Presolo Written Passed"

    He remarked that the first five landings were pretty good, and then they started to get worse. And indeed, when I left, I felt crushingly tired. I went home to rest....

    - Jerry "74.3 Hours" Kaidor

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