Worst Flight I've Ever Flown - Many Mistakes

At 400 hours, you'll notice the following:

1. Difficult to recognize unfamiliar airfield on long XC even though you did a TON of review of satellite images and what is nearby and have the sectional out.
2. Long XC, and in faster AC, you'll get used to cruise speed, you'll setup correctly at base and still end up a few knots fast on final.
3. Unforseen delays will lead to summer arrivals at desert locations after 12 pm, with wonderful sink/thermal activity and crosswinds in the touchdown zone.
4. You'll wear your watch backwards, or some other memory device to remind you to close your flightplan (if you still do them).
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Most replied they had not heard of this rudder trim on a 172 either. I am assuming it was there since the controls are so stiff. I will ask them about it - the thing has two "notches" to the right and left. I don't have a photo but there is a knob that you use with a metal lever. You lift up and then it clicks into each notch.

What I am trying to say is there is no trim wheel. The levels of trim are pre-defined in cut out notches.
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That is some kind of aftermarket mod and is probably what is responsible for the stiff rudder pedals as well. It's probably nice with the 180 or you'd be getting a sore leg on long climbs to mountain strips (that should be a nice plane with 2 onboard in the mountains). The stock 172 is like the 152 and uses a fixed trim tab that people will tweak for pattern work and retweak for cruise. You don't normally get rudder trim until a 182 in typical Cessnas'.

Yeah, I told you, you gotta fly a lot your first year or you go backwards. The only way you can afford to fly that much is to get a cheap experimental 2 seater. I'd look hard at this, your boyfriend can maintain it. See what kind of deal you can make. In today's market you might be able to sweet talk the seller into carrying paper.;)
 
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Doesn't sound too bad to me. What are you hiding, lady?

:wink2:

More seriously, I think the one point the screams at me from your post is: having someone else in the plane, especially someone who does "get it", made you a lot more self-aware than you otherwise would be, with the result of you second guessing yourself every step of the way.

Unfortunately, since one of the purposes of flight training is to get you to perform certain tasks without thinking and from muscle memory, the impact of the above is to send you right back to when you were a student.

Remember the moment in training when you suddenly didn't have to think about landing? it all sort of just happened? well, all this experience taught you is that with enough mental pressure (whether self-applied or not), you may very well go right back to before that point, at least at this point in your flying life.

But otherwise, none of this sounds particularly bad to me.
 
danhagan said:
At 400 hours, you'll notice the following:

1. Difficult to recognize unfamiliar airfield on long XC even though you did a TON of review of satellite images and what is nearby and have the sectional out.
2. Long XC, and in faster AC, you'll get used to cruise speed, you'll setup correctly at base and still end up a few knots fast on final.
3. Unforseen delays will lead to summer arrivals at desert locations after 12 pm, with wonderful sink/thermal activity and crosswinds in the touchdown zone.
4. You'll wear your watch backwards, or some other memory device to remind you to close your flightplan (if you still do them).
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I forgot to close my flight plan on New Year's Day and they called me. I have that voicemail to this day. By the time I called back it was over an hour later, they told me the Class Charlie (Monterey) confirmed my landing and I was OK. So they called me first, then the tower, then stopped there. If it had been untowered it may not have been that simple. Yikes. I do not remember if I've opened a flight plan / activated since then (I've certainly filed). I have only flown one cross country (San Luis Obispo) and then this Booneville one. I meant to file a flight plan, but didn't, because we were going to do a Bay Tour first which would be hard to estimate to a briefer.
 
We can always count on Kimberly for a humble evaluation. I think plenty of people can take a lesson from you Kimberly for your ability to confront your deficiencies!

I say get back up and fly sooner the better. Get that confidence back.

Learning to really control airspeed on final is sooo critical. Maybe it just me, others will disagree, but every different plane that I have flown/owned, there is a learning curve to really mastering that speed on final component.

Good luck. Go fly
 
andybean said:
We can always count on Kimberly for a humble evaluation. I think plenty of people can take a lesson from you Kimberly for your ability to confront your deficiencies!

I say get back up and fly sooner the better. Get that confidence back.

Learning to really control airspeed on final is sooo critical. Maybe it just me, others will disagree, but every different plane that I have flown/owned, there is a learning curve to really mastering that speed on final component.

Good luck. Go fly
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Right that is what I'm saying..... that I was OK controlling final descent speed. At one point, I trimmed and took my hands / feet off just to prove to myself the stabilized approach was not what I was doing wrong. Like I said, it was: the angle (too steep / too high), the speed after pulled power (not enough flare to slow down, full flaps stall speed / white arc is 40 knots or so and going sixty something at touchdown is too high), then the rudder issue (too stiff, going sideways), then the seat height / forwardness (different feel, different sight picture).

I always thought that if you can fly a 150 well, since they are so sensitive, that you could fly a 172 well. Boy oh boy was I a dummy. They are not the same and now I know that I need to spend more time in the 172. Especially since it will be my primary passenger airplane. The 150 is more for the BF and I or just solo.... or with Eric since he (thank goodness) can fit in one. If he is willing to get into another plane with me.
 
TMetzinger said:
Rust gathers fast on young steel. It also goes away pretty quick with a little use.

The fact that you feel bad about your performance is a good thing, as long as you use it as motivation to do better. Don't let it make you think you're not cut out for flying or something else stupid. We all have bad days.
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Oh don't worry I'm not letting that think I am not cut out for flying. The first thought I had was "I need to fly this plane again, and soon, to fix this."
 
AirDC said:
You can log total flight time for all three scenarios you mentioned. From start of taxi to shutdown, hobbs time, (or however you personally measure)
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This is good to know. I am not trying to cheat / hurry up and get all my required XC time.... but the fact that I combined my night currency when I did an XC turned out to be a good idea, it seems.
 
It sounds to me like you were over-thinking things a bit As Tim says -- now is not the time to not be flying much. Things haven't really "set" in your memory yet.

Just relax -- look at the runway -- and make the airplane go where you need it to go.

Come to Gastons and we can cover operating at unfamiliar airports (like Gastons). Flying by looking, not by rote procedure. Master approaching Gastons from any direction and operating safely and other airports will be a piece of cake.
 
jesse said:
It sounds to me like you were over-thinking things a bit As Tim says -- now is not the time to not be flying much. Things haven't really "set" in your memory yet.

Just relax -- look at the runway -- and make the airplane go where you need it to go.

Come to Gastons and we can cover operating at unfamiliar airports (like Gastons). Flying by looking, not by rote procedure. Master approaching Gastons from any direction and operating safely and other airports will be a piece of cake.
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Why? How long is the runway at Gastons? Also, due to funds, still unsure of Gastons. Will decide as it gets closer.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
The 150 is more for the BF and I or just solo.... or with Eric since he (thank goodness) can fit in one. If he is willing to get into another plane with me.
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The important thing is that we both fit, sadly not everyone can.
Get in again? Just say when :yesnod:
The only negative I took from this flight was again realizing how much more comfortable the 172 is than a 150. I still really like my little airplane though...
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
This is good to know. I am not trying to cheat / hurry up and get all my required XC time.... but the fact that I combined my night currency when I did an XC turned out to be a good idea, it seems.
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You may want to check the regs on night currency.
 
steingar said:
First, you, your passenger, and the aircraft are all fine and will fly again. I honestly don't see the problem.

Second, it gets better. Don't expect everything to be perfect at once. I've got a decade and 500 hours under my belt, and not everything is perfect every time.
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Kimberly, I also have a decade and 600 hours, and my last flight was kinda poopy. You can read all about it--I posted recently here. And that was just flying the traffic pattern at my home drome!
 
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Jaybird180 said:
You may want to check the regs on night currency.
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What? Why? We got home (Petaluma), it was night, clear, no winds, I asked if he minded if I got current, then I did three takeoffs and landings. How is this not OK?

EDIT - I was of course current but only until next week. I stupidly had 2 recent night landings but the third was more distant. So really I only needed one. Three "resets the clock" so to speak.
 
Henning said:
That is some kind of aftermarket mod and is probably what is responsible for the stiff rudder pedals as well. It's probably nice with the 180 or you'd be getting a sore leg on long climbs to mountain strips (that should be a nice plane with 2 onboard in the mountains). The stock 172 is like the 152 and uses a fixed trim tab that people will tweak for pattern work and retweak for cruise. You don't normally get rudder trim until a 182 in typical Cessnas'.
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In the older 172s, pilot-adjustable rudder trim was available from the factory as an option. (I just checked a 1979 POH for confirmation.)
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I always thought that if you can fly a 150 well, since they are so sensitive, that you could fly a 172 well. Boy oh boy was I a dummy. They are not the same and now I know that I need to spend more time in the 172.
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This.

I learned in a 152 as well, and that plane is so light you can pull the yoke to any airspeed you want, without much need for trim. When I made the transition to 172, I looked like a pre-solo goof until I mastered the trim wheel. It was definitely different. Get some more time in it, more often, and your performance anxiety will dissipate...
 
rpadula said:
This.

I learned in a 152 as well, and that plane is so light you can pull the yoke to any airspeed you want, without much need for trim. When I made the transition to 172, I looked like a pre-solo goof until I mastered the trim wheel. It was definitely different. Get some more time in it, more often, and your performance anxiety will dissipate...
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Thank you for telling your story. I did feel sort of pre-solo I guess. Definitely felt goofy. I always use trim. This was more of a rudder issue. I realized during my checkout I had a huge cushion that they do NOT keep in the plane. Next time I will go inside and get it and put it in the plane and use it.
 
Some random observations:

They call a pilot certificate "a license to learn" for a reason!

I bet if I started a thread for pilots who never made a mistake, or never were dissatisfied with their conduct of a flight, no one would post!

I don't remember if Boonville is like this, but there are plenty of airports where mountains are close enough to the runway that one must deviate from a standard pattern to one degree or another. One learns to compensate over time.

I've been flying for twenty-one years, but I still get rusty. On my last 182 flight, which happened to be with an instructor (to renew my club currency in type), my flare on the first landing was decidely inadequate (and gradually improved on subsequent landings). That's in spite of the fact that a pretty high percentage of my time is in 182s, from when I was active as a CAP pilot.
 
Here is the secret temple. Taken by Eric who sat right seat. He used my phone and I thought you were supposed to hold it upright (now I see this produces a narrow video that is auto-rotated by You Tube).



Edit: adding Cloud Ahoy data to match what the video shows. A cute pink descending loop (well I did a descent and then a climb out):

6962263696_c3d3c2c8e2_c.jpg
 
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Kimberly, how much time do you have in the C172? Is all the rest of it in the C150?
 
I am surprised you found a big difference between the 152 and 172. I didn't think I noticed much in the way of how they felt. Now 172 to 182 I noticed a difference the first time.
 
We all have off days, I wouldn't sweat it. I've done a few of those things myself as a lower time pilot.
 
The temple is cool.

Back in the day when I was learning to fly I wanted to "grow up" to have a house in Sea Ranch. I think I would find that a little too isolated now but it was a nice dream.
 
My warrior has rudder trim. Someone cranks it over all the time and since I forget to check, end up fighting the plane all the way to touchdown.
Kim; I used to fly solo to a new airport a couple of days in advance of flying there with a passenger. I wanted to be sure I could handle it so my cool pilot status with said passenger wouldn't get tarnished.
Now I just go.
It's the experience in aviation. As your hours increase, you see more, do more. Things don't seem so intimidating. And as one person said, you don't seem incompetent. You sound like a safe, competent pilot who just lacks the hours. As a pilot though, you've certainly matured well.
Carry on. You're doing just fine.
 
spiderweb said:
Kimberly, how much time do you have in the C172? Is all the rest of it in the C150?
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Let's see. I have between 125 - 135 hours now. Checkride was at 90 hours. Up to 90 and a bit beyond that I flew the 152 and the 172 at the old / original flight school (both 1970's models). So I'd say I have about 90 hours in that 152 since a few lessons (including my night cross country) were in the 172 when the 152 was down for maintenance during my training.

Then I switched schools and did a checkout in the 180hp 172 which is much different, to me. More power. I had only two short flights (Bay Tours) with one having an extra landing at Gnoss on the way home. Come to think of it I may have been high on final then too.

Let me get out my log book.

Holy cow, way more time in 172's than I thought:

1. Third lesson, not even landing yet without help, 2-13-2011, 0.9 hours (56G)

2. 5 landings pre-solo, 4-3-2011 (56G)

3. Cheated and went to another flight school - remember their 172 was almost impossible to fly. Seemed so hard. Pre-solo, pattern work, 14 landings (that's what he wrote), 1.5 hours

4. Same guy / plane as number three, 1.8 hours but only 10 landings written. Hmmmm.

5. Back to 56G at my flight school, the night cross country, three night landings, 2.1 hours (plus XC time)

6. After checkride, they made me do a "checkout" for insurance reasons. 9-17-2011, 56G, 1.5 hours with CFI

-note- Items 1-6 are with CFI's

7. First flight without CFI. Night, Bay Tour, non pilot passenger, 1.2 hours Bay Tour. Only one landing. 56G

8. Pilot passenger (also a CFI possibly), who did fly some, still 56G, XC to 2 airports and then back to Petaluma, 2.5 hours XC

9. Flight with Teller in 56G. Night, down to Half Moon Bay with my BF in back. 10-29-2011, 1.7 hours.

10. New flight school, 96E current plane. Partial checkout / crosswind landings (crappy day but I wanted practice). 1.1 hours, 1-21-2011

11. Completion of checkout, 0.9 hours, 1-28-2011, 96E

12. First flight in 96E, Bay Tour, with two pilots from the airport (my buddies). Landed at Gnoss on way back and that was night. Sunset / night flight. 1.2 hours. 1-28-2011

13. Second flight with two student pilots, Bay Tour again, took the coast back. Only one landing, 96E, 1.1 hours, 2-4-2011

14. Boonville, 96E, 4-21-2011, 2.3 hours XC


So - 21 hours in 3 different 172's. That seems like a lot, actually. I have the rest in a 152, minus about 8-10 hours in the 150.

That's 100 hours in the 152, 21 hours in 3 172's, and 8 hours in the 150. I don't really want to count the Tecnam and Comanche, but they would take 4 hours off my 152 totals.
 
silver-eagle said:
My warrior has rudder trim. Someone cranks it over all the time and since I forget to check, end up fighting the plane all the way to touchdown.
Kim; I used to fly solo to a new airport a couple of days in advance of flying there with a passenger. I wanted to be sure I could handle it so my cool pilot status with said passenger wouldn't get tarnished.
Now I just go.
It's the experience in aviation. As your hours increase, you see more, do more. Things don't seem so intimidating. And as one person said, you don't seem incompetent. You sound like a safe, competent pilot who just lacks the hours. As a pilot though, you've certainly matured well.
Carry on. You're doing just fine.
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Thanks. If I had a non pilot passenger, I might do this. Then again, all my passengers are pilots (except the BF and one other). However, a non pilot passenger would not know I was doing anything "wrong" if I didn't tell them. The only time I had one - both the first flight (BF was first pax) and then a night flight (with a friend) they were THRILLED. Not focusing on my "skills" at all, just looking out the window, for both of them it was their very first GA flight.
 
Note: I have NEVER flown solo. Only once to get night current many months ago, three landings in 498 (my little 152). I remember being scared but also recognizing about a MILLION things more than when I'm talking to passengers.

Perhaps I need to stop "hanging out" with folks in my plane and focus more on my actual flying. So maybe I should rent 96E solo and just practice. Would save me the CFI money.

Update: I sqwaked 5 minor things and the owner called me tonight. One was I don't know much if anything about many of the avionics, wasn't part of my checkout. He said he will let me plug in to power for free, but instead of me playing around he wants to personally show me all the bells and whistles (EGT, fuel something or other, Garmin, etc.)

By the way, Eric, he told me about the PTT issue - it is a known Garmin thing. Apparently some other guy with the same Garmin spent $6,000 trying to fix it. It is a Garmin 430 (I think) and you can't have Comm 2 tuned to the same freq as Comm 1. Silly, I know. As soon as he read my complaint and walked out to the plane and turned it on he saw my issue. Oh and the low voltage light wasn't a problem, apparently this one doesn't light up because of the way it is. You can test it in other ways like lowering the flaps with only the master on. In addition, he fixed the cabin air knob.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Let's see. I have between 125 - 135 hours now. Checkride was at 90 hours. Up to 90 and a bit beyond that I flew the 152 and the 172 at the old / original flight school (both 1970's models). So I'd say I have about 90 hours in that 152 since a few lessons (including my night cross country) were in the 172 when the 152 was down for maintenance during my training.

Then I switched schools and did a checkout in the 180hp 172 which is much different, to me. More power. I had only two short flights (Bay Tours) with one having an extra landing at Gnoss on the way home. Come to think of it I may have been high on final then too.

Let me get out my log book.

Holy cow, way more time in 172's than I thought:

1. Third lesson, not even landing yet without help, 2-13-2011, 0.9 hours (56G)

2. 5 landings pre-solo, 4-3-2011 (56G)

3. Cheated and went to another flight school - remember their 172 was almost impossible to fly. Seemed so hard. Pre-solo, pattern work, 14 landings (that's what he wrote), 1.5 hours

4. Same guy / plane as number three, 1.8 hours but only 10 landings written. Hmmmm.

5. Back to 56G at my flight school, the night cross country, three night landings, 2.1 hours (plus XC time)

6. After checkride, they made me do a "checkout" for insurance reasons. 9-17-2011, 56G, 1.5 hours with CFI

-note- Items 1-6 are with CFI's

7. First flight without CFI. Night, Bay Tour, non pilot passenger, 1.2 hours Bay Tour. Only one landing. 56G

8. Pilot passenger (also a CFI possibly), who did fly some, still 56G, XC to 2 airports and then back to Petaluma, 2.5 hours XC

9. Flight with Teller in 56G. Night, down to Half Moon Bay with my BF in back. 10-29-2011, 1.7 hours.

10. New flight school, 96E current plane. Partial checkout / crosswind landings (crappy day but I wanted practice). 1.1 hours, 1-21-2011

11. Completion of checkout, 0.9 hours, 1-28-2011, 96E

12. First flight in 96E, Bay Tour, with two pilots from the airport (my buddies). Landed at Gnoss on way back and that was night. Sunset / night flight. 1.2 hours. 1-28-2011

13. Second flight with two student pilots, Bay Tour again, took the coast back. Only one landing, 96E, 1.1 hours, 2-4-2011

14. Boonville, 96E, 4-21-2011, 2.3 hours XC


So - 21 hours in 3 different 172's. That seems like a lot, actually. I have the rest in a 152, minus about 8-10 hours in the 150.

That's 100 hours in the 152, 21 hours in 3 172's, and 8 hours in the 150. I don't really want to count the Tecnam and Comanche, but they would take 4 hours off my 152 totals.
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OK. Well, a new pilot has about 85% of her hours in one type. The C172 probably still feels like a new bird. It will take some time. It may be that the problems I faced in the other thread were for other reasons--no sleep as opposed to relative unfamiliarity--but that should be good news.

I was at about the same point as you are when I was at 125-150 hours. Since then, I've flown about 10 different types of aircraft. While I can't compare to some of the people on this board who've probably flown 100 types, they'll probably say the same thing: after some time, you'll find that an airplane is an airplane, and that you will adapt more quickly as you gain experience.
 
Two thing - it's okay, you'll get more experience and not make many of those mistakes again. But, also - thanks for posting. Bad experiences are even more important for learning than good ones, and it helps all of us to learn from each others mistakes - even if that lesson is that we all just sometime have bad days (someone else posted here on POA today about their bad flight). It happens...
 
Kimberly, as a first flight into Boonville you did fine. It is way waay different than Petaluma, tight little valley and small runway. I have been there a few times and it is a very different sight picture 50 vs 75 feet and 800 feet shorter than you are used to. Sounds like you did fine even if you had to "practice" getting it down.
A little closer to home is Healdsburg at 2770x60 and I would suggest some land and taxi back there for practice. It has that valley feel and is small enough to give you confidence with a shorter hop to home.

New airfields are a challenge and it will take some practice at new fields to get "how it should look". I know you fly with others a lot but perhaps a run to HES alone and doing a couple of landings then move up the road to O60 Cloverdale for a rest (bigger runway) ..or reverse that by starting at Cloverdale and work your way down to HES then back home would give you a bunch of variety in a short hop (less $$$).
We are lucky to have so many airports in a small radius -- lots of fun :)
Don't Sweat It. Just enjoy.

Patrick
 
Late to the thread, but you saw your problems and acted to correct them.

You became frustrated when the corrections weren't completely fixing the problems and stress will almost always lower performance.

There's not a pilot on the planet who's ever had a perfect flight.

There's pilots who strive for better performance of themselves, who continually learn how to correct their errors, and hopefully with good information and mentors, their errors get smaller over time...

And there's pilots who decide to stop learning and accept whatever standard they're flying at.

You're doing fine. Growing, even. Some flights are easier than others. Every one of us can step out of an airplane and name ten things we could or should have done better.

Keep flying. More flying along with comtinued self-assessment is the key to getting better at it. Very few bowl a 300 their first day at the bowling alley. Or the second. Or the third.

The only bad habit you have I'd say, is in thinking you need to impress anyone sitting in the other seat, pilot or not. Any pilot sitting next to you already knows and has felt exactly what you're feeling, and respects that you're willing to overcome it and try harder.

The worst and most dangerous flights I've ever been on were when the person in the left seat had decided they had nothing left to learn.

My absolute most dangerous flight where I could picture the accident report matching the actual events unfolding in the airplane -- and that flight was with an ATP-rated pilot in the left seat who had decided to stop learning or trying to make the best decisions, years before I got in his Cessna 337.

Malfunctioning landing gear that wasn't repaired or checked at the first destination, admission that it was a recurring maintenance problem that he believed he had under control, continued VFR flight into a snowstorm in the Rockies with failed radios at nightfall, not choosing to place the only other rated pilot in the right seat for that leg, distractions he couldn't handle (troubleshooting gear) while keeping the aircraft straight and level in the dark, the list goes on.

I'd never get in his aircraft ever again. I'd happily get in your aircraft. You're obviously the better aviator.

He passed checkrides and took written tests well. He couldn't make sound decisions when outside factors took priority over his job as PIC. You do.

Congrats on another successful flight. There's a reason it's called a license to learn. ;)
 
You may all change your tune after seeing this. A picture is worth a thousand words, never thought I'd use Cloud Ahoy against me. Kind of hard to follow but you get the idea (chaos until straight in):

6962263748_c4b935d312_b.jpg
 
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