I am currently writing this blog from the lobby of the Atlantic FBO. Boy, it sure is nice that Atlantic has free Wi-Fi! I am sitting on a very comfy couch, watching the news on a plasma screen, and waiting for Instructor Tom to arrive from his previous lesson.
The FBO isn't very busy at the moment, but it is always a great place to watch people. I am looking out the window at a sizeable executive jet which has just parked after landing at Midway. I was amazed to see two small children exiting the aircraft with their parents, followed by the pilot. Was it a charter? A personal jet? Don't know. But it is quite interesting to sit in the lobby and watch people come and go, who, let's face it, are upper-crust types. These two boys, about 5 and 7, don't even realize what a privilege it is to hop off an aircraft, walk through the lobby to a car, and drive straight home. What an amazing country we live in, where the rich have so much and the poor have so little.
And yet, as I sit here in the lobby people-watching, I hope that I'll see somebody famous. Tom mentioned to me that he once saw Tim Allen sitting in the FBO lobby. He was waiting for his private jet, and there was some sort of hang-up, so he didn't get to leave as quickly as he would have liked. Of course, a guy like Tim Allen flies in a private jet so he can avoid people, and to be stuck in the FBO lobby for any time at all was probably torture! Needless to say, Tom felt it best to not bother the man, but it's still cool that this lobby might one day give me the chance to see a famous person. I've seen plenty of rich people, but nobody famous yet. I'm keeping an eye out.
The weather is breathtaking. Sunny, 70 degrees, barely a cloud in the sky. Today, Tom and I are going to practice ground reference maneuvers and do some simulated landings. A ground reference maneuver means that a pilot is lining himself up with features on the ground, much in the same way he does when making an approach to a runway. We are going to be using country roads around the farms near Peotone as reference points to simulate what I will do when I am flying the traffic pattern to land.
Tom returned from the ramp with his previous student, and surprised me with an announcement; we are going to have a passenger today. The flight school has an airplane currently parked at Joliet Regional Airport, and Chris, another instructor with the school, is going to hitch a ride with us to Joliet so that he can pick up the aircraft and bring it back. It's time for my first landing at an airport other than Midway.
I smiled to myself. In my previous lesson, Tom told me that we were going to be simulating the traffic pattern. And today, it turns out that I'm going to be doing the real thing!
We're flying Cessna 172NT, the same aircraft I used in my first lesson. I'm getting pretty good at the preflight and the radio callups prior to departure, so I'll jump through this part pretty quick... conducted the preflight walkaround using the checklists, met up with Chris and chatted for awhile; he climbed into the back seat and waited as I started up the airplane and called up clearance delivery to announce our departure, called up ground and began taxi to 4L, held short F for a Diamond Star that was taxiing to the apron, held short 4R for a landing 737, crossed 4R for 4L, contacted tower for takeoff clearance, received said clearance, and VOOM, we were off!
Did a much better job trimming the aircraft for 1,900 feet... at last, I didn't even come close to busting the altitude restriction! Tom told me to turn right to a heading of 250 toward Joliet. The air was a little choppy and hazy, but I held altitude and heading as best I could. Tom announced that we were going to use the Joliet VOR to double-check our course.
The term VOR stands for
Very high-frequency
Omnidirectional
Range. It is a permanent ground installation that sends radio signals up into the sky in 360 directions, or radials. Aircraft are equipped with radio receivers that can pick up the signals. It can tell the pilot where they are in relation to the station, how far away they are, their ground speed in relation to the station, and whether they are flying to or from the station. I couldn't find a picture of the JOT VOR, but here's a picture of a nifty-looking one in Germany, so that you get the idea.
I tuned the frequency of the JOT VOR, which is 112.3. The plane is bopping around a little, I'm trying to hold heading and altitude while tuning the radio and setting the course. I also needed to set the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. Joliet is a small regional field, and is not busy enough to have a control tower. Instead of relying on a controller on the ground to give instructions, pilots landing at/departing from Joliet all tune the CTAF frequency on their radios (122.7 at this airport), and talk to each other directly to announce their intentions. Tom helped me tune radios by showing me the VOR frequency and CTAF frequency on the sectional map, but I felt like I could have used a couple more hands!
"Tom, how in the world am I going to do all this when I'm flying alone?" I asked.
"I dunno... you just do what you have to do!" responded Tom. Good enough.
The needle in the CDI (Course Deviation Indicator) is centered for now, which shows that I am flying direct to the JOT VOR. After a minute, the needle is no longer centered, no doubt because the wind is blowing me off course. I asked Tom if this was a concern, but he said it wasn't because we're not actually flying direct to the JOT VOR, we are flying to Joliet Regional, which will come up 5 miles before we reach the VOR anyway. It seemed like no more than 15 minutes, and Tom said, "I think I see the field."
I looked over the nose of the airplane, and at about one o'clock and 5 miles, I could see an airstrip with one runway on it. The orientation of the runway looked correct, but I realized that it can be very easy for a pilot to become disorientated and lose track of where he/she is. I plan to ask Tom more about using the VFR charts to help me know where I am. I'm only about 25 miles from home, and already I feel lost!
I haven't heard any other pilots on the CTAF frequency, so it's likely we're the only plane headed for the field. I asked Tom if I should make a traffic call as we turned downwind for runway 12.
"No," said Tom. "We'll just call final. Pull the throttle back to 2,000 RPMs and keep level flight. The plane will slow down to 80 knots."
I followed directions, but everything still seemed to be happening very fast. I felt pretty nervous.
"Extend 10 degrees of flaps."
I pushed the flap lever down to 10 degrees. Felt the plane pitch downward, enabling me to see the runway better.
"When the runway threshold is 45 degrees behind you, turn base."
I turned the airplane 90 degrees to the left. Tom looked out the left window and saw the runway approaching.
"Pull the throttle back to 1,600 RPMs. Extend 20 degrees of flaps."
The plane descended further. I called out a traffic advisory in case any other pilots were planning to take off from Joliet. When transmitting on the CTAF, a pilot gives five pieces of information; the airport he's calling about, who he is, what he's flying, where he is, and what he wants to do. The pilot also repeats the airport name at the end of the transmission as a courtesy in case another pilot tunes into the middle of the transmission. In this case, my call went like this:
"Joliet Traffic, 172NT is a Cessna 172, short final runway 12, Joliet."
"Good traffic call," Tom smiled. "Now, imagine the runway centerline continuing to extend outward towards us. Turn the plane to line up over the runway centerline."
I banked the wings, and rolled out to line up with the runway. I appeared to be tracking the runway centerline pretty well!
"We're too low. Push the throttle in to 2,000 RPMs."
I guess that when I was making the final turn, I rolled out at the right time, but I lost a little too much altitude. I pushed the throttle in to 2,000 RPMs, which instantly pitched the nose upward to a degree that I did not expect.
"Push forward on the control wheel..." Tom said.
No sooner were the words out of Tom's mouth than the plane had climbed 100 feet and was now too high!
"...Too high... pull the throttle to idle... full flaps..."
Followed directions, but the pitch down attitude seemed to be a bit much. I didn't take my eyes off the runway centerline. I could feel the speed increasing, but I couldn't tell how much.
"I'm going to help you with this," said Tom.
I think I've figured out something about Tom. When he says, "I'm going to help you with this," it means I messed up!
Pulled the control wheel back to level about 10 feet above the runway. The plane floated a bit. Tom pushed the control wheel in and out to bleed off some airspeed, but we touched down on the runway very fast. The wheels shuddered quite little bit as I applied light brakes, making a pretty loud thumping noise, and it took a long time to slow down. We finally slowed to taxi speed, about 20 knots, with 500 feet of runway left. I taxied off the left side.
"Well, you want your approach speed to be about 65 knots, and you touched down at about 85 knots. You were a little too fast that time."
This is where I learned that Tom has the gift of understatement. ;) I'm sitting here trying to figure out if I messed up something that I should have known how to deal with. I definitely came in too steep and too fast, especially considering that Chris was sitting in the back seat, adding some extra weight. But this is only my third lesson, and I felt a little overwhelmed in this landing. At the end of the day, however, I learned a very valuable lesson. I learned the warning signs for an approach that is too fast!
I asked Tom point blank, "Did I mess up something that I should have been prepared to deal with?"
Tom didn't really harp on it, so I didn't ask the question twice. I think that I was too slow to respond to the attitude changes of the airplane, and I put us in a not-so-ideal situation. Tom could have taken the airplane from me, but I'm guessing Tom ascertained that the approach wasn't life-threatening, so he let me have this landing even though it wasn't ideal because if he had instantly taken the plane from me just because I was a little too low, I wouldn't have learned anything! I'm sorry that the landing was rough, but I appreciate Tom's willingness to let me experience controlling the aircraft all the way to the ground. I think it's safe to say that a pilot learns more from bad landings than from good ones. ;)
Really-super-important-lesson #1: Watch your approach airspeed!
We taxied to parking, and dropped Chris off. I noticed Chris shooting a look at Tom, rolling his eyes... guess he wasn't impressed by the rough landing. Don't worry, Chris; I'll impress you soon enough!
Heard a helicopter pilot on the CTAF report that he was hover-taxiing to the fueling area, and he reported us in sight. I watched him overfly runway 12, land near the fuel pumps, and shut down to fuel up. Once Chris was safely clear, I taxied back to runway 12 for another takeoff. Made another advisory call on the CTAF.
"Joliet Traffic, 172NT is a Cessna 172, departing runway 12 to the east, Joliet."
Rolling on Runway 12. 70 knots. Pulling back on the control wheel. 80 knots and still not climbing!
"Pull back on the control wheel," Tom warned.
At last, the plane lifted off, we began a steady climbout. I pulled the nose a little bit above the horizon, and Tom complimented me, "Nice climbout! 75 knots exactly!"
I looked down at the airspeed indicator, and yup, 75 knots in the climbout, and holding steady. The plane just feels more stable when it's climbing at 75 knots. I trimmed off control pressure for several seconds, and that was when I realized why our takeoff roll was so late.
"Tom, I forgot to reset the trim for takeoff. That's why it took so long to rotate."
"That could be!" said Tom. See what I mean? Tom's got the gift of understatement.
Really-super-important-lesson #2: USE CHECKLISTS, ERIC! If I had run the takeoff checklist, I would have trimmed the aircraft properly and the takeoff would have been textbook.
The remainder of the lesson wasn't as eventful. I did several ground reference maneuvers, following the country roads in a series of left-hand turns. At last, I am becoming more consistent holding altitude as I turn! I still need to practice, but I'm losing less than 50 feet in medium bank turns, and that's an improvement!
Did several simulated landings. Climbed up to 2,800 feet, and Tom asked me to choose a landmark on the ground that will represent the runway threshold. I chose a cul-de-sac in the middle of a real estate development. I turned south on a simulated downwind, and pulled the throttle back to 2,000 RPMs. When the cul-de-sac was immediately off my left wing, Tom asked me to add 10 degrees of flaps. I continued to the south until the cul-de-sac was 45 degrees over my left shoulder, then turned 90 degrees to the left, pulled the throttle back to 1,600 RPMs, and deployed 20 degrees of flaps for a simulated base. At this point, the aircraft has begun descending at about 500 feet per minute. When the cul-de-sac was nearly off my left wing again, I turned 90 degrees to the left and lined up with the cul-de-sac directly ahead. Once I was close enough to simulate final, Tom asked me to pull the throttle back to idle, deploy full flaps, and descend down to 1,800 feet. In a real landing, this is when I would touch down, but we don't want to descend below 1,800 feet at the moment. Tom asked me to simulate a go-around. I pushed the throttle full forward, retracted flaps to 20 degrees, and pushed the wheel forward to control the climb. When I was certain that I had a positive rate of climb, Tom asked me to retract flaps to 10 degrees, and once we had exceeded 65 knots, I retracted the flaps entirely and began a normal climb to 2,800 again. Tom and I did these maneuvers for another 30 minutes, and each time, I felt more confident about landing this airplane myself!
Time was once again wearing thin, and it was time to head home. Approached Midway from the south, contacted the tower, received a new squawk code. We were instructed to cross midfield and enter a left downwind for runway 4L. Tower told us that a Diamond Star was already in the pattern, and we would be number 2 behind him. It took me a minute or two to see the Diamond Star, but at last, I looked over my left shoulder and saw the Diamond Star on final. And now it was finally time to fly the traffic pattern myself.
Turned downwind. 2,000 RPMs. Added 10 degrees of flaps when I was abeam the touchdown point, and watched as the Diamond Star landed. Continued on the downwind until the threshold for 4L was 45 degrees over my left shoulder. Turned base, 1,600 RPMs, 20 degrees of flaps, trimmed off the control pressure. Looked out my left window as the threshold approached, just as Tower cleared us to land. Tom offered me reminders as I turned final, lined up with the runway quite well, reached the point when my glide was assured, throttle to idle, full flaps. The plane slowed and I held the pitch for an airspeed of 65 knots, trimming off the control pressure again. Tom did have his hand on his control wheel, but he was letting me do this. Leveled out just above the ground, pitched slightly upward to burn off airspeed to 45-50 knots, and the wheels settled right on the centerline. Yahtzee!
I landed on 4L at Midway... Not sure how much Tom helped me, but I don't think he did. I'm pretty sure I did this one myself!
Off the right side at F, crossed 4R with Tower's permission, and taxied to the apron. Had a little trouble centering the plane in the parking space, and actually put the plane in a position where we had to stop because if we continued taxiing we might clip the wing of another parked aircraft! Shut down the engine, and Tom helped me push the aircraft into place. Tied 'er down, and headed back to the FBO.
Well, my lesson wasn't perfect, but I think I learned more from this lesson than I had from any other. Had a bad landing, and a good one. Getting a feel for the traffic pattern, and I flew the 4L traffic pattern myself this time without losing my nerve. Landed at an uncontrolled field, made CTAF calls, and was able to mark two landings in my logbook for the day. Oh, and of course, I landed at Midway Airport by myself.
What a ride!
Going away to visit friends for the weekend, but weather permitting, I'll be back in the cockpit next Wednesday. 'Till then...
- Airman Eric
Nope, I'm not dealing cards while I'm flying, and that's not a strange new kind of baseball cap. In this picture, I am wearing a hood which will prevent me from looking out the windows, so I will be forced to fly the airplane by instruments alone. Today, we will begin simulated instrument training in N737ME.
The primary instrument that I must refer to is the attitude indicator (top row, middle). This instrument verifies whether I am in level flight, climbing, or descending, and it is weighted in the bottom so that it will always tell me where the ground is. Secondary instruments that provide me with additional information are the heading indicator (bottom row, middle) which tells me the compass heading that the airplane is pointed, the altitude indicator (top row, right) which gives the plane's altitude in relation to mean sea level, and the vertical speed indicator (bottom row, right) which quickly tells me whether I am climbing or descending. Additionally, I also refer to the airspeed indicator (top row, left), but not nearly as often as the other instruments.
