Flight 12, The Sliiiiiiip....
Okay, so far I've done power off stalls, slow speed flight, ground reference maneuvers and various other techniques with flying the airplane. Today, my instructor anounced, we are practicing STEEP turns and Sliiiiippppsssss.
Coolness!
A steep turn is any turn with a bank beyond 40 degrees. In this case, we'll be practicing maintaining altitude at a 45 degree bank angle. What makes these guys interesting is the fact that, with this much bank angle, a large chunk of the lift wing produces, is being used to turn the airplane, NOT hold it up in the air. Hence, you have to increase power and hold back more on the stick just to keep your altitude.
Slips are... Well, they're just weird. And they feel wrong. Which, of course, makes them WAY COOL! More about slips later.
We finish our preflight briefing and hop on out to the airplane. Bruce, my fearless instructor did volenteer to check the fuel tanks while I do the rest of the preflight inspection. So, I got to it, working my way through the cockpit checklist as Bruce embarked on his nefarious scheme to teach me about preflight inspections.
I finish poking the things that need to be poked and pulling the things that needed pulling, and then started going over the airplanes exterior. Always a good idea to check to make sure that all the bolts are secured, the control surfaces free to move properly and that all the openings are.....WTF.????
I reach into the left engine intake and pull out a bloody airmans manual! I look up in time to see a big grin on Bruces face. Yep, he planted it there, just to see if I would catch it.
So I passed my preflight inspection test with flying colors. This was followed immeadeately by me screwing up trying to start that damm engine. Crap. It's not that hard, really. There's only 2 knobs, and an ignition switch that all have to be moved in the proper order simultanously, to get then engine to start. I've done this a DOZEN times before. Well, eleven time before anyway. But I flubbed it this time. Took me about 4 tries to get the engine running, and Bruce had to help with with the mixture control.
Sigh. As soon as I think I have something down, I end up screwing it up. Overconfidence, my worst enemy.
So, we get ourselves into the air without another major incident and OFF we go to the west practice area.
Cruising at about 6500 hundred feet, Bruce first demonstrated the steep turn and then had me try it. Okay, first to the left, bank over to 45 degrees, pull on the yoke a bit and add power. No problem, in moments, I'm cranking the airplane around a point on the ground, while maintaining my alitude. With the airplane in this steep of a bank, you can look out the side window and see straight down to the ground!
Then we tried a turn to the right. This did not go so well. On my first attempt, I overcontrolled the bank and then pulled too hard. This had the affect of increasing our bank still more, as we began to descend even faster!
These are called death spirals, and people end up getting stuck in them and killed every year. (Generally at night, or times of low visibility). You get out of the spiral by relaxing the bank, leveling the wings and pulling gently back on the yoke till you're in level flight again. Which I promptly did, without Bruce needing to take the controls.
Okay, second try. Again with the death spiral. Recover, and try again. Down we go... Dammit! Lets try one to the left. Okay, perfect, no problem doing perfect turns to the left. Bruce and I talk about it a bit, Bruce has some ideas about what my problem may be. So we try one more turn to the right. This time, we lose altitude, but not too much and I'm able to at least stablize the turn. Tricky this...
This post as gone on long enough. If anyone wants to hear the rest of the story, let me know!
Coolness!
A steep turn is any turn with a bank beyond 40 degrees. In this case, we'll be practicing maintaining altitude at a 45 degree bank angle. What makes these guys interesting is the fact that, with this much bank angle, a large chunk of the lift wing produces, is being used to turn the airplane, NOT hold it up in the air. Hence, you have to increase power and hold back more on the stick just to keep your altitude.
Slips are... Well, they're just weird. And they feel wrong. Which, of course, makes them WAY COOL! More about slips later.
We finish our preflight briefing and hop on out to the airplane. Bruce, my fearless instructor did volenteer to check the fuel tanks while I do the rest of the preflight inspection. So, I got to it, working my way through the cockpit checklist as Bruce embarked on his nefarious scheme to teach me about preflight inspections.
I finish poking the things that need to be poked and pulling the things that needed pulling, and then started going over the airplanes exterior. Always a good idea to check to make sure that all the bolts are secured, the control surfaces free to move properly and that all the openings are.....WTF.????
I reach into the left engine intake and pull out a bloody airmans manual! I look up in time to see a big grin on Bruces face. Yep, he planted it there, just to see if I would catch it.
So I passed my preflight inspection test with flying colors. This was followed immeadeately by me screwing up trying to start that damm engine. Crap. It's not that hard, really. There's only 2 knobs, and an ignition switch that all have to be moved in the proper order simultanously, to get then engine to start. I've done this a DOZEN times before. Well, eleven time before anyway. But I flubbed it this time. Took me about 4 tries to get the engine running, and Bruce had to help with with the mixture control.
Sigh. As soon as I think I have something down, I end up screwing it up. Overconfidence, my worst enemy.
So, we get ourselves into the air without another major incident and OFF we go to the west practice area.
Cruising at about 6500 hundred feet, Bruce first demonstrated the steep turn and then had me try it. Okay, first to the left, bank over to 45 degrees, pull on the yoke a bit and add power. No problem, in moments, I'm cranking the airplane around a point on the ground, while maintaining my alitude. With the airplane in this steep of a bank, you can look out the side window and see straight down to the ground!
Then we tried a turn to the right. This did not go so well. On my first attempt, I overcontrolled the bank and then pulled too hard. This had the affect of increasing our bank still more, as we began to descend even faster!
These are called death spirals, and people end up getting stuck in them and killed every year. (Generally at night, or times of low visibility). You get out of the spiral by relaxing the bank, leveling the wings and pulling gently back on the yoke till you're in level flight again. Which I promptly did, without Bruce needing to take the controls.
Okay, second try. Again with the death spiral. Recover, and try again. Down we go... Dammit! Lets try one to the left. Okay, perfect, no problem doing perfect turns to the left. Bruce and I talk about it a bit, Bruce has some ideas about what my problem may be. So we try one more turn to the right. This time, we lose altitude, but not too much and I'm able to at least stablize the turn. Tricky this...
This post as gone on long enough. If anyone wants to hear the rest of the story, let me know!