Commercial Training - Day 4

Summary
Scheduled Time: 11AM - 2PM
Actual Hours Ground: 0.3
Actual Hours Flight: 1.2
Total Hours Flight: 2.6

Today, I went to the flight school an hour early to get in some uninterrupted study time. On the surface, this sounded like a good idea, but there are plenty distractions there, too. For instance, the King Air that pulled up to the gas pump - everyone at the school went to the window to get a closer look. Then there was the guy who just bought himself a brand new Cirrus SR-22G and was trying to get proficient on instruments again.

When the time to fly arrived, my instructor was still busy with another customer, so I reviewed some of the flight maneuvers from the last flight - steep turns and chandelles. I found the description of the chandelle to be a bit different than what I wrote last time. The actual description is a climbing constant-bank turn with increasing pitch for the first 90 degrees, followed by a constant pitch climbing turn with decreasing bank to the 180 degree point, ending within 10 knots of stall speed.

Mike returned and we went to the plane. We did the usual pre-flight, then headed West towards a large hole in the overcast. We were able to climb to 3000 feet, where we began working on steep turns again. For some reason, I had a difficult time with the left turns, but I had no problem with right turns.

Then we did a pair of stalls. I think I have stalls nearly perfected... nearly.

Then it was on to the chandelle. As earlier, I had a difficult time doing left turning chandelles. Right turning chandelles were better, but I still have a lot of work to do to perfect them.

We had another simulated engine failure, but this time we started much higher than last time, which provided more time to troubleshoot and setup the approach to the intended landing field. Since we were higher, we had time to head for the tiny Langley airstrip. I headed directly for the field, which is a very narrow strip cut into the trees on Whidbey Island, then turned 180 degrees to the downwind with gear down. Turning toward the runway again, I found myself too high and we decided to go around. In a real emergency, I could have slipped the plane and safely landed midfield with enough runway left to avoid the trees.

Then it was back to Paine Field. Again we practiced landings. Landings today were much more stable and smooth, so Mike went ahead and asked for a soft field landing followed by a soft field takeoff. On the final landing, Mike pulled the power and I did a dead stick landing. The approach was a little too high for Commercial standards, but not at all bad for my first try.

If the weather is good enough, we will do lazy eights next time, otherwise more of the same.