Flying another 172

My friend Maciek and I went up today in 7320F, a 160HP C-172 rented by Rick Aviation. The plan had been to take up their 180HP C-172, but it was down for maintenance when we arrived.

Maciek hopes to start flight training soon, so while I preflighted he went looking for the chief CFI to chat about getting started.

The flight went fairly well. I did a couple of stalls so that Maciek could see what those were like and a few steep turns as well. Toward the end of the flight I did a simulated engine out, which didn't go as well as I would have liked but would have turned out ok. I had us too high on the approach to the field I picked out. This was mainly because I was concerned that the 13kt winds would keep us from making the field, but I was too aggressive in getting lined up and had us too high.

Had some major annoyances with the push-to-talk switch on the pilot's side. It had my radio transmissions sounding like a bunch of clicks. I didn't handle it as well as I should have either. I should have started using the handheld mic instead to bypass the issue. I also kind of goofed up with not understanding what the lineman was telling me when it came time to park. I eventually realized he was telling me to park on the north ramp, but it took me a while to understand (every other time they have parked me up front).

So except for those useful "learning experiences" at the end of the flight, it went pretty well. :)

Here's the Google Earth file from today's flight, in all its glory. You can see the steep turns and the 360 I had to do for spacing when coming back to land.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Updating data on the Garmin Perspective system

Image
After changing from the Avidyne system to the Cirrus Perspective (G1000) system, I had to relearn an important part of owning an airplane: how to update all the data the systems use. There's even more data in the Perspective, including AOPA directory data and more charts. In this walkthrough, I make use of the Jeppesen app for Apple OS X: JDM .  It has worked well for me, though I did need to call Jeppesen when I first set this up to get my subscriptions fixed up.  They gave great customer support when I did. The process starts (optionally) by hooking up a ground power unit (GPU).  In the case of the Cirrus, you can certainly do this without it, but I tend to hook it up just to be sure.  The systems draw about 8-10amps while updating, but you won't generally have the power on for long.  One tip I've read: power up the GPU before plugging it into the plane, at least for the one I bought.  That saves the plane from seeing any power spikes that might have occurred when t
Read more

G1000 transistion training - emergencies - final flight

Image
For the final flight in my G1000 transition course we focused on failure scenarios. Not the "engine goes POOF" kind but the avionics kind. Normal situation This picture shows what the 2 Garmin screens show in a normal (non failure) situation. You can see we have 2 screens - the left PFD focusing on flight performance (airspeed, heading, attitude, altitude) and the right screen (MFD) focusing on engine data, mapping, checklists, and everything else. Failed PFD screen In this scenario the screen that is right in front of you (the PFD) has failed. This basically means the screen has gone dark. We simulate that by dimming the screen down to 0% brightness. After darkening the PFD we shot a GPS approach into Rock Hill. When this failure has occured you shift the G1000 into Reversionary mode. That means the info that is normally split across 2 screens is now merged into 1. It actually duplicates the same data on both screens, but since the PFD screen is no longer functioning
Read more

A-10C Standby Compass - Sun Shade

Image
 One of the final items to add to this instrument build (besides the text covers for the lower LEDs) was the sun shade for the AR LED box.  I made this out of thin aluminum sheets , cutting it from a template using some metal sheers .    My template was created by tracing some of the actual artwork from the DCS sim, and then scaling it to the proper size. It turned out ok, not perfect but pretty good.  Primed and painted it and then installed it using 2 of the 4 holes that were already on the LED box 3D print.  I used some heat inserts in those holes to give the screws something to bite, but the holes are really too big for my inserts so had to use some glue to help out.  
Read more