PPL Lesson 6

Finally got to fly again after numerous weather cancellations.  Switched to a C152 which I like a lot, and is easier on the wallet.  Nice and cozy with my instructor in the 152, but hey, I'm an intimate guy.

1.6 hours of engine time today.  Stunning scenery with the hills all green, and lots of clouds in the sky.  Headed over to the coast again to practice maneuvers.  We worked on some steep turns, with around 45 degree bank angle.  We pull about 1.4Gs to keep a coordinated turn with steady altitude at that angle.  Slow the plane down a tad, roll into the turn, add power to keep the speed constant as drag increases in the turn, roll out, back off power, check heading and altitude to see how I did.  It was fun.  A little disorienting.  I have to focus a lot on the nose of the airplane and horizon to keep from climbing or descending and would lose pitch attitude a little when reaching for the throttle.  Looking forward to practicing this more.

Headed back over the hills and did some more slow flight over the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC).  Minimum controllable airspeed in the 152 is down below 40knots.  It's weird.  Nose pointed at the sky, stall alarm blaring, and plodding along slower than the cars on the surface streets below.  We did some slow speed turns, which are mostly rudder inputs, with very little bank.  Then we progressed the slow flight to a simulated power off stall.  The stalls were less frightening than I imagined.  Nothing much happens other than the nose dropping and the elevator buffeting a bit.  And you can continue to control the 152 quite well with the wing stalled, and the elevator full up with the yolk against the stop.  Recovery is as simple as dropping the nose slightly.  I'll need to do this some more to get comfortable with the slow speeds, high nose attitudes, and stall indications.

Also started doing some of the radio communications with Palo Alto Tower.  I was sufficiently clumsy, but managed to convey who we are, where we are, and what we're doing.

PPL Lessons 4 & 5

Rained out for the last two lessons.  Lot's of ground school, but nothing fun to report.

PPL Lesson 3

1.5 hours in the air today, this time focused on steep turns and slow flight.

Departed Palo Alto and headed out to the ocean in a steady climbing cruise.  Leveled off around 3,200' and spent an hour or so doing maneuvers.  45deg turns first, then moved on to slow flight and turns at minimum controllable airspeed.  The steep turns were fun.  Slowed the plane to 90 (attitude, throttle, trim) and entered the turns.  A little disorienting for me without the wind in my face feedback I am so used to.  At times it felt like the plane was just spinning on a wingtip.  I think this will get to a more normal feeling with time.

The slow flight I found a bit more intimidating.  Have to hold the nose high and drop power to slow down, then bring the power back up to maintain level flight.  We slowed to 60mph or so, both with and without flaps, then executed some shallow but rapid turns.  Lot's of right rudder needed to keep the plane straight in this high power, high drag configuration.  So much right rudder that left turns were accomplished by simply applying less right rudder.  The stall alarms going off freaked me out a bit, and I kept thinking "what if we slow down too much?"  But my instructor wasn't worried, so I tried not to worry and just focus on the tasks he gave me.  Carb heat, power, mixture, flaps.

Next lesson Monday.

Adding Power

I decided to take the plunge and get my private pilot license.  It's a new thing for me, so I figured I would use my defunct blog to chronicle the experience.  No one reads blogs any more, and even fewer read this blog, so I realize I am just blogging to myself.  But that's ok, I like myself a lot.  Go me.

I've had two lessons so far, with a couple hours of ground school and about 1.5 hours stick time.  For now I am training in a Cessna 172K, which is very familiar to me having spent many hours in the right seat of my dad's 172.

At this point we have only done very basic stuff.  Takeoff, climbs, descents, level turns, climbing turns, and descending turns.  I am enjoying learning the fuel mixture, power, and trim basics since I've never really touched any of those controls before.  I don't have a good feel for proper rudder inputs yet, but that will come with time.

I think my biggest hurdle for now is going to be letting go of my hang glider instincts.  I'm very used to having direct and instant tactile feedback on how the glider is flying in the form of wind on my face and sound in my ears.  I'll need to learn to rely on the airplanes attitude, yolk position, engine sound, and instruments instead.
Landing I expect will be the hardest for me to get comfortable with.  I'm used to the idea that "speed is your friend" on my glider.  When I get ready to land on my glider I speed up to increase my control authority and give me extra margin above stall speed to account for any gusts.  Slowing down when we enter the approach pattern in the 172 freaks me out.  I get that we don't want to land at 120mph, but it just feels wrong.  It might take a while to get used to that.

Next lesson in 2 days!

Who Doesn't Like a Drought?

What can I say? It's been dry. There's no snow. And flying has been great this winter.

Flew over 5 hours last weekend. Started on Saturday with a fun day at Mission Peak. Loaded up with Chris Valley and crossed the bay for a noon arrival at the site. It looked foggy and windy as we drove, but by the time we arrived at launch conditions had cleared and the wind was moderate.

Dropped my glider in the mud while setting it up, but the sweet conditions made me not care. Launched smoothly into some cold air. Lift was turbulent at time, but abundant. Aside from one small flush cycle it was easy to stay up, coring wide thermals which could be found both over the peaks and out away from the hills.

Ventured half way to Ed Levin, but mostly stayed around Mission, just enjoying the day and the glider.

After a little more than an hour I got cold and came in for a nice smooth top landing by the car, broke down my glider and had a beer. Chris and others flew for another hour or so and we ended the day with food and drinks at a local watering hole.

Sunday I was thinking Ed Levin was the call. But a fortunate conversation with Tom Low keyed me in to the improving conditions at Fort Funston. I changed my plans and headed to the coast, arriving at the site surprised to see only one glider set up.
Got my glider together quickly and launched into very North conditions. It was nice to fly conditions like this without stress. My new glider gives me a lot of confidence.

Getting Sideways Over Westlake
I played around at the fort for a while, flying fast, doing some energy climbs and mild wingovers, then I headed down to Westlake to play with the paragliders. Had a nice flight, and felt content after an hour+ so I landed back at the fort. I was going to break down, but then my friends Tom and Chris showed up and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to chase them around the sky.

CRV

We all met up at Westlake, flying close, getting video and photos, doing some mellow aerobatics and just boating around in the super smooth lift. I didn't want the flight to end, and flew till the sun was setting. As the day got later, the cliffs lit up with red light and long shadows. Amazing.

Westlake

Horsies!

Sunset

Chris put together some video of the day, chasing me around the sky



What a weekend!

Flights: 3
Airtime: 5:07

Big Fat McClure

A spectacular weekend at McClure. 3.5 hours of flying, topped out at 4,500', and many tours of the valley were had.

Met up with CRV Saturday morning for a day trip, with camping gear along just in case. Picked up Ryan Goebel and Chad in Dublin and continued on. There was a big turn out unexpectedly with around 16 glider on launch.

Saturday was sweet. The winds were light, sky was clear, thermals were smooth, and lift was everywhere. It was easy to get up and stay up. We cruised around in the sky until we got tired. I made an attempt or two at Horseshoe, getting about half way there, but mostly hung around the main hill.
Finally started to sink out and headed to the LZ before the 3 other gliders at my hight. Tried to dive it down, but found lift over the LZ at about 500'. Decided not to fight it and took a slow, pleasant clim back up to almost launch height. After letting the other two gliders land I brought er in for a no stepper.

Sunday was more of a challenge and a lot of fun. KM and CRV launched first and got up. CRV made a fateful launch buzz and continued the buzz right to the deck. It was hard down low with tight, weak thermals. Once you got up, things got a little easier. The lift was scattered and seemed to move away from the hill, upwind, as we got higher. It was definitely a day where it paid to be curious. Leaving the crowd and exploring the valley repeatedly rewarded me. I would find a thermal, scattered and weak like the others, but without crowds could core it easily. Top of lift was about 3,300'.

Flights: 2
Airtime: 3:30

Bang!

Our morning view from camp

Just 3 guys in the back of a truck...

This is his tough look...

CRV calls it

Brian Horgan's downtube. Starting the smack talk for Ed Levin Speed Gliding 2012!

ACP, ready to dominate

CRV Slayin' It

KM. 70 years old. Gets higher, and flies longer than all of us, every time

Becoming a Mountain Man

1 fallen tree + 1 Husqvarna 18 inch, 50cc chain saw (thanks Mom & Dad!) = 1 cut up tree


1 cut up tree + 1 Fiskars 36 inch super splitting axe (thanks Bert & Sharon!) = 1 big pile of fire wood


4 hours straight of chainsawing, hauling, and splitting wood + 3 Aleve = Brian barely able to walk today

2012

It's a new year and I for one am happy to see it. I didn't want to say anything while 2011 was still within earshot, but I never really liked 2011. We just didn't click. 2011 was a bit too pretentious for me. It was always complaining about this or that, and always wanted to borrow my tools. I can already tell that 2012 has a better sense of humor and isn't nearly so needy.

I did not get to fly much in 2011. Work kept me away from family, away from friends, and away from hang gliding. I don't know if 2012 will be different, but it at least got off to a great start.
CRV, Wayne and I headed down to Big Sur for the new years bash early on Saturday. We arrived to find the biggest turn out of pilots I have ever seen there. The McClure crowd was in full force, as well as the Funston boys and WOR as well as a number of other pilots. Saturday we got skunked with over the back winds all day, but made up for it with a campground full of happy partying pilots new years eve. Sunday we were able to find lulls in the SE winds and get off the hill. Beautiful flying as always at big sur.

Saturday, CRV, Wayne, JT and I hit Ed Levin. No spectacular conditions, but fun flights regardless. Chris and I hit a top landing on the 1200' hill and got fly-bys from JT and Wayne. Beer and food followed the flying.

Made a simple video of the flights. Hello 2012!

Edit: Now on Vimeo!

First Flights of 2012 from Brian Foster on Vimeo.