So no Turns around a Point, no S-Turns. Kinda woulda been pointless.
So, instead, I got briefed on how to deal with an Engine Out Situation.
Then I took off and flew south to the “Practice Area” and we went over the procedures again.
Then Mike demonstrated.
My turn.
3K feet (~2200 AGL) gives (more or less) 3.5 miles of glide.
Pull power back.
Pick a field
navigate towards it while:
Do you checks. Fuel, mags, etc.
Make your radio call.
Set up for landing.
Lots of time. And yet not much either.
So I did it twice. THought I was comfortable,
Did some stalls. Power Off and Power On.
Started back to the airport. Was about 3 miles away, just ready to make my first radio call when the power went away.
Mike says: “you have just lost your engine”.
I looked over at him while trimming for 65 KIAS. “Prick”.
And chose a (soybean) field.
Did the procedure.
and realized as I began my approach that the field I had chosen had a linear sprinkler across it.
Fuck. That woulda been bad.
But, I added power, climbed to 1700′ and entered the pattern and did a really nice landing.
Plus, my Taxiing is better. Still needs work, but better.
He says I’m the first student to call him bad names, ever.
My instructor always told me, fly and make part of your routine looking for a place to land. Believe me, that is difficult in the mountains of West Virginia.
My instructor always told me, fly and make part of your routine looking for a place to land. Believe me, that is difficult in the mountains of West Virginia.
Seems a tad close to the field for that, but good practice. My instructor pulled the power abeam the numbers with no one else in the pattern…I thought those names…and failed to Immediately turn for the field! Learned a valuable lesson about how if you have no engine, it's much better to err a little high than low.
Did you tell him to get used to it?
Lol!