05/07/2005
I flew to Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport. Of course, my biennial flight review is not current, and my instructor was beside me. Actually, in the back seat was my wife and his wife. So, we took a short trip to Cleveland, and I took this opportunity to practice Cessna 210. It was my first time to fly an airplane with fixed speed propeller and retractable landing gear.
We took off Allegheny County Airport, flew over Ellwood VOR and Acron VOR, and arrived at Burke Cleveland Airport. I have been to Burke Lakefront Airport for several times to watch an airshow, but I never imagined I could fly to that airport by air.
Cessna 210 was, to me, a very fast and fun airplane, but at the same time a very complex airplane. I had to do a lot more things than Cessna 150, in which I was practicing in Arizona. I needed a lot of assistance from the instructor, and I knew that I need more practice until I become confident in flying Cessna 210. First, I should recall what I did nine years ago, and get used to flying a simpler airplane. Then eventually I'll train in Cessna 210.
By the way, the airplane we took on this day had an accident lately. Fortunately, no one hurt. But, as long as I heard the airplane is now un-flyable, and takes major repair until it become airworthy again.
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Downtown Cleveland from a ramp area of Burke Lakefront Airport
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Allegheny County Airport. On the way back, I was just a passenger and
sitting on the co-pilot seat.
05/28/2005
I flew Diamond Eclipse DA20 for the first time. I was supposed to fly this airplane last month, but due to the maintenance schedule, I flew Cessna 152 last time. I was very comfortable with Cessna 152 because it was similar to Cessna 150, in which I was practicing in Arizona. But, how was Eclipse?
In the morning, cloud was low, and if I could fly was uncertain. But, the cloud got high, and visibility became over 10 miles in the afternoon. It was a good VFR condition.
I finished pre-flight inspection, and tried to start the engine. But, it didn't start first. The instructor advised that I might have flooded the engine. In such case, fuel in the engine must be cleared before re-trying starting engine. For clearing fuel, lean mixture to the shut-off position, open throttle, and run the fuel pump for a while (30 seconds, if I remember correctly.) And, we succeeded in starting the engine.
The instructor told me that the wheel is not connected to the rudder pedal. So, I needed to use differential brake for steering. At first, I felt the airplane didn't turn when I pushed a pedal. But, soon I got used to it.
And, ran-up the engine, and had "Six Sierra Echo, cleared for take off!" Entered the runway, and pushed the throttle to max power. Eclipse has a big left turning tendency, and I had to apply hard right rudder. But, apparently I did it too much, and I swerved a little bit. But, RW28 of Allegheny County Airport was wide enough, and the airspeed reached V1 (about 50kt). I gradually pulled the stick, and the airplane took to the air. As soon as the airplane kicked the ground, I heard stall horn. Maybe I pulled the stick too much? I reduced the back pressure, and the stall horn stopped. The airplane was steadily climbing.
What a wide view! That was my first impression when we took off. There is no pillar in front of the cockpit. Just glass canopy. It was totally a different level of visibility from Cessna!
At 1700ft (500ft AGL,) I turned the airplane left to the south, and headed to the south practice area. It was my first time to fly Eclipse. Probably, I should get used to the airplane first. And, I practiced some steep turns, power on/off stalls. In Cessna 150, I maintained the engine cowling line intersecting with the horizon right in front of my eyes during a steep turn. I tried to do the same, but didn't work well. I glanced at the altimeter once every several seconds, but the altitude did not stay constant. The last steep turn came a lot better than first couple of times, but I still could not get the right relation between the engine cowling and the horizon. It was one of the things I needed to figure out in the next practice.
Power On/Off stall didn't came very well either. Well, I could recover, but on recover I released the back pressure too much. Ended up with lowering the nose too much. Well, I haven't flown so a long time. I need to spend time to regain the feeling. Next time I would do better.
After doing some maneuvers, I came back to the airport to do some touch & goes. When I flew Cessna 152 last month, I didn't do too bad. But, in Eclipse, I couldn't do flare too well. At least I didn't die, but these were hard landings. While practicing maneuvers, I felt I did excessive control. So, first I tried to do a kind of small flare. But, it didn't work well. Next time, I pulled a little harder, and it was indeed too much. I added power, lowered the nose, and tried to flare again, but ended up with making another hard landing. I repeated such unsatisfactory landings for four times. For the last time, the instructor showed me no-flap landing. Eclipse has a long (high aspect ratio) wings like a glider, and it has a good gliding capability. With no-flap, it didn't touch down the ground very long time. It was, a kind of good practice for flare.
After the training, I realized that I was holding the stick so tightly, and felt slight muscle pain on my shoulder. No wonder I didn't flare well. I needed to relax to fly better. My next goal was to relax and to do steep turns and landings better.
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Instrument panel of Eclipse
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It has a stick. Not a control wheel. Like a fighter airplane,
isn't it?
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I was returning to the airport from the south practice area. The
airport is seen at the center of the picture.
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This is the airplane I flew.
06/25/2005
Second Eclipse practice. My goal for this one is to do steep turns and landings better than the last time.
The flight school I use, Pittsburgh Flight Training Center, apparently has two or three Eclipses, but this time I flew exactly the same one I flew for the last time (166SE).
We took off, and headed to the south practice area. The visibility was about six miles. In six miles visibility, the horizon was kind of blur. I had to make a guess of the location of the horizon.
But, I could do left steep turns much better than the last time. This time I maintained the horizon intersecting with the cowling at the left corner of the cowling. Right steep turns didn't come as good as left ones, but probably one more practice will give me the sense of the attitude I should keep during left steep turns. And, I was making a guess of the location of the horizon. I need to double-check if my guess was right.
I did some stall recoveries, but I felt I didn't do any better than the last time. Of course, I could recover, but I tended to release back pressure too much, ended up with making the airplane too much nose down. I'll try to do better next time. I haven't flown for nine years. I have a lot of things to remember.
And, I returned to the airport, and did some touch & goes. What I tried during the touch & goes was to relax. And, actually it worked! One of the important things for doing flare right is to recognize the altitude correctly. For that purpose, I need to look at all the way down the runway. The left and right threshold lines of the runway tells the altitude. However, when I was too nervous on final, I tended to lock or transfix my eyes on the touch down point (usually runway numbers). Transfixing eyes on the touch down point is often dangerous because I may forget looking at instruments. Always I need to check both inside and outside constantly. But, another adverse effect of transfixing eyes on the touch down point is forgetting to move eyes to all the way down the runway. If I continue looking at the touchdown point (or looking too low) I cannot recognize the altitude correctly and end up with making a hard landing. I think that's what I did in the last practice. The best way (I think) to avoid transfixing eyes is to relax. And, indeed I could relax this time because I felt much more comfortable with Eclipse than the last time. I was happy with my landings this time :-)
I'm trying to go for a flight training once a month. So, probably next one will be sometime late July.
