Flying with Tango
Today, Jan 11 2004, was Tango's one year anniversary of flight and Bigfoot was along for the ride. What a great day. We made a 1.7 hour flight around the Sacramento area marking Tango's first flight with a passenger, me.
We took a Cessna 172P through 5 touch and goes, some free-flight, then our final landing back at Sac Exec.
I had the controls quite a bit when we were not in a crunch like landings and crowded airspace where Tango took over and really shined...quite the professional pilot with a good radio presence. He barked the numbers like speeds and climb rates at me when I flew and my flight simulator experience really came through. I had to be reminded to get a good sight picture and only scan the instruments since I was really focusing on the gauges and keeping the numbers right. It felt great for both of us knowing that we had two pairs of eyes to scan for traffic, as that was a primary concern the whole time with crop dusters buzzing around and not following the patterns and radio calls.
My head is still buzzing from the sensory overload, so I'll try and jot down some impressions so I'll remember them.
There is a "twilight zone" right over the runway numbers from zero to 100 feet...very interesting how little I remember from those times. Visual references get so expanded and the panel covers the runway, that much of the final parts of the landing seem to come down to feel and procedure.
The best landings included the sound of the stall horn right in the last five feet of altitude.
The force on the yoke was sometimes more than I anticipated. Imagine working out on a rowing machine where the weight is fairly high and the rowing is very slow. I learned quickly to reach down for the trim wheel and take some load off.
Knowing where you are, or Situational Awareness, is a very impressive concept now...I think I was pretty much lost the WHOLE time. When Tango told me to stay left of a certain area, the reason became clear when I saw sky divers level with me on the right...whew...glad Tango knew right where we were. :)
Glide slope is way steeper than I was used to.
65 knots feels REALLY slow on final.
At 2 miles, planes are tiny blobs.
(mental note, set "sim labels" shorter)
Headset comfort is a big deal.
Dressing light is great. The cockpit gets hot quickly but the vent is right there to keep you cool...I'm glad I didn't wear the jacket.
During the flight we heard one pilot in distress with smoke in the cockpit and another complain that someone didn't see him and cut him off on his final. We hope the pilot who turned his master power off to hopefully eliminate the fire if it was electrical made it down safely. The serious nature of aviation really hit home. I just wish all pilots followed the pattern and radio procedures...
Rudders are not heavily used while flying. I found myself just increasing the weight a bit on one leg or the other, but the movement was negligible to keep the ball centered.
Again...trim, trim, trim.
It is actually comforting to be in a controlled landing pattern with a real tower. Looking for traffic is draining, and when the tower says you are cleared to land, you can focus more on the approach and know someone is watching out for you.
Hearing the tower's radio traffic yesterday and today was really impressive. That is one sharp guy in there.
Don't expect much from a pilot after a flight...my mind was kind of blank for a couple of hours after, and I was yawning steadily until an early bedtime.
I'll edit this article to add more if I think of more things, but the garlic bread is smelling quite good so I think I'll sign off for now...it was a good day to hang with the birds in their space...