Getting Comfortable in the Circuit

Only a week since last flight, so I was feeling pretty current and fresh. Today, no brief necessary as we were practicing circuits only, in the lead up to solo. Adrian noted that he'd remain quieter and more passive today, observing, to simulate a solo environment more.

Pre-Flight

CAVOK, wind light and variable, cool (10-12°C): a gorgeous morning. I pre-flighted the aircraft again. The main discrepancy being we only had 45 litres of AVGAS in the right tank, and 30L in the left (of the nominal 70-90L in each), as the aircraft hadn’t been refueled overnight. This was enough for us to conduct circuits, with 45 minutes spare (@ 36Lt/hr fuel flow).

I enjoy preflight inspections and find them quite meditative, because of the sequential process. The Piper follows a counterclockwise flow from the entry hatch, with flaps extended in order to check the spacing and connections. Nothing out of the ordinary. A slight quirk of the checks is prior to starting the full check, it’s important to turn the Master on and all lights on in order to check their function, as well as a manual test of the stall warning horn, before turning the Master off to save the battery, and then starting the full preflight inspection.

Start-Up

Digital cockpit today. I found the flow tricky, particularly checking some of the analogue gauges against the digital read-outs. The turn and balance indicator on the Avidyne is not intuitive, and difficult to interpret skid/slip. In-flight, I also noticed I was referring to the analogue speed and altimeter by default, rather than the Avidyne Primary Flight Display, as it’s quicker and easier to scan and gain the information at a glance.

Checks

I’m not that happy with my lack of checklist proficiency and flow. I think it’s a combination of expecting to memorise all checks, as per 2FTS, and being a little annoyed with myself when I clearly haven’t. But another part of me knows that memory is fallible, and I never understood why RAAF insisted on checklist memorisation (for emergencies I appreciate memorised immediate actions are necessary, but not for normal ones). Flying once every two to three weeks, and having different checklists for analogue and digital cockpits means my currency and practice is not regular, and I haven’t been setting aside hours to memorise checklists. My approach in the Warrior has been to write out, then print out the checklists, memorise mnemonics for the critical on-ground and in-air ones, and conduct the others in a read-and-do manner. Read-and-do is slow and breaks the flow of a scan, which I have been finding frustrating.

I asked Adrian for his advice, and he said that MFS teach checks two different ways:

• Scan-flow and cross-check. Similar to a challenge-and-response checklist, where students are taught a flow of scans, and the verbiage is added secondary. This is more in line with where many students progress to: the airlines.
• Read-and-do. Refer to the printed checklist, and conduct the discrete check, then back to the checklist, and so on. Adrian wasn’t sure why this style still existed when compared to the more efficient, but harder to learn scan-flow style.
• As a side note, MFS' checks are different to Piper's own Pilot's Operating Handbook, adding to the confusion.

Next, I’ll try to break the checks into critical in-flight memorised actions, and amend my read-and-do to try to figure out a scan pattern, and then apply the checklist verbiage. I’d like to hear others thoughts on what they find the best way to work through checklists, and general philosophies on memorised or referred checklists. Here’s some interesting reading I found on emergency and abnormal checklists.

Flight

Runway 35R. No wind made circuits and precision a delight, and also highlighted any handling issues. 

6 x total circuits:

• 1 x Flapless
• 4 x Normal (including 1 x precautionary cruise)
• 1 x Glide, with a full stop

No go-arounds. Circuit was crowded for the first 40 minutes, with six (max) in the circuit. It cleared up towards the end, permitting a glide circuit. 

Normal

Nothing remarkable. Consistent and accurate circuit legs. I really enjoyed base and final, in recognsing too high/low and making appropriate corrections for a stable approach and landing. Maintaining aimpoint, using power for height / rate of descent, and attitude for airspeed.

Landing round-out is good, flare is a little inconsistent, but landings are all safe and fine. Learning point is at round-out, reduce to idle, look to the end of the runway, and just continue to gradually pull the nose up, almost to the point of not seeing the runway as the aircraft ideally cushions down.

Precautionary Cruise (2200RPM instead of 2450RPM, and 80 knots instead of ~105 knots) is a 2-stage flap cruise, and slows the circuit down considerably, generating spacing if required.

Flapless

Feels very fast and slippery, with minimal power increases, and significant power decreases required. Also, minimal attitude change due to the flatter approach. 

Glide

Simulated engine failure on mid-downwind. Immediate back trim (~3 x rolls) and attitude change for 73 knots, and then it’s essentially a PFL approach. Two stages of flap on late downwind / early base, and then once certain of touchdown, three stages. Landed straight on the keys.

Next

Pre-solo circuit practice. Focus on circuit chair flying, checklists, Moorabbin procedures (efficient readbacks), and aircraft performance and limitations. My instructor is on holiday next week, so I'll probably pre-solo in two to three weeks time. He was happy that today's standard was fine for solo. Exciting!