Daniel H. Bailey’s Alaska Flying Blog

Aircraft: C172 N52654

Flight  Time:  1.0 hours

Total Hours: 9.3

A breakthrough lesson for me today, I’m finally getting a feel for landing the airplane! We did 10 more touch and go’s, and aside from one go around, I performed really well and brought 654 down safely and relatively softly each time. Mark still helped me out with advice and tips as we flew around the pattern each time, but for the most part, he kept his hands off of the yoke during just about all of the landings.

I’d spent quite a bit of time during the past couple of days visualizing what I knew I needed to do, and running through the procedure over and over in my head. It must have helped, because whereas last lesson, I really struggled with controlling my airspeed through the turns to base and final, which had me coming in too fast, this time I did a solid job of keeping my speed and rate of descent where they needed to be. Also, I seem to be getting a good feel for the level off and flare.

There was one exciting moment, though, when we came in for our final landing and full stop. After touchdown, I applied the brakes, but things felt a little off. We weren’t really stopping, because the airplane was skidding on the ice. I let off and pumped them gently until we were able to slow down and exit from the runway. Yet another experience of learning to fly in the wintertime in Alaska.

Overall, I felt calm and totally in control, even during the times when my approach or flare wasn’t as good as it could have been. My confidence seems to have grown considerably and I could tell that my general airplane handling skills are quickly becoming very comfortable.

We’ll see what Mark has in store for me next time…!

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Aircraft: C172 N13205

Flight  Time:  1.0 hours

Total Hours: 8.3

N13205 at Merrill Field with the Chugach Mountains in the background.

I had to cancel a lesson last week due to fog, and as of this morning it seemed as if the same would happen for today’s lesson. As good fortune would have it, though, the cloud ceiling rose from 500 feet to 2,500 as I was riding over to the field, so we were on. That is, we were on as soon as I cleared off all the snow and rhyme ice off of the plane. Such is the way of learning to fly in the wintertime in Alaska. Fortunately, it wasn’t as big a project as it’s going to be for the guy who owns this plane. (see below)

More touch and go’s today. After last week, I was eager to get pack into the plane and try some landings without the added challenge of 17 mile per hour winds. We flew for an hour in the pattern and got in 9 landings. I found that it took me awhile to get into the swing of things, and I was even maybe a little disappointed that my touch downs didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. Nonetheless, I did pull off at least one pretty good one near the end, and I know that overall I’m showing improvement with each lesson. I continue to become more comfortable with my ATC communication, which was crucial today, since there were quite a few planes in the air today. Numerous times, the tower asked us to extend our climbout and/or downwind legs, and I had to keep my eyes alert looking for the other traffic in the pattern.

My main learning curve today was that I kept coming in too fast on final, which meant that had to lose alot of airspeed during the last half mile. I need to watch the airspeed indicator as I descend though my turns to make sure that I’m hitting the right speeds on each leg: 90 on downwind, 80 on base and 70 on final. I did get much better at keeping my right hand on the throttle and my left hand on the yoke, even through the touchdown, I just need to refine my throttle control all the way through my descent. Also, still pulling up a bit too much on the flare. Getting better, though, just don’t quite have it down yet.

It’s all a huge learning process, this whole flying thing, and landing is by far the hardest part. I recognize that it’s all slowly and steadily coming together, one piece at a time, and it will just take more practice to get comfortable with all the procedures of handling an aircraft. To put things into perspective, I didn’t become a good mountain biker or rock climber in just one month. I’m in this for the long haul, and the learning part is an essential, important part of this process. I just need to keep that in the forefront of my mind as I move forward.

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Aircraft: C172 N13205

Flight  Time:  1.2 hours

Total Hours: 7.3

It was so windy this morning that I wasn’t even sure that I’d have my lesson. I called the Merrill Field AWOS before heading out there and it was saying 17 mph winds with gusts up to 24 mph. Right before leaving, I read up again on crosswind taxi techniques in my flight maneuvers book, figuring that I’d need to be on top of that knowledge today.

We started up the plane and taxied over to runway 34, since the wind was coming from the north. The crosswinds were not too bad on taxi, although we did get blown around a little bit as we crossed through the space between hangars. It wasn’t until we got up into the sky when I discovered just how difficult high winds can be for a novice pilot.

We spent the entire lesson in the pattern doing touch and go’s, ten in all. Although it was extremely challenging and a bit overwhelming at first, it was a great learning experience for me. I got lots of practice using crabs, wind correction techniques, and using different bank angles when turning into and against the wind.

We’d climb out against the wind on takeoff, and then, when making the first crosswind turn, I quickly learned how to roll out the turn a bit early so that plane points at an angle to your course. This allows you to keep flying the same heading with the wind effectively blowing you sideways. When making the downwind turn, we’d get blown south like a sail, so I had to make the turn with a higher bank angle to get us quickly on course out once of the turn. Very quickly, I had to run though my approach checklist, so that I could apply carb heat, lower the flaps, begin my descent, and confirm my approach with the tower.

When turning to base, I had to roll out late and fly on a crab angle that is opposite of the one I flew on the initial crosswind leg. That left a shallow turn to line the plane up on final, and this is where the real challenge came. I’d line the plane up on a heading towards the runway and try to control my descent rate, but the wind blew us around so much that it took constant corrections all the way down. I got lots of rudder pedal practice today.

I wouldn’t say that any of the landings were very good, and Mark had to help with every one. We even had to make a couple of go arounds. One time we came down pretty hard, although Mark assured me that he wouldn’t put me or the plane in danger, however he did let me bring it down that hard on purpose so that I could experience firsthand what can happen in those circumstances. That said, I wouldn’t even be allowed up on my own in this kind of weather until I had much more experience.

Overall, he said that I did well, and that I certainly make some good improvement, especially with the wind corrections, general aircraft handling and with my ATC/tower communication. I got better at listening for my tail number and trying to respond to every command or clearance that they gave me. I wouldn’t say that I did it perfectly, especially when I was trying to concentrate on something else, but that’s all part of it and I’m definitely getting more comfortable in that area.

We’ll do more touch and go’s next lesson, and after having deal with the wind today, I’m curious to see how it will go the next time with little to no wind. Friday is forecasted to be much more calm. In the meantime, I’ve been told to complete and bring in my Presolo Written Exam…

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Aircraft: C172 N13205

Flight  Time:  .3 hours

Total Hours: 6.1

Short and sweet was the name of the game for today. An hour before my lesson, it was overcast at 500 feet. An hour later, the overcast layer had lifted, but a low scattered layer still hung over Merrill Field. We figured that we had enough ceiling to at least fly the pattern and practice takeoffs and landings, so we went for it. I had to scrape some thin ice off of the plane’s surfaces during my preflight, not enough to cause a problem, but nonetheless, good to see what can happen to an aircraft in the cold. The wings and engine had been covered, so all the control surfaces were good to go.

Very good takeoff for me, and I’m really getting the hang of the radio now and talking with Merrill Tower. Unfortunately, as we were climbing off of runway 7, we hit the bottom of the clouds at around 600 feet and were forced to fly the pattern lower than the normal 900 feet.

The first landing went exceptionally well. I had been previsualizing all week about how much to pull up on the flare, and this time I really nailed it. We skimmed over the runway, bleeding off the airspeed, and then with Mark’s coaching, I gradually pulled back on the yoke and waited for plane to touch down. The wheels practically kissed the asphalt as we landed, it was so smooth. I was very excited, as this was by far my best and most in control landing yet. Mark commended me, and then coached me through the next takeoff. Flaps up, carb heat in, throttle back to full, pull back on the yoke, and within seconds, we were in the air again.

This time, the tower advised us to try a left hand pattern, in hopes that the clouds were higher over that side of the airport. It was not to be, and as we made our first turn, we realized that this would be it. We came around for one more landing, which was not quite as smooth as the first, but still very good. After taxing off the runway, we parked the airplane and called it a day. Short but very sweet indeed.

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Aircraft: C172 N13205

Flight  Time:  1.1 hours

Total Hours: 5.8

5 Degrees on Monday morning when I ride out for my 10:00 AM lesson. 205 is already outside when I get there, so I do my preflight in the cold while wearing all of my jackets. I even took an extra hat to wear, since the one I wear under my bike helmet is just not warm enough for standing around in near zero temperatures. I remove the insulated blanket on the cowling that helps keep the engine warm, remove the wing covers and brush the light dusting of snow off of the plane’s control surfaces. After gassing her up, we get in and start up.

I’m finally starting to get the hang of using the rudder pedals to steer while on the ground. It’s been a little hard to get used to, and I keep finding myself trying to steer with the yoke, which doesn’t do anything when the aircraft is moving at a slow taxi speed, except when faced with crosswinds. 

We get clearance for runway 7 and I perform the takeoff with pretty much no assistance- my best effort yet. I’m really starting to get this part down, and that’s inspiring in itself. We ascend and turn towards Ship Creek and head towards the practice area. Along the way, Mark points down at two moose who are hunkered down in the snow in a clearing at the edge of some trees. It’s a mama and her young. Mark takes control of the plane and drops lower so that we can circle above for a better look. The moose seem uninterested.

Today Mark shows me ‘S turns’ and ‘turns around a point,’ two maneuvers that are designed to help teach how to correct for wind drift while referencing points on the ground. After that, I take the flight controls and review slow flight, power on and power off stalls, and then at one point, Mark pulls the throttle all the way back to idle and says, “you’ve just lost an engine, what do you do.” I run through the procedures that he showed me last week. I pretty much have it down, but even in just a practice situation, I find myself trying to rush things, probably because it’s my first time.

When we fly back for touch and go’s, I really try to concentrate on the landing procedure. I previous lessons, I’ve been pulling up too much on the flare, which causes the plane to balloon up above the runway. This time I try to correct that and end up not pulling up enough. Mark pulls back hard on the yoke right at the end, but we still come down a little harder than we would have wanted to. Good thing that 205 has big tires. He assures me that this is normal and that I’m coming along just fine. I hope I do better next time.

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