10/02/06 My lesson is at 9am so I get a bit of extra time in bed but still ended up rushing after a bit of a disaster trying to make porridge in the microwave. Most of the food available in the breakfast area of the hotel is not to my choice apart from the fresh fruit (apple or banana) and the orange juice. I was trying to save time by doing the porridge in my room but it had the opposite effect when it boiled all over the place and was stuck like glue everywhere. Setting off on my bike at 8:40, it was not so cold although I did find it a bit nippy in just a short sleeved shirt until I got up a head of steam.
The day is sunny and there is little wind. I am to fly N946AC and I now know to just go ahead and get the weather and do the pre flight checks. Having done this we get the "can" (an ally case with details of the aircraft, student and instructor, together with the keys) and started up for circuits. We are using runway 32 and the circuits are left hand so I have to learn a new set of visual reference points. I found myself having to orbit on occasions as it was quite busy. My first couple of landings were near perfect but subsequently I was flaring a bit early. As the traffic built up and on one downwind leg the tower called and asked us a to make an immediate short final. Nikki said it was a good practice for an engine failure so she idled the engine (carb heat applied), and put in full flap and turned towards the runway. She said the important thing to do in the event of an engine failure is to make it to the runway. We were dropping out the sky fast with an airspeed of 60 kts. It did get us from 1000ft to being in position to land quickly. I landed the aircraft and took off again. This was to allow a fast jet to land. After the lesson came the debrief and I had been approaching too high sometimes and had picked up a tendency to flare too early.
My next lesson was at 1pm so I got some coffee and sat on the ramp to watch the aircraft. Here are some pictures.
At 11:30 I went for a walk around and popped into the pilot shop to see what they had. The stock was limited compared with the shop at Fairoaks, and when I asked if they had wind up type stopwatches they didn't. I went into the small but smart GA terminal and got a rib-roll type snack out of a vending machine at the cost of $2.25 and then heated it in a complex microwave oven. I didn't have a type rating for the oven but managed to get my snack hot. One of the biz jet pilots that was there and had run out of appetite asked if I wanted his unopened bag of crisps. I gratefully accepted. After lunch I took another walk and a few more pictures.
I was back at NAC reception for 12:30. I checked the weather using the phone in the briefing room and there was little wind but the runway was now 05. I checked over N945AC and at 1pm we set off for more circuits. This time I was also to do all the radio calls. The runway was very busy again and the tower radio staff were under pressure and here I was in a slow Cessna with fast jets coming in from all directions. During my lesson I had 'extended downwind legs', 'orbits', 'extended upwind legs' 'early 10 degree departures from the centreline on takeoff', 'dogleg turns onto final' and another 'short approach'. My workload was high and now and again Nikki was helping with the radio as it was difficult actually getting a call in. Nikki gave me some marks on the runway to look out for to help make a spot on approach and this worked but I was still flaring a bit early but although a few landings were bumpy she said they were not hard landings. Back at the de-brief it appeared that my circuit heights, speeds and positioning were all good. Just got to sort the flare out. That was it for today and my next lesson was at 11am next morning so I really would be able to take it easy for once.
At NAC the lessons are scheduled at 2 hour intervals from 7am to 5pm. You have to sign in 4 places for each flight. So if anything bad happens it will probably be your fault.
Here are some things I wished I brought with me :-
Metal knife and fork (thank heavens I have got my swiss army knife with me), bottle opener, pocket calculator, pens and pencils, better maps for getting from Miami to Naples, microwave proof bowl, stopwatch, philips screwdriver. There are others but the beer I just had whilst typing this is pushing these thoughts to the back of my brain.
Tomorrow will be my first Saturday in the USA.
Phil
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