Flight Journal: flight 24- part 1

[beaky]

Been awhile, I know...going to try to keep these coming.

Flight 24
09-23-95

1968 C-172K
N07
Local
12,000 broken; wind light & variable NW; 62F

0.5 dual
1 landing

"slowflight, emerg. proc., normal t.o & lndg"


I have no extra money this week, and A. only owes me 1/2 hour for the work I've done recently... but that should be enough time for a little refresher.
But- and I need to put it on paper, right now, lest I forget- I am not ready for this lesson. I've given some consideration to what we'll be doing today... but not enough. Sure, things have been a little crazy lately, but that's no excuse.
I really need to bring my seriousness up to the level of my enthusiasm...

Well, enough self-flagellation. Here's a brief description of the lesson, which went fairly well overall, but had me making some stupid errors.

The idea today is to prepare for my stage check (with A.) J., thorough as always, briefs me beforehand on what to expect, and precisely what I need to work on to meet the criteria. One problem is my imprecise taxiing (which really shows here at N07!)... A. is a stickler for sharp taxiing, so that needs to be brought up to snuff.
So I make more of an effort to keep that nosewheel on the centerline. And proper wind correction while taxiing, whether it's really needed or not. this works well, until I arrive at the tricky hold-short area for 01, which is really just a tight 90-degree turn, with little room to straighten out before the hold-short line. I don't time the turn right, so next thing I know, I'm sitting with the nosewheel over the line, the right wingtip almost out over the runway's edge. Not good.

The radio is receiving poorly. Right mag is rough... but J. shows me how to remedy that, assuming it's just a fouled plug:
Mags BOTH; power up to 2000; lean the mixture slowly, very slowly, until it starts to miss, then richen it just a hair, until it runs smooth. Let the engine rev at this lean setting for a few seconds to burn off the deposits, then come back to 1700 and check each mag again.

Now they're both good. Time to go.
Takeoff is alright, except... I veer right while rolling; a surprising amount. The drift continues as I start to climb. I recover fine, but it's puzzling. But no matter...
"Where are we going today, J.?" I ask.
"Let's head straight for a bit..."

Maintaining a northerly course, I climb to 3000. Or try to- as I lower the nose 50 feet below the target, 475 is still rising. It's a terrible, humping level-off: now I'm at 3100. That's the limit for the checkride- 100 feet.
I get over my chagrin quickly, finessing the Skyhawk back to 3000. Stay,girl... stay.
Time now for some slow flight, J. tells me, and I hesitate just llong enough for him to start scribbling again. Or maybe I imagine that now...
Eventually, I begin, but for some reason I'm thinking in terms of the 150, so my numbers are all wrong; everything is just wrong. I lose about 100 feet on the first attempt to transition to mushing flight. But as I recover, the old axiom becomes clear again:
PREPARE
ENTER
EXECUTE

Right. You don't just start mushing- it takes a series of steps.
Remembering this, I soon climb at 55 mph back to 3000, then get her trimmed almost hands-off to continue flying at that airspeed. This is good: now I am properly using power to maintain altitude and pitch for airspeed.
Part of the standards for the checkride is "reasonable distractions" in this mode. J.'s notion of a "reasonable distraction" is to order me to turn 140 degrees to the right. No biggie. Turning 475 in MCA mode is much like doing the same in 86S. Initiate with rudder; feel it out and hold it. I'm holding the yoke more for pitch control than for banking... there'e no requirement for any amount of bank, so my approach is to see how good a turn rate I can get with a minimum of bank. That goes well, and I recover to normal cruise,settle back and admire the world spread out ahead, showing the first hints of fall colors under clear air. Nice.
But it's time to go back. So...
"Just when everything's going well," says J., reaching for the carb heat and throttle, "you lose power."
He's not very good at startling me with that, but I'll give him credit: I wasn't expecting him to spring that on me on the way home.
What I do next is rather amusing in retrospect. I check airspeed and hold 475 level, immediately scanning for a suitable place to land into the wind. An airport would be my first choice, but I am at a loss as to where the nearest one is because I have lost track of where I am. Damn.
"Um. There's the airport", J. says, pointing. He can read my mind now, I swear it.
I look. N07 is dead ahead, within gliding distance. I mumble something about being on a 45 degree entry to downwind, but 475 doesn't care what my plans are, because she will glide farthest at 80mph, and in order to maintain that speed, she must glide to the key position- that is, where one would normally turn to the base leg.
These particulars are not clear to me at the moment- I am distracted by the whispering engine and the heaviness of the controls. I'm not scared, but I'm too nervous to divide my attention properly. I fail to call on the CTAF, thinking for some reason that J. will want me to say something different than the usual. He doesn't tell me- he grabs the mic.
"...simulated engine failure; right base for Runway One."

Next: part 2