Sharkie was good to me today!
I got to Aerodynamic a little bit early, so I started the pre-flight without Batelle. I'm getting good and efficient with my pre-flight flow, but one thing I need to be better about is starting with the interior - check the fuel gages, flip on the master and beacon to check that they're working, get the starting Hobbs meter number, testing brake pressure, and inspecting the rudder cables (connections and safety pins) to make sure everything is good. The other day a safety pin on an interior rudder cable popped out, and someone taxi-ed off the taxi-way because they lost rudder authority. Scary stories are always good to remind you to be thorough and not miss key items.
Only thing I needed to followup on after the pre-flight was a missing inspection panel on the left wing. Can't believe the previous person who took Sharkie out didn't notice it was missing when he/she returned the plane. Again, #clubplanes. Still a good learning experience, and I'm learning how important proper pre-flighting is.
We hopped in, and taxi-ed over to the run-up area. Batelle was about to make the radio calls, but I offered and she gave me the okay to call up ground and state intentions. "Citabria November niner zero niner one lema at Aerodynamic, requesting taxi for a departure to the southeast with kilo". Repeated the instructions to "taxi via zulu", and started moving. Felt good! Batelle said she was glad to pass the radio calls onto me because she gets tired of talking on the radio :) Definitely told her to push me as far as she thinks I'm capable, and that I'd ask questions if I wasn't confident about something.
We checked that the controls were free and correct, and set the trim for takeoff. Then we did the run-up, checked the RPM drops with left and right mags, and checked the RPM drop with carb heat. Everything looked good. PHEW. Checked pressure and temperature gages. Checked idle. Good and good.
"Citabria niner zero niner one lema, ready three one". Got the okay, and lights, camera, action! Batelle had me do the takeoff roll. Mixture full rich and full throttle (action), kept level pitch attitude as the tail rose (required more nose forward stick than I expected because I was nervous about pitching forward), and danced on the rudders to keep Sharkie straight. Kept relaxing forward stick pressure until Sharkie lifted off. Wheee!
We climbed to 3500 ft. toward the reservoir again, and Batelle had me do shallow bank turns, medium bank turns, and steep turns. She had me select which maneuver would be comfortable/efficient depending on the heading to which she instructed me to turn to. Shallow bank for small changes in heading, and steeper bank for larger changes in heading. Remember to keep the turns coordinated, Ivan. Coordinate rudder pressure and stick movement/back pressure, if needed!
One tip that was useful was to keep a reference object (part of plane, bug, etc). on the horizon during steep turns. You'll automatically keep the right back pressure and coordinated-ness of the turn. It definitely helped my steep turns to the right and left improved. Batelle said that the last few I did were with PTS for sure. Woohoo! We did three or four of each, and then practiced a few climbing turns.
In relation to level flight, I need to improve a little bit - I always get into a slowww climb or descent, so I need to be more precise about what "picture" I keep. It's not a big error (about a 100 feet descent or climb over a few minutes), but I'm going to beat myself up over it until I get it right.
Time to head back! Batelle had me set up the approach heading and descent. Carb heat on, throttle back, trim.
We practiced forward slips, a maneuver to descend at a faster rate without necessarily increasing airspeed. Opposite stick and rudder, but you still need to be coordinated! You can increase or decrease airspeed if you want, by adjusting forward or backward stick pressure. It's a good maneuver when you have a crosswind, or when you don't have flaps.
It feels good when you get the coordination just right. Heading and plane orientation doesn't change, but you definitely feel the descent!
I followed along for the landing again, but Batelle said she'd be having me do more of the landings in future lessons. I'm going to push myself, but there's definitely a difference between the landing flare and approach in the 172 vs. in the Citabria. No flaps and you have to be wayyy more active on the rudder pedals!
Also...Batelle gave me the go-ahead to do the pre-flights by myself (basically, everything up to pushing the plane out or re-fueling the plane). Cha-ching! Gonna save about $25 bucks per lesson now, and be able to spend 20 more minutes flying :D
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