Marginal Ceiling

Tuesday April 14th
Today was another cross wind day at Blue Ash. I had been monitoring the weather all day, radar and visibility were good, winds were around 10 knots at 300 degrees and the cloud ceiling was up and down all day. By flight time, the ceiling was reported at 1400 feet so we decided to just do some landing and traffic pattern practice. The plan was to go to Butler County regional for some takeoffs and landings with a better direction for the wind. After departure, we tuned the radio to Butler County weather and the ceiling there was reported at 1200 feet. Since the cloud coverage looked pretty uniform around us and the ceiling was decending, we headed back to Blue Ash to make a couple cross wind landings. My first approach I made all the radio calls after Cameron reported our position at 3 miles out. The pattern was pretty good and I lined up on final on the upwind edge of the runway and held a good crab angle into the wind to maintain the glide toward the runway. I maintained a good glide all the way to the roundout point and made a pretty nice landing. We taxiied back to runway 24 and took off again for another trip around the pattern. The clouds were decending even lower so we began the descent at the end of the downwind leg and made a turn to base and a quick turn to final to stay ahead of the wind. I got downwind of the runway centerline anyway and had to correct with crab angle during the final approach. This landing I fought just a little more and I did not get all of the crab angle correction out by the point of touchdown, but still not a terrible landing for the conditions and my experience level. We tuned to the AWOS and the ceiling at Blue Ash was reported at 1100 feet, so we were done for the day. So far I have only had one good weather day. I suppose that it is good to learn in challenging conditions, it will make the good days even more enjoyable. I'm thinking about setting up a video camera for some of my upcoming flights. I'll keep you posted.

Emergency Procedures

Saturday April 11 – My Birthday flight!

I got a chance to move my lesson up to 2:00 pm from 5:00 pm and I was ready to go. We started with some ground instruction with the Diamond manual going over the various engine problem checklists and decided that we would have a simulated engine failure on our flight. Winds were again a bit strong and gusting out of the north today so we took off on runway 6 and headed to a new practice area to the north east around the Lebanon area. After climbing to 3000 feet and getting to our practice area Cameron pulled the throttle to idle and said “engine out failure” The first step it to trim the plane for maximum glide speed which on the DA-20 is 73 knot with the flaps in cruise setting. Next step is to pick a suitable landing area and make an emergency radio call. Then, if you have time, you should go through an engine re-start checklist to try to get the engine going again. I picked a pretty long field and was in a gliding decent toward the field when Cameron told me to power up and climb back to 2500 feet. After I got back to altitude, we did the simulation again. This time I pick a closer field to the north, into the wind and made a descending turn toward the field. I was having a little trouble maintaining proper airspeed and I realized I was going through the rest of the steps before setting the trim for proper glide speed. After we had this field made, we climbed back to 2500 feet and headed toward Lebanon-Warren county airport. The runway there is 1-19 so it was perfect for the wind today. Cameron talked me into the pattern while I made the radio calls and I made a very nice, unassisted landing! One tip that really helped was when Cameron told me to look at the far end of the runway after I cut the power to idle over the end of the runway. That gave me a much better perspective for when to round out. I hope I can make many more landings like that one! After a short wait for some skydivers to land from their jump, we were back on runway 1 for another takeoff and to head back to Blue Ash. On this pattern I was behind from the time I turn on base. The crosswind pushed me past the centerline of the runway before I got turned to final and I had to crab the plane to get back on center. I was able to get lined back up, but I was really fighting the cross wind and I started the round out too soon. Cameron had me apply a little power and I gave it a little too much and started to float back up. I was still battling the cross wind and bounced the landing a bit and ballooned back up. At that point Cameron said”I’ve got the controls” and took over to finish off the landing. What a stark contrast in landings from the previous one! I felt pretty good about the flight up until that point. I just remember reading somewhere that there are just three simple steps to a perfect landing, but unfortunately no one knows what they are. I’m sure with some more practice and many more landings I’ll be able to handle the gusting crosswinds with ease.

Ground Reference Maneuvers

Tuesday April 7th – It was a nice, but very windy day. There was about a 60 degree cross-wind. We took off and headed back over the Trenton area for the ground reference maneuvers. I knew that is would be a tricky task with a strong wind. The first maneuver was a rectangle track around a field. We started off with a tailwind on one side of the rectangle, the first turn to cross wind has to be greater than 90 degrees to maintain a ground track parallel with the field. The downwind turn leg was pretty quick then another left turn of under 90 degrees to hold the tack on the last side of the rectangle. From there we headed toward a cross road intersection to do turns around a point. The object is to complete circles around a point and maintain the same distance from the center. I tried to keep my wingtip pointed at my target, but quickly realized the relative wind direction change would not allow that. You have to vary the bank angle and rate of turn continuously to counter the wind forces and keep the clean circle track. The next maneuver was S-turns along a road. This is a series on 180 turns where you cross the road with the plane wings parallel to the road and level. After another 180 degree turn you should again cross the road with wings level and parallel to the road about ½ mile away from the previous crossing. Our final maneuver of the day was steep banks. Cameron demonstrated 45 degree bank turns while maintaining altitude and rolling out on a target in the distance. First a left 360 degree turn then a right. Then it was my turn. I made two good steep bank turns then we headed south back to Blue Ash. Cameron landed this time because of the gusting cross winds. He demonstrated a high landing approach with a forward slip to drop altitude quickly. That felt like an elevator dropping! After a masterful landing in the tough conditions we were taxiing back into place and shutting down for today. After getting back and looking at the ground tracks from the gps, the maneuvers were really not that bad. The circles were a bit flat on the up-wind side but other than that the tracks looked good.

Better Weather/Time to fly

On Saturday April 4th the weather was great. There was still a bit of a crosswind, but only 8 knots today. I reviewed our training plan with Cameron then I went to the plane and performed the pre-flight inspection myself and I only had one real issue. I broke the key off in the canopy lock! When I was done Cameron came out and we climbed in the Diamond. I got the engine starting list out and performed the steps. Checked the radio and tuned to the AWOS or Automated Weather Observations System and got the wind and altimeter setting, flipped back to the CTAF or Common Traffic Advisory Frequency and we were ready to go. I taxied to the other end of the runway this time and I setup for takeoff on runway 24 after a final engine run-up test and a check for traffic. I advanced the throttle fully and was caught a little off guard by how much rudder it took to keep the plane in the center of the runway. The plane accelerated and at 45 knots I started to pull back and then we were airborne. I held the attitude to maintain a 80 knot speed during the climb. Cameron made the radio call that we were leaving the pattern to the west and soon we were at 3000 feet and turning to the north to get to our practice area. When we got to the Trenton, Ohio area I made a couple of clearing turns to look for traffic and then we began our lessons. The first thing that we did was transition to slow flight. This is where you reduce the throttle and keep feeding back pressure to the stick to maintain altitude. The airplane begins to fly in a nose high attitude and the airspeed drops. We were flying the plane around 55 knots and it took some nose up trim or I would have had a lot of stick pressure to hold back against. The responsiveness of the plane gets very slow and mushy compared to flying at in cruise configuration. The next thing that we practices was setting the plane up for landing. First pull back the throttle to 1700 rpm, let the plane slow down until you are in the white arc and can set the first notch of flaps. Continue to slow until you get to 55 knots, set the flaps to landing position and adjust throttle to maintain a glide toward your target point while maintaining 55 knots airspeed. From this configuration we practiced a simulated balked landing. Just apply full throttle, increase speed to 80 knots and begin a climb switch off one notch of flaps while maintaining 80 knots, then switch flaps back to cruise setting. Our next two lessons were power off stall, or approach stall and power on stall, or departure stall. Cameron demonstrated a power off stall, recovery and climb back to 3000 feet. I took the controls and performed a power off stall. Then Cameron demonstrated a power on stall, and I followed with a power on stall. I was surprised how much backpressure is actually took to get the plane to stall. I was also behind on the rudder because the plane wanted to fall off to the left side as I steepened the nose up attitude. The Diamond was pretty docile in the stall, just a brief buffet and the nose dropped. After the roller coaster rides it was time to head back. Cameron switched the radio to listen for traffic at Butler County regional airport as we were close by and we started heading south. I was able to spot KISZ from a pretty long way off after Cameron pointed out some good landmarks. GE Evendale is a huge building with a black rook and it is easy to spot. Cameron talked me through the entry into the pattern and the steps to remember during the landing pattern. At the end of the downwind leg, add the first notch of flaps and reduce throttle, make the descending turn to base and switch the flaps to landing, make the turn to final and use the ailerons and rudder to keep from drifting and stay lined up with the runway. Maintain a steady glide right toward the runway numbers, throttle to idle at the threshold of the runway and just let it settle, line the plane up with the runway as you start the flare, pull back and hold it. Touchdown! Then just keep the plane rolling straight down the runway with the rudder as the speed bleeds off. Taxi back to the parking spot and go through the shutdown checklist. Here is a picture of our flight track for today in Google Earth.

Tuesday Scrubbed

I was looking out the windows at a beautiful day Tuesday morning on March 31st. Just like all day Monday. As 5:00 pm drew nearer, the wind started to pick up and a radar trace of rain activity was moving into the area. I went over to the airport at 5:00 and met with Cameron. The weather briefing had 20 knot winds with 40 knots at 3000 feet (that equals lots of turbulence). The Diamond has a maximum crosswind component of 20 knots, and our wind was pretty much a direct cross wind. The decision was made to cancel the lesson. Now I have to wait until Saturday. Oh well, I knew by that starting in the spring a certain percentage of the lessons would be scrubbed for weather.

The Decision

I began in earnest to check pricing, pick my school, and decide on an instructor. I pretty much had already decided though. Blue Ash Aviation is about 5 minutes from my work if the traffic lights are red and the Diamond was the lowest cost plane out of all of the training planes that I had considered. I also felt very comfortable with Cameron when we were going though weather briefing and pre-flight prior to the introduction flight. I think that having an instructor that you feel is confident and knowledgeable and that also suits you personality is an important step. You will be spending quite a bit of time with them during the training. I think that I’ve picked a good one. AOPA has a lot of information and tips for selecting a flight school and an instructor on their website at http://flighttraining.aopa.org/learntofly/school/ . Blue Ash Aviation also had a stimulus package of their own going on. If you prepay for a block of 50 hours worth of airplane time, you get the airplane hours charged to you at a 10% discount as you use them and if you put more then $3000 on account you got an additional $150 and 30 gallons of fuel added to your account. With both of these discounts, I think I will have the best value for my training dollars. The next big thing was to get some flight training scheduled. I checked the training schedule online and was not able the find any time for the next week and a half when the Diamond, Cameron, and myself were all available. I scheduled Tuesday March 31st at 5:00 pm and Saturday April 4th at noon and it was a long week and a half wait.

Introduction Flight #2

I decided that I would stop in at Blue Ash aviation since it is very close to my work. I meet instructor Ken E. and he gave me a tour around the operation and took me out to take a look at a couple of the training planes. We looked at a Cessna 172 and a Diamond DA-20.

I already had a flight in a 172 I decided to book an introductory flight in the Diamond to see if it was too small and uncomfortable to spend my training hours in. I came back on March 3, 2009 where I meet Instructor Cameron K. for my flight. I think it was one of the coldest days of the year. After Cameron walked me through a thorough, freezing pre-flight inspection we happily climbed into the Diamond and closed the canopy. I went through the engine starting checklist and cranked the engine over. It did not want to start. We had hooked up the pre-heater to blow hot air into the engine cowl for a short time, but the pre-heater battery charge was too low to keep it running. I shut everything off for a while and when through the starting checklist again. I cranked the engine and still no start. After a few tries the A&P mechanic came over and told us to go get a coffee while he tried to get the plane started. It felt good to get inside and warm up and we discussed the lesson about how sometimes things do not go as planned and you have to adapt. A short while later the engine was running and the plane was warming up. The mechanic taxied the plane right up to the door for curb side service! Cameron and I got back into the plane, went through the start-up checklist again and fired the plane right up. I was a bit surprised when Cameron said that he would get the plane out onto the taxiway then let me take over the controls to taxi to the end of runway 6. It was a little easier to control then Flight Simulator is during taxi. When we got to the end of the taxiway, I went through the run-up checklist and prepared to depart. We make a 360 circle to check for traffic then Cameron made the radio call that we were taking off. I taxied onto the runway and pushed the throttle all the way in. The plane started to accelerate and I was surprised how easy it was to keep the plane rolling right down the middle of the runway, even though there was some cross wind. Before long we were off the ground and climbing out. I held the heading and climb rate for a while then we started a turn to the north. We leveled off and started making some gentle turns. It was a little bumpy on this flight because of the winds. We flew over the Mason and West Chester areas and I recognized some of the landmarks especially the WLW tower. It seemed like such a short time later we began to head back. Along the way we tried different throttle settings and got the feel for maintaining altitude with different power setting. As we descended to pattern altitude, I was able to spot other air traffic and could see the airport. I felt like I was very aware of my surroundings. Cameron made a radio call to report our position as we approached the traffic pattern. He asked me if I wanted to make the next call and I said I would, so he coached me on what to say. I stumbled through it a bit but I reported “Blue Ash traffic this is Diamond 107 Charlie Lima on downwind for runway 6, Blue Ash”. The radio is one thing that was a bit intimidating to me, but I think I’ll get it with no problem. Cameron made the rest of the radio calls as we landed. We made the base turn and added 1 notch of flaps. Turned a little late on final and switched flaps to the landing position. I added a little throttle as I got the plane lined up with the runway. I felt like this landing was a little more work, but I also felt that I had full control. We touched down and just rolled to near the end of the runway. Cameron said that he helped a little during the flare. The plane seemed to just track right down the center of the runway. I finally applied some brakes and turned off onto the taxiway. After the shutdown checklist items were complete, I taxied back to the planes parking spot on the ramp. Again I was thrilled and the Diamond was a joy to fly.