Flying notes – Landings lesson 1

22 August 2009 | By Ian in Aviation

Today I flew 1.3 hours with John La Porta. This is my third lesson with him and my 6th overall. Aviation has been a dream and a goal of mine since I was very young and I decided it was time to realize that goal when I met a friend who happened to be a CFI (certfied flight instructor).

After preflight, I asked John if we could focus on landings today. He agreed and asked me to tell him what I know so far about landing a small craft. After discussing for several minutes, he gave me the list of steps we would take during a landing which I jotted down.

On our first go round, we came around too steep so my instincts told me to nose up. It was on this landing that I got my first real lesson on flying “the back side of the curve.” The little Cessna C-150 took the bounce surprisingly well. We settled it down and then re-applied full throttle to take off again. Surprised that my sucky landing didn’t snap the wings off, we climbed albeit a bit unsteadily.

John took us out over Redmond so we could discuss landings further and get me more proficient at firm rudder control. Previosly, I was unaware of the amount of spring in the rudder controls. You can (and should) depress both pedals simultaneously a few inches to keep the rudder from being blown about.

We also simulated several patterns. I continue to be impressed by. The tight turning radius this thing is capable of in slow flight. I need more hours to ge used to it’s capabilities.

We returned to BFI for four more landings. Each one was incrementally better, despite a notable crosswind.

It was very comforting to see the runway come into alignment and realize that I am naturally crabbing 15 degrees to maintain centerline without any effort.

My final landing stuck fairly well. I was mostly able to let go of my instinct to control altitude with the nose and instead use throttle with angle of attack controlling airspeed.

I have a long way to go, but this was perhaps the most instructive lesson to date.

(apologies for typos and grammar. Written on iphone, editing later on)

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4 Comments on “Flying notes – Landings lesson 1”

  1. 24 August 2009 | David Malouf Said:

    I was wondering, after stalking you on your GPS-page, why you had a lot of activity at the airport and then that bizarre-looking set of loops over residential areas… good thing I didn’t notify the FBI (ha).

    Glad to read the wheels stayed on, too! When I was taking lessons (1982), I was too short to reach the pedals – I was intrigued by the press-both-pedals instructions, very interesting.

    And I vividly remembering how counterintuitive the “throttle = altitude” equation is!

    Glad you’re having fun fulfilling The Dream!
    Malouf

     

  2. 28 August 2009 | Manu Said:

    Sounds like fun! Did you have to take some classes prior to start flying it?

     

  3. 04 September 2009 | Ian Said:

    @David: We were flying mock landing patterns over a less densely populated practice area. Apparently the folks in Bellevue don’t like foy-ins. =). What were you flying back in your lessons?

    @Manu: I am currently taking ground school classes from a friend. It’s a pretty informal deal where we sit down once a week at lunch and cover another chapter in the book.

     

  4. 08 January 2010 | Aaron Said:

    Hey, I flew with John LaPorta too. He’s a great instructor, really friendly, calm, and confident.

     

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