Trim Tab Altitude is everything!

Since I couldn't fly yesterday because of weather, Unal and I did an hour of circuits today. Mom stayed in the club where she could watch, and said she enjoyed it. I did 95% of the flight including radio, and did pretty well. I think we did five touch-and-gos, then one overshoot from full flaps, and then a full stop.

An interesting element to the flight was a flock of birds that stayed between 600 and 800 feet in the air, just past the end of the runway. We had to be careful not to hit one, or the plane would have been a mess.

So I flew a 1.8 hour flight with Unal today - completely the longest flight so far!

The weather was amazing, which was a good thing except for the fact that it made the sun really bright. The temperature was almost hot in the plane, even without a coat on.

We flew out to the practice area, where we practiced forced landings. Basically, we bring the engine down to a low power setting, and lower the flaps until the rate of descent simulates the rate of a descent with no engine at all. Then I have to do a ton of stuff really quickly, including

Unal and I flew five or six circuits for one hour today. I had to do some of the radio calls, and had control of the plane the whole time. There was a 10 knot crosswind that made judging the circuit not perfectly easy with no real experience at this location/in this plane.

A spiral dive is essentially a automatically tightening downward turn. The wings are still producing lift, but since the aircraft is banked at least 60 degrees, the lift serves only to tighten the turn. The G-forces increase rapidly, as does the airspeed, meaning that recovery must be completed by the time the airspeed reaches VNE.

Unal demonstrated the first one, going to the left (my side). I didn't feel great afterwards, but knowing what to expect helped me when I had to do one.

Just a quick one this time... Unal and I flew the ground briefing from yesterday - spins and stalls. We did three spins, then a couple power-on stalls. They are so cool, but not quite as cool as in a glider. The G forces during recovery are still rather strong, though.

I asked Unal to take a quick picture of me in the cockpit after we landed:

This flight is taught since the flight characteristics I learn in it are the symptoms of dangerous things such as stalls and spins.

Slow flight is, for the Cessna 150, the airspeed range between flight for endurance speed and the stall speed, and is the entry to a stalled condition.

Yesterday I realized I hadn't flown in a week, and that today would be a good day for flying, so I went online and booked Allison since Unal was not available.

We did a ground briefing so I could learn the math and stuff behind range and endurance, as well as how to use the POH (Pilot's Operating Handbook) to help plan a flight. After that, we went up to actually fly those numbers...

I booked Unal for a flight today. He seems really good, so I think I'll stick with him.

He showed me how to do a walkaround for a 150, and then we went for a flight to the practice area (roughly between Constance Lake and Constance Bay) and practised everything we had gone over on the ground. Straight and level flight, climbing/descending, and climbing/descending turns were the main parts of the lesson. The flight lasted 1.3 hours. The only thing I regret was not having gloves; it was COLD during the walkaround! Fortunately this plane had heat.

My first ground briefing was with Wayne today. We discussed my experience, and then began attitudes and movements, straight and level flight, and medium turns.

I am excited to actually start working on my license, and I'm looking forward to my first flight!

Part of this site will be used to document my progress in getting my Private Pilot License. I have previously obtained my Glider Pilot License through the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, but I would like to fly commercially, so I need to get my PPL.