I only flew once this weekend. I was supposed to fly yesterday too but
somehow I bunged the scheduling and scheduled a plane but the wrong instructor. Luckily I caught that
Wednesday and fixed it before I got dinged for a late cancellation. It kind of worked out though - I have
a few too many lessons in the schedule because we are ready to do cross-country real soon but I didn't schedule
the longer time blocks needed for those.
So today we went out and started the some of the last things that are left in the
curriculum. We did short and soft field field take-offs and landings. They
are in fact two different things but they tend to get lumped together. Also
the take-off is really separate from the landing - especially in short field
operations. The goal of short field takeoffs is to get the plane climbing in
the minimum distance from the takeoff point and to make the maximum angle
relative once in the air. This is generally to clear an obstacle near the end
of the runway or to get off a short runway. For landing the goal is to manage
a steeper approach and to touch down more precisely and as slow as possible
to minimize landing roll-out.
Soft-field techniques are different. For takeoffs the goal is to get the
wheels off the ground as soon as possible or for landings to put the wheels
on the field as late as possible. This is possible because a plane very close
to the ground will stay airborne below stall speed due to ground effect. So
for instance - on takeoff you might rotate and get off the ground at only 40
knots but then accelerate in ground-effect to flying speed. The trick is if
you go too low you are back on the runway - and generally in a nose down
attitude which is bad. If you get too high too fast you leave the ground
effect before you have flying speed which means you get to come back to the
ground quite quickly - not so good.
But it is all fun stuff - it's a little more technique and you have to work at it. Also - in reality I think that
most of us will almost never really use short or soft field techniques because we aren't going to fly in and out of those sorts of
fields. Also "real" short and soft field technique varies greatly from the "book" technique we use for training and
test (as any bush pilot or book on bush flying will tell you). But I think it's primary purpose in training is that it forces us
to really explore the flight envelope at the margins and it is great at developing a feel for the plane and ground
effect and the flare.
One other bit that is interesting is where we flew - New Jerusalem - 1Q4. It's basically a bit patch of asphalt in the middle of a
big flat field. It's a decent sized runway - 4000 by 100 feet - but a little rough with lots of grass and some blown dirt and a gravel
taxiway. Also - there is no fence - and, as we discovered, the locals use the taxiway as a road back into the fields - it's a little disconcerting
to have a pickup swing off the road as you are on short final and then race you down the taxiway. Oh well.
So I have a couple of lessons of catchup on little things - I'm behind on hood time for my 3 instrument hours and we
haven't done any unusual attitude recovery with my main CFI (I did with my check ride instructor). After that, next week we
start our night flying and cross-country.
If all goes well I might be able to get my "stage 2" check ride before the end of month and be all set to do
my first cross-country solo the first week or so of June. That leaves me in good shape to finish training in June as I
am hoping.
