First Flight, part 2
Feb. 24th, 2005 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kallistiiPart 2
So there I was, climbing rapidly...and the instructor points me towards Lake
Norman and says that it will be something nice to look at. So I wrestle the
plane in that direction...and I do mean wrestle! You see, the instructor had
changed the trim of the plane so that it was fairly "nose up", a great thing
for taking off, as it means the plane virtually leaps into the air by
itself, but if you don't trim it towards neutral afterwards when trying to
level off, it's a challenge.
After fighting with it, the instructor asks me to level off, and after
having a bit of problem with it, he talks about the trim control. And shows
me where it is...so I reach for it...and I can't quite touch it. I tell him
so, so he offers to take over the plane, while I push my seat up so that I
can reach the trim wheel. O.K., so far, so good. I trim the plane to a more
neutral attitude. So he tells me to do a right turn. And I do...I try
fiddling with the rudder so that I don't slide down wards in the turn. Then
he tells me to level off.
No problem. Well, sort of. One of the things that makes flying so different
from driving a land based vehicle is that to make sure you stop your
rotation, you have to turn slightly back to stop the turn. So, to level off,
I had to turn the yoke left to level off the wings, then right at the end,
turn a little to the right again to stop the leftward roll. Takes a bit of
getting used to.
Next is a sharp left turn...so left goes the yoke, and you pull back to
shorten the radius of the turn.
FUN! G-Forces!!!!!
Just an aside here...I used to work for someone that as a sideline, owned a
"Spaceball" one person ride he would run at fairs and exhibitions. It can
rotate on 3 axis giving you G-Forces and rotational motion at the same
time. Most people don't last more than a minute in it. So that summer, he
had it at the Ottawa Exhibition, and I visited him one morning since I love
rides like his. Now he had been doing this for years, and figured that he
would easily win a bet by challenging me to survive 3 minutes of him
twirling me around in the Spaceball. At stake, dinner. What he didn't know
was that I don't get motion sickness...I survived his most vigorous attempts
at making me sick...in fact, at the 5 minute mark, he stopped, saying that
he was getting tired!
I was told to level off, and we were flying over Lake Norman. Very Pretty.
He pointed out another plane that was zooming by, fast! It was like a scene
out of one of the World War II epics where you are in the cockpit with the
fighter ace, and you see one of your foes go zooming by...but unlike the
movie, we didn't try to follow.
We descended to get a better look at the lake, and see that some people had
taken the opportunity to go out sailing because it was such a warm day for
February. After a while of this, he said let's head back to the airport, and
we will do a "touch and go". He then had me to another left hand turn, and
aim at the runway...as I have very little experience reading the ground
from the air, I couldn't find the runway...but I could see the flashing
beacon light beside it, and that is what I aimed at.
So, we go zooming past the runway, flying over the beacon, and he tells me
to turn left, and line up with the runway. Time for my first "approach".
Part 3 The First Touchdown...soon!
ttyl
So there I was, climbing rapidly...and the instructor points me towards Lake
Norman and says that it will be something nice to look at. So I wrestle the
plane in that direction...and I do mean wrestle! You see, the instructor had
changed the trim of the plane so that it was fairly "nose up", a great thing
for taking off, as it means the plane virtually leaps into the air by
itself, but if you don't trim it towards neutral afterwards when trying to
level off, it's a challenge.
After fighting with it, the instructor asks me to level off, and after
having a bit of problem with it, he talks about the trim control. And shows
me where it is...so I reach for it...and I can't quite touch it. I tell him
so, so he offers to take over the plane, while I push my seat up so that I
can reach the trim wheel. O.K., so far, so good. I trim the plane to a more
neutral attitude. So he tells me to do a right turn. And I do...I try
fiddling with the rudder so that I don't slide down wards in the turn. Then
he tells me to level off.
No problem. Well, sort of. One of the things that makes flying so different
from driving a land based vehicle is that to make sure you stop your
rotation, you have to turn slightly back to stop the turn. So, to level off,
I had to turn the yoke left to level off the wings, then right at the end,
turn a little to the right again to stop the leftward roll. Takes a bit of
getting used to.
Next is a sharp left turn...so left goes the yoke, and you pull back to
shorten the radius of the turn.
FUN! G-Forces!!!!!
Just an aside here...I used to work for someone that as a sideline, owned a
"Spaceball" one person ride he would run at fairs and exhibitions. It can
rotate on 3 axis giving you G-Forces and rotational motion at the same
time. Most people don't last more than a minute in it. So that summer, he
had it at the Ottawa Exhibition, and I visited him one morning since I love
rides like his. Now he had been doing this for years, and figured that he
would easily win a bet by challenging me to survive 3 minutes of him
twirling me around in the Spaceball. At stake, dinner. What he didn't know
was that I don't get motion sickness...I survived his most vigorous attempts
at making me sick...in fact, at the 5 minute mark, he stopped, saying that
he was getting tired!
I was told to level off, and we were flying over Lake Norman. Very Pretty.
He pointed out another plane that was zooming by, fast! It was like a scene
out of one of the World War II epics where you are in the cockpit with the
fighter ace, and you see one of your foes go zooming by...but unlike the
movie, we didn't try to follow.
We descended to get a better look at the lake, and see that some people had
taken the opportunity to go out sailing because it was such a warm day for
February. After a while of this, he said let's head back to the airport, and
we will do a "touch and go". He then had me to another left hand turn, and
aim at the runway...as I have very little experience reading the ground
from the air, I couldn't find the runway...but I could see the flashing
beacon light beside it, and that is what I aimed at.
So, we go zooming past the runway, flying over the beacon, and he tells me
to turn left, and line up with the runway. Time for my first "approach".
Part 3 The First Touchdown...soon!
ttyl
