Earlier this summer, I ran into a guy I hadn't seen in a couple of years. He told me that his wife bought him a groupon for a "Discovery Flight" at Brett Aviation in Middle River at the Martin State Airport. That got the wheels turning, so I bought my own groupon and booked my flight.
Met with Mike for a fairly short ground school. Talked about the four fundamentals of flight. Straight-and-level, climbing, descent, turns. Hope I got that right or Mike's going to hunt me down! Looked at the control surfaces of the airplane (a Cessna 172) and talked about how the interconnect and change the flight of the plane.
Two acronyms I need to remember. CIGAR and Lights, Camera, Action.
CIGAR is Controls, Instruments, Gas, Attitude, Runup. Sequence of things to check before taking off.
Lights, Camera, Action means to make sure the lights are on, that the transponder is on, and do the rest of the things that make the plane ready to fly. I need to fill in details on my next flight.
Foot pedals and brakes drive the plane on the ground.
Stuff I need to learn more about:
- Trim wheel. Get the concept, mostly. Depending on climb or descent, adjusting trim makes it so I don't have to keep constant pressure on the steering wheel (which I 100% sure is NOT called a steering wheel). How much, which direction, how do I know it's reset to neutral?
- Banking. I think turning the stick banks and you stay in a bank until you bank back the other way. Check that.
- Staying level while banking. Learn to use the high edge of the engine cowling to line up with the horizon.
Mike got us lined up with the runway. We got cleared, taxied ahead until the runway actually started, then Mike pushed in the throttle. I watched the airspeed (I think...) and when it got to 55, I pulled back and we took off. Top of the engine cowling on the horizon is a good rate of climb.
We did some turns, using landmarks on the ground. Followed I-95. IFR apparently means "I Follow Roads." 180 degree turns each way, 360 degree turns each way. Turned back south along 95 and reduced throttle to descend. I need to be a little better about keeping part of my attention on climb/descent while turning. Practice.
Lined up for landing. Mike had clearance before turning into final. Pretty strong winds, so we had to aim a little to the right to keep the plane lined up with the center of the runway. Mike handled the throttle during landing. I think I controlled the stick most of the way in. He told me that when we were about 5-10 feet off the ground that he was going to increase the throttle and tell me to pull up on the stick. He did, I did, he told me to pull up more, I did, and then we were on the ground.
Definitely want to continue. Vague plan is to keep doing these types of flights maybe every 4-6 months until the time comes when I can get into an actual class. Abby needs to have a driver's license before I get a pilot's license!
