The less fun parts of light aviation
Flying light aircraft is fun – most of time. I like to keep good memories of all flights, but this is not always possible. From PPL training to IFR travel, here are some memorable moments, not for pleasant reasons.
Flare frustration
Passed the basic manoeuvres, the first part of the training focuses on approach and landing. It’s not because you know when and at which height to flare that you can flare properly. It’s not something a pilot shall know… but do. It took me a few extra lessons at this point in my training.
I was thinking, rationalizing everything, but could not “feel” the landing. Flying a session of 7 or 8 circuits without a good landing is super-frustrating. Sometimes a short break in the training can help. Stop flying for a couple of weeks can trigger an improvement.
Waiting for the day
Several parts of the training syllabus require particularly good weather conditions. I’m particularly thinking of the solo navigation. Mine was due in october, when the fog and stratus season starts. The plan was to fly from Geneva to Grenchen, then Bern, and back to Geneva. For weeks, the visibility was below what a student pilot can handle.
Then, as I was flying as an airline passenger from Geneva to Zurich and back for my job, I had a perfect aerial view of both Bern and Grenchen. This was probably the single day with favorable conditions, and I missed it. Seeing though the Airbus window how good weather was made if even more unnerving.
The no-go day
When flying light aircraft, cancelling flight is a common thing. Late minute cancellations are also very frustrating, but there is worse. In each pilot’s logbook are a couple of flights that should not have taken place.
Flying on days with marginal conditions (bad visibility, strong winds, stress for any reason, …) can finally be better than expected… but sometimes not. My last such experience was with a PA28, on a strong wind day. My idea was to fly three circuits, to remain within my comfort zone. I knew it would be shaky.
Do you remember the definition of “moderate turbulence” ? The one about strains in the belts, and non-fixed objects moving around in the cockpit ? That what I got, plus my head hitting the plane ceiling. The three landings I planned turned into a single one. Enough is enough.
What about you ?
I’m sure you also have less than glorious stories, and I’d like to hear about them. But please, no anonymous comments, it’s time to assume them ! No shame.
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
Julien
Flare frustration… I can relate to that a lot. It took me a while and a lot of circuits in a 152 to get my flare to an acceptable level. And even with that I get it really wrong sometime. I wrote an entry in my blog recently about such a day where I not only busted controlled airspace, but also flared too high on a runway larger and darker than what I was used to, and consequently stalled at a couple of meters above the runway and touched down with a big bang.
During my initial training, my flares got better thanks to two things:
- Taking a few seconds when lined up before take-off to memorize the picture of the runway in front. That’s a good indication of the attitude and height perception you want to tend to in the flare.
- In the flare, look at the other end of the runway. This picture changes a lot in the last few seconds before touchdown. It’s also a really good help for staying aligned with the runway centerline.
Hope this helps! Any other tips for getting the flare right are very much appreciated! Julien.
Jul 3rd, 2008
PlasticPilot
Thank you for these tips Julien. The simple thing that helped me was to look left during the flare, not in front. There is anyway nothing else than a big airplane nose to see there.
Jul 3rd, 2008
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