Skip to main content

Surprise flying

I woke up this morning, looked outside, checked the weather forecast, and realized that I could actually go flying today. So I did.

Today's flight had three main objectives. The first was to see if the comms still worked. The second was to do some pattern work and practice landings, and the third was to continue becoming familiar with the plane. I'll address these in reverse order.

I'm definitely becoming more familiar with the plane, and with the procedures for flying it. I was told this plane would make me a better pilot and I feel pretty confident in saying it's doing exactly that. I'm a lot more comfortable with it, I'm learning it's features and idiosyncrasies. For example, I've figured out where to set the trim for approach and landing to get the correct speeds. Like a 172, if you have the trim set correctly on your downwind, all you have to do is lower your flaps at the right times and you'll be at the right speed for each phase of the approach.

I'm getting better at landings, too. I performed six total landings today. All were acceptable, and I'd say three were pretty good. There was a slight crosswind so I got to practice crosswind landings as well. I did go around twice due to being too high on short final but that's also good practice.

Finally, the comms. The other day, I went out and tested them and everything seemed to be working correctly. Today, I encountered a possible problem, but I'm not sure if there was anything wrong or not. When I called for a radio check, I didn't receive a response. I was hearing other transmissions just fine, and I was able to trigger the automated weather response by keying the mile four times. I was clearly transmitting at least the carrier frequency. Following the troubleshooting steps I'd come up with earlier, I turned off the intercom. When I did that, I no longer heard sidetone when I was talking to myself, which is as expected. However, when I called for a radio check, I did hear sidetone from the radio, and I received an immediate response. I left the intercom off for the flight. It's possible it was working fine with the intercom on, but I left it off just to be sure.

After that, everything worked fine. There was one instance of a transmission that I heard over the speaker in the airplane, but it was cutting out in my headphones. I don't know if this was another symptom of a larger problem, or just due to the transmission being somewhat weak and not overcoming the squelch to the headset. All other transmissions I heard loud and clear and it was clear from listening to other aircraft that I was transmitting successfully and clearly.

So I'm still not sure if anything's wrong or not. I will definitely be asking the shop to test the comm system when I take it in for the other repairs I'll have done. I should also have my backup radio the time I go flying again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Predicting the weather is hard

At least, it's hard for this region of the country. I like to say that predicting the weather for the Puget Sound region is far more an art than it is a science. Early last week, the weather forecast was for pretty much crappy weather for the foreseeable future. However, because of the chaotic nature of the atmosphere around here, especially at this time of year, the forecast is always subject to change. As it turns out, the weather was actually nice enough last Friday afternoon (December 17) that I was able to go up for about an hour and a half. One of the reasons I went up was because I had filled the tanks after the previous flight, and I wanted to burn off some fuel in case I was able to take my father flying while we visiting from Arizona. As I'm sure I've mentioned, the weight and balance of my plane is such that I'd be over maximum weight if I had a passenger in the front seat, the required ballast in the baggage compartment to stay within the forward CG limit, a...
1 comment
Read more

A digression, if I may...

The other night, after almost 50 years, the Saturn V was dethroned as the most powerful rocket ever successfully launched by humanity. I use the word "successfully" because the Soviet N1 rocket actually generated more thrust at liftoff, but all four launch attempts ended in failure. For the first time since Apollo 17, a true moon rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying a spacecraft capable of carrying humans back to the moon. This Artemis mission is a test flight, so no astronauts are on board the Orion spacecraft. Despite that, it was a spectacular launch. Because the SLS launch vehicle has a higher thrust-to-weight ratio than the Saturn V, it rose from the launch pad much more quickly than it's predecessor. I think it's a bit heavier than the Space Shuttle, but it has more thrust due to an additional RS-25 engine, and more powerful solid rocket boosters. Watching it rise into the night sky, I was excited, but also a bit melancholy. This was ...
1 comment
Read more

Approaching the annual

I know I haven't been posting much, but that's mainly because nothing much of note has been happening. I've been flying, but not really going anywhere in particular. The engine continues to run very well, and the plane is still solid. I was hoping to do more "destination" flying this year but, for whatever reason(s), it didn't really happen. Next year, hopefully.... On the horizon, though, is the annual inspection. It's already scheduled for mid-December, since the last annual is good to the end of that month. I've also arranged for it to be an owner-assisted annual. I'm told that every airplane owner should do this at least once and I can certainly understand why that is the case, even before I do it. I will be learning about my airplane in a way that nothing else will match and, incidentally, save some money at the same time. I'm looking forward to it. Leading up to the annual, I have been compiling a list of squawks that I want to take care ...
Post a Comment
Read more