N162HG 1.6 Bob

I had an email conversation with Bob where I asked for more "checkride rules" lessons -- talking between maneuvers but letting me dig myself in ;) so long as we remain safe. He was cool with that, which is great! I then came up with a list of exercises that I believed would help me gain more basic skills in looking out the window rather than fixating on the wibbly wobbly instruments in front of me. I made a "kneeboard format" list of the exercises, reproduced below:

Level cruise	90 kias, 2350 rpm
Straight & level	level cruise - altitude
Cruise descent	level cruise ↓ pwr - 90 kias, heading anticipate, ↑ pwr, level
Max climb	level cruise ↑ pwr to max Vy = 62 kias - 62 kias, heading anticipate, accelerate, ↓ pwr, level
Cruise turn	level cruise pick point abeam - bank 30, altitude anticipate, roll out check altitude
Dogleg turn	cruise turn both ways entire time
Practice final	carb heat ↓ spd to 100 / 85 / 70 kias flaps full ↓ spd to 55 kias - 55 kias, hdg, pwr ↑/↓
Practice slip	practice final - 55 kias, hdg, slip ←/→

Good habits pattern	carb heat ↓ spd 100 / 85 / 70 kias flaps full ↓ spd to 55 kias on final on horizon 55 kias to threshold CFI - “airspeed” / “check ASI”
To runway pattern	good habits pattern forward/horizon timing of base → final turn sideslip to threshold
Landing pattern	to runway pattern keep up speed near runway cut to idle gentle flare maintain pressure

The idea was to "gamify" the training a little bit. Each step is a little game to see how well I can maintain the parameters of the maneuver by visual reference to the outside alone.

Result: I love this approach and think will keep trying to do these (and similar) exercises after solo!

We departed KPAO to the West and flew over the mountains towards the coast. The coast was covered in clouds, so we flew over them and out over the ocean, then turned back, and maneuvered around some more West of Hwy 280 and South of Palo Alto. We came back and did 1 touch and go and one full stop landing and called it a day.

It was very windy and bumpy, which was a good challenge for the air work but, in the landing pattern, was a total pain in the neck. Both my landings left very much to be desired. The first one, I ended up on my right wheel with a left crosswind on the right side of the runway, and my CFI took the airplane.

My biggest problem is probably the level-offs where I need to remember what to do. After the descent, just add power and let the plane come up to speed; the plane actually descends nicely with cruise trim when power is cut. After an ascent, I need to be more decisive yet gentle about the level off and remember to cut power as the plane accelerates. But overall, I'm getting the "feel" of a lot of maneuvers that I felt were in the bag with the C152 but are not so much so with the Flycatcher.

As Bob noted to me, I get stressed out once in the pattern and all the stuff I was able to do more or less okay (the stuff in the first "page" of the list above) flew out the window. I was --

• Not managing my descent properly -- sort of put down flaps in one fell swoop rather than in a clean sequence;
• Over-banking -- I tend to under-bank when I'm calm, but in the pattern, I whip the plane around in 40 degree banks;
• Not handling the crosswind properly -- I still need to practice the crab / slip maneuver (start slipping about 1/4 mile out);
• Overall doing a slapdash job in the flare.

I think I consider today to have been a good learning experience, though. I certainly have learned to look out the window more and trust that I can do a more or less okay job of maintaining my speed. I believe I would like to do the "second page" exercises next time. In particular, it may be good to actually try a "pattern" (with turns) at altitude, just to ingrain into my mind the process of slowing down and adding flaps.