First Solo in the PA28

After I rested I went out to the dispersal to wait for Andrew to come back after his flight with the German guy I think his name is Ed or something. Anyway, I had a good look at most of the planes at the Dispersal and hangar. The Ultralights, there was the Robin 2160 aerobatic acft, the Cessna 337 Skymaster and more C172s and PA-28s.

When they came back I preflighted and then we took off for circuit work. Did more normal landings, then shortfield take off..pretty much the same as the Cessna. But on one takeoff... HORROR! the fuel pump switch was OFF! I missed it in the checklist. Not much of a problem actually because the engine itself has a pump. But the problem is that if it fails, my engine would cut. A piper from MFA crashed because of this last year. Hell, I'll make sure this doesnt happen again. (See, I learn from mistakes.) This is one reason I like the Cessna 172 better. You don't have to worry about fuel pumps and switching tank because the Cessna uses gravity fuel flow and can select both tanks at once. With the Piper you gotta switch tanks every half hr to prevent one wing from becoming heavier than the other and if you forget to switch the fuel pump on while changing the engine quits. Hmm.

Had to orbit to the sides of the airfield due to inbound MAS 737s. Don't wanna get into the way of wake turbulences. Did some steep turning while holding. Then we did a glide. Andrew showedme how to sideslip. Actually I sort of self taught but I wanted to check if I did it correctly and yeah I did. Just cross control and dive while maintaining speed. Pretty fun and good way to dump height.

Finally, Andrew said "Ok do a flapless and for full stop." I was thinking "yeah! ok I think i still can make it for fencing lesson." Then, he said "OK I think I can clear you to fly solo on the Piper now. Do you want to?" I thought he meant another day so I said "Hmm ok...." until the words sank in.

Me: "HUH?!! You mean NOW?"
Andrew: "Yes. If you want to."

I was rushing for time to go fencing and here I was offered a chance to go solo. Which pilot worth his salt and guts would turn this down?
Me: Haha Ok I can't resist. I'll make just one circuit then?
Andrew: "Ah you can make more if you want to."
Me: "Haha its ok I'm rushing one's enough. Just like a first solo."

So there I go. I dropped Andrew the CFI off at the dispersal and went up. I did the take-off like the way AOPA Flying training magazine recommened. Let the plane take-off itself. So i held the control column just aft of neutral and throttled up and it was beautiful. For a Cessna when you rotate its pretty gentle so not necessary but I tried it on the C172 too and its just as beautiful.

The same big cheesy shit-eating grin I had when I first soloed in Singapore appeared on my face and I felt so damn good. Then, because of an inbound 737 I had to hold and so *grin gets wider* I steeped turn 60 deg figure 8 and basically rocked and rolled my ass off. HAHA. I still remembered when I rocked and rolled in the Cessna, Wenbiao and Dad got a little sick.

The landing was pretty good. then after that I sat in the plane while Andrew and another engineer pushed the plane into the hangar. I actually wanted to help them but the engineer said "No need, You solo liao. You the king now!" HAHAHA! the same feeling of euphoria everytime I soloed took over me. Yeah!

It really feels good to know you have made the grade. Andrew is a examiner as well as a Chief Flying Instructor. He said I did very well and he didnt expect me to land so well in a low-wing Piper because I flew a high-wing Cessna. That's high praise coming from a guy like that and it feels really good and my spirits soared.

Darshan (My PPL instructor)should be proud. I did him proud. When flying Andrew piped up and said "Darshan is very good instructor." Yeah he is and yea my flying has proved it. Hopefully So will all others trained by him.

This flight almost seemed like a first solo. Well it is in a sense, my first solo in a Piper Warrior. THe timing was the same as my first solo with 20mins.

Aircraft: Piper PA28-161 9V-JMV
Time: 20mins

Piper Warrior II

Today I went to get a conversion in a Piper PA-28-161 Warrior aircraft in preparation for my Navigation trip. Its been an interesting day.

First going into M'sia, met an elderly couple who were real helpful. Ahmad was the man's name I think. They told me which buses to take to Kotaraya. After that, met this Indonesian at Johor customs who took me to Kotaraya bus terminal. Instead of taking a bus there, we walked. He taught me how to be streetsmart in Malaysia. Very lucky to have met good people like them.

After I got to Senai by shuttle bus, I had a hard time finding the container box where the flying club was located. First person I saw was my instructor Andrew Law.
He looked about 55-60 and was quite jovial. First he briefed me on the Piper Warrior, then after that he said it might be difficult to checkout in the PA28 in just 2 flights. Well, if I could not, then I'll go back to the Cessna for my Nav.

As we walked to the aircraft, he invited me to have a look at other aircraft like the Cessna 152 and Pitts arobatic aircraft. Egad! the 152s cockpit is small and the Pitts even more so. Certainly, I can tell that Andrew loves flying and planes. He seemed kinda excited when near them.

I was kinda confused with the checklist though. The layout of the Piper is different from the Cessna I'm used to. Took some time but finally we got started and took off with Andrew doing the RT. I was not too impressed with the Piper at the take off cuz I had to PULL real hard to lift the airplane up even after rotation. Don't seem to nice to me. I like my takeoffs gentle and artistic. We flew to South of Gunong Pulai and did some general handling there. Slow flight was ok, Incipient stall. Then, Steep turning was the best. Its my favourite maneuver. Too bad only did 45 degrees when I like 60 because of the Gs.

The area is pretty nice and spacious compared to Singapore. The majestic mountain Gunong Pulai was a humbling sight. Andrew said another Piper Warrior had crashed on top of the mountain last time. No survivors. We flew pretty low from 100 ft to 2000ft over the towns. After that we did PFL. One thing about flying in Malaysia is that if you had an engine failure, you'd feel better because there are lots of landing areas to choose from like open fields to rice paddies. I judged it pretty well. I would land right on my selected area had I Continued. But on the Go Around. I kinda forgot how to retract the flaps. I was yanking at the handle but it wouldn't budge and the Piper CANT CLIMB WITH 40deg flaps and I was only abt 300ft high. But Andrew then retracted for me and I saw that I forgot to press the button before pulling it. Its kinda like a Car's parking brake.

After that we did some circuits. 3 normal landings. Pretty much like Cessna landings but except the Piper sinks rather than float like a Cessna when power is cut. So one has to carry power into the roundout and flare all the way to jus before touchdown when u slowly cut the power. I did ok except for maybe one near 3pointer.

I took a break while Andrew went up with another guy.

Self learning.

Well, That's exactly what I did this flight. When what you wanna learn is probably something the instructor does not want u to know. You've got to learn yourself.
You just gotta do it high enough so you don't kill yourself by augering into e ground or stalling from a high speed pull-out.

Best buddy Wenbiao was my passenger today. Brave fella. Considering these maneuvers i have not done before and are risky to some extent, he agreed to go along with them. I needed his permission. If i tried anything other than SOPs ( Standard Ops) with a pax on board, I would be breaking my pilot code of conduct (Bushido).

Good pilots explore the envelopes of their airplanes. That's what I did today.
I learnt how to side-slip. This is a maneuver that can help get the airplane to lose altitude in a hurry. If I was high on final approach and I had no flaps, Side slipping can help. I did flapless side-slipping. Slipping wth flaps would have to wait till I get the technique right. I did it at about 3000 ft for descend to 2500ft.
normal descend rate flapless at 70 kts is abt 300fpm. With slipping, it can increase to about 500-800fpm.

Then, I did a dive from 3500ft and intend to pull out from the dive at 2700ft I set the 'hard deck' or simulated ground at 2500ft. So if I could not pull out and decended to 2500ft or below. I'm dead.

The dive was exciting. Airplane went to 120+ kts and you can fill the wind howling and my blood pumped faster and my voice went up an octave. "Altitude 3000! 2900! 2800! PULL OUT!" I started pulling out at about 2750 ft and was level at about 2650+ ft as shown on the altimeter. Conclude that a successful pullout from about 30+- angle of dive requires about 100ft. I would give myself at least 200ft or alot more in real life for insurance.

Some pilots kill themselves in a pullout from a dive close to the ground because they yank the controls up like king kong. What happens then? The plane stalls and prangs the ground. The pullout also tested my abilities and the envelope of the airplane. How much should I pull. I pulled out in 100ft. If i pulled harder could I lower the height loss to 50ft? Perhaps or maybe I may stall and bust the 2500ft hard deck. (If I had stalled. No worries just lower the nose and I'll be flying once more. except I would be at <2500ft which means I'm below the hard deck and dead already.

I let Wenbiao fly the plane a bit. He'll get his PPL someday. Made 2 landings, 1 was good and the other wasn't so good. Gotta practice man.

I'll continue to learn more about flying, and the skills. I know that my survivability has a pilot has increased today. Even though the exercises were slightly risky. Good pilots must know the envelopes of their planes.

"He who demands everything his airplane can give is a great flier. He who demands an iota more is a fool."