Turbulence and Overload

I wasn't able to go out today since the ceiling was at 700'. Instead, my flight instructor and I sat down and did more ground with my instructor. We went over the Seattle sectional and we talked about the various classes of airspace. She gave me a lot of information to process and its going to take a little while to sink in.

But I did get to go flying yesterday. The clouds were scattered at 2000 feet with a ceiling at 4000 feet. We took off and I think I might have rotated too soon. Usually when I take off you can feel the nose getting "pushed" up by the elevators (it's more like the tail is getting pushed down). But on this takeoff, there didn't seem to be that much lift. I noticed my flight instructor got on the controls to pitch the node down so we could gain some airspeed. We eventually got into a steady climb and headed over to Scappose (SPB) to practice some landings.

As we approached Scappose, the weather over the airport was acceptable for landing. But directly west of the airport were some clouds that were only 200 - 300 feet off the ground. Since the wind was coming from the west we were afraid that the clouds might soon be over the airport. We decided to fly back to Pearson to practice landings there. As we setup to enter the traffic pattern at Pearson, we heard two other planes in the pattern over the radio. Then we get a call from one of the instructors on the ground that there are two helicopters flying directly through the pattern. We see them and they are at the same altitude we are (about 1000'). Right after we see the helicopters, we see another Cessna in the pattern, turning from crosswind to the downwind leg where we were going to enter the pattern. Oh, did I mention it was raining and quite turbulent. During this, I had managed to lose 100 feet of altitude and my airspeed was 120 mph (I should have been at 1000' going about 100 mph). My flight instructor said we were going to do a 360 and re-enter the pattern. By this time, we lost sight of the helicopters and we tried to locate them again while turning to avoid the other plane in the pattern. It was at this point that I hit sensory overload. My normal reaction is to stop and try to slow things down, which wasn't really an option in this situation. My flight instructor sensed that this was too much for me and she took control of the plane, executed the 360, and handed back the controls to me (at the proper altitude and speed). This is one of the reasons I really like my flight instructor; she has a good idea of when I'm getting over my head and knows when to step in and take control.

The joy of straight and level flight.

I'm looking forward to my lesson this weekend. My flight instructor is booked all day Saturday, so I don't think I'm going to fly tomorrow. I told her to call me in case of a no-show or cancellation. I only live about 10 minutes from the airport, so I can be there in a jiffy. I do have a lesson scheduled for Sunday. Steep turns are on the syllabus.

I was talking to someone today about flying and I realized that my favorite part about flying is flying straight and level. Maybe it's because I'm still new to flying, but I really enjoy puttering along at about 100 m.p.h. in the school's Cessna 150 at 3000 feet. Flying above Vancouver and Portland, you can see Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St. Helens from our practice area. When it is a clear day, the contrast of the white, snow covered mountains and the brisk blue sky is amazing.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy taking off and landing, practicing stalls, and learning the basic maneuvers. But that is a different kind of fun. During those things, I am completely engaged, totally focused on my task.

As a bonus, since it is winter, the air is considerably calmer (or at least, so I'm told) than during the summer. My flight instructor told me I was getting spoiled by all the cold, calm air. I hope I get spoiled this weekend.