The following day, I met Carl at 8:00am for a flight in a Cessna 150 (N50475). Todd and Carl both recommended that I take one flight in both the Warrior and the 150 before deciding which I would like to perform my training in. Today it was cold, about 35 degrees, with winds of 15 knots gusting to 20.
This was my first flight in a high-wing aircraft. The preflight is close, but slightly different than that of a Piper. The first switch, Cessnas have electric flaps, rather than a lever in the cockpit, a small switch held in the down position will extend the flaps to 40 degrees. Cessna’s flaps are about twice the depth of the Pipers, at least they look that way. Other than a ladder for checking fuel, the preflight went on without a hitch.
Reviewing the right main tire, I determined it to be low, and Carl agreed. A quick fill-up from the mechanic and we were back in the airplane. With the 100hp engine running smoothly, Carl noticed the right flap shaking as the engine idled. Carl and the mechanic inspected it and determined that it was just the wind playing tricks with us.
Back in the left seat, we called for clearance and taxied out to runway 20. Carl did the takeoff again, gusty wasn’t exactly the best conditions for me to be learning how to takeoff. With the plane in my hands, I had my first experience with turbulence and gusty winds. At first, it felt as if the 150 had a mind of it’s own, but I soon learned that my adjustments if made adequately, would keep us in a relatively straight line.
A quick glance out the window, it was easy to see that our ground speed was slow, at best. At 3,000 feet the turbulence was very mild, and Carl asked for the controls. He pulled the throttle back and lowered the flaps to show me the 150 can fly so slowly that on a windy day, we were easily able to move backwards across the ground.
All playing aside, Carl introduced me to steep turns and some general maneuvering again. The 150 stood out in my mind for being the first plane I’d ever flown in with a turn-and-slip indicator rather than a turn coordinator. Very little of my concentration was spent inside the airplane, as I was mostly concentrating on actually keeping track of where we were and what we were doing, something I’d noticeably forgotten to do the previous day.
What seemed like a few minutes brought us to the end of our one-hour flight, and we turned toward the airport, putting in a 20 degree crab to correct for the crosswind. The poor 100 horse engine was barely making any ground speed, but eventually we turned final and Carl took over. He did a no-flap landing in the gusting winds, with a nice touch-down, before turning the controls over to me to taxi back to the ramp.
Logbook:
Aircraft/Type: N50475 (C150)
Dual: 1.2 hrs