Aircraft: C172
Registration: C-GYWN
Dual Time: 1.2 Total: 50.9
Solo Time: 0.0 Total: 15.4
The weather forecast was pretty good this morning with BKN cloud layers at 2500 and then over 8000. I could see that the air was mostly clear over the airport and although it was cold (-8) I was excited to be back flying again.
My booking was with Steven today to accomplish some hood work as well as regain currency. Since I knew we would not be doing much maneuvering this flight I invited Rica along. Steven didn’t mind and soon we were almost ready to go. Steven offered that we will create a “diversion” using Constance Lake as a SHP and pick up a heading of 220. This ought to get me to Kingston.
Preflight was cold but the aircraft was fine and soon we were all on board and taxiing out to runway two seven. I asked Steven if he would prefer any type of takeoff, he left it up to me so I went with “normal”. Take off and climb out were non events and soon I was chatting with Ottawa Terminal on 127.7 and obtaining clearance to Carp via the lake at 3500′. There was a lot of traffic being called out in our vicinity and although it was cold outside I was sweating just a wee bit. I could see Carp airport directly in front of my nose and above that I could see a more or less solid layer of cloud at approx 2300′. As I droned along on my 220 I made a time check and ETA for Kingston. At this time we approached those clouds and I noted that it was very disorienting as they rolled under our wings. I could look directly DOWN and see earth in places but looking forward all I could see was cloud! This seemed like a repeat of my solo all over again. I realized to myself that this was not the place I wanted to be. I professed to Steven, ”If I were solo right now I’d not be able to continue to Kingston”. He retorted “Yeah, We’re kinda VFR OTT here.” I’m not rated to fly over the top so I looked for a band of clear beneath us and called terminal to let them know I’d like to descend now to 2000′ and proceed North.
As we cleared this cloud bank Steven took the controls and allowed me to don the IFR goggles. I was glad to be out of the cloud but not so happy that I’d miss all this gorgeous view for the next hour or so.
I droned along, straight and level for a few minutes. Steven called traffic and asked me if I’d handle the radios. I accepted, made a position report and noted mentally that it was hard to fly S&L when it’s bumpy down at 2000′. Steven commanded a climb to 2500, then asked me to fly for 2 minutes and let him know when time was up. I then flew a 180 degree turn and 2 more minutes. All of this went perfectly well. I made some turns onto headings to avoid traffic and generally had good control of the aircraft.
Steven then covered up the altimeter and asked me to descend to 2000′. I knew I needed to lose 500 feet so a 500 FPM descent would be ideal. I reduced the throttle until the VSI game me what I desired and counted out the 60 seconds. I leveled off and when uncovered the altimeter reported exactly 500′ lost! He then asked me to climb back up. Here is where I made a mistake.
Cessna 172′s have generally one way to establish a climb. You pitch for ~75 knots and you apply FULL POWER. You don’t generally climb in partial power scenarios. Here was a perfect place where I probably should have left the pitch alone and simply walked on the power until I achieved 500 FPM. Instead I pitched, powered and zoomed upwards of 1200 FPM! It finally settled down at over 600 after 30 seconds. I wasn’t sure of the math involved so I took a wild ass guess and leveled off. We were 300′ over target. hmmmmmm
Steven then covered the AI and the DG and had me fly for home. He vectored me over to the airport and had me descend to 1700′ (thankfully with the altimeter!) As he turned me South he reported overhead the field and I snuck a peek over the cowl and verify we were in fact almost home. (I generally try not to cheat at al under the hood because I want it to be “real”) I was asked to descend to 1200′ and turn to the North. As I approached these numbers Steven told me I could lift my goggles. I lifted and was almost overwhelmed by all the sight picture! I could see were were now 1200′ overhead the field and called for my landing.
“Rockliffe Traffic, Cessna one seven two yankee whiskey november is turning right downwind for landing two seven. Full stop”
At this point we were abeam the numbers and so I pulled the power off and slowed as I brought out 10 degrees of flap. I did not want a repeat of my flight test where I “descended while on downwind” so I turned base and immediately could tell I was going to be too high. That same old issue. I dealt with it swiftly by putting out 40 flaps and then as I turned final I could see the numbers slowly moving upwards. I put in some power and lowered the nose. The numbers looked good. The wind was strong but more or less right off my nose. I descended and approached. There was a C172 waiting short of 27 and another behind him talking on the radio about how he had “something” sticking out his door. I crossed the fence at about 30′ AGL. Here is where I normally would leave the power on and fly down and accept the resulting touchdown point. Not today, I chopped the power and lowered the nose. I expected to have a nice glide to the numbers but instead started to feel this “elevator dropping” feeling in my stomach. It was a bit scary, I went “woah!”, pulled the yoke back and hit in some power all at once. The aircraft simply paused, hung in the air about 1 inch off the tarmac, it seemed freeze in time for a moment then graciously rolled onto the runway. Dead center. It wasn’t a full stall landing but certainly one of my best touchdowns. Rica told me from the back “Nice landing!” I wanted to break my arm patting myself on the back but saved my glee for post shutdown.
We tied the aircraft down and proceeded back into the club where Steven complimented me on my flying, told me we can do the rest of the IFR work in the simulator. I was encouraged to book my Kingston X/C soon. One thing I did miss on my X/C? did you catch it? Flying along in a SW direction I selected 3500′. That’s WRONG! Should have been an even thousand plus five. I’ll be sure to remember that when I do it solo.
75 kt is a Vy climb in a 172. That’s perfect when you need to get above turbulence quickly, etc., or get up above the circuit fast when you’ve cleared obstacles after takeoff.
In cruise, though, most pilots I know prefer a “cruise climb”: still full power in a 172, but aiming for around 85-90 kt. You have better air cooling for the engine, much better visibility over the nose (for spotting traffic), and you’re making decent forward progress during the climb. Once you get up high (say, above 7,000 ft in normal temperatues), you’ll have to start creeping back towards Vy to maintain a decent rate of climb.