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Add most recent flying post

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R. Tyler Croy 2014-03-02 21:08:50 -08:00
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---
layout: post
title: "Wrasslin' with Mike Echo"
tags:
- vfrpilot
- flying
- aviation
---
All over my body I feel warm, my eyes dart left, to the fully extended
wind sock, back to my panel, and then straight ahead. A couple hundred feet
before the displaced threshold I line up on the centerline and slowly advance
the power. The airplane starts accelerating down the runway, I sit mesmerized
for a moment at the sight before remembering who's at the controls.
Eyes jumping around the panel, finally identifying the oil pressure gauge,
followed by the airspeed indicator.
"In the green..."
"Airspeed's alive..."
"Passing 60 knots..."
"And rotation!"
I'm officially flying.
---
There's a mental state that's to be avoided when piloting an aircraft, called
"get-home-itis." It's the overwhelming desire to get to your destination, which
can cloud your judgement and lead to taking unnecessary risks.
I woke up Saturday to cloudy skies, and a bad case of "gotta-fly-osis." Having
not flown in a couple weeks, I was anxious to get into the air, but the
forecast was not promising.
By the time I'm packing my flight bag to head to Hayward, the ceiling has risen
to 5000ft, but the winds are a steady 12 knots, gusting to 18.
"Okay, I'll go down there, if it gets windier, I'll grab a burger and come
home" I tell myself while driving.
To the west in San Francisco, I can see the grey columns of rain falling on the
south side of the city. Passing through Oakland, I see similar columns of rain
over Piedmont. There's a chance that the weather makes my go/no-go decision for
me.
Arriving at the office to pick up the keys to the plane, a concept which still
amazes me, I run into my flight instructor. Expressing my concern about the
wind, he waves it off and says "nah, it'll be good practice for you, you should
go up."
Skies clear below a 5000ft ceiling, who could argue?
With some reassurance, I stomach the remainder of my anxiety, let my
excitement take over, and head down to the ramp for some pattern work.
---
Pulling up in front of
[N296ME](http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/12061787296/) (Mike-Echo), I
turn off the car, look down at my cup of water and suddenly realize that I have to
pee. "It will have to wait" I say aloud while grabbing my flight bag.
As I'm wrapping up my pre-flight inspection, some light rain starts to fall, but
tapers off by the time I'm ready to start the engine.
Mike-Echo, a fuel-injected delight, jumps alive without objection. I spend some
time fidgeting with the throttle to get it right at 1000rpm like I want it to
be, before continuing on with my engine start checklist.
"Hayward Ground, Skyhawk Two-niner-six Mike-echo, at the green ramp with Kilo,
request taxi to One-zero left."
The weather is so non-standard today, the wind has been coming to complete
opposite direction of normal. As a result, the airport is operating the
opposite ends of the runways, instead of 28R, I'm taking off on the other end,
10L.
"Six Mike-echo, taxi to One-zero left via Alpha"
Creeping onto the alpha taxiway, I notice the wind sock which I hadn't paid
attention to yet, and appropriately deflect my ailerons and elevators to
prevent the wind from pushing me around on the ground.
A Cirrus SR-22 arrived at the run-up area just before I did, and did a stellar
job of taking up too much space, giving me the opportunity to practice a good
sharp u-turn behind him. Grumbling, I start my run-up procedures.
The Cirrus still hasn't moved by the time I'm done, so I scoot out in front of
him and make my call to tower.
"Hayward Tower, Skyhawk 296ME holding short of 10L at Foxtrot, for left closed
traffic."
With clearance, I start onto the runway to start my runway roll. Power
advancing, my eyes start darting around the panel.
"In the green..."
"Airspeed's alive..."
"Passing 60 knots..."
"And rotation!"
Coming off the runway is smooth until 300ft when the first gust pushes me from
the right. I shallow out my climb, exchanging some vertical for horizontal
speed.
At 400ft I hear an alarm in my headset "Altitude!" my heart seizes and my eyes
scan the panel. Everything looks fine, _somebody_ left an altitude alarm
programmed into the autopilot for 400ft, bastards. One of the downsides of
flying a rented plane.
Making my upwind to crosswind turn, the wind continues to fight me. The little
ball in the turn coordinator keeps getting tossed around. Time out of the
cockpit shows in my delayed responses, allowing a second or two to pass before
I stomp on the rudder and get the plane coordinated again.
The combination of the wind, Mike-Echo's extra power, and Hayward's low pattern
made the ride a bit bumpy.
Wrestling with the plane, I fly a long downwind leg, and an interesting base
leg. Lining up on final, I'm dealing with a textbook cross-wind landing.
Dipping my right wing down ever so slightly, while pressing my left foot down
on the rudder pedal, I maintain a rough approximation of centerline as I
descend towards the runway. Floating past the numbers on 10L, the stall warning
horn starts complaining followed by a gentle chirping of the mains touching
down.
"Hayward Tower, 296ME will be taxiing back"
"Roger 6ME, turn base a bit earlier, you were in Class Charlie airspace"
"Roger, 296ME"
<center><img
src="http://agentdero.cachefly.net/unethicalblogger.com/images/khwd.png"/><br/><strong>Oakland's
airspace is the magenta line at the top left of Hayward</strong></center>
I inadvertantly busted Oakland's airspace wrestling with Mike-Echo. Considering I had just
landed on 10L at Hayward for the first time, I suppose only one screw-up isn't
that bad.
Taxiing back, I ask Tower if they'd call my base to help give me an idea of
where this pattern actually is.
---
I continued to fly 6 more circuits, 5 landings with one go-around, including a
taxi-back each time. I decided against touch-and-go's to make sure that I was
taking the time to regroup and evaluate each pattern and landing before getting
back into the air.
Despite the practice, the approach from the opposite end of the field didn't
start to feel comfortable. With each landing, I saved more altitude and
airspeed than necessary, leading to me floating over the numbers.
By circuit 4 however, my step-on-the-ball rudder-response-time had improved
dramatically, along with my power management in the pattern.
I had gone from wrasslin' with Mike-Echo to working in concert against the
ever-changing wind speed and direction.
Shutting down the airplane after I was done, I left the plane with my
usual big smile. Exceptionally happy to have flown , but this time around, with
a little extra spring in my step, having safely gained some good experience in the
process.
---
Given the rarity of westerly winds at Hayward, I'm not sure I'll be able to
practice "backwards patterns" any time soon, but I do think I might head out to
[Tracy](http://airnav.com/airport/ktcy) in the near future to play around with
more cross-wind landings, there's always more to learn.