Sorry.
However the ground track probably looks like a snake on drugs today because it is my first flight after 2 weeks (I was in Vietnam last week), and today was probably the most turbulent day I have ever flown. I dare say that there were moments where I genuinely thought I was going to lose control, and staying in control required skilful and forceful manhandling of the Cessna 172SP around the sky of the Shek Kong Runway 11 circuit.
As I arrived at the flight operations office and checked the computer for a weather briefing, it was showing winds at 080 10 gusting to 15 knots on the surface, which is exacerbated due to the surrounding terrain of the Shek Kong Airfield traffic zone. All pilots today knew about this risk and as the first slot of aircraft and pilots got underway, I went outside to see the windsock shifting and indicating gusts of indeed up to and including 15 knots. If it was a steady wind it might've been a little more manageable.
Today was also my first flight with my new pair of ANR (Active Noise Reduction) David Clark DC ONE-X headsets that I bought for $895USD off of Sporty's, that is really something to be looking forward for.
I started the aircraft up rather clumsily due to my lack of currency and proficiency caused by a short break from flying. After firing up the engine, I held the power button of the ANR unit to activate the ANR circuitry and the passive noise reduction on the headset itself was already rather impressive, however as soon as the ANR kicked in it acted like a volume knob to the engine. I can still hear everything very clearly but there's just much less of it, especially the lower frequencies which causes fatigue.
Back to the flight details! A more detailed review of this headset will hopefully be published next week.
After run-up, we lined the aircraft onto the runway for a short field takeoff which was rather interesting to say the least given the very gusty conditions. Notes of the stall horn can be heard due to our slow speed however I kept the aircraft accelerating in ground effect and eventually we climbed away into the MOD-SEV turbulence at Vy.
My first landing was an absolute mess, I turned final and initially all is well, flaps 30 and speed at 65 knots. However at short final I saw airspeed plummet to below 60 knots, something must not be right, I added power and kept the nose down, still nothing...
Added more, and more, and more...
It was a downdraft, and I realised at 1600 RPM I was basically just maintaining 60 knots and decided to focus on the aiming point and flare. I kept the power in throughout the flare which allowed me to maintain better control but I cut the power way too early and did not compensate with increased nose up pitch and ended up slamming myself down... Way to start the lesson.
Subsequent circuits comprised of a lot of flapless, and to be honest doing flapless approach and landings in these conditions are arguably very ideal, keeping the speed at 75 knots throughout the approach and reducing it to 65 gradually allowed better control feedback from the aircraft and I managed to pull off some rather smooth landings despite it being long due to lack of drag and power. As my confidence builds I used flaps 20 for landing, I trimmed and set the power for 70 knots on final which is 5 knots faster than what I usually use with flaps 30 and this time I took the power out just before the flare, smoothly. The transition was smooth and I managed to nail a textbook crosswind landing with the upwind wheel (left mains) kissing the tarmac first followed by the downwind wheel and the nose wheel.
Nailing a crosswind landing with a 15 knot direct crosswind is one of the few absolute pleasures in life, I just want to relive that moment a couple of times!
Downwind was actually the most troublesome part of the circuits today with the easterly winds stirring up a massive area of mechanical turbulence in the area, you know the yoke "jiggle" you do to keep the wings level on a gusty day during flare at slow speeds? Yes I had to do exactly that on downwind at 2100 RPM at 90 knots, that's how bad the turbulence was.
Eventually I got tired, the instructor said our slot is nearly ending so we called it a day by completing with a demonstration of an Engine Failure After Takeoff by "going around" and then cutting the throttle and landing on the remaining runway, a very interesting demonstration that did not disrupt traffic or waste any time.
Next week should be a full review of the DC ONE-X as I delve deeper into the heart of Bluetooth music listening while flying.
Until next time,
Have fun, and fly safe.
--
Howard
No comments:
Post a Comment