Today the winds were from 280 @ 6kts and the controller cleared us for right closed traffic on runway 25R. We were #2 behind another inbound aircraft and I started off being too flat on the landings. On one of the early landings, I ballooned up due to too much flare too soon and Steve pushed the power in to do a go-around. We were then #2 behind a Beechcraft Baron and the tower changed us from 25R to 25L and left closed traffic. After a landing, the tower gave us the option to switch back to 25R which we gladly took.
After a few landings and one real greaser, Steve took the plane just to give me a breather. He did a short approach to hand the plane back to me quickly for more touch and go’s. I did another greaser landing and the controller switched me to 25L promising to switch me back to 25R after one pattern. But soon the controller came back on the radio and asked us to follow a LearJet to 25R. We called it quits after that final landing.
We started a right closed traffic pattern at Livermore around 5:45pm and there was quite a bit of air traffic in the area. The landings were all below average but it was good to get some experience dealing with the traffic. I’m still trying to figure out the flare just before touchdown. By the time I came around for the fifth landing, the traffic was pretty much gone. My radio work was quite shabby. In fact, I could chalk this video up as Radio Bloopers.
One time we were cleared to land but on final the tower asked us to go around – presumably the traffic behind turned out to be faster than the controller initially thought. On the next approach, I flared a little too much and I ballooned up a little too much just above the runway. So I immediately did a go-around without prompting from my instructor.
Just before we ended for the night, Steve asked the tower controller to show me light gun signals. We saw a Green flash and then a Red flash. Technically, this means “Exercise Extreme Caution“. A steady Green would have cleared us to land instead. We landed anyway because our radios were still working and we got clearance from the controller who showed us the light gun signals.
Tonight I flew my first night cross country. Days were long being we were close to summer solstice so we agreed to meet Steve in the hangar at 9pm. After pre-flight we were anticipating a takeoff around 9:30pm (which would have made it a true night flight) and arriving back in Livermore close to midnight. The route was Livermore (KLVK) to Hollister (KCVH) to Gustine (3O1) and back to Livermore. I’d filled out my cross country checklist, listened to 1-800-WX-BRIEF and captured notes for preparation.
The departure route was to follow I-580 and then I-680S but instead we took off from 25R, turned left crosswind and decided to cut across over Mission peak to I-680. Winds were from 260 @ 9kts which was a direct crosswind on our course. Consequently we didn’t climb very well and the airspeed was only 65kts which bothered us. So we banked to the right into the wind to gain altitude. Thanks to ForeFlight on our iPad in the cockpit, we were able to identify a FedEx and a VirginAmerica jet that crossed our paths. In fact, we even felt a slight bump (turbulence) from the FedEx’s wake turbulence as we crossed its path about 2000′ lower.
Once we crossed over Mission Peak, we stayed just west and parallel to the foothills since further west would put us in the approach path for flights into San Jose (SJC). South County airport was in sight and would have been a likely location to land if we ran into any emergencies. US 101 was also beneath us and as we neared Hollister, Hwy 152 was another emergency landing option. Although, it was backed up with traffic and police cars flashing lights. We landed straight into Hollister and then flew a right pattern out and to the east towards Gustine.
Hollister to Gustine tracked us over dark no man’s land. Steve wanted me to closely follow Hwy 152 since we were flying over hilly terrain and a large reservoir. Gustine was a little bit hard to find, but not as hard as finding Kingdon when Srinath flew his night cross country last month. I had remembered the airport was just past I-5 on the eastside and keying the mike turned on the runway lights making it possible to spot. However I had gained quite a bit of altitude so we decided to fly around the airport to lose altitude, and also to note the state of the windsock. We couldn’t see it clearly but it appeared there were no winds. So I decided to land on Rwy 36.
The approach was not great. I was too high and not well lined up so I decided to go around. This time Steve was able to confirm that the windsock was limp. No winds to speak of. On the downwind leg it seemed that I was not parallel to the runway and that might be why I had trouble with the last approach. This time I managed to land but it was a bad one – we bounced.
The last leg back to Livermore was mostly uneventful. We followed I-5 up to Tracy and then cut across over Altamont pass. The night was so cool and the flight so smooth (except for a little bit of wind turbulence as we approached Tracy) that Srinath fell sound asleep in the back seat.
We started off with Steve handing me stylish eyewear i.e. flying under the hood. After maintaining a heading and then tracking a VOR, I practiced two stalls in the clean configuration and recovery. Using only instruments under the hood. Then I practiced an approach to landing stall. First by initiating a descent, slowing down to 1500rpm and deploying flaps. The idea is to simulate a landing approach. Then pulling up the plane in this configuration and initiating a stall the plane. Recovery is similar to a stall in the call configuration with the exception that we have flaps deployed. So slowly retract flaps step by step when a climb has been achieved.
Next, I practiced slow flight with shallow turns. And then Steve pulled the power out simulating an engine out situation. We scouted a field and when we got pretty low, Steve pushed the throttle and we headed over Byron.
The winds were really strong at 20kts but fortunately it was a headwind on Rwy 23. Still the ride was really bumpy, perhaps the bumpiest of all our flights thus far. We practiced a couple of touch-and-go and then headed to Livermore for a couple more.
On the second touch and go at Livermore, we ballooned after touchdown due to the wind so Steve immediately did a go-around. I wasn’t quick enough to react and this was a good learning experience. After one more landing, we called it quits for the day.
Crab Tales 