N25ES has now been determined by the insurance assessor as a total loss and the club is in the process of finding a replacement 172. Steve was supportive when I asked if I could fly the club’s 1981 Cessna 152 (N6475Q) in the interest of staying in touch with my flying skills. I flew the 152 for the first time on July 24 to get a feel for the plane. I had not remembered to charge the batteries on my GoPro the previous night so there is no video archive from that first-time experience.
N6475Q is different from N25ES in many ways. For starters, it is a 2-seater aircraft (vs. 4-seat) and has a significantly lighter empty weight of 1165lbs (vs. 1459lbs). The plane is very sensitive to control inputs because of its light weight and the ride is also bumpier as it is easily tossed around by wind. The seats feel like they are almost at floor level with the legs pretty much extended straight ahead to the rudder pedals. I found it harder to get in and out of the plane. Seats slide front-to-back and the backrest has a single reclining position flopping flat on the seat in order to reach the luggage compartment. Front seats on the 172 have height adjustment, seat back reclining angle adjustment and they slide front-to back. The engine is a 115hp Lycoming 0-235 (vs. 180hp Lycoming 0-320 series). The most noticeable difference was during climb outs after takeoff due to the weaker engine. I’m used to a regular climb on the 172 but the angle of attack has to be much shallower on the 152 in order to avoid a power-on stall. Roughly 67-70 kts Vy for the climb (vs. roughly 76-80 kts) and 60 kts on the landing approach (vs. 65 kts). Right after takeoff, we needed to level off to gain airspeed before climbing out.
I’m flying 75Q today again and we did a bunch of touch-and-go at Livermore. Towards the end we were switched to runway 25L and on the last approach, I was way too high and too fast so I did a go-around and requested tower to switch us to 25R for a full-stop.
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.
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.
Today we turn left downwind towards our usual practice area. Winds 300@15. As soon as we turned downwind, the controller asked us if our transponder was working. It turned out that we had not turned on the transponder! Note to self: add this to the checklist when we check if the radios are set.
Steve handed Srinath stylish eyewear and Srinath flew under the hood, maintaining 3000′ on heading 095. Later he navigated using a couple of VOR stations that Steve tuned in. After reaching our practice area, Srinath was asked to stall the plane in a clean configuration under the hood (using instruments only) for the very first time. Next, Steve asked Srinath to forward slip the plane in order to lose altitude since we were pretty close to crop circles and Steve was planning a ground reference maneuver for turns around a point (maintaining 600′-1000′ AGL typically). After turning around a crop circle, Srinath turned around a lone tree nearby for another ground reference maneuver.
At this point, Steve pulled the power and simulated an engine out. Srinath had to react quickly to establish a glide slope and scout a place to land. New Jerusalem was close by but with the engine out, we could not make it that far. Steve spotted a road nearby and as we got pretty low, it was time to gun the engines and make a go for New J.
Srinath did three landings at New J. On one of the approaches, Steve said there is a cow on the runway, prompting Srinath to react quickly and do a go-around. On the third landing, Steve took over the plane and declared that Srinath was going to fly solo. It came as a surprise to both Srinath and I, neither of whom were mentally prepared for this occasion. Later, Steve would tell me that he solo’ed Srinath because his landings were consistently good.
While Steve signed Srinath’s logbook and his student certificate (3rd class medical) with the solo endorsements, I reminded Srinath that Steve would not have solo’ed him unless he felt Srinath could handle it. But that Srinath had to be very mindful of maintaining airspeed especially on the turns to base and final and not hesitate to do a go-around if he didn’t feel things were going well on the approach. Even more importantly, never to get over confident especially when things are going well.
Soon Srinath was on his way and Steve and I watched him like grounded hawks, listening to the engine drone and running a commentary guessing his actions based on auditory and visual inputs. There he pulls back to 1500rpm and there he pulls the first notch of flaps etc. His first landing was great and Steve was so excited that he jubilantly pumped his fists in the air, shrieked and and danced in joy. I was excited too, but more importantly I was videotaping his landing. Seeing the plane on a steady approach gave me confidence. His next two landings were good too and he turned around on the runway to taxi back towards us.
Later while viewing the in-cockpit video, I could tell that Srinath’s voice and tone got more and more confident with each go-around. Clearly he was understandably excited after completing his solo. My only worry again was that he shouldn’t get over confident. It was a proud moment for a father to see his son complete this milestone.
After a few minutes, Steve and I get into the plane to head back home. Srinath cranked the engine. The prop turned once then seized. No luck even after pumping the throttle and retrying. Steve got off the plan to hand crank the prop the old fashioned way. Three tries and still no luck. The prevailing theory was that the battery was dead and a spare battery was in our hangar at Livermore. We were stuck at the New Jerusalem airport. In the middle of nowhere (which is the reason Steve likes to solo his students here). Nobody in sight.
We unload the plane and scouted around for decent sized rocks to secure the wheels. It was dusk and pretty soon it would be pitch dark. Steve called a couple of club members and got hold of Doug who was once Steve’s student. We hoped that Doug would drive up to Livermore from his home in Pleasanton and fly the Cessna 182 to New J to pick us up. Tomorrow, Steve would haul the spare battery and drive up to New Jerusalem with somebody else to start the engine and fly the 172 back to Livermore. However, given how late in the evening it was, Doug was not comfortable flying the 182 knowing it would be nearly dark by the time he arrived at New J. The runway is not lit so it would be a challenge for somebody flying solo to locate the airport at all. Doug made a good call of driving over in his truck. And he had the presence of mind to call one of his friends who lived in Tracy to head over to New J to meet us, since it would take a while for him to drive over. His friend showed up within 10 minutes.
In the meantime, we secured the plane, carried all our gear and walked towards the gate. Unfortunately the gate was locked from the outside and we couldn’t find an opening to get out. Doug’s friend drive along the fence and came back to report that there was no exit! As if Srinath’s solo wasn’t exciting enough for the day, Escape from New Jerusalem was going to keep our adrenaline pumping for a bit longer.
Steve had worked for Caltrans and was hoping that Doug or his friend would have a shovel in their truck. This was an old trick Steve had employed in his past life. Stick the shovel’s handle through the chain link fence, halfway to the top. Once person would hold the shovel on the other side of the fence while we stepped on the protruding part inside the fence to hop over. Unfortunately, neither Doug nor his friend had a shovel. We tried improvising but nothing worked. By now it was dark so they had to turn on the headlights towards us so we could plan an exit strategy.
Doug had two large water drums on his flatbed truck. So we planned to toss one inside the fence and pull up the flatbed truck all the way to the fence. That way we could step over the drum, jump over the fence and land on his flatbed on the other side. Everything seemed to be going well until it was my turn. Since I wasn’t tall enough, I was barely able to kick one leg over the fence and land on the flatbed on the other side. Unfortunately the other leg was still on the drum and I was stuck straddling the fence at the top. The chain link caught my jeans at an unspeakable location and it wouldn’t free itself. Neither could I force it off. After much struggle and with help, we were able to tear the jeans off the fence so I could cross it.
So now the drum was still inside and all of us were outside. We couldn’t leave it this way so were stuck again, trying to find a way to haul the drum over. Miraculously, Doug had a shovel in his flatbed unbeknownst to him. So finally we had a chance to try Steve’s trick. Doug hopped over the fence onto the protruding shovel handle, tossed the drum over and then jumped off the shovel safely onto the truck. We were all clear. Finally! What a surreal night.
Using the maps app on our smartphone we navigate our way out of New Jerusalem’s backroads in the darkness to Tracy and then to I-580. It was almost 10pm by the time we got back to our hangar in Livermore. After filling out our logbooks we were back home around 10:45pm. Hopefully N25ES would be safe in New J for the night.
Winds 230@12, foggy morning but we saw some holes in the south east sky. So we are going to poke through it because east of the hills is supposed to be clear weather. The climb was quite turbulent as we stayed low below the clouds, but high enough to clear the hills. This was the first time we’ve flown through scattered clouds. Along the way, an aerial view of Lake Del Valle with its dark green waters was quite rewarding. We kept poking through holes in the clouds and following valleys beneath to maintain the maximum possible ground clearance. Once we crossed Lake Del Valle, it was time to bank left and head for the central valley.
Srinath started with the falling leaf stall – his first time consciously doing the maneuver. As expected, the plane buffeted and was unhappy (to quote Steve) because Srinath kept the elevators aft and used the rudders to maintain wings level without letting the nose drop. Then time for a few touch and go’s at New Jerusalem. However we were too high at 2000′ and Srinath used a side slip to lose some altitude quickly.
Next, turns about a point. First around a crop circle counterclockwise and then clockwise. Next, we moved west to find a point on the ground (a house) and then turns to the left and then the right. Along the way, we heard on the radio that skydivers were jumping off an airplane at 13,000′ over Lodi airport.
The morning starts off being unusually cold for this time of the year. The temperature was just below 60 degrees F and the ceiling was low at 1600′. Srinath was away at a Boy Scouts Camporee. So I planned to practice touch and go at Livermore and our traffic pattern was to be 1200′ instead of the usual 1400′. Overall, there was no consistency in the landings. Once the plane bounced, another time the landing was a greaser, and the remaining attempts were somewhere in between. On the second touch and go, the airport briefly closed 25R for runway inspection. So we extended our downwind until we got clearance from the tower to turn base. All the while I did not speak a single word on the radio while in flight because my brain was full just focusing on flying the plane.
The key is to remember to use the rudders to keep the plane aligned parallel with the runway. This is because when the plane touches down, the wheels should be parallel to the runway otherwise there will be a twisting moment on the landing gear. While the rudders keep the plane parallel to the runway, ailerons should be used to produce lateral movement if the plane is not on the centerline. This general principle works particularly well in crosswinds. If the rudder keeps the plane parallel the runway, the crosswind is going to push the plane laterally. This is countered by dropping the wing upwind (thus causing the plane to roll into the wind) countering the crosswind. In this landing configuration, the upwind main wheel is going to touch down first. By maintaining the upwind wing down, the plane must roll on the runway for as long as it can and as the speed bleeds off (and consequently the effect of the crosswind dies down), the other main wheel will touch down and eventually the nosegear.
I have been clearly using the rudder to stay on the runway, not to stay parallel to the runway. This is a key distinction. And I have been using the ailerons to keep the wings level. Whenever Steve asked me to step on the right rudder, he was doing so with the intention of keeping me parallel to the runway. But this confused the heck out of me because I was using the rudder to stay on the centerline. Often when Steve asked me to step the right rudder, I would have been stepping on the left because of our very different mental intentions.
The other observation is that the approach should be stabilized. That means 65kts and on the proper glide slope. What you see instead in the video is the nose dancing all over the place requiring constant hands on flying by the PIC. If the approach is stabilized, the landing becomes much more controlled, predictable and repeatable.
The winds were really stiff today, gusting and shifting directions. We made 3 crosswind landings, aborted one and went around before Steve called off the training. I wasn’t getting much of a practice except to experience strong cross winds.
Three power off stalls straight ahead attempted. Second one didn’t really stall. On the first one, the wing dropped to the right while entering the stall and I inadvertently corrected through left rudder while also relaxing back pressure to break the stall. Steve formalized this and showed me stalls on a turn on both right and left turns. Stall on a left turn could lead to a spin if one is not careful. I tried a couple of stalls on a right turn before we moved to engine out simulation.
First, trim for a 65kts glide speed. Next, check the usual suspects for why the engine might be out – fuel selector, mixture, magnetos. If you have ruled these out as probable causes, find out the wind direction and quickly scout for a place to land. Preferably land into the wind. We picked out a field that had stubble and eliminated other fields that were green, or had been plowed recently. Since the field was pretty close to where we were, we did a 360 degree turn and after confirming that we would land there comfortably, we pushed the throttle. The track log below ends right after we started climbing out.
Finally, a few touch-and-go’s at Livermore. We were given 25L and left closed traffic after the first landing. I didn’t remember the controller’s instructions and inadvertently turned final for 25R. Steve hurried my turn and fortunately there was nobody else at that time on approach to 25R. On another pattern, the controller asked us to turn crosswind and when I hesitated, Steve banked quickly left. Why we got that instruction is irrelevant but that is exactly what I was analyzing. These were two good lessons in staying vigilant and reacting quickly.
Steve gave us a heads-up that we will fly over the Tracy airport so we can see some changes for ourselves. The runways were getting a makeover aka resurfacing. The threshold for Rwy 12 has been relocated so that Rwy 8/26 can be reconstructed. So the usable portion of 12/30 is now significantly shorter. Taxiways had been redrawn.
Next, Srinath had a chance to practice slow flight and shallow turns and a power-off stall. He lost just a couple of hundred feet during recovery. Next was ground reference maneuver – turns around a point. Today the sight picture beneath us was a rectangular area as opposed to a crop circle as we’ve seen before. Finally, a few cross-wind landings at New Jerusalem before heading back to Livermore.
Crab Tales 