kimberlyanne546
Member
So I debated whether or not to post about Saturday's flying, since I did not do very well.
Another member on here went with me (Aeric) so I do have a witness.
Just so you know, I am NOT looking for anyone make me feel better or say "it is ok."
What I did made me realize how far I have to go. I knew I wasn't ready for passengers (Young Eagle, for example, or Angel Flight)..... but WOW this was bad.
Sure, I haven't flown in a month or two, and sure, I have only a few flights in this plane, and sure, it handles A LOT differently than the 150, but still. No excuses.
I went on a nice XC to this cute little airport, Booneville. Though I often putt around my home airport and do nothing but sightseeing, I decided I need to experience true flying regardless of cost. I need the hours for lots of things (IR, Angel Flight, etc).
Trust me when I say now I know why cross country flying is so much different than anything else.... and why these types of hours are required for so many different things.
Everything was OK until I got there and overflew to look at the wind sock.... this tiny place has no AWOS or anything. I have no idea why, but I could not get set up properly for TPA etc.... I guess I scared myself a bit and decided to go away and then come back, on a downwind and / or 45. That didn't work, and after several more tries (no planes around, just me, nobody on frequency either I checked).... I got really spooked and just decided to do everything on a long straight in final.
At this point I was:
Embarrased (pilot with me)
Nervous
Ashamed
Scared
Upset with myself (some climbs and descents were not performed very well)
Etc.
The landing wasn't that great either, and after touch down I had issues with the rudders / staying on centerline / moving off to the side - very strange.
My thoughts so far were something like this:
Petaluma is the ONLY place I have ever flown / landed this plane. Just got checked out in it since I need a 172 for taller / bigger people, more stuff / people . . . speed, etc. This has the 180hp conversion kit and is very stiff on the controls (rudders mostly).
The sight picture is very different and I should have used a cushion (to put me closer to the rudder pedals and get rid of the gansta lean since it was too far leaned back).
Petaluma's runway is almost DOUBLE the length of Booneville's runway. This could help explain why, even when I slowed things down to 80 knots, I felt "rushed" and like things were happening too fast for me to do the whole downwind / base / final stuff.
I was WAY WAY WAY too close to the runway on downwind. This shortened my base and final enough to scare me away.
So many other things went wrong I feel they set off some sort of suckey chain of events.
So this whole time (with one exception), the other pilot was very calm about the whole thing, and after he helped me tie down the plane, we walked into Booneville and had some food.
Unfortunately, all this extra flying (and a few other unplanned events) got us back to the airport later than expected. It wasn't pitch black yet, and perhaps not even technically night time but that did not help. The airport is not lit and there are small mountains / hills around, ranging from 1,000 - 3,000 feet. I decided to go home at 5,500 - more than I needed but at night I like that.
My takeoffs that day were OK but not very good. Definitely safe but even with one notch of right rudder trim my leg shook to keep the ball centered. Next time I'll try two notches to the right since I'm so weak.
The flight back was a great success, nothing went wrong, and I paid much more attention to what I was doing, saying things out loud etc. Night cross countries can be amazingly fun and beautiful.
I was about to run out of night currency, so I decided to do three takeoffs and landings when we got back.
Unfortunately, the PTT wasn't bringing up the lights but his spare radio did the trick. My approach was a bit high and I had to slip to get down on a landing. I tried to fix this on the other ones but it was pretty high.... I did lengthen my downwind at one point to fix this.
I also had issues with the flaps (easy to add more than 10, forgot to go 10, 20, 30, etc....)
Though I feel the approaches were OK and slow enough (60 - 70) for some reason I would land rather flat or even come back off the ground again.
Looking back, I know that an airplane won't come off the ground again if it is fully stalled and slow enough, so duh I wasn't slow enough. Super frustrating since this hasn't happened to me since my training and even then only EARLY ON.
What is even more upsetting is that I never got better, you can't imagine how angry I was going in circles making the same damn mistakes each time.
I was more upset and confused after we landed and put the plane back than I've ever been. I questioned my training, money spent, the works. I mentally made plans to hire a CFI (I don't love the one I got and they have 3 more) and pay for 1-2 hours at two nearby "tiny" airports, so that I can practice my pattern work there. Lucky for me they are only a few minutes from Petaluma and even smaller than Booneville.
Another member on here went with me (Aeric) so I do have a witness.
Just so you know, I am NOT looking for anyone make me feel better or say "it is ok."
What I did made me realize how far I have to go. I knew I wasn't ready for passengers (Young Eagle, for example, or Angel Flight)..... but WOW this was bad.
Sure, I haven't flown in a month or two, and sure, I have only a few flights in this plane, and sure, it handles A LOT differently than the 150, but still. No excuses.
I went on a nice XC to this cute little airport, Booneville. Though I often putt around my home airport and do nothing but sightseeing, I decided I need to experience true flying regardless of cost. I need the hours for lots of things (IR, Angel Flight, etc).
Trust me when I say now I know why cross country flying is so much different than anything else.... and why these types of hours are required for so many different things.
Everything was OK until I got there and overflew to look at the wind sock.... this tiny place has no AWOS or anything. I have no idea why, but I could not get set up properly for TPA etc.... I guess I scared myself a bit and decided to go away and then come back, on a downwind and / or 45. That didn't work, and after several more tries (no planes around, just me, nobody on frequency either I checked).... I got really spooked and just decided to do everything on a long straight in final.
At this point I was:
Embarrased (pilot with me)
Nervous
Ashamed
Scared
Upset with myself (some climbs and descents were not performed very well)
Etc.
The landing wasn't that great either, and after touch down I had issues with the rudders / staying on centerline / moving off to the side - very strange.
My thoughts so far were something like this:
Petaluma is the ONLY place I have ever flown / landed this plane. Just got checked out in it since I need a 172 for taller / bigger people, more stuff / people . . . speed, etc. This has the 180hp conversion kit and is very stiff on the controls (rudders mostly).
The sight picture is very different and I should have used a cushion (to put me closer to the rudder pedals and get rid of the gansta lean since it was too far leaned back).
Petaluma's runway is almost DOUBLE the length of Booneville's runway. This could help explain why, even when I slowed things down to 80 knots, I felt "rushed" and like things were happening too fast for me to do the whole downwind / base / final stuff.
I was WAY WAY WAY too close to the runway on downwind. This shortened my base and final enough to scare me away.
So many other things went wrong I feel they set off some sort of suckey chain of events.
So this whole time (with one exception), the other pilot was very calm about the whole thing, and after he helped me tie down the plane, we walked into Booneville and had some food.
Unfortunately, all this extra flying (and a few other unplanned events) got us back to the airport later than expected. It wasn't pitch black yet, and perhaps not even technically night time but that did not help. The airport is not lit and there are small mountains / hills around, ranging from 1,000 - 3,000 feet. I decided to go home at 5,500 - more than I needed but at night I like that.
My takeoffs that day were OK but not very good. Definitely safe but even with one notch of right rudder trim my leg shook to keep the ball centered. Next time I'll try two notches to the right since I'm so weak.
The flight back was a great success, nothing went wrong, and I paid much more attention to what I was doing, saying things out loud etc. Night cross countries can be amazingly fun and beautiful.
I was about to run out of night currency, so I decided to do three takeoffs and landings when we got back.
Unfortunately, the PTT wasn't bringing up the lights but his spare radio did the trick. My approach was a bit high and I had to slip to get down on a landing. I tried to fix this on the other ones but it was pretty high.... I did lengthen my downwind at one point to fix this.
I also had issues with the flaps (easy to add more than 10, forgot to go 10, 20, 30, etc....)
Though I feel the approaches were OK and slow enough (60 - 70) for some reason I would land rather flat or even come back off the ground again.
Looking back, I know that an airplane won't come off the ground again if it is fully stalled and slow enough, so duh I wasn't slow enough. Super frustrating since this hasn't happened to me since my training and even then only EARLY ON.
What is even more upsetting is that I never got better, you can't imagine how angry I was going in circles making the same damn mistakes each time.
I was more upset and confused after we landed and put the plane back than I've ever been. I questioned my training, money spent, the works. I mentally made plans to hire a CFI (I don't love the one I got and they have 3 more) and pay for 1-2 hours at two nearby "tiny" airports, so that I can practice my pattern work there. Lucky for me they are only a few minutes from Petaluma and even smaller than Booneville.
