Planned to fly at 8am but ceiling was quite low – Marginal VFR. Pushed it out to 9am but weather was no better according to METAR. Steve said it was good enough to fly on the other side of the ridge. The METAR said ceiling was 1500′ but we saw other planes fly the pattern altitude around the Livermore airport and there was plenty of clearance. The METAR only looks at the sky above the tower where they typically take the readings. After takeoff, we stayed just about 2000′ flying to the right of brushy peak but not that much higher than its summit. On the other side in the valley, ceiling was greater.
Lots of workout today. We did slow flight, approach to landing stall, power off stall in the clean configuration, power on stall, turns around a point, 8’s around pylons and two touch-and-go at Tracy before heading back home.
After refueling, I didn’t go through the checklist and couldn’t figure out why the engine would just not start. Turned out I had not enriched the mixture. Steve shouted it out simply based on how the engine sounded from the outside. 🙂
Starting off with slow flight and shallow turns, then a stall in landing configuration. But first, clearing turns first on the right, then the left. We heard the ATC tell another pilot in the area that we were about a mile west of New Jerusalem and that we were doing some maneuvers and 360 turns.
Then an engine out simulation. We went through the checklist before finding a place to land.
Turns around a point, both right and left, a couple of miles from New Jerusalem. There were two adjacent fields with crop circles which made it somewhat manageable visually although right turns were harder than left due to lack of sight picture. [This part was edited out of the video]
We were going to practice touch and go at New Jerusalem but then we had a unique experience. As we approached the airport we spotted stuff on the runway. We planned a fly over to identify what it was. The runway had an X on it meaning it was closed and there were containers on the runway. Steve guessed it was probably Myth Busters doing something at the runway.
So we headed for Tracy instead. First taste of cross wind landing at tracy. Winds from 240 @ 9kts and we aimed to land on Rwy 30. Left wing down for takeoff and right rudder. The airport has a tetrahedron to indicate wind direction. After a few landings, we headed back to Livermore.
This morning the winds were from 050 at 9kts. So runway 7L and 7R were in operation. This meant a long taxi from our hangar and a good time to lean the mixture. Carburetors are calibrated to properly mix fuel with air at sea level. During normal engine operation, a proper air-fuel mixture is fully burned in the engine for optimal performance. When the engine runs at a low RPM (for instance while taxiing), the rich air-fuel mixture isn’t fully burned due to a cooler engine. This causes carbon buildup in the spark plugs and the fouling can result in lower engine performance. The carbon buildup can also occur if the mixture is too rich e.g. at higher altitudes where the air density is lower but unadjusted fuel density remains higher. For better engine performance, less likelihood of spark plugs fouling up and to warm the engine sooner, leaning the mixture is recommended when a long taxi is anticipated.
We start off by performing power-off stall recovery in the clean configuration. I was very slow in powering up the engine to recover from stalls and as a result dropped over 500′ on the first couple of attempts attempt. After many tries, ended up with between 50′-75′ of altitude loss.
Then Steve demonstrated a power-on stall with 2200 rpm on the engine i.e. not fully powered up. Power-on stalls typically occur during takeoff or a go-around. Listen for the stall horn and drop the nose. Steve demonstrated a tendency to spin to the left if the stall is not recognized quickly. If that happens, the first thing to do is to pull back the power and relax the back pressure to increase air speed over the wings to produce lift. Then power up and pull back.
Next was engine out simulation. First trim for a glide speed of 65kts. Then run through a checklist
Was the fuel selector accidentally kicked around or is the selector still on both?
Is the mixture rich?
Is the carburetor heat off?
Check the throttle
Check mag switch positions and whether that revives the engine
Check the primer if it is IN i.e. off.
Once the usual suspects have been eliminated, observe the wind and look for a place to land into the wind. Brown fields better than green (wet). Smooth fields better than plowed fields. If plowed, along the furrows better than across. No railroad tracks. Since we identified a place to land and it was pretty much beneath us, we had to lose altitude quickly. One could either perform 360 turns to lose altitude. Or, in this case Steve demonstrated a forward slip.
Time for a ground reference maneuver – turns around a point. It is important to enter the maneuver downwind and maintain about 800′ AGL. On the first orbit observe the effects of the wind and remember mental landmarks where the turns should occur. Subsequent turns are expected to be more accurate. At one point, Steve suddenly took over controls and performed an evasive action by banking the plane to the right. This was upon spotting another plane in the vicinity. Then back to the ground reference maneuver this time turns to the right.
Finally, time for some touch-and-go’s at Byron. Steve talking on the radio for each leg of the approach to Byron is quite informative. The first landing was pretty hard, second was good and the third was below average.
On the way back to Livermore, we had a close call with a Skycatcher coming towards us. Tower told us that the Skycatcher was 3 miles out at 2000′ and we were at 3100′. A couple of minutes later, the tower informed the Skycatcher (which was now at 2400′) that an inbound Cessna was 1.5 miles in front and suggested that he turn right. As I was commenting to Steve that 3100′ was about our altitude, he gestured me to turn right. While I was trying to process the information, the tower asked us to turn right because of the Skycatcher and Steve jumped on it right away to avoid the oncoming aircraft.
Crab Tales 