Quote:
Originally Posted by flybub
The older fella could certainly have had a bad day. Lord knows I've had my share. He did answer all my questions, but I was not expecting the way he did it because I have never experienced that kind of attitude from any instructor I've had in the past. I am going to go fly with him once and we'll go from there.
I'll share with you my first flight story and the kind of Pilot I flew with on that day.
I have around 4 to 5 flight instruction hours that took place
more than 20 years ago. That's all my logbook shows. I actually still have the logbook after all this time:
I kept this old unwritten Jeppesen paperback novel because I knew the dream would never die and that I'd be back at some point along the way. The reason for that belief has a lot to do with the story I'm about to tell you and the Pilot who made that story possible in my life.
I met a guy on my job one day, not knowing at the time that he was a pilot. He was about 15 years my senior in chronological age. He saw me reading a book about an F4 Phantom pilot named Randy "Duke" Cunningham, during my break and asked me about it. Over the course of the conversation as he ate his pizza, I found out he was a CFI, CFII and MEI. What he found out was that I was very interested in airplanes, too. One thing lead to another during the conversation and he invited me to fly out with him on his regular trip to Auburn and back that Saturday morning. Of course, I thought it was just going to be my first small airplane ride from the back seat somewhere. I had no idea what was coming next.
I arrived at the south gate and parked, he got there before me and we both went through on his security code. He was the first at the flying club that morning, opened the door, turned on some lights and did some paperwork in order to check out the airplane. I thought he'd be flying a Cessna of some kind. We walked out to a Tiger Grumman AA-5B. He asked me if I knew much about the Tiger, being an avid reader of airplane books. I told him, I've never seen one.
He removed the tie down chains and began his preflight. He said, "The very first thing I do when approaching the airplane is to look for anything suspicious lying around on the ground near it." He said, "Then I stand back away from the airplane to see if it still looks like an airplane should look." He was looking for low hanging fruit, obvious things that were broken or hanging off the airplane. He then went deeper into his preflight, explaining every little detail point-by-point. He then told me how to avoid trouble on the ramp walking too close to propellers or jet engine intakes and exhausts. He explained the concept of a hot magneto and how propellers should be respected at all times - remaining clear of the arch whenever possible. He gave a quick brief of the flight to come. The excitement level at this point was off the charts for me personally. But, I still had no clue was about to happen next.
We start to get into the airplane and I instinctively walk around to the right side. He said, "Where ya going! You're sitting left seat - this is your airplane today." He was a Psych Major in College and it was starting to show. He actually had me thinking it was literally "MY AIRPLANE" in just a nanosecond. So, I reversed course, walked around to the left wing and he showed me how to mount a Tiger Grumman from the wing. I thought I was 'Duke' Cunningham, for a moment there climbing on the wing and stepping into a 'cockpit' for the first time. Felt good. I had no idea what the heck I was doing, obviously. I was just following his instructions. Anyway, we get into the airplane, get the seats, seat belts, shoulder harnesses adjusted and locked.
I was ready to watch him do everything, while I sat back and enjoyed the ride.
He then reaches over hands me a plastic laminated card and says, "Start reading it. Its called a checklist." He said, "I know you are a fast reader, because I've seen you reading before, remember?" He said, "Let me know when you are finished." I'm pretty intuitive. I thought he was just going to quiz me as he went along doing his thing. I said, "Ok......... I'm done."
Information is one thing. Making it Knowledge and applying it is quite another.
He explained what ATIS was and showed me how to get it using the radios. He explained that he previously got a weather briefing, read through each line for the en route portion and concluded that flight was a "Go." He turns to me, as if he's serious and says, "Out of pure curiosity, exactly what would you need to accomplish in order to properly start the engine?" I looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He said, "Its in your hands. You just read it, remember?"
I said to myself:
He wants me to literally start the airplane! You gotta be kidding me!
I looked at the sheet, found "Before Starting Engine" and just started reading the numbered list aloud. He stepped through every single number with me assuming I knew absolutely nothing about any of them - which was very true. This was my Introduction to the Tiger Grumman AA5B Checklist......... an actual Engine Start. I was stoked! And, I successfully started the engine, too. At this point, I'm thinking its over. My chores are over. I got to start an engine today (highly unexpected) and I'm going to enjoy a nice flight. What a wonderful day, right. Wrong. It was about to get way more interesting than that.
After engine warm-up at idle, he said, "I want you to get taxi clearance from ground control." He told me what to say and to simply repeat it after pressing the button that he pointed to. He had me practice it with him a few times prior. He gave me a cue when the radios were quiet and said, "Go." I pushed the button and got taxi clearance. He said, "Outstanding." I figured, surely I'm done at this stage. He then said, "I want you to taxi us to the run-up area."
At this point, I'm feeling really good and admittedly, kind of cocky. I will admit that - I will offer that freely. I should not have - but it was enthralling up to this point because I'm doing the work. I have no idea (yet - that will come later) what I'm doing. But, things are moving along nicely at this point. So, I am feeling my oats a little. He shows me how to use the rudder pedals properly to maneuver on the ground and how just a little power will get things moving. He manages Mixture Control the entire time (we never got into that). After showing me how to move the airplane on the ground a few times, he let's me taxi. We start off smoothly but the airplane starts to move right - I tap the left side and tack back to the taxi line. Basically, I was all over the taxiway, but got things a little smoother as we came to the run-up area where he had me turn into the wind, stop and set the parking brake. Of course, at this point, I don't know how far he's going to go in allowing me to do things - so I just wait for the next instruction.
Sure enough, right on cue. He has me go through the Before Take-Off checks. This time I was ready and jumped right into the numbers. Again, he took the time to step me through each item and required that I perform each task - quickly summarizing the reason behind each check along the way. Just like that, I had finished the Before Take-Off. He told me to re-read the Normal Take-Off checks again. I did. He told me to get clearance to taxi to the runway for departure. Just like before, he rehearsed everything with me then waited until the radios were clear enough and said, "Go." I called Tower and get clearance to taxi, but missed the "Taxi and Hold Short" instruction.
I started taxiing in the direction he pointed, trying to keep the airplane on the taxiway. He then explained "Taxi and Hold Short." We held short. Tower came back with clearance for take-off runway 27R. He told me where to look for traffic in-bound before taxiing out. He had me position the aircraft on the runway as best I could on center line. He said, "Step through the short list for me and call it out." I called it out. As I reached the end of the short list, he says that he has the airplane now. I let go. We head down the runway. I'm thinking to myself,
man that was tough. But, it was still not over. Not by a long shot.
We climb out. He does what appears to be a lot of "pilot stuff" on the way up. I'm thinking,
gee I've got a lot to learn. He handles the radios and that's where things got really strange for me. I was completely a fish out of water when it came to understanding what ATC was saying.
Once we got level, he went to work again assigning me unexpected tasks. He then took me through the concept of Pitch-Power-Trim. The first thing he showed me was how to trim the airplane for straight and level flight - keeping the nose/wings on the horizon and the ball centered. I was mere minutes in my first small airplane for the very first time and he had me engaged in figuring out Coordinated Flight. I trimmed straight and level, he would mess it up for me and then have me trim it again for straight and level until I got good at it. I could now keep an airplane level on the horizon, which was a very big question in my mind before taking off.
Pitch-Power-Trim was my very first in-flight lesson.
He then showed me Roll-Power-Trim. How to slowly roll the airplane into a turn while keeping the nose on the horizon and the ball centered. I distinctly remember the words: "Step on the ball if you need to. Ball goes right, step on it. Ball goes left, step on it." He had a knack for making things simple and clear, then having you do it yourself. When I screwed up, he said "I've got the airplane" - straightened things up and then told me to "try again until you get it right." Try again. Try again. Try again. Those words ring down through all these years. He had me climbing, descending, turning, adding and taking away power - all using
Pitch-Power-Trim and
Roll-Power-Trim.
He then demonstrated power-on stalls and then simulated power-off stalls. He then told me to replicate what he just did. So, I pulled power and continuously pulled back the nose slowly until the buffet/stall warning horn - lowered the nose to break the stall, added full power until the wings were flying again and slowly lifted the back to the horizon then pulled power. He congratulated me on my first successful stall recovery. I did a few more.
He then demonstrated Spin Recovery, but did so very carefully. He first walked through a two spin recovery, then a one spin recovery and finally a less than one spin recovery. He cycled back through each one (2, 1 and less than 1) a couple more times. The last two times he had me lightly touching the controls (yoke and rudder pedals). He called it "shadowing the controls," just to know what he was doing with them. He then set power and mixture had me try it. From straight and level, I kept increasing back pressure keeping the wings level, airspeed dropped and just before the buffet he had me put in left rudder. Sure enough, the airplane rolled into a left wing down spin. I immediately applied full opposite right rudder and pushed the nose down until the spin stopped. Releasing rudder pressure, adding power and slowing pulling wings level - I completed my first spin recovery. He would not let me do two spins. I practiced a few more one spin recoveries and then he gave me an altitude to climb to and a heading to fly which got us back on course.
I experienced a lot in just 30+ minutes heading out to Auburn. This guy was a great Teacher and he knew how to get you engaged in the actual learning process - to the point where you were teaching yourself and he was guiding, demonstrating and modeling for you. Though, I was not his official paid student at this point, the decision for me to make him my Instructor from that point was already made in my mind.
We landed in Auburn. He took care of his business and then walked me through the preflight outside the airplane. We got back in where I was once again given the checklist duties. With his supervision, I did the engine start, he walked me through making radio calls to Auburn Traffic (Auburn has no tower) and then I taxied to the runway. This time, along with the checklist, he had me do the actual take-off and climb. I was beside myself when he suggested it. He set the mixture. I held the brakes in while adding take-off power - then released the brakes. Airplane starts going forward and left. He explained earlier that I might need to tap the right brake to keep the airplane headed straight down the runway but that as airspeed increased, I would need to use right rudder instead of the brake. That indeed came true. He basically guided me on how much rudder to use the whole way until he said, "Ease straight back on the yoke until the nose comes off the ground." I did and it flew off the ground!
I let go of the rudder after initial climb by accident. He had me reapply right rudder and a little right aileron to keep things lined up and the ball centered. He then had me pitch until the climb indicator showed 750 feet per minute and then had me trim to maintain that climb speed. I said, this was just like Pitch-Power-Trim. He said, "Exactly." Nodding his head with a smile. He got back on the radios doing more complicated sounding "pilot stuff" and I just held the climb. He said, "They gave us a squawk I want you to enter." I had no idea, so I said, "How?" He said that he would dial the first two numbers and I would dial the last two. Again, modeling by example a new task. I got the squawk in and he had me push a button to identify.
After more complicated sounding "pilot stuff" on the radio, he said, "We have a heading and altitude." He gave me the heading first and I began slowly turning toward it while climbing. I said, "Like Roll-Power-Trim." He said, "Piece of cake." Of course, it was even easier because the Power was already in and the Trim was already done! I said, "Climb-outs are not too difficult." He said, "Now, you're learning." We kept climbing. He kept doing more complicated radio pilot stuff and I kept making heading changes as a result. Turning through a couple different headings while climbing - we finally reach 3,900 where I level off - reduce power and trim.
On the way back to KOAK, he kept focusing my attention on slow flight, steady descents and slow descending turns. After practicing these three things repeatedly we finally got closer to KOAK. We're cruising along when he tells me that I should fly the approach and he would take over the landing at the appropriate time. I said, "Just let me know what to do." He said, "You've already done it." I said, "When?" He said, "On the way over. That's what you've been practicing." That's what all the slow flight stuff was all about and now I understood why.
He handled the radios once again, gave me a heading to fly and told me to configure the airplane for a descent down to 1,200 feet. I looked at the altimeter and realized we had a little under 2,800 feet to descend. I immediately thought, Pitch-Power-Trim. I put the nose down, pulled power until the speed stabilized, trimmed until soft and just held it there. Somehow, I magically ended up right at a 500 foot per minute rate of descent - just as he was saying, "Good. I want you to maintain a 500 foot rate of descent." I'm still not sure if he was just boosting my confidence here or not.
My speed was a bit too high, but wings/nose were on the horizon with the ball in the middle. He then told me to pull power slightly and watch what happens. I thought the airplane would slow down by pulling power. It got even faster. He said, "To slow things down, start raising the nose slightly." I thought to myself, *that can't be right!* - but I did it and sure enough the airplane begins to slow without climbing! He said, "You just changed the pitch attitude to control speed. This is called Pitch-For-Speed. We'll talk about it later." Obviously, I thought this was Yoda territory. I was flying with Yoda!
Before we got to 1,200 feet, he told me to "Start putting nose and wings on the horizon again and
do what's necessary to maintain your speed - check your ball." This was one of those moments where an Instructor demonstrates how golden they are. He did not tell what to do in order to maintain speed, he already taught me that. He told me to do what was necessary. This forces me to only consider what he had previously taught. It was a master stroke of teaching brilliance on his part. All I knew at that time was what he already instructed. So, I slightly pulled the nose back to the horizon with wings level and ball centered,
then slowly applied power until the speed stabilized - because that's what was "necessary" at the time and the only thing I knew. I then re-trimmed the airplane. He said, "Piece of cake."
He reinforced what I had already learned through direct application inside a brand new task. Absolute, brilliance as a Teacher. This made it feel like I was learning something of value. Something that kept me in control of the airplane.
After he worked the radios again (more complex pilot chatter), he said that he wanted me to do the same thing from 1,200 feet down to 700 feet. More brilliance on his part because he set things up so that we were already flying the Base Leg. That meant I would only have one turn before entering Final. He kept things manageable for me while keeping things flowing in a plausible learning scenario as well. He told me to put in the flaps like I did on the way over practicing Slow Flight. Again, making concepts very easy to understand in the cockpit based on things I've already done.
I lowered flaps one notch, the nose would blip up slightly (been there done that). I slightly pushed the yoke through the blip. Speed started to bleed off - he said, "As speed bleeds off slowly, put the nose down until you reach a nice slow rate of descent - about 250 feet per minute - this will also stabilize your speed." More Pitch-Power-Trim used as a tool to control the airplane. Sure enough, 250 actually held at about 95kts.
Airplane started down nice and controlled while slowing slightly. We came down through 900 feet and he tells me to "Start your turn towards the runway - exactly with the same roll rate you did on the way over here - step on the ball easy if you have to. That's all you have to do."
I gently roll into a right hand turn trying to keep the same rate of descent. Ball goes left, I step on it easy. I roll out too far inside center line. He said, "You are too far right of the runway. How would you get left with what you know about flying right this moment?" More brilliance. Asking the student to figure things out
based on what they already know. I said, "Roll-Pitch-Trim." He said, "You are already trimmed and pitched. Just roll. Do it!" I gently rolled left keeping the nose down - ball goes slightly right - I step a little on the ball. Airplane heads back to center line at about 750 feet. He showed me how to reference the engine cowling underneath the runway numbers and told me to keep the edge of the cowling tucked directly under the numbers all the way down using Pitch.
I flew the airplane down to 500 feet to an airspeed of about 75kts. He finally takes over and says, "My airplane now." He then talked me through everything he was doing to make the landing - namely how he shifted his focus out to the far end of the runway, monitoring the nose's height relative to the far end just before touch down. We taxied, parked and he walked me through the shut down again before letting me do it. I set the parking brake and flipped some switches. We pushed back the canopy on the Tiger Grumman and did another in-cockpit debrief on some of the things that were done on approach.
I basically, did not want to get out of the airplane that day. I could have slept there the entire week and been just fine doing so. We got back into the club and Yoda explained more details behind the things he was having me do in the air and that's when light bulbs began flaring off one after the other in my head. If he had merely told me these things on the ground, none of it would have made any sense. First he demonstrated. Then he had me replicate. Then he explained the why behind it all. That approach to Training and Teaching guaranteed that I would never forget and that I would understand the why behind the how.
That was my "Introductory" flight. I remember it vividly to this day, obviously. I will never forget it, most likely. I still laugh when I think about what I accomplished that day. Not because I was smart or because I was a natural pilot. I laugh now but because a Master Instructor showed that he could get a complete neophyte into the air and flying within minutes (literally minutes). From taxi, to take-off, to climb, to cruise and approach. All in just one hour of instruction. Who the heck does that other than a Master Instructor or Master Pilot. Some kind of Yoda Instructor, is what I had that day.
Will I find another Yoda this time around? I don't know. However, I sure hope we are both fortunate enough to land Instructors like that as we re-enter the world of GA! I later went on to do a handful of official flight instruction hours with that same individual as the log book above attests. Shortly thereafter, life happened, I could no longer justify the cost of flight instruction and had to bow out. But, like I said - I knew some day I would return like the Jedi. And, now I am back - much like you. 20 years later, but back nonetheless. Time to finally get this done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flybub
Thanks again for the reply, certainly gave me a few other things to think about.
No problem. May we both find a Yoda to instruct us. A good Instructor can get optimal performance out of their Student.