Fun In The Sun

Not only was today clear and sunny, it was absolutely HOT. In fact, I’m told it was the hottest day of the year so far in middle Tennessee. On my way to the airport at 4pm, the thermostat was reading 103 degrees, with a heat index at about 110 degrees. The plane is still structurally safe up to 131 degrees.


My CFI wanted to introduce the last of the new maneuvers prior to the cross country trip planning.

First was Unusual Attitudes. Basically, I close my eyes while my instructor takes control of the plane. While my eyes were close, he flies the plan in several different directions, and then tells me to open my eyes and regain control of the aircraft and stabilize flight. This is to simulate disorientation, maybe from flying in a cloud, and then recovering the plane.

This drill was a lot of fun. Most of the time during practice flights; the goal is to maintain smooth level flight. With this drill, he has me open my eyes and plane could be in mid turn pointing down. It was like a roller coaster and I was really able to feel the G forces. We also practiced this drill under the IFR hood.

Next we practiced slow flight, stalls, and high angle turns under the hood. I have to have a total of 3 hours of instrument training, and I have about half completed.

Finally, he introduced short-field landings / take offs and soft-field landings /take offs.

Short-field landing is a high-performance landing, utilizing minimum length of the runway or landing ground, while still allowing clearance of obstacles in close vicinity to the landing approach.

The approach is made with minimum engine power commensurate with flying towards the aiming point on the runway. Minimum engine power will cause a steep approach to the aiming point. Speed must be reduced progressively as the aircraft's height reduces, and after reaching the airspeed for final approach it must be maintained accurately. After touch-down, the pilot applies maximum wheel braking and maximum up-elevator, but pulling back on the stick.

Short-field take offs is the same concept. The pilot does not have much runway left or there is a 50 foot obstacle at the end of the runway. The goal is to get the plane off the ground as quickly as possible. Once past the obstacle, the pilot will ascend as normal.

The pilot will use full throttle while still breaking so there can be plenty of air flow over the wings prior to the moving. Once the breaks are released, the aircraft will get up to speed quicker.



Soft-Field landing would be in situations where the plane is not landing on pavement, possibly a dirt runway. The concern is not to have the front tire sink into the soft soil. The pilot will keep the nose of the plane up as long as possible and gently set it down.

Soft-Field Take off is very similar. The pilot keeps the nose of the plane raised prior to reaching take off speed. The pilot will want to be careful about ground effect. Ground effect is when the plane prematurely lifts off the ground prior to reaching a speed which can sustain flight. This can happen when the plane is within one wings length from the surface of the Earth. When ground effect does happen, the pilot will want to lower the nose so it is flying just a foot or two off the ground until it has reached optimal speed, which in the DA20 is about 55 knots.

Finally we practiced a power off landing (also called power off 180). This maneuver is to simulate an engine failure while in the traffic pattern.

Being in a tin can (with no air conditioning) up at 1,500 feet on a day where the temperatures are over a hundred made me a hot sweaty mess.

All in all, this was a good flight and I am starting to feel more and more confident at the controls. My taxiing has improved and my communication with ATC is getting better each flight.

Flight time: 1.60 hours
Cost: Plane rental - $184.00, Instructor Fee - $76.00