First flight lesson was exciting. Yeah, I'm hooked.

DID SOMEONE SAY PLATEAU?

Back in the saddle after two weeks and boy was it a long two weeks. During my last lesson, I struggled in the pattern of all places, trying to maintain altitude and correct distance from the runway. Trimming in a Cherokee 180 was still a mystery to me, turning that darn trim handle(my nemesis) clockwise, then counter clockwise, neither seemingly having any effect on my pitch attitude. By the time I would figure out the trim, I'm behind the airplane, fumbling with the landing checklist, abeam the numbers and not throttling back and adding flaps yet so I'm long on the downwind leg, which screws my base and final legs. If I had hair, I would have pulled it out for sure. :mad2:

My CFI, who I trust a great deal, tells me after tiedown that my response to what's wrong is too slow. He says that I know what's wrong, but I only respond when he asks me about it. I should be more vocal, constantly making corrections and adjustments as I approach the landing. He tells me that I have a real grasp of the mechanics of flying but my head is not in the game. Hard to hear, but important to hear.

I've always prided myself on being a quick study, in sports, in college, in the workplace, in pretty much every facet of my life, I've been able to buckle down and master anything that I've ever attempted...with focus. So I go home frustrated and chair fly like crazy until I have these procedures down. I can't wait to get back to the airport because I feel like I owe it to myself and my CFI to show up focused and nail these approaches....then, as luck would have it, my schedule gets busy and I miss a week where I can't get to the airport. Then, the snow takes the next week from me. After inhaling anything I could find on landings for two weeks, I was finally able to get in the air yesterday and today.

We go up and I'm constantly making adjustments and I'm vocal about it and I'm ahead of the airplane and my approaches are well improved. I've overcome the downwind demons. It sounds like a small thing to conquer I know, but Friday did wonders for my confidence. So I'm back on the learning pace that I'm accustomed to.

My CFI's approach is to push me to master shorts and softs with their many elements in order for me to learn what every landing has in common. As I get better with shorts and softs and all of their nuances, my regular landings, by default, will improve. So, here's where I am:

Soft field take offs: FINALLY over the fear of crashing into the runway and able to level off until airspeed is good. I still keep forgetting to lose the flaps once in VY.

Short field take offs: No problem. VX in the 180 causes a "blind" sight picture and it's a little different deciding where to put it down if power is lost, but I'm getting over my 50ft obstacle quickly and VY transition is smooth. Again, gotta focus on losing those flaps.

Soft field landings: I'm getting there. After the runway is made and the power is out, I'm adding, as my CFI suggests, " a little noise" prematurely because I'm flaring too high. I feel closer to the ground than I am. Still working on that sight picture.

Short field landings: Again, high ground effect is causing me problems but I'm getting better with every landing.


The great news is, when I do a regular landing, I'm greasing them every time. In the words of one George Costanza....I'M BACK, BABY!
 
KeithASanford said:
DID SOMEONE SAY PLATEAU?

Back in the saddle after two weeks and boy was it a long two weeks. During my last lesson, I struggled in the pattern of all places, trying to maintain altitude and correct distance from the runway. Trimming in a Cherokee 180 was still a mystery to me, turning that darn trim handle(my nemesis) clockwise, then counter clockwise, neither seemingly having any effect on my pitch attitude. By the time I would figure out the trim, I'm behind the airplane, fumbling with the landing checklist, abeam the numbers and not throttling back and adding flaps yet so I'm long on the downwind leg, which screws my base and final legs. If I had hair, I would have pulled it out for sure. :mad2:

My CFI, who I trust a great deal, tells me after tiedown that my response to what's wrong is too slow. He says that I know what's wrong, but I only respond when he asks me about it. I should be more vocal, constantly making corrections and adjustments as I approach the landing. He tells me that I have a real grasp of the mechanics of flying but my head is not in the game. Hard to hear, but important to hear.

I've always prided myself on being a quick study, in sports, in college, in the workplace, in pretty much every facet of my life, I've been able to buckle down and master anything that I've ever attempted...with focus. So I go home frustrated and chair fly like crazy until I have these procedures down. I can't wait to get back to the airport because I feel like I owe it to myself and my CFI to show up focused and nail these approaches....then, as luck would have it, my schedule gets busy and I miss a week where I can't get to the airport. Then, the snow takes the next week from me. After inhaling anything I could find on landings for two weeks, I was finally able to get in the air yesterday and today.

We go up and I'm constantly making adjustments and I'm vocal about it and I'm ahead of the airplane and my approaches are well improved. I've overcome the downwind demons. It sounds like a small thing to conquer I know, but Friday did wonders for my confidence. So I'm back on the learning pace that I'm accustomed to.

My CFI's approach is to push me to master shorts and softs with their many elements in order for me to learn what every landing has in common. As I get better with shorts and softs and all of their nuances, my regular landings, by default, will improve. So, here's where I am:

Soft field take offs: FINALLY over the fear of crashing into the runway and able to level off until airspeed is good. I still keep forgetting to lose the flaps once in VY.

Short field take offs: No problem. VX in the 180 causes a "blind" sight picture and it's a little different deciding where to put it down if power is lost, but I'm getting over my 50ft obstacle quickly and VY transition is smooth. Again, gotta focus on losing those flaps.

Soft field landings: I'm getting there. After the runway is made and the power is out, I'm adding, as my CFI suggests, " a little noise" prematurely because I'm flaring too high. I feel closer to the ground than I am. Still working on that sight picture.

Short field landings: Again, high ground effect is causing me problems but I'm getting better with every landing.


The great news is, when I do a regular landing, I'm greasing them every time. In the words of one George Costanza....I'M BACK, BABY!
Click to expand...

Nice! Sometimes a short break helps. It does for me.
 
Sounds like you're doing well! I see that you said that you felt behind on pattern work and that you were going through the checklist. Personally I've never used one for landing, and as long as you're in a simple aircraft, the steps should be fairly easy to remember. Just getting into that rhythm of doing it without a list could make you do it all more easily and fluidly, like a basketball player taking a free throw. Also, I didn't do softs and shorts until late in my training, and I had some trouble with those--I was pretty worried about them in my checkride so it is great you're doing them now... I still worry about scraping the tail on soft field to's. ;) Keep up the good work and keep a good attitude. I just finished the checkride and as daunting as the task ahead may seem, know that you'll look back on it when you finish and bee that much prouder of your accomplishment. Now, any talk of a solo yet?
 
PLATEAU is a state of mind.. Push forward and you'll be just fine, trust me on this one.
If it was super easy it wouldn't be worth it and it wouldn't be as rewarding in the long run.
We have all run into something that causes us to second guess our ability to accomplish
the task at hand and with perseverance we have reached our goals.
 
I'm enjoying reading your updates and hope to be in a similar situation as you soon!
 
I got great crosswind practice in yesterday's lesson, pushing the right rudder practically through the floor on takeoff just to keep the nose straight ahead and maintaining that right rudder turning crosswind so the tailwind doesn't push me out of the pattern, crabbing into the wind to maintain my distance on the downwind leg and keeping my altitude well into the base leg, knowing that the headwind that meets me there will do anything it can to disrupt my turn to final. After overshooting the turn to final to compensate for the headwind, I slip to the runway, lose power and gently settle into my flare.

If only.....

I am blessed to have a job I love and a thriving small business but both are keeping me pretty busy, which means I'm having trouble finding time to fly. It is evident in my continued frustration with the flare. They were too high during my last lesson two and a half weeks ago and now, just yesterday, I am unable to keep the plane off the ground for more than like 4 seconds. I'm training in a Cherokee 180 and it drops like a rock. I need to fly more frequently in order to learn what ground effect feels like in the Cherokee. I flew a Cessna 172 about a month ago and I had a real sense of where I was over the runway...not so much in the 180, but I'll get there.

There were like four other planes in the pattern during my lesson too, which was a first for me, but we sort of did some touch and goes and some stop and goes. I actually enjoyed the fight every time around the pattern. My CFI says that it's good spacial awareness practice. He talked to me about the frustration in having to learn so much on the landing and having just a few seconds each time to try and make adjustments. He also talked about the importance of staying ahead of the plane, anticipating what your challenge will be when you arrive in ground effect and FLYING THE NOSEWHEEL TO THE RUNWAY....Okay, NOW I get it. In my mind, once I make ground effect, I can just coast because frankly, I can't die now. But I should still be flying the plane. It's like having one of those "I shoulda had a V8" moments.

After my lesson, I hung out at KHWY and watched several planes take off and land and I paid close attention to the flares, especially in the low wing aircraft and I'm thinking it's got something to do with my airspeed. I'm right on the number according to my CFI but maybe I need a little bit of power to have a greater sense of ground effect? :dunno: The runway at KHWY is 5000 feet, so maybe on less crowded days, I can do the extended ground effect recommended by Dr. Bruce in another thread.

I'm really enjoying this process. I'm learning things about myself and the way I process information. I'm becoming acquainted with my limits and strengths in learning and retaining knowledge and I can actually feel myself becoming a pilot...cool.
 
The winds have been crazy the last couple months. We went up today and every other landing it was like God's hand smote us out of the sky when we were 5 feet from touchdown. My CFI and I managed to bang out 1 hour and then we had to sit on lawn chairs in front of his hangar and have a Coke before we could head home. We watched about 5 other planes; most of them were just doing T&Gs or full-stop pattern work. My CFI said he knew the other pilots, and while a couple were low-time students, there was one several-hundred-hour pilot, and another post-solo student who usually does a good job, and they were all getting smacked around too.

Of course the guy driving the Pilatus greased it... :p
 
If you're flaring high, you need to be looking further doen the runway. And remember, you need to "fly" the plane all the way to its parking spot!
 
LDJones said:
If you're flaring high, you need to be looking further doen the runway. And remember, you need to "fly" the plane all the way to its parking spot!
Click to expand...

Can you explain how this helps? I'm having trouble looking down the runway. I was high and now I'm getting to the runway too quick.
 
KeithASanford said:
Can you explain how this helps? I'm having trouble looking down the runway. I was high and now I'm getting to the runway too quick.
Click to expand...

I'm all ears, too! This is way ahead of me but I'm trying to soak it all in.
 
Congrats on the first lesson. welcome to the club, or addiction. however you like to see it.
:yes:
 
KeithASanford said:
Can you explain how this helps? I'm having trouble looking down the runway. I was high and now I'm getting to the runway too quick.
Click to expand...

You have a much harder time perceiving height when looking straight down. Students initially focus just to the left side of the nose which doesn't give you enough depth perception. Looking further down the runway lets your mind leverage what it inherently knows about perspective to more accurately judge your relative height.

Also, do a high speed taxi run with the yoke back to see what it looks like while looking down the runway at touchdown. Then go watch for that sight picture to arrive on your next landing.
 
Look down the runway, much farther than you are. Do not focus on what is 200 feet ahead of you, but what is 1,000 feet or more ahead of work. Concentrate on the sight picture. I had a hard time adjusting to a Cessna from a Warrior and my CFI took me out and we did stalls. But instead of just stalls he was helping me develop a sight picture in landing configuration in relation to the horizon. That may help you too.
 
LDJones said:
You have a much harder time perceiving height when looking straight down. Students initially focus just to the left side of the nose which doesn't give you enough depth perception. Looking further down the runway lets your mind leverage what it inherently knows about perspective to more accurately judge your relative height.
Click to expand...

Wow, great explanation. I totally understand now, Thanks!


LDJones said:
Also, do a high speed taxi run with the yoke back to see what it looks like while looking down the runway at touchdown. Then go watch for that sight picture to arrive on your next landing.
Click to expand...

Great suggestion on the high speed taxi for the appropriate sight picture as well. My mentor told me this morning that his CFI had him to focus on rudder work in slow flight and that helped him control the plane better in ground effect. I can't wait to go back up and try both ideas. :thumbsup:
 
Congrats! Mine was the same way. One hour in the air and I knew that was where I wanted to be. Welcome!
 
Z06_Mir said:
I had a hard time adjusting to a Cessna from a Warrior and my CFI took me out and we did stalls. But instead of just stalls he was helping me develop a sight picture in landing configuration in relation to the horizon. That may help you too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my Mentor got a similar suggestion from his CFI and he says it helped him a bunch. Thanks!
 
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