Pucker Factor

Believe it or not.. and you should believe it. I still get a bit of "pucker factor" before I get into the plane to fly alone. I don't have it anymore when flying with my CFI.. I have it a *little* when flying with my husband. I have it more when it's just me.

The pucker factor comes from recognizing the fact that I'm about to get into a single engine airplane to fly. First of all, humans aren't designed for flight. As the pundits pointed out long ago, if we were meant to fly, we would have been given wings. At the same time, we are designed with the desire to fly (some of us anyway). We WANT to be up there. We want it so bad that for centuries we calculated and schemed and designed different ways to fly and didn't stop, failure after failure. Eventually we did it. We fly! So often now that many of us take flight for granted. We fly around the world. We fly across the country. We fly in countless circles around an aiport, taking off and landing over and over. We f'ing fly!

This morning I preflit my airplane, carefully checking everything I check every time I go to fly. I got that little bit of pucker feeling. I was going out to practice slow flight and power off stalls. These two maneuvers are part of the Practical Test Standards that all student pilots have to meet in order to pass their check ride and earn their private pilots license. And, since every single pilot's first license is a Private Pilot License, EVERY pilot has to know these maneuvers and be able to perform them "to spec" for a DPE. Everyone from "Sully" Sullenberger, the captain of the Miracle on the Hudson to Chuck Yeager to Neil Armstrong to little 'ol me. I'm in good company :)

Why pucker? well... for one thing, every time I fly alone, especially out of the pattern, I remind myself I have a single engine. Therefore, a single point of failure. So, what happens when that single point of failure fails? Simple, do as I was trained. I have been trained in emergency procedures. Every approach and landing I do is a power-off (aka "dead stick") approach and landing, just like it would be if I lost engine power. This morning when the pucker happened I reminded myself that I have been trained to handle the emergency if/when it occurs. I also reminded myself the practice area I use is in easy glide distance of South County airport! This makes the landing in the case of a true emergency much easier.

For this particular flight both maneuvers I was planning on doing involve deliberately putting the throttle at idle (as close to turning off the engine as you can get without turning it off completely). Normally you don't do this in flight until you are coming in for landing (and within easy glide distance of an airport that you are landing at). Not a big deal really, I've done it hundreds of times. However, that just gave me a bit of a pucker this morning. Flying is about acknowledging and managing risk. Flying is about risk. But flying is also about reward. The reward is worth the risk.

The slow flight procedure for my airplane involves turn on carb heat and putting the throttle to idle, slowing the airplane down, then when at 85 knots, adding flaps 10 degrees at a time until full flaps are deployed, then adding *just enough* throttle to keep the plane at altitude (not descending or rising) and right at the edge of a stall (today that was 50 knots airspeed). Then you fly around at this slow speed, stall warning horn buzzing happily, going left and right using right rudder pressure alone. Finally, you come out of slow flight by putting in full power, slowly retracting flaps until in a "clean" configuration, and finally reduce to cruise power. All while maintaining the designated altitude plus or minus 100ft and heading plus or minus 10 degrees. Strangely enough, this is a lot easier than you would think it is. Its MUCH easier to do than it was the last time I practiced this back in October last year :)

Power off stalls - start off with slow flight. Instead of putting in the power to maintain altitude, keep the power off, pull back on the elevator and make that stall warning horn sing! Keep going, more and more, the warning horn pitch goes up, then the plane shakes a bit and you see the nose fall. (This is a very unsettling sensation the first couple times you do it.) The plane is no longer flying. This is a stall. It has nothing to do with the engine and everything to do with the angle of attack (the angle between the wing's chord line and the relative wind). Exceed the angle of attack and the plane stops flying period. It doesn't matter if you are going fast or slow.

You have to recover from the stall, the right way. Strangely enough the recovery is NOT to pull the nose up. Pull the nose up more does you NO good whatsoever, all that does is increase the angle of attack. No, you push the nose down a little, thereby reducing the angle of attack. Cram (full throttle, carb heat off) increasing airspeed. All of the sudden the plane is happily flying again. Climb - once you have a positive rate of climb and Clean - retract the flaps slowly and smoothly return to your original altitude and heading. (Cram, Climb, Clean is also the procedure you use for a go-around - I've done a lot of those!)

Apparently the point of teaching pilots stall recovery is to give us enough experience in what the warning signs approaching stall look and feel like that we don't stall. Stalls are bad, spins are worse. Spins are stalls gone bad. They are also recoverable, but I'm happy I don't have to do them for my check ride. I think the training works though, deliberately putting the plane into a stall felt so wrong. My instincts were screaming at me what I was doing was bad even before the warning horn started. That's a good thing too. That means the training is working. Chances are very good I won't inadvertently stall a plane, and, if I do, I'll be able to recover quickly.

Now you know in detail what I did today, over and over again. Practicing for my check ride and making sure I could do it "to spec". It was remarkably non-eventful. Non-events are good events for me, in business and in flying! Last May, if you would have told me I would be flying a plane, on my own, and deliberately put it into a stall.... several times.... on purpose. I would have told you to take yourself to the nearest mental health facility for evaluation. I remember telling my husband he was insane when he suggested I would like flying. I told him he was nuts. OK, he was right, but don't tell him that.

Positive Exchange of Flight Controls

According to FAA Advisory Circular AC No: 61-115, all pilots and specifically student pilots, instructors and pilot examiners should use specific procedures to establish a positive exchange of flight controls. Using these procedures both pilots always know exactly who is flying the plane at all times.

For instance, if the flight instructor is giving the flight controls to the student the flight instructor says, "You have the flight controls." The student then takes the flight controls and says, "I have the flight controls." The flight instructor visually checks to make sure the student has the flight controls and then says "You have the flight controls."

If the flight instructor needs to take the flight controls they start the process by saying: "I have the flight controls." Student: "You have the flight controls." Instructor: "I have the flight controls."

While visiting my brother, his lovely wife and their newborn baby in April, I observed how very carefully people would hand the baby between each other. It was never totally clear who had the baby at any given time. So people had to be very careful as they gave each other the baby. My husband and I discussed perhaps proper Positive Exchange of Baby procedures would be helpful in these situations.

For instance, if my sister-in-law were to give the baby to her sister to hold her for a while, she could start the process by saying, "You have the baby." Once the sister had the baby safely and totally supported by her hands, the sister could say, "I have the baby." My sister-in-law could complete the process by saying, "You have the baby."

If the baby became upset and wanted to go back to mommy my sister-in-law could say, calmly but firmly, "I have the baby." at which point the sister would gladly comply by saying "You have the baby." and once my sister-in-law definitely had the baby in hand she would complete the process: "I have the baby."

Think about it... I think this should be taught in all new parent classes ;)

Long Cross Country - Part VII - Postflight

Finally back safely on the ground at Reid-Hillview having just completed what was for me a fantastic landing. I get to enjoy my accomplishment.

Screw being professional... I let out a loud WHOOP! of joy, right there on the runway. No not over the radios, but it was loud in my headset. After this long trip and especially after my difficulties at Lodi and awkward landings, and potentially crazy winds, I was thrilled to be home and to make my final landing in a style that made me (and would make my CFI) proud.

The tower directed me to exit the runway at Delta and taxi via Yankee to Echo and then contact ground. I read back and did as instructed. When I got to Echo I did the after landing checklist and, still smiling, contacted ground to taxi back to Squadron2. Ground instructed me to taxi back via Zulu, so I read that back "Taxi via Zulu, Five Zero Niner Three Kilo, Thanks!" and another voice piped in "Do that zulu you do so well." No idea who said that, but it did make me smile. Someone else was happy too.

I taxied back to my parking spot. Shut down, did appropriate final checklist and climbed out of the plane. I saw a friend of mine pre-flighting another plane and I ran up to him and told him I just did my long cross country and I landed GREAT! I earned a hug and he said he'd back me up on the landing report :) Then I went back to the plane, and pushed it back into its spot. It was much lighter with 20 gallons less fuel. I was careful to secure the plane properly and double check the master to make sure that was off.

I packed up my stuff and caught my CFI as he was grabbing a drink from the coke machine before taking off for another flight. I told him he was wrong, I was back 50 minutes early. :) He asked me what I thought of the winds.. so I told him how I got a wind check and it turned out fine. He said he was worried I'd get back and wreck on landing here if the winds really were as reported. So was I! I got a quick congrats and a smile and he was off to train my friend.

So there you have it, my friends. 3.6 hours on the hobbs, over 261 nautical miles of travel, over 20 gallons of avgas, two bottles of water, one breakfast bar and many awesome experiences later I was at my home airport, relaxing in the flight club and basking in the glow. Another milestone my student pilot journey completed... It started off a bit rough. I made some big mistakes at the beginning. Ones I won't make again. But I shook them off and continued the flight and each leg was better than the last. I got to see and experience some beautiful things. I got to have to experience a real world, possible divert scenario, that I didn't have to divert for.. and I landed safe and sound. I'm happy and ready for the next step on the journey.

Its a good thing a "good pilot is always learning" because I'm enjoying the learning I don't want to stop!

PS. If you want to see something sorta cool. Check this out. I reprogrammed my running Garmin for flying (my running friends despair) :) and the above link is the track of my flight from Colusa to RHV, the "laps" are the time between checkpoints. You can even see the wide downwind at RHV (and the wind blowing me away from the runway on base). You can compare this against my planned route (to the right) and see how well the plan and the reality worked.