Today I set out to practice solo stalls for the first time. I had 737GM reserved and it was mostly a smooth ride as I flew over Byron airport at 2500′ heading to the practice area. At 3000′ I started practicing slow flight and making shallow turns at slow flight. But first, by making clearing turns.
After slow flight, in the landing configuration I tried a stall first and then dropped the nose before the stall was achieved. Tried it again and this time the stall was achieved with quick recovery. Very quickly I decided that was enough and proceed for a couple of touch and go’s at Tracy airport before heading back to Livermore. By the time I returned, winds had shifted and I landed on 7L as tower switched the traffic around to make up for a northeasterly wind.
Starting up 737GM was a bit of a bear but chose to fly it this morning because 906MD’s carburetor was being re-worked due to starting problems. Tower cleared me for takeoff on 7L. Winds 130@5kts but quite variable.
Flight to Byron was quite straightforward and it was a good smooth landing. On the flight from Byron to Tracy, I had still been tuned to the Byron radio and I was wondering why Tracy traffic wasn’t announcing on the radio. I was still hearing Byron traffic. While in the pattern at Tracy, I saw an aircraft taking off and one waiting to take off and I had not heard either of them speak on the radio. It was only when I was nearing base turn in the Tracy pattern that I realized my mistake. Landing at Tracy was also good. I next proceeded to New Jerusalem where it was a bouncy touch and go. The flight back to Livermore was uneventful.
The weather continues to be unusual. It is the middle of April and it rained overnight into early morning. Winds are expected to start howling in the afternoon. I woke up at 6am to notice calm conditions so I was eager to fly this morning. 906MD’s starter had finally gotten so bad that it was nearly impossible to start it up. Also, COM2 hasn’t been working for a while so the plane has been grounded for maintenance. Fortunately 737GM was available but since it has been almost two weeks since I last flew, I texted Steve to see if he will join me for a couple of patterns around the airport before I fly solo to Byron, Tracy and back. He was available and we decided to meet at 8:30am. On the way to the airport, I checked AWOS to note that there was a 7kts wind from 240 at Livermore, 9kts from 220 at Byron and 11 its at Tracy from 260.
737GM wasn’t easy to start either. It took a number of primes and then a number of throttle primes. We pushed the throttle fully in and kept pumping it while the engine continued to sputter. It gradually picked up RPM and was finally able to idle around 700rpm.
We did 4 patterns around Livermore before Steve declared that he had had enough and decided to get dropped off at the northwest tiedowns while I kept the engine running and continued on a solo. Two things I noticed are (1) that the throttle lever is significantly shorter compared to the one on 906MD and (2) that the throttle lever slips out very easily when the friction lock is not engaged. A couple of times I took my hand off the throttle to adjust trim and the engine rpm dropped as indicated by a change in the hum. Steve and I both lunged for the throttle at the same time to push it back in.
I got a clearance for right downwind on 25R and as I flew towards Brushy Peak, it got significantly bumpier. Clearly the winds were stronger the higher I flew. I chickened out and asked Tower to bring me back in for 25R. I appreciated that the Tower thought there might be a problem and asked if I need any assistance. It continued to be windy and bumpy but not terribly problematic so I did 4 touch and go’s back at Livermore before calling it quits.
It has been a while so Srinath flew dual today with Steve. School kept getting in his way. The day started off with calm winds and clear sky. It was a day of doing patterns around the airport and Srinath’s rustiness showed.
The variety today involved following a Champ which was significantly slower than us, and a jet that was faster and ahead of us. On one pattern, the Champ was so slow that Steve requested a right 360 (while downwind for 25L) to increase separation. The wind then shifted significantly and that indicated runway switch was impending. Sure enough, tower asked if we can take a 9kts tailwind or if we wanted to wait to land until the runways were switched. Steve decided to take the tailwind to show Srinath how that feels for ground roll. Then after turning crosswind on the next pattern, the tower changed direction and gave him instructions to turn right for 7R.
On that last approach a jet was turning base for 7L while Srinath turned right base for 7R and they both touched town almost in parallel.
Today was my first solo flight taking off and flying outside of Livermore. I went to Byron, then Tracy and back.
As I requested frequency change approaching brushy peak, tower alerted me to traffic in the opposite direction which I never was able to locate. After touching down at Byron, I taxied off to reset for the leg to Tracy. On the way back to Livermore as I approached Altamont, tower first alerted me to a traffic 1mi south for straight in to 25R and asked me to report for a 2mi right base implying I had to turn right towards brushy peak. Then tower changed the instructions to make a right 360 and then straight in for 25R.
Srinath and I flew dual with Steve today on 737GM. It is a Cessna 172 modified with STOL capability and 40 degrees of flaps. The goal for today is to get us a feel for the aircraft especially with full flaps so we can fly that whenever 906MD was unavailable.
As we took off on a left downwind departure, the guy who was just ahead of us encountered a bird strike and declared an emergency (“Mayday”) and wanted to return for a precautionary landing. Srinath overflew Tracy at which point he practiced slow flight with full flaps and a couple of stalls in the landing configuration. He then proceeded to New Jerusalem to practice landings with full 40 degrees of flaps. The last two landings were short approaches. It was incredible how slowly and with a tight turn we could approach for short landing.
We taxied back to Rwy 30 at New J, watched a plane do a couple of touch and go before Srinath and I switched on the left seat. I had a chance to the same air work that Srinath did previously, then we headed back to Livermore.
As we radioed the tower over altamont, we were asked to follow a Mooney and then tower asked us to join downwind midfield for a landing.We later figured out this was because there was somebody behind us on an ILS approach. This was very unusual and it took me a while to regain my situational awareness. Essentially we turned north after crossing the altamont, west and then south towards midfield. Then turned east for right downwind pattern landing.
Srinath flew his first full solo at Livermore today running patterns to practice takeoffs and landings. We used two GoPro cameras today for the very first time, one mounted in the usual spot at the back of the aircraft looking forwards and the other one on the copilot’s window facing the PIC. They both had audio inputs from the radio.
It was a busy day and Srinath was asked to follow other aircraft, extend the crosswind and once even asked to come to a full stop to sequence other departing aircrafts. The solo was uneventful except for a brief period (9:07) on the downwind leg.
I had driven to the hangar to see Srinath fly the pattern. The club’s other plane 733BE had just gone through a 50-hour maintenance and our test pilot conferred with Steve on the maintenance items before he took it out for two touch and go patterns. He was in the pattern behind Srinath. On the ground, Steve and I were watching Srinath.
Tower communicated with Srinath that he was #2 behind a Pitt. No response. Tower tried twice more and still no response from Srinath. I was tuned into LiveATC listening to the ATC and mentioned to Steve that I was worried Srinath didn’t respond to the calls. Within a minute, I heard Srinath check his mic and soon he told tower that he might have a radio problem.
He called it quits after that pattern to my relief. Was there a problem with the headset? We squawk’ed that there might be a problem with the radio. Our club’s maintenance team looked into it and didn’t find any problems. The audio feed into GoPro caught the radio communications just fine. We have not encountered any issues with the headset since. Did Srinath simply get distracted for a while and missed the calls?
Srinath flew solo around the Livermore traffic pattern. Just as he turned downwind on one of the patterns, tower cleared him as #2 for 25L and Srinath confirmed he was scanning for traffic (3BE) that was on a 3 mile final. But it was clear he never saw the traffic. He was on base when he asked if he was #1 for 25L and tower reminded him he was #2 behind the traffic which was now on a short final. It turned out that Srinath turned too soon so there wasn’t enough separation with the traffic ahead that had just landed and hadn’t yet turned off the runway. Tower asked Srinath to go around, after which he did a couple more patterns before calling it a day.
The winds today favored traffic on 7R/7L and I taxied to the run up area at 7L. As soon as I requested tower for clearance, another aircraft requested clearance to land, reporting 4 miles out. After it landed, tower asked me to repeat my request. Listen to the tower clearing me for takeoff at (38:06). I was instructed “Niner zero six Mike Delta Livermore Tower make right traffic runway seven right runway seven left cleared for takeoff”. I’ve never done this traffic pattern and it took me a while to understand what it meant. There was noticeable impatience in the controller’s voice as I stumbled through the instructions.
After a few touch and go’s on 7R, I called it a day and turned right on taxiway Quebec. Then a long series of interactions ensued with the ground controller starting at (3:55:18). The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the controller’s radio cut out and I missed critical instructions. Perhaps I should have asked for progressive instructions. Oh well. See the track log here.
When I flew yesterday, the winds changed on me suddenly and the stiff crosswind was not indicated in the ATIS. I wizened up today and was very careful to notice the windsocks (0:41) at midfield and one end of 25R. Winds were reported from 290 at 4kts and that matched the windsock indication.
The airport was really busy today. You can see the number of aircrafts waiting in the run up area and holding short at (3:34) in the video. I did two patterns today and on both I was asked to extend my downwind leg and tower called my base turn. On the second pattern, tower asked me to come to a full stop because it was so busy. I pulled up near the old fuel station and watched for any signs that the traffic was going to subside. After a while, I decided to call it quits for the day.
At the start of my pattern work, another aircraft asked for flight following (0:00). The track log for today’s flight can be found here.
Crab Tales 