Flight 43
06-23-96
1975 C-172M
TEB-N07-TEB
1.5 dual
3 landings
warm, dry; high broken stratus; wind 330/4
"short/normal, ground ref, TP"
I'm writing this a week after the fact, so the details may be hazy...
First takeoof is awful! For some reason 453 starts hunting right a great deal as I apply power, so for a few seconds we're veering this way and that as I try to steer it onto the centerline. The minimal crosswind makes it relatively simple to get airborne on center, but I'm not quite perfect climbing out.
But the day is nice for flying- clear and calm. There's a bit of haze on the horizon, but it's no big deal.
We head towards the practice area at about 100 kts. Very little traffic. We do a quick review of s-turns and turns around a point... my S-turns are good, but I've done the other maneuver better before. Steep turns next: better there.
Then stalls... I find myself apprehensive as I pull back, especially during the power-on stalls; that feeling that we will slide backwards. Stupid, but there you have it. Last time I did stalls, I yanked the nose up with abandon; this attitude never bothered me before. Well, never mind. time to head to N07 for some landings. This time I'm more certain where we are, and I get there without difficulty.
As we prepare to enter the pattern, I can see that there's a lot of local traffic. I'm about a mile from the downwind on a typical 45-degree entry, when I see another Cessna turning crosswind, having just left Runway 1. I'm not sure what he's doing, and C. is not sure either. It looks too close for comfort: if he is going to turn downwind, he'll be right on my tail when I reach midfield. So I decide to circle left over Pompton Lakes to try again, giving the other plane time to finish the pattern or depart the area [EDIT: I have no idea why we didn't just ask the other pilot]
Coming back around, I'm ridiculously high, even as I turn to final. I slip it in, making C. quite nervous. I think I do it well, but I don't quite hold the slip long enough and 453 ends up floating a bit. That was not very good... but nothing to be nervous about, either.
My back isn't all sweaty as I taxi back for departure... a good sign.
Next takeoff is supposed to be a short-field, but I forget to hold the brakes as I usually do- hello, anybody in there?
I make a decent takeoff anyway, climbing steeply, when WHAM! a giant fist clutches 453, rocks it back and forth a few times, then tosses it heavenward on a huge updraft, probably a thermal current rising off the greenhouses.
I'm holding pitch for Vx, but she's indicating 85 knots, with the VSI pinned on the upper stop. My God, I seem to be climbing at over 1000 fpom in a 172... at Vx!
The prospect of taking off again into that burbling cauldron, though interesting, is a bit daunting. But I'm saved by the fact that C. is ruinning out of time (next lesson coming up), so it's time to go back to the wide-open spaces of TEB.
Cleared for left traffic for 06, my pattern is pretty good, but I stretch the downwind too far.
Landing, I try very hard not to let the dimensions of the runway fool me, but the landing is still only fair despite my effort.
During the debriefing, C. comments on my hesitant stalls, and asks just what the heck I was doing in the pattern there at Lincoln Park...?
He seems to understand my explanation; there is no further comment.
"Got a few minutes?" he asks. Apparently, we've returned with time to spare before his next lesson.
"Sure", I tell him, and we adjourn to the classroom.
He starts asking me questions about airspaces, etc. as I"m dusting off my memory, it occurs to me that there's something familiar about these questions...yet I'm not providing all the correct answers.
"You've got to know this stuff for your presolo quiz", he chides.
"But... but I took my presolo. Before I soloed. Last September."
C. shakes his head. "You gotta take it again; the records are missing."
I am annoyed. I have J's signoff on both the knowledge quiz and the solo flight in my logbook. What sort of scam is this? I wonder. Or are they truly that incompetent?
But my performance this time does not help my case... I could stand some review, I'll admit it. If I abandon this school and whatever it is that's going on here to continue training elsewhere, I'll wind up set back more than I am now, for sure.
It's a bitter pill to swallow, but it is sweetened a little by the realization that I will probably solo again shortly.
Next- Flight 44: back to the proving grounds
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