Fifth Complex Flight

Friday afternoon brought some the best weather of any flying day I have had this year. We were expecting a big snow storm late in the evening (and we did get it) but, ahead of the storm, we had only high clouds and big blue patches. The wind was shifting around a little but was light enough that it wasn't a problem.

Once outside the hanger and ready to go, I called ground for a VFR departure. ATIS had reported winds 250 at 7 knots with runway 23 in use but the controller offered me the choice of runway 32 or 23. Since the club is located just off the end of runway 32, we opted for the short taxi and almost straight out departure to the practice area. I got the gear up, the airplane setup for cruise climb and up we went to 3000 feet. I leveled off there and then configured for another climb to 4000 feet and another level off.

Pete asked for a steep turn in each direction and, as I rolled out of the second one, he pulled the power. I pitched up a little to slow to 75 knots and grabbed the emergency checklist. With no restart, I looked for a place to go. I knew Westosha was nearby so I looked for that first. As it turned out, we were right over the top of the runway. I dialed in the CTAF, announced we were over the field at 3300 with a simulated engine out and started my spiral down. After 3 turns, I rolled out on the downwind for runway 21, put the landing gear down and flew a tight pattern. Unfortunately I still ended up a little low and had to use just a touch of power to make the runway. I think it was the extra drag from the gear that threw me off. I should have lowered the gear while I was still high so I could have gotten stabilized earlier. I will have to try some more power off landings to get a better feel for how the configuration changes effect the Cutlass' glide.

We left Westosha and went back into the practice area for some autopilot familiarization. It is a basic unit with no altitude hold so it was mostly just using the heading bug to command turns. There is a nav switch but, we couldn't get it to track a VOR. I can play more with that on my own later.

Back in the pattern at Waukegan, I did 3 more landings and another go-around. I still need 2.3 hours to finish the club requirements so, it might take another two flights to get done. That's fine. It's all flying time.

Fourth Complex Flight

I was healthy, the landing gear was repaired and the weather, while not great, was acceptable Friday. I watched the METARS deteriorate all morning. More and more airports to the west of Waukegan were going from VFR to marginal VFR. Just before I left work at noon, UGN went down to 2900 broken. That was still good enough for pattern work though.

The Cutlass was in the hanger so I got to do the preflight in comfort. Then, we pulled it outside, jumped in and fired up the engine. ATIS was now reporting 3000 broken so Pete suggested we head west to try some air work. We did manage to climb to 3000 feet but didn't get any higher. As we went west the broken layer turned into an overcast and clouds were lower. Pete had wanted to do some more step climbs and descents but, the ceiling would not allow it. I did a couple steep turns, a little slow flight and then we turned back toward the airport for some full stop landings with taxi backs.

I did ten patterns with eight landings and two go-arounds. We did a couple of those landings without flaps. Those were no problem for me. Doing that many patterns in just a little over an hour doesn't allow for any relaxation. We would complete the before take off check list as we taxied back and tell the tower we were ready while still rolling toward the runway hold line. Once we had to hold for landing traffic but most of the time we were cleared for takeoff and just kept moving onto the runway and into air. I worked hard on this flight. It showed on the last two landings which were not as good as the first six. I ballooned on one and was way off center line on the last one. Fatigue really does have a big impact on performance.

I am now comfortable with the takeoff and landing routines. Even though we stayed in the pattern, I went through the gear raising, cruise climb power and propeller adjustments and so on like I was departing. Then, on downwind, I would drop the gear, put the propeller full in and treat it like I would if I was just arriving. Good practice for real world flying.

I now have 6.2 out of 10 hours, 19 of 25 landings and 4 out of 5 go-arounds completed. Pete would like to go somewhere with a short, narrow runway (Westosha?) for the next flight. I think I will suggest a short cross country for the following one. After all, the Cutlass is a cross country airplane. Maybe I can get the requirements done in two more flights.

Not Much to Report

I had to cancel last Monday's complex training because I woke up that morning with a nasty head cold.  Then, just before I left for the airport yesterday, I got a call letting me know the Cutlass was grounded.  The problem is a broken nose gear spring.  My next scheduled flight is this Friday.