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
- Flying the plane
- Choosing a place to land
- Attempting to restart the engine
- Briefing the passenger
- Sending a Mayday
- Shutting down the engine
- Landing the plane safely
And all this in the time it takes to fall from (while practicing, 3500’ AGL) altitude to 1000’ AGL!
After two simulated forced approaches, we flew back to Ottawa over the Champlain Bridge. On final, the controller asked us if we would like to do some runway changes, and Unal accepted. We got to do touch-and-gos on every active runway at the Ottawa International, including runway 32, 10,000 foot long! For that one, we came down near the threshold, then put on a little bit of power and “floated” above the runway for close to 8,000 feet before doing a touch-and-go.
Another cool thing that happened on this flight was a jet that flew only about 1000’ above us while we were in the circuit. Its speed made ours look like nothing.