CFI-A Lesson 15 (Part II)

Yesterday, I cancelled the flight part of lesson 15 due to low ceilings and high winds. Today, one might say that the weather is worse. I checked the METAR and TAF (current and forecast weather reports) from home and started wondering if I should have flown yesterday. Regardless of what I think, I still have to go to the airport today, just in case the weather isn't as bad as it looks like it will become.

My flight was scheduled for 8:00, and here's the reports prior to that time:

6:53AM Winds from 320 at 03KT 10SM visiblity CLR

7:53AM Winds from 290 at 03KT 10SM visibility ceiling 3300

The forecast mentioned showers around 9:00AM and lower ceilings (I can't find the old TAF right now). At dispatch, I heard the dispatcher tell someone they'd better be back in two hours because weather was moving in. I thought, "Hmm, two hours. I'll be coming back around then".

During preflight, I found that the rotating beacon was not working. My instructor called maintenance and they came with a ladder and some tools. They verified that indeed, it didn't work (makes me wonder how many times they come out and there's no actual problem) and drove off to get a part. I continued the preflight checklists and just finished when the mechanics returned. They installed a new beacon unit and tested it. We were now back in business, and still pretty close to on schedule.

Since this was my first flight in the Arrow - in the role of flight instructor - I discussed the propeller lever, gear knob, and associated instruments and alert systems. We started the plane and were on our way.

After takeoff, we headed for the practice area. Once outside Vero's airspace, I demonstrated to my 'student' that the RPM does not change when we climb or descend, due to the propeller governor maintaining our setting. I then discussed the order of lever movements for increasing power and decreasing power and demonstrated by adjusting the controls and climbing and descending.

Then I moved on to the retractable gear system. I discussed the airspeed limits for raising and lowering the gear. I showed my 'student' the lights once again. I cycled the gear to demonstrate the sequence and timing of the lights. I then moved into a simulated gear extension failure. At first, we simulated having only two of the three down and locked lights illuminating. We switched the bulbs and verified that indeed all three wheels were down and locked. Before going any further, I told my 'student' that I was about to demonstrate a pump failure. To do this, I was going to pull the hydraulic pump breaker. I told him that pulling breakers is generally a bad idea because you may not remember to reset the breaker. I also pointed out that after the simulation, we would reset the breaker and verify it by cycling the gear again. I pulled the breaker and lowered the gear. As expected, nothing happened - no lights, no sounds, no thuds. I pulled out the emergency checklist and we walked through the steps one by one. We slowed the airplane to 89 knots, then pushed the emergency release knob. Within a second, we had three thuds and three green lights - very nice. I pointed out that now that the gear was down and locked, in a real failure situation, they'd be stuck there. As a result, the student must fly slower than the maximum gear extended airspeed. In the Arrow, with the gear down, this is not an issue, but it must be stated anyway.

With the new stuff done, I moved into Slow Flight, Power-Off Stalls, Power-On Stalls, and a Simulated Engine Failure. As I began to add power in the Power-On Stall, I realized that we were too close to the clouds above, so I broke off the maneuver and switched it to a Power-Off Stall. Everything else went well until I entered the Simulated Engine Failure. I was on speed with a good landing spot located, but then I got confused about the differences between the Cadet and the Arrow: Arrow has no primer and no carb heat. That lead me to start falling behind the plane a bit. At 1,200 feet, I lowered the gear in preparation for the field landing. As the gear slowly extended and the plane rapidly descended, I ran out of time to complete the forced landing checklist. At 500 feet we added power and started climbing. My instructor wasn't satisfied, obviously, so we briefly talked about what went wrong. And then he pulled the power on me! At 1,500 feet, there's not a lot of time to do much troubleshooting, but it must be done, otherwise you may be landing off airport in a plane that is perfectly flyable, but just needed one item changed and it would restart. I was in over my head and basically resigned the maneuver. He told me to climb, so I added power and glanced at the vertical speed indicator; still descending. I pitched up, but not enough. My instructor started talking about pitching up high enough to block all forward view and I was thinking, "Yeah, yeah, I know, get off my case already". Sometimes, when I make a mistake and recognize that I made the mistake and plan on fixing the mistake, the last thing I want is someone jumping me about it. Slowly, we climbed away from the ground. Now my instructor asked if the pitch attitude looked right for the given power setting and airspeed. I didn't know what he was getting at. He asked again. Then it hit me; the gear was still down. I was prepared to raise the gear earlier, but I was waiting for a positive climb rate. But then his lecture on sight picture pushed it out of my mind. Obviously, this was not a safety issue, but it clearly points out how easily it is to miss something important when even a small distraction is introduced.

It was now time to return, so I listened to the latest airport report and called the tower. The tower told me to remain clear of the airspace due to the 900 ceiling - yikes! We couldn't even see the airport. There was a highly localized rain shower sitting right on top of the airport. I could easily see 10 or more miles in every other direction. My instructor asked for a special VFR clearance and was told unable due to large amount of IFR traffic. So, we started flying casually up and down I-95 (I'm sure someone down there thought we were looking for speeders). I flew past some landmarks to help affix their look into my head. We wonder hither and yon. We heard other aircraft trying to get in and getting the same answer. After 20 minutes, the shower moved southwest and the tower gave us clearance to land.

Here are the reports during the time we were trying to return:

9:53AM Winds calm 10SM visibility ceiling 6000

10:08AM Winds from 06004KT 5SM light rain, mist ceiling 900

10:34AM Winds from 080 at 05KT 10SM visibility scattered 1500

That concludes lesson 15. I'm really coming down the home stretch now. Now's not the time to slack off. Now's the time to hit the books hard again and memorize all the details. Before long, I'll reach the stage check and I want to be completely prepared.