The Rain in Spain (or Nashville) Doesn’t Falls Mainly on The Plane

Today, my CFI and I spent about 30 minutes on ground school lessons.  Topics we covered were:

·         Carburetor icing

·         Using a lean fuel mixture

·         Wind shear

·         Wake Turbulence

Next, I completed the pre-flight check on the 2007 Diamond Eclipse DA20-C1 (N362DC).  Everything went smoothly and we climbed into the cockpit.  My CFI requested permission from air traffic control to take off and for a runway assignment.

My take off was smooth, and we flew to a practice area and I preformed the basic maneuvers of turning, ascending and descending.  Next we practiced a power off stall, and power on (or high speed) stall, low speed flight.

Today the wind was a bit stronger then I have flown in the past, but it was manageable.  It did require me to actively fly the plane, constantly making corrections for heading changes and altitude fluctuations.  I did fine, but I was prone to a typical student pilot error, which is over correcting for the adjustment.  Thus causing more corrections the other way.  My forearm was sore at the end of the flight from “death gripping” the flight stick.

One new introduction this flight was the use of IFR hood.  They are basically goggles that block out your view of everything but the instrument panel.  This is to simulate the effects of flying in low visibility.  At the end of my training, I will not be instrument rated, nor will I be allowed to fly in low visibility conditions.  Yet, I’m required to have a few hours with the hood on, so I’ll know what to do if I inadvertently find myself in a low visibility condition.  I didn’t find this lesson to be challenging, since I have noticed I have been looking inside the cockpit more then I should be.  Today I wore the hood for about 20 mins.

Next, we were ready to land.  My CFI sought permission to land.  I put the plane into position and lightly touched down and slowed the plane to idle.  This time we didn’t come to a complete stop, and at my CFI’s instruction, I opened up the throttle and down the runway we went for another takeoff. 

Off in the distance, we could see a storm with rain.  I have never seen weather from that perspective before (maybe in the mountains), and it was absolutely beautiful.  I can understand how a pilot could anticipate flying into bad weather and diverting the flight path to avoid it.

We flew in the traffic pattern once and made our final landing of the day.  Just as we landed, we started to see lightning.  Made it to the ground in just the right time.  It was pouring as we were wrapping up and setting the training schedule for the following week.

Ground instruction: .5 hours   Flight time: 1.20 hours

Cost:  Plane rental - $138.00, Instructor Fee - $68.00