Date & Time: Wednesday, 2nd July, 1997, 17:30 CDT
Where: From SPX, local flight
Instruction: 0.7 hrs (ground) 0.8 hrs (air) total 1.5 hrs. Running logbook total: 25.0 hrs, 5.9 hrs solo
Aircraft: Cessna 172, number N1219F
Dual instruction with Lee Simmons

Short 'n' Soft
   Today's outing would be a session of short and soft field take offs and landings, since I needed to know how to do them before any solo cross country work (we had done a small amount on these already, but not much). When I do something new close to the ground like this, I like the winds to be calm, but as always...when I want them to be calm they are not! Ellington's METAR was talking of winds from 200 degrees at 8 knots - pretty much a direct crosswind. When I got to SPX, it turned out they weren't quite as much crosswind as I expected, but it was definitely a good quartering crosswind.
   First off, we reviewed the speeds and procedures needed for these types of takeoffs and landings. For the short field in the 172, you use 10 degrees of flaps, rotate at 48 knots and climb out at 53. That's very close to the bottom of the green arc! You also hold it with the brakes, apply full power then release the brakes so there is no lag waiting for the engine to come up to speed. (For grins, I tried flying the 737 off Meigs Field and you use pretty much the same technique - hold the brakes until the engines spool up to takeoff power, and let her go. I use GPWS with FS6, and usually the stick shaker is going off as she struggles airborne...) To land, you use 40 degrees of flaps, and 59 knots. For the soft field, the procedure once again is for 10 degrees of flaps, but this time you pull the yoke all the way back as you go off, and once the nosewheel is just off the ground, you keep it off the ground to keep it from bogging or causing extra drag on the soft field. As soon as you become airborne, you hold the airplane in the ground effect until you've built up enough speed, then go off as normal. The landing is a 40 degree flap landing, and you concentrate on the quality of the touchdown. Then you keep the nosewheel off for as long as possible as you roll out.
   We did the soft field takeoffs and landings first - these went pretty well. First Lee demonstrated the technique, then I did a couple. They went pretty well - I flared maybe a bit low and the mains touched down early, but they did so gently which is the main intention. Then came the short fields. Lee demonstrated the first one by coming to a full stop, then following the procedure I described above. We lifted off at the desired airspeed and lumbered upwards. It was difficult to fight the 7 or 8 knots of wind trying to push us left. On the landing, we came in at just below 60 knots with full flaps. Lee's hands were full controlling the airplane in the flare - it's amazing the difference slowing by 6 knots makes to the controllability! The normal squirrely wind around the end of 13 was doing its best, and quite large control movements were needed to keep the airplane going in the intended direction. Now it was my turn!
   The first thing I discovered is that you have to pull hard to maintain the 53 knots on climb out as you try to get over the imaginary 50 foot obstacle. On my first try, I didn't quite pull hard enough, and very quickly the airspeed started to climb! I took out the 10 degrees of flaps, and continued the climb. We went around the pattern, and came in for landing. I deliberately made a high approach due to the fairly steep descent angle with full flaps. As we came in over the fence, I had it down to 60 knots, and I was having to work hard to keep the airplane anywhere near the centerline! As I started to flare, the good old squirrely wind got me yet again, and the bottom fell out of it! With alarm, I saw the ground hurtling towards me! I smartly pulled back on the yoke, but it didn't save me from a real bouncer of a landing. The airplane became a real handful as I tried to prevent further bounces, keep it on the centerline and keep it going straight all at the same time! Thinking back on it, I was doing the right things to get us back on track without having to think hard about it - I managed to prevent us from bouncing high or getting blown off the runway... something I thought I'd never manage even with hardly any wind only a few weeks ago!
   The next ones were somewhat smoother. We also landed long on the last one, using the first turnoff (halfway down the runway) as our threshold. This meant we avoided the turbulence off the trees at the end which helped my landing quite a bit! The crosswind still managed to push me a couple of feet to the left of the centerline though - but all in all, it wasn't too bad...

Conclusion.
   Well, that was pretty eventful! I still can't get over just how much control effectiveness is lost just by coming in a few knots slower. Sure, I've done slow flight until I was blue in the face, but it doesn't seem that dramatic at 3,500 feet compared to when you are in the flare, just a couple of feet off the ground. Also, you get this slow during flare in a normal landing - but actually starting the flare that slowly is quite different. During normal landing, you are gradually having to increase control inputs to offset the crosswind...but when you have to use those control inputs right through the approach all the way in, it seems to take just that much more work to do.

What was learned.
   Airspeed is the big one here for short field. You need to be careful with it! At climb out, you aren't far off the bottom of the green arc... and if you are carrying a load, the stall speed becomes higher as you need a bigger angle of attack to get the lift you need. Soft field takeoffs are also pretty interesting - you have to quite agressively hold the aircraft in the ground effect as it will want to climb away pretty quickly if you don't. The biggest thing brought home to me is the enormous controllability differences when you are coming in slow for a short field landing. Somehow, normal practise slow flight at altitude doesn't quite bring that home quite as well as short field landings...

Date & Time: Friday, 4th July, 1997, 09:30 CDT
Where: From SPX, local flight
Instruction: 0.9 hours solo. Running logbook total: 25.9 hrs, 6.8 hrs solo
Aircraft: Cessna 172, number N1219F

The wind couldn't decide where to go...
   I was up early to help groundcrew a friend's hot air balloon (she's learning right now, and usually a few of us will come along and help get the balloon set up and ready to fly). I went to the airport myself straight afterwards to fly myself. It had been a great morning - not a cloud in the sky and only a gentle wind. As I came out to preflight the airplane, I saw some people already in the pattern, coming and going of Runway 13 as is usual around here. I watched the Club's Piper Arrow taxi out to 13 with an instrument student on board.
   However, by the time I was done preflighting, the winds were most definitely favoring 31. So I taxied out to 31. I made sure I announced that I was going that way, too just in case others were coming in, they would know that 31 was now the active. The club's Cessna 210 followed me onto the run-up pad. I took off, and went towards the practise area - I was already hot. There were some scattered cumulus clouds drifiting around by now too, at around 2000 - 2500 feet, but these seemed to clear out as I went and did my ground-reference manoevers. For some reason, I just couldn't hold altitude today. I would either drift up or down more that 50 feet. I spent a bit of time out there until I could do one and keep the altimeter still. I looked up again to make sure that the scattered layer wasn't deciding to become a broken ceiling, but most of it had moved on. I decided to climb up and cool off now, so I climbed to 3,500 feet. The air was real nice and cool now - it seemed that the temperature dropped off quite a bit more than the 5 degrees C it should have from 1,000 feet up to where I was. I could have stayed up there all day! I decided I would practise some stalls since I hadn't done any for a while, so I did some no-flap power off stalls. I was always told that you'll feel a lot of buffet before the stall breaks, but this is one thing that seems absent when you are doing power off stalls in the 172 (departure stalls are much different - you really do get a good buffet during those). Instead, you hear an odd "sucking" noise as you approach the stall, and then the stall horn starts going off.
   The other thing I tried was using a slip to lose altitude without gaining airspeed. You do these all the time when landing in a crosswind, but I decided to take it all the way and see what sink rate could be achieved by using full rudder and a good bit of opposite aileron. If you want to get down fast without using flaps, this is the way! You get a pretty nice descent rate without gaining airspeed.
   I came back to do some touch and goes. I had been out in the practise area longer than I thought, so I would only be able to do a couple before the next person who had the aircraft would arrive. Some traffic had entered the pattern, and it was all headed for 13 - so it seems the wind had changed direction yet again. When I got in the pattern, I looked over to see the windsock, and it looked as if we had a direct crosswind favoring neither runway. Since everyone else was going for 13, I followed suit.
   However, I did my usual thing when there is no headwind - I always seem to come in far too high! I also turned base a bit too early. On final I ended up dumping 40 degrees of flaps down, and I landed long. The landing wasn't great either (I think I need to do a session of nothing but 40 degree flaps, because I have a tendency of ballooning a little in the flare with full flaps). I decided to taxi out back to the runway rather than do a touch and go since I ate a lot of runway coming in too high.
   On my final landing, I noticed that the turn from base to final felt, well - different. I couldn't really say what it was - it just felt odd. However, I was perfectly lined up with the centerline, and everything looked right for a nice landing. As I came in over the trees, the runway seemed to be going by a little bit faster than normal (I always notice this when there is no headwind, because I've become so used to the quartering headwind we always seem to get here). It looked faster than the last time. My airspeed was at 65 knots which was fine. I flared, and bounced a little, and then a crosswind gust blew me off course halfway through my bounce - it took quite good shove on the rudder to stop the airplane from 'weathervaning' into the wind. Finally, I had all the wheels on the ground. At about this time, I could see the windsock quite clearly again - the wind had turned round to favor 31! I had just landed downwind! Fortunately, it was only about 5 knots of wind so it wasn't too bad. I was so surprised by this turnabout whilst I was in the pattern, I missed the taxiway turnoff and had to go right to the end of the runway. The club's 210 was also heading home now (in fact, he had joined the pattern behind me and had started catching up on me, and decided to go around because he was too close as I landed) - so I advised him that the wind had just changed direction (again).

Conclusion.
   This session highlighted two areas I need to work on more - holding altitudes during manoevers, and 40 degree flap landings. I think the next time I'm out, I'll do a session of 40 degree flap landings to get more practise at them.
   I think I also need to be a bit more agressive using the ailerons when there is a direct crosswind - although I can make quick rudder adjustments to keep the airplane going in a straight line if there is a gust, I noticed that a gust would put me off the centerline - and what takes care of that? More aileron.

What was learned.
   Not only that the winds can be very strange off the end of 13 - they can also favor a different runway during the course of going around the pattern! I think each time I'm midfield and abeam of the numbers, I'm going to make sure I've looked at the windsock each time. I know why the turn from base to final felt different - it's because the wind was shoving me the other way! Next time it feels like that, I'm going to immediately go around and take a look at the windsock.

Date & Time: Sunday, 6th July, 1997, 09:30 CDT
Where: From SPX -> 3R1 -> SPX
Instruction: 0.5 hrs (ground) 1.5 hrs (air) total 2.0 hrs. Running logbook total: 27.4 hrs, 6.8 hrs solo
Aircraft: Cessna 172, number N1219F
Dual instruction with Lee Simmons

Bumping on to Bay City.
   I got out of bed at 6:30 a.m. for our dual cross country from SPX to LCH (Lake Charles) to LFK (Angelina County - Lufkin) and back home again. However, when I called 1-800-WX BRIEF, the briefer gave the bad news first. Ceilings of 1,100 overcast at LCH with thunderstorms moving in from the Gulf by 10:00 am. As soon as I heard that, I told the briefer that there was no need to go on - I'd heard enough to put me off that one. I tried to call Lee at home, but he had already left. It seemed ironic - it was a beautiful morning here - not a cloud in the sky and no wind whatsoever. I went to the airport to meet with Lee and discuss an alternative plan of action. Lee suggested we wait until after about 8:15 when the FSS would have new weather information in, and if necessary we could reverse course and go to Lufkin first, then Lake Charles. However, the second briefer indicated that the weather was absolutely no better, and Lufkin wasn't any good either - it was under a stationary front with thunderstorms and winds predicted to be 20 knots gusting to 35! Scratch that one too. Alternative plan of action - go West for a shorter cross country. Bay City (3R1) is similar to SPX in many ways - its runway is 13-31 just like ours. It's about 100 feet longer and 15 feet wider. It's an uncontrolled field serving a much smaller population than SPX - it didn't even have a UNICOM operator on duty!
   I planned this out like the others (except it didn't take as long, since it was a there-and-back trip rather than three legs), and called WX-BRIEF again to see what it was doing that way. The briefer said that a scattered layer would move in at 3,500, winds 230 at 5 and watch out for thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. A pirep had been received from a pilot flying in the vicinity of Palacios about 30 or so miles to the southwest of Bay City indicating that the cumulus was already building up. I noted this down and went to Lee.
   Since we would be there and back in less than an hour and a half, we decided to go. If the buildup looked as if it was too close to Bay City we could turn back - but in the event it wasn't. However, the scattered cumulus layer formed at about 2,500 feet - lower than had been forecast.
   The outward leg was dead-reckoned in the main part - flying a heading of 230 from SPX should bring us directly to Bay City. And it worked! I ticked off the checkpoints as we went (having learned my lesson about folding maps from the night flying experience, I had the map folded at the best part for the journey). I had put 40 minutes as our time takeoff to landing (3R1 is 53 NM from SPX, so an enroute time of just over 30 minutes plus a fudge-factor for takeoffs and landings and getting off course...) with a groundspeed of around 105 knots (the performance data for our aircraft gave 110 knots at the intended altitude at 2400 RPM, and we had a direct headwind of 5 knots at our altitude). This worked out pretty well - it took more or less exactly that time. However, one thing that I noticed was that we did more like 100 knots IAS (5 knots could be accounted for as the density altitude difference between TAS and IAS, and the other 5 knots could be accounted by the fact that the performance data is attained by a highly trained test pilot in a brand new airplane with no dead insects stuck to the propellor). We also had to fly lower than anticipated due to the lower than expected cloud level. I had no intention of getting close to the clouds and 'scud running' - apart from being illegal to get within 500 ft of the clouds when VFR in Class E, they could be cumulo-aluminum (ie containing an IFR airplane!)
   As we came close to Bay City (when I saw it, we were headed pretty much straight for the midfield as intended - that was a good feeling), I requested a traffic advisory. A Piper Warrior inbound answered my call 'there's no one on the UNICOM, we are using 13'. Another voice came on from another pilot 'winds are favoring 31' - I thought that had been the case anyway from our reports. We overflew the airport anyway since we'd have to get on the other side to enter the pattern, but my main purpose was to check the windsock. There was a reasonable crosswind, and the sock was indeed pointed at 31. I did my normal radio calls for a touch and go, so we did that. Bay City is a pretty nice airport to land on - the trees are much further away - so no squirrely winds before touchdown! I made a nice smooth landing, but lost a few points because of my weak spot (not using enough aileron during flare to prevent drifting - I'll have to work at that some more). Off we went.
   Lee suggested a few ways we could head back. We decided on flying the reverse course on what we came in on. This time, I used pure pilotage to get back since I had seen all the landmarks. (Incidentally, the worst landmarks were the small airports on the way - most of them were small grass strips and almost invisible, and the best were large lakes and resevoirs. Railroad tracks and highways were pretty good too). We also tuned in Trinity VOR, but I didn't end up using it for navigation - just for a cross check. I followed the line of resevoirs part of the way, then picked up a highway which went up to Alvin. At Alvin, I adjusted my course to the reciprocal of my original outbound course, and we ended up pointed more or less at the end of Runway 31 when Houston Gulf came into sight.
   The winds at SPX were dead calm - the windsock was limp as we came up to the airport, so we landed on 13 which pretty much seems to be the default here. Lee said 'Give me a soft field landing', so I came in for a 40 degree flap landing. As the runway came closer he said 'OK, try just keeping it above the runway using power until the second turnoff'. I did this using a little slip here and there to compensate for the occasional small gust of wind, whilst trying to remain in the ground effect., and adjusting the throttle to remain airborne. At the second exit, I pulled the power and touched down (once again cursing myself for not using enough aileron as a small gust put us a little left of the centerline), and taxied in.

Conclusion.
   Lee will now sign me off for cross country to Bay City, so I can start logging the required cross country hours! I've got a few plans on different navigation so I can try out the different methods more - I'll see if I can use the coastline for pure pilotage, also some VOR and Victor airway usage, and I'll probably dead-reckon a different routing to see how that goes. I think I may do some touch-and-goes at Bay City - with the absence of squirrely winds I can practise parts of landing I'm weak on in a predicatable environment, then see how good I can keep doing them at SPX.
   I've told everyone else I know about this, so I'll inflict it on the Internet too... I had the most vivid dream in a long time one night last week. I dreamed I was on my first solo cross country (I don't know where it was supposed to be headed), and I realised that I had got quite lost. Not only that, but unforecast weather was moving in quickly. I had to land as soon as possible. I found an airport, and had to circle down through a hole in the increasingly building cloud layer (you wouldn't believe how quickly clouds build in dream-land...), clipping a cloud in the process. I can quite clearly feel the spatial disorientation I immediately felt in my dream! Madly scanning the instruments, I came out of the cloud and landed without further incident. I then discovered I was 100 miles away from where I wanted to go, and quite weathered in, and had to spend the night there (you know when a dream is vivid when you dream that you go to sleep and wake up!) The next morning I realised with horror that I had failed to close my flight plan. Relief ensued when I realised that they would have called the airport and seen my airplane tied up on the ramp. All of a sudden, the cold realisation gripped me that I wasn't at the destination on my flight plan - I was 100 miles away! Search and Rescue would have been out all night looking for me whilst I was comfortably ensconsed in my motel room! Fortunately I woke up before the FAA man came to interrogate me... Interestingly enough, it seems like other pilots have similar nightmares (one of the owners of the Club's Piper Arrow has a recurring one about landing with the wheels up, as I'm sure most pilots of retracts have...)

What was learned.
   Good landmarks to use for pilotage do not include small airports! I'm going to keep track of them anyway just in case I need to use one some day whilst going cross country.
   Keeping everything straight in the cockpit is a very good idea, and having filled in a navigation log was good too since I had an easy-to-read list of the landmarks at my disposal, plus distances between them.
   Weather forecasting is an inexact science - if the briefer is predicting 3,500 scattered - plan for it to maybe be lower, and also have a plan to turn back or land at an alternate if you find crummy weather moving your way. Oh yes, and close your VFR flight plans!
   If in doubt about the active at an uncontrolled airport with no UNICOM, flying over and looking at the windsock is the only way to make sure you are going the right way. Telling others you might hear inbound is helpful to them too - the pilot who was actually at Bay City as we came inbound helped both us and the Warrior that was inbound by letting us know which runway the wind favored.