Flight Journal: flight 51

[beaky]

Flight 51

08-15-96

1975 C-172M
TEB-4N1-TEB
1.6 dual
2 landings

"Review VOR & ADF, unusual attitude recovery"


13,000 bkn; vis 3, haze; wind calm; 80F


I'm in good shape today- slept very well last night.
I'm also well-prepared for the lesson- more radio nav work with unusual attitude recovery practice later.
Takeoff from 24 is real nice, and I turn to track the Paterson NDB as I climb to 1000.
C. tells me to put on the Foggles right away. Cool.
I settle into homing in on the beacon, practicing my scan around the "six pack" of primary instruments and check the ADF each time. Soon it appears that the needle is not moving.
I'm not THAT good! The ADF is inop, so I switch to an outbound radial from the TEB VOR.

The Foggles start distracting me, in a peculiar way. I keep noticing just enough terrain in the corner of my eye to fool me into thinking I'm banking when I'm not- something about the angle of the bottom edge of the window and the corner of the foggles that is clear. This continues to be a problem, overcome with concerted effort. Just have to get used to it...

My reward is very satisfying and de-mystifying radio nav work. Very enjoyable.

We've decided to stop at Greenwood Lake so I can buy a lapboard. I make a fair arrival, and we shut down next to a big yellow AT6 near the fuel pumps.

C. bumps into a former classmate from college, who is now instructing here while working on her A&P cert. I excuse myself and head for the pilot shop in the nose of the Constellation, but she tells me it's closed.

So we just hang around for a while- I listen as C. and E. catch up. They have a lot in common: a dislike for small airplanes and an intolerance of imprecision. I'm soon bored. I want to get back into the sky.


I make a very good soft-field takeoff, the Foggles go back on, we resume VOR work, and soon we're just NW of N07.
Time for some more unusual attitudes, this time without Foggles.
Instead, C. asks me to close my eyes as he sets up the UA.

This worries me, even as I close my eyes. I'm gonna get sick, I know it...

But I don't... in fact, I find it very easy to tell exactly what the plane is doing, and I remember with each recovery to look first at the AI, not the view outside.

Track the VOR to TEB, call the tower, and soon I'm cleared for a right base for 24. Like an idiot, I start turning final for 19- because it's closer, I guess.
 Maybe I'm not so stupid, though: Tower clears me for 19.
I land just left of the centerline, as usual.

Next- Flight 52:first solo flight to another airport!