CFI Training (Finally!) 6 March 2008

We had a short break in the weather today so I met Larry at FWQ where we extracted the C172E (145 HP Continental) from the hangar. The primer was stuck, but some power lifting got it unstuck. In the fourth try she fired up in that not-so-eager, maybe-I'll-get-there manner of this particular engine.

The winds were light but steady at 10 knots or so. We taxiied down the runway but I noticed that right rudder wasn't as effective as left, no matter which way the wind blew across the airframe.

After a nice long warm up and engine run-up, we took to the active. I was flying from the right seat and we took off into the somewhat hazy, 3000' overcast sky.

The airplane actually flew predictably (for a 172) and the engine loped along. We looked for clearing to climb above the layer but I decided it was a sucker hole and we would just stay below and practice take offs and landings.

On the way back we did some slow flight and stalls. The 172 behaved as expected, with a very gentle break in power on or off. Larry demonstrated how the airplane behaved if a stall was not broken and the stick held all the way back. We mushed and sank but no disaster.

The take off and landing series was interesting. The winds were from the left and so kicking out a crab or maintaining a wing low was nigh impossible given the limited right rudder travel. On most landings I had right rudder in all the way to the stop.

We did a few and then decided to call it a day in this one. We had lunch and soon the sky was clearing, with a haze layer and some high clouds the only obstruction.
We drove over to VVS, pulled out the A36, and after another nice long run-up, took to the sky.

The air was unsettled -- not really turbulent -- but not smooth. I climbed to 4000' were we worked on Lazy and not so lazy 8s (Larry demonstrated a wingover -- neat!)

I didn;t have the PTS handy so we weren't sure about some of the standards for the Lazy 8 (I dug the references up and will have them next flight).

A few chandelles and then some steep spirals to lose altitude.

We headed back to the field and practiced a few landings on 31 (3000' long with a displaced threshold).

I was far from sharp today, but part of it was rust form not having flown the A36 in a while.