The days are getting mighty warm, which makes the ride up very laborous. In addition, the fact that there's not been a cloud in the sky for the last week or so means that the planes are always checked out, and getting a reservation is proving difficult.
Joel once again wouldn't be showing up until later, so I had some time to preflight 9UL, enjoy the breeze, locate my headsets (which weren't stolen, thank the Jesus), and chat with other pilots. Well, not so much the last one. I'm pretty convinced that there are maybe 3 pilots besides me in the AAC that aren't stir-crazy. Fortunately the stir-crazy people (the other 100 or so pilots) are all on the older side, so I can outrun them if they try to approach me for conversation.
I checked 9UL's oil like a diligent little student pilot, and sure enough she was a quart low. Just in case you were worried. I tried to get some air in the cockpit by pulling open the vent, but the whole thing came right off its housing. I carefully tucked it away and made a note to squawk that problem when I returned.
Joel finally arrived at around 4:45 PM, still leaving us with plenty of time to do the phase check. He told me we'd be going to San Pablo Bay. I got my clearance, took the plane to runway 33, and took off. Joel instructed me to show him a soft-field takeoff. And once again, Joel spent the whole time talking with me, a sort of mix between earnest conversation and lecture material.
During run-up I'd noted that 9UL had abnormally low gyro suction, and sure enough, it was obvious the heading indicator would be inoperative this flight. It took only ten minutes for it to drift noticeably. I'd be using the magnetic compass for this flight.
I was instructed to follow the 580 northwest-bound, remembering to keep to the right side since the traffic-watch airplanes tend to use the left side by convention. Over San Pablo Bay, Joel had me do a series of turns at increasing bank. First two 90-degree turns at 10 degrees bank, then two 180-degree turns at 15 degrees bank, then a 360-degree steep turn at 45 degrees bank. Though my altitude was far from constant, it was within 100 feet, so it was within private pilot standards, and Joel gave me the checkmark of approval on the syllabus.
Following these banks, Joel had me transition to slow flight and imminent stall. Once again I passed within acceptable standards, and I got my checkmark. Then ... uh oh! ... engine failure! Joel pulled the power back, and it was time to find a place to fake an emergency landing.
I chose the marshlands on the north side of San Pablo Bay. I did my checklists, called Mayday over the fake radio, and prepared for the fake landing. When the plane broke 500 feet descending, Joel reapplied power and I climbed to 1,000 feet where we would practice turns about a point.
I chose a pair of outhouses near the shore and performed two full turns about them. During this Joel continued to quiz me orally. Stephen had taught me turns about a point differently than most instructors, so I got confused when Joel asked me questions that would be relevant to the standard way of doing the maneuver, but not Stephen's Way. He seemed pleased enough though, and I got my checkmark.
"Okay, now take us to Napa Airport." That was easy enough with the GPS. I pointed the plane at the airport and flew until I could locate it visually. Joel tuned in the Napa ATIS; they were using runway 24 for departures and arrivals. I continued to fly directly towards the airport, and Joel asked me to point out which one was runway 24. I then called Napa Tower and got clearance to land on runway 24.
It wasn't until I was nearly in the pattern that I realized I was heading for runway 18R, not 24. In fact, I was directly in the path of departing airplanes for runway 24, a very dangerous place to be. I quickly turned to the downwind for 24, but it was too late. Tower had seen my blunder, and they were not happy.
"9UL, did you follow the VOR in?"
"Negative, we're a slant-golf."
"Well, be advised that your approach was extremely dangerous; you were directly in the path of departing airplanes."
"9UL, acknowledged. Sorry about that, my mistake."
"Well ... yes. Just be advised it was extremely dangerous and I strongly recommend you don't do it again."
OK, I get the point. "9UL, acknowledged."
Joel apologized to me, since he should have seen it coming and prevented it before it escalated into a "dangerous situation." He also mentioned, "you can always count on getting a lecture from Napa." Apparently it's big-fish-little-sea syndrome. Nevermind that there was only one other airplane at the airport, Napa was a 'big' airport for this part of hicksville so the controller there likes to play King of the Hill.
Joel had me do a touch-and-go on 24, but then at the last minute had me do a go-around. Remembering my blunder from last time, I brought the flaps up incrementally, and Joel was pleased. Tower then advised us that winds had changed to 160, and we were free to begin landing on runway 18L if we wanted to continue pattern work.
So, I entered traffic for 18L. It became clear to me, upon turning final, that 18R would have been much more ideal. 18R was a large, beautiful runway currently undergoing repaving, and 18L was barely bigger than a taxiway. The situation was compounded by Joel's request that I do a slip to landing, meaning keeping aligned with this tiny strip in the dirt was a herculean feat. It was practically a miracle that I was able to get all three wheels on the pavement, and in doing so, a crosswind caused the airplane to slide across the very little horizontal space I had. Almost ironically, Joel said, "Wheee!" as I took the plane back into the air to complete my first touch-and-go.
I flew the pattern again, and prepared for my next touch-and-go, which became another go-around. Joel then had me depart straight-out and head back to Oakland. Over San Pablo Bay again, I got the Oakland ATIS, got my approach clearance, and entered traffic for 27R. Joel took the controls to demonstrate a slip to landing, but let me take over the landing at the last minute so I could get credit for the touchdown on my log. I was "off at Echo," as they say, referring to taxiway Echo, the first taxiway you could turn off at. Only the slowest planes with the shortest ground rolls can get off at Echo.
I brought the plane to KaiserAir, refueled, then returned to the Old T's. At Kaiser they fly three flags: the United States flag, the California state flag, and a Chevron flag. Guess which two flags are flown highest. All hail Chevron. At the Old T's, Joel gave me the overview of what I did wrong.
"There was something wrong with your slip to landing. That's why I showed you how to do it. When I did it we were losing more than 1,000 feet per minute, but when you did it the plane was barely descending more than 500 fpm. You need to practice that. Also, a few times in the pattern I noticed your airspeed drop below 60 knots. You need to feel the slow flight regime and react to it. Don't let your airspeed drop. Finally, of course, you picked the wrong runway at Napa, so you need to visualize the airport and figure out which runway is which."
He had praise for my radio work though, and my control of the aircraft. We had a lot of problems to squawk (low gyro suction, broken pilot's side air vent, loose exhaust pipe...), so hopefully Ginny will take a look at them. I like 9UL, I consider her the flagship of the fleet.
I have ground school tomorrow with Stephen and Shannon, where we will learn how to plan flights, and another solo on Saturday, weather permitting. I will be practicing slips. Joel gave me my Hayward solo signoff so I will do pattern work there for a change in scenery. Until next time!
Cost so far: $5,371.21
Time so far: 81 days
Hours so far: 26.8
Projected certification date: August 22, 2007
Projected total cost: $10,000
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