Sim Flight Training: PPL: Part 2 of 7

[Brett_Henderson]

I'm putting the original "syllabus" back up for reference...

SimV Private Pilot:

1-Plan a flight of 50nm or more, accounting for winds aloft and their affect on heading and ground-speed. Calculate the minimum fuel needed (including reserves) and the maximum payload at that fuel level.

2-Fly the planned flight holding heading (+/- 10 degrees) and altitude (+/- 100 feet); enter the traffic pattern safely; execute a touch-and-go and fly one complete lap around the pattern and then execute a full-stop, short-field landing.

3-Execute a short-field takeoff.

4-Execute a constant-airspeed, climbing turn.

5-Track a VOR radial and fly to an NDB.

6-Execute a 360 degree, steep turn (greater than 45 degrees bank) holding altitude +/- 100 feet and rolling out on heading +/- 10 degrees.

7-Execute a no-flap landing.

Part 2 will cover a lot of flying procedures. We can touch on the ABC-123-step-by-step stuff..

[Brett_Henderson]

OK... I think the most applicable concept to get out of Part 2, is situational awareness. Where you are; where you want to be;

[Brett_Henderson]

There are a couple camps when it comes to initial climb-out speed. Mathematically they're almost equal, and the airport environment, prevailing wind and surrounding area has the last say.

Vy (~75kias for C172@sea-level)

[Mobius]

Vx (~75kias for C172@sea-level)  and   Vy (~60kias for a C172@sea-level)

Hey Brett, I think you have you're Vx and Vy switched.  Vx ~60 kias and Vy ~75kias.

[Brett_Henderson]

LOL.. you're right.. thanks  :)

[RitterKreuz]

hey brett... are you conducting actual online sim training in multiplayer shared aircraft for sim-pilots?

if so thats great!

sounds like something i might like to help out with now and again.  8-)

One addition... i have tried this before, but we quickly discovered that our keyboard and joystick assignments were completely different, it took a lot of time to sort that out hahaha so watch out for that!  ;D

[Brett_Henderson]

Hi RitterKreuz..

[Brett_Henderson]

Now......

[Brett_Henderson]

Alrighty then... I'll sort it out.

VFR cruising altitudes begin above 3000agl ( NOT msl, as many airports have elevations at or above 3000msl).

If your magnetic course (not heading, but actual ground track) is anywhere from 000 to 179, your VFR cruising altitude would be any odd-numbered thousand plus 500 (3500, 5500, 7500, etc.)

If your magnetic course (not heading, but actual ground track) is anywhere from 180 to 359, your VFR cruising altitude would be any even-numbered thousand plus 500 (4500, 6500, 8500, etc.)

The theory is to keep people from flying "at" each other. Any airplane at the same altitdue as you, will be flying in similar direction.

The old trick for remembering, is that if you're flying the "bigger" numbers (westerly) it's even+500. The smaller numbers (easterly) are odd+500....

[Brett_Henderson]

Trimming at cruise altitude and make the plane "happy".....

There's and old joke:

[beaky]

Yes, I generally lean by RPM indication, especially in MSFS... my time in a real C172 with an EGT showed me that generally the tach jibes with what the EGT is telling you. A fuel flow meter is best, of course...

In the Champ I was flying recently, which has no mixture control, a power reduction (to a setting which varied slightly with altitude) is used, the target being a distinctive vibration. Yeah... old-school, but it works. This yields best fuel economy/airspeed ratio in that plane... I found that I'd lose about 5 mph indicated, maybe a bit more. In a plane that won't go past 100 mph unless you dive it, that's not a big deal;D

But that points out what is obvious for any aircraft: throttle back a little and you will save fuel without a major sacrifice of time. My other observation with various C172s in RL was that the handbook's throttle setting/altitude/fuel burn figures were fairly accurate,  so often the choice of altitude would make a  big impact on fuel burn-to-airspeed . For long legs, I try to go with the altitude and power setting that hits the target where the airspeed and fuel burn curves intersect, if you know what I mean. Climbing costs a little fuel, but if you plan your descent right, you'll get some of that back.

Off the top of my head (been a while since I made a long haul in a Skyhawk), the best altitude is not anywhere near service ceiling- 7000-8000 feet, just a little more than halfway. The best throttle setting for that altitude escapes me at the moment, but it's about halfway between "really gotta get there" and "I'm lost and need to conserve fuel while I circle". Leaning should follow from there.

As for trim: less is more. In a Cessna, definitely trim off pressure-  do not try to adjust pitch initially with trim, unless you really want a roller-coaster flight profile.

[Brett_Henderson]

Every plane is different.. even C172s of the same model/year... and especially as they and their engines "age" and develop their own personalities. Throw in that the gauges, even tachometers, have built-in errors and flying a normally-aspirated, piston airplane becomes somewhat of an art-form

[beaky]

So.. flying the Champ from sea-level, up to an airfield at 5,000msl is tricky ?

Digressing again, but this is interesting:
The mixture is fixed on the old "A" model Stromberg carb... but I had it up to 6,500 (ish) and it didn't seem to mind much. Very standard temp/dewpoint conditions, mind you... what's curious is that this fixed-mixture Champ has a service ceiling of 13,000. You could use most of your fuel getting up there... but finding lift is an important part of a Champ driver's job...  ;d

[Brett_Henderson]

Hardly a digression

[beaky]

Hardly a digression  :) ..  
I don't think I can coax a 172 up near 13,000msl without leaning. And even if I could I'd be worried about plug fouling. Which prompts me to ask; How do you clear a sputtering magneto in a Champ. And if you did have to take-off from a 7,000msl airport.. umm.. can you ?

This is a very good question, which I considered but didn't ask about, and in fact, neither Bob nor anyone else offered any advice on how to deal with fouling. Never experienced any, either... which is certainly not the case with all the controllable-mixture Lycomings I've flown behind. Go figure.

It's possible that the way the timing is set helps prevent that- I do know that in order to make it easier to hand-prop, the spark was advanced a bit on that one. But that won't help much if you're running very rich on a regular basis... some Champs have a "B" type carb installed, with mixture control... maybe that's the only option for high-elevation  ops.

But maybe owners of fixed-mixture carb-equipped Champs who operate in the mountains or wherever keep it set a bit on the lean side... I dunno.

As for taking off at 7000 feet in "my" Champ, the normal takeoff roll and distance-to-clear is so short, I think it would take a very short strip with very tall trees all around to make me reconsider. I did fly it on some rather high-DA days, and the difference, near sea level, didn't seem quite so pronounced as with a loaded Skyhawk on a hot day. Must have something to do with the thrust-to-weight-to wing loading ratio... it may have a puny engine, but it's a very light airplane, with a very efficient wing, all things considered.

That's a nice Champ, BTW... the Army trainer paint had me thinking "Stinson 10" at first, but obviously it isn't... by all means, get some time in it while it's still flying, especially if you find yourself sitting around thinking "I should get a couple of hours in this weekend just to stay fresh", or "I need something new to do in a plane". The fun-to-cost ratio is extremely favorable, and it will keep you in touch with your "inner stick-and-rudder pilot", because getting acquainted with it is definitely a challenge.