Some things in flying are just fun, maybe difficult to do, but they’re alot of fun. Today, we reached that point.
Storms clouded the sky for most of the day, and I’d given up on flying, but at ten-til five, I called Carl and asked if we were flying.
“Yeah, I don’t see any problem,” he said, and I jumped in the truck and headed for the airport.
Seven five x-ray was waiting for us on the ramp. A quick preflight and we were off. My take-off was much smoother, and seemed to go much slower than before. The centerline stayed under the nosewheel, and the rotation was right on the money.
Safely in the practice area, I tried some more steep turns, and after a quick warm-up, was flying within 100 feet of assigned altitude, a huge improvement over previous attempts.
In to slow flight again, this time with the ball in the center and adequate right-rudder applied, Carl introduced me to power-off stalls. Dad and I had stalled the Warrior before, and I knew what to expect, although as a pilot, it’s alot more fun.
A stall occurs when the wings lack the lift to let the airplane fly, more specifically, when the airflow over the wing exceeds what is known as the critical angle of attack, the air can no longer conform to the surface of the wing and lift is destroyed.
Training aircraft, no matter what type, stall very gently. The Warrior’s weight makes for a very-noticable buffet when nearing a stall, especially with power on.
There are three points in which to recover from a stall, the horn, the buffet, or the break. Waiting for the stall to break involves holding back-pressure until the wings fully stall, and the airplane begins to fall. The CG will cause the nose of the airplane to rapidly pitch down, a maneuver that will really get your blood pumping if you’re not expecting it.
For me, stall recovery has always seemed extremely simple, push the nose over, full power, and let some flaps out if you have any in. In practice, the recovery is quick, simple, and to the point — once you remember to let go of the release button on the flap lever — if you don’t, you’ll have flaps full up in no time, and could be below the flap-up stall speed of the aircraft.
Power-off stalls, practiced to simulate a stall on landing, are docile, and relatively uneventful. To simulate a stall on departure (take-off), we do power-on stalls. First placing the aircraft at 70 knots and going to a full-power climb, as we would after take off, then leaving in full power, pull the nose up until the speed bleeds off to 50 knots, the flaps-up stall speed of the Warrior. With power on, not only does it require significantly more right rudder pressure, but the pre-stall buffet is much more noticeable.
For the checkride, a student must perform a power-on and power-off stall to the break and recover. The Warrior is so docile, getting it to break in power-on stalling configuration is near impossible, and Carl tried a couple of times, unsuccessfully. In retrospect, the airplane was probably slipping backwards rather than breaking over the top.
All in all, stalling is fun, not so much for anyone but the pilot, but I enjoyed it. This fourth flight was by far the most enjoyable lesson yet. Possibly just because I’m more comfortable in the aircraft.
My next flight is scheduled two days later.
Logbook
Aircraft: N2875X (PA-28-161)
Dual: 1.3hrs