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February 2, 2002- Stalls are Fun
This week we got a little more serious. This is my first weekend with
two lessons - so hopefully we'll cover some ground. This is also my first
flight in a different plane - a PA28-161 - a Piper Warrior II. In this
case I'm in a 1979 Warrior II - N8052T. This is a
low wing. My first thoughts where A - it feels so much more solid than a
Cessna and B - I like the visibility. See my thoughts on
Choosing
an Aircraft on the training page for more details.
We went out and did stalls and steep turns. That was a blast.
Many students seem to get afraid of stalls. For me (roller coaster junkie
that I am) these were a blast. First - the "power off" stall
isn't anything lie your image of a stall. The plane (most trainers at
least - "real" planes can be much less forgiving) barely has a real
"break" and just tends to mush down through the air.
The power-on stalls are much more the classic stall with a good solid break
(if you do them right) and a good altitude drop (still only a few hundred feet
in most trainers).
We then moved on to steep turns. These are even more
"radical" - a steep turn at 60 degrees bank gives you 2G which really
makes you feel it. As I write this looking back over the last 3 months of
training - for me steep turns are still the "hardest" maneuver we do
in basic flight training. Doing a good steep turn where you keep your
airspeed and altitude is hard and takes practice. With spins training
being gone from the standard training the steep turn is probably the most
radical maneuver you'll do in your training unless you go get some basic spin or
acrobatic training on your own.
That and some slow flight and we were off back to Livermore. We did one
touch and go - mainly to just start to get a feel for going around the pattern,
and we were done. I definitely like the Warrior too.
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