and so clear at other times.
I think I may begin posting old art and music again. Should be fun. :)
Folks,
It was a good flying day today: low winds, some puffy clouds but otherwise a lovely VMC (visual meteorological conditions) day for VFR flying.
Which meant that the airspace over Jandakot was busy. Coupled with the fact that there was an aviation tribute to the late Aussie aviatrix Nancy Bird-Walton at the Perth foreshore and there were plenty of vintage planes which flew in for that at 11am this morning, it did have an impact at Jandakot. Well, my lesson was at 1pm and by the time I was doing my second circuit, tower told us to do a full stop landing and hold short of Runway 30 while they sequenced a squadron of the oldies for landing. It was quite a sight to see 4-5 bright yellow Tiger Moths plus a few other classics coming in to land at almost standstill airspeed on final. Pity I couldn't grab some footage on my mobile as I was busy holding my position in the takeoff queue behind two other light aircraft.
The Good
Anyway, my pre-flights are getting faster and my taxiing has vastly improved. And being told to do left hand circuits on Runway 30 is actually great because it is a wider runway and the approach is less intimidating compared with Runway 24L. I joked with Min that I therefore had more room to weave since there was more room. She laughed, I did, too but deep down I have been cross with myself all week for not getting rid of this "yip".
So, a shorter flight log today folks.
Take-off roll outs were good. I managed to keep KMB on the centreline before pulling up at 65 knots.
In fact, I'm pleased with my progress up till about short final on the circuit. This is when KMB is about 150ft AGL (above ground level), engine power is down to about 1100-1200rpm and I'm probably 50m just shy of the runway piano keys. This is when the yips start.
The Bad
My final line-up is good but I am somehow just a tad too high or airspeed just that fraction too fast as I power down to idle rpm (about 750rpm on KMB) when I cross the runway threshold. So I go into quick correction mode: pitch down to lose the altitude.
The Ugly
But this means the airspeed picks up a notch. Then my eyes are fixated on the tarmac. Shit!!! Then I pull back on the yoke to flare, but now the attitude of the wings is starting to bank slightly right at 30ft AGL. So I work the left aileron to correct my attitude. All this while KMB is about to touchdown... my head's all in a mess as we have a somewhat heavy landing. Now I'm working the pedals furiously to keep KMB centred on the runway, retract the flaps, two trims forward of the wheel before whacking the throttle up to full power to take-off again on the second circuit.
The Plan
I know what has to be done. Min said I needed to fixate on the horizon more as I get towards short final instead of looking down. She's right. It's target fixation. This is what I learned riding motorcycles; you never fixate on traffic coming in the opposite direction or you'll invariably veer across. The same thing's happening here with me and landing the damn plane. I'm focusing too hard on the threshold and forgetting to prepare for what lies a couple of steps ahead. And this causes my workload to rush at me quickly (literally) and I'm not giving myself enough time to respond immediately on landing. This also explains why I'm having these annoying post-landing weaves on the landing roll-out and pre-takeoff. I reckon if I can improve my short final preps to gain an extra 3 seconds, the weaves will be a thing of the past.
I recall my struggles with Straight and Level Flying back in June, and the same feeling of frustration is too familiar. I know what I've got to do. Time and practice are what's needed; I can't fix this any other way. Flight Sim can get me some of the way there but it can't simulate the updraft turbulence that always happens on final approach. This is what causes the aircraft's attitude to get off the runway's centre, requiring more rudder/aileron/throttle coordination. And this is where time starts to condense and the cockpit workload builds. This is exactly the phase of my circuit session where I have to focus on.
I shared with Min that I was getting angry with myself for not getting rid of my yips, but she's cool with it. A quick Google around and I found that a lot of student pilots did anywhere between 8-25 hours of circuit training before being asked to solo. I checked my log and found that I've only done 3.6 hours of circuit training including today. Maybe I'm being unrealistic to expect miracles. Perhaps there's also a lesson here about safety in wanting to rush things along. Still, I'm just not built to accept something less than good when I know I can do this.
So, I've got a few more circuit sessions to go yet. I'm thinking maybe I should take a few days off work to go flying 3-4 days consecutively to really lock in my lessons. We shall see.
Till the next instalment, clear prop!
Ninja
What are your favorite web or mobile apps? Which ones do you use everyday?
Tweetdeck for organising all my twitter stuff
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11/08/09 Aquarium* Fargo, ND
11/09/09 Waiting Room* Omaha, NE 11/11/09 Brick Kansas City, MO 11/29/09 Oxford O2 Academy 3, UK 11/30/09 Relentless Garage London 12/01/09 Thekla Bristol, UK 12/02/09 Wedgewood Portsmouth, UK 12/03/09 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh 12/04/09 Bodega Nottingham, UK 12/05/09 Brickyard Carlisle, UK 12/06/09 King Tut’s Wah Wah Glasgow 12/07/09 Ruby Lounge Manchester, UK 12/08/09 Plug Sheffield, UK 12/09/09 Academy 2 Dublin, Ireland 12/10/09 Stiff Kitten Belfast, Ireland 12/12/09 Concorde 2 Brighton, UK 12/13/09 Barfly Cardiff, UK * with Bang Bang Eche Read More |
Opening up for Har Mar Superstar are three very different genre and acts. Starting with Koo Koo Kangeroo (official / myspace), whose music styling is that of hip hop - for toddlers. Their songs are dead simple, like "AOA" (sample lyrics: "aye oh aye oh aye") and "Cheh Cheh Chi" and "LMNOP", but they're catchy and easy to sing along. The highlight of their set was when they threw down a white tarp-like covering and the audience was dancing under it like a party fort.
Wow, Bang Bang Eche (myspace) are young. Someone told me that they're about 18 years old, but they certainly look much younger. Their music is very punk high-energy and reminds me a bit of Arctic Monkeys influenced. My easily favorite song from their set is "Fist Full of Dollars", perhaps a reference to Sergio Leone classic film? They ended their setlist with "Die Hippy Scum". Oh, also, it's worth noting that bassist T'Nealle sported a three keyboard cat moon t-shirt. Adorable.
The odd group on the bill was two-person group, Lookbook (myspace). The band is basically guitarist Grant Cutler, who plays guitars and handles the pre-recordings, with vocalist Maggie Morrison. Their music sounds like 80s pop, not exactly the "body-moving" type of music that you'd think Har Mar's audience would demand. Not really much to say, except I think Maggie looks really cute and I will be talking about them in further detail on my "book"-theme news on Sunday.
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Har Mar Superstar ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (11/06/09) |
After the first song, he took off his hat. After "DUI", he took off the overall to reveal a Prince "Purple Rain" shirt. He kept taking off articles of clothing as the night went on. From "EZ Pass", to "Girls Only", to "Creative Juices"... the audience was loving it all.
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Har Mar and Melinda Park singing "Powerline"
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The very last song, Har Mar sang an a cappella version of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday". He would pretend the song ended and everyone would clap... only he would continue to sing the refrain. After the third false ending and after he said "goodnight", he came back and sang some more.
Har Mar's latest album is Dark Touches, available from Dilettante Recordings. Read Andrew's review of the album, pick up a copy at amazon
11/07/2009 04:22:06 ♥ vu (
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♥
harmarsuperstar.com
♥ myspace.com/harmarsuperstar
♥ twitter.com
- 09:19 The Last Wave? www.elativemarketing.com/blog/ #
- 17:22 And the universal hosing continues as I sit waiting for a tow truck on a dark street #
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Finished The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This is a companion book to Life As We Knew It.
Alex lives with his parents and two younger sisters in New York City. When the asteroid hits the moon, his mom is at work (she works in a hospital's OR) and his dad is in Puerto Rico for a funeral.
Alex has to figure out a way to keep his family safe and together, at least until one or both of his parents comes home.
I think I preferred Life As We Knew It, but this was good, too.
These books (there's going to be a third out in April) are so scary, too. I don't think I'd do well in a world where I'd have to acquire food someplace that isn't a grocery store (or any of the places where we normally get food) and I certainly don't know how to cook and wash clothes without electricity and running water.
Well I thought that I was set with the toolboard until my big tool order arrived but I got a little antsy about it and said ta hell with it and decided to hang the board with the tools that I have and just add as they arrive.
So I cut some 2x8's to length and coaxed them tight between the ceiling and floor. Then I had to hang that sheet of 3/8 plywood by myself, which isn't easy, then I put some of the tools on and put the bench back.
So until my new stuff gets here this is what I have:
Another angle of the cycling room. That's a new cable and housing set on the bench ready to go on the Colnago.
My back has really been bothering me lately. I seriously try not to complain, or walk oddly, or even mention it... but holy Hannah!
I thought by not golfing as much, it would ease up, but the pain instead has gotten worse. Add to that the possibility of an issue with my left rotator cuff - I'm a hot walking mess at the ripe old age of 36.
Anyways, I've been helping out my mom the last few days and been pretty neglectful around here. One of the reasons I love Fridays is because it's the day I clean the house - a nice clean house to hang out in all week-end with my William. Ahhhh....
When I was a kid, I had a lot of household chores to do and my mom would always ask me to vacuum, because it 'hurt her back'. I'm not kidding when I say I used to think she was faking. Well, here I am with a sore back vacuuming.
Now, the following with either enlighten you or cause you to say, 'well, DUH!', but it's not the actual vacuuming that hurts ones back. It's the bending over.
I vacuumed only the carpets today (I swept the floors because of my back), and I bent over 31 times. Sometimes it was just to pick up a resilient feather, and other times it was hauling the machine around. That's a lot of bending over.
So now I'm off to the couch!
