Intense, Yet Fun

It has been awhile since my first flight and my last post. I have now completed 5 flights for a total of 7.2 hours, and something exciting has happened in almost all of them. I still watch in awe if there's a Northwest Airlines aircraft arriving or departing at the same time as me.

The last flight was the most exciting and frightening. I took off out of Grand Forks and turned towards Practice Area G around the Northwood, ND area. The point of this lesson was to practice simulated emergencies so I know how to recognize and handle them. As we entered the Practice Area, I announced on its frequency that I was entering from the Northeast corner at 3500' maneuvering between 3000' and 4000' around Northwood. My instructor suddenly pulls the throttle all the way back to idle and her only words to me were, "uh-oh." I immediately went through the Engine Failure Inflight checklist, switching fuel tanks, turning the fuel pump on, enriching the fuel mixture, turning the carburetor heat on. Well apparently it was the carburetor heat that worked; I had "ice in the carburetor" according to my instructor. Throughout that simulated emergency I lost a couple hundred feet in altitude thanks to not having an engine and not maintaining my best glide speed.

For the next simulated emergency, my instructor nonchalantly announces, "Oh, I think I see smoke coming out from the cowling." So I start going through the Engine Fire Inflight checklist in my head by immitating switching the fuel selector off (because I can't really turn my engine off for a training flight), I pull the throttle all the way back to idle, I pull the mixture to idle but my instructor was right behind me to push it back up because idling the mixture also turns off the engine. Then as I was turning the fuel pump off I heard an "OH CRAP!" from my instructor.

I could tell she meant it and wasn't trying to simulate another emergency. She immediately applied full throttle and banked hard left. I followed where she was looking out to our right and I saw another aircraft, an Extra 300, a highly aerobatic aircraft, climbing rapidly through our altitude, heading the opposite direction from us, and just starting to turn away from us. When he crossed our wing I estimated him to be about 1000 ft away from us.

My instructor told me to give a position report and I announced our position relative to Northwood. We got a reply from the pilot that he could now see us. Well that would've been nice if he was aware there was an aircraft ahead of and above him earlier, but it's good that he's aware now. We stayed back in the Northeast corner of the practice area for the rest of the flight until practicing various landings at Northwood, such as Power Off and No Flaps landings.

When we finished at Northwood I started climbing out to 2500' and made to depart out the Northeast corner of the practice area. I was still climbing through 2300' when we heard another UND aircraft announce they were entering Practice Area G from the Northeast at the same altitude we were climbing to. My instructor could not see the aircraft, so she told me to keep climbing through 2500' for 3000'. When we were around 2600' I spotted the aircraft straight ahead, 100' below us. I alerted my instructor, who still couldn't see it due to the fact that she is short and the aircraft was slightly below us, and turned away from it's path while I kept climbing. I watched as it passed under our left wing.

The rest of the flight was uneventful until preparation for landing back at Grand Forks. I performed one no-flap landing at Northwood, but I came in too fast and missed my intended touchdown point so my instructor told me to perform a no-flap landing into Grand Forks. The two major runways at Grand Forks intersect and the controllers usually tell aircraft to hold short of that intersection so they can land aircraft on one, launch aircraft on the other, and not have to worry too much about traffic building up. When my instructor told me to perform a no-flap landing, I was worried I would come in too fast again and not be able to stop before the intersection.

I kept the aircraft lined up through the slight crosswind, kept the flaps in, and bled my airspeed off perfectly before flaring the aircraft just above the runway. I held that flare almost right up to a stall before gently settling down onto the runway.

"Sioux 43, nice job, turn right taxi A3, contact ground."

Did I hear the Tower correctly? Did they actually give me a compliment on my landing? Maybe controllers are human after all...

During the briefing afterwards. my instructor told me she expected me to Solo later this week. I was surprised because I didn't realize that lesson was coming so quick. I will have sole control of the aircraft. I will be the sole occupant of the aircraft. Mother, don't be terrified. Just hope I don't bang the aircraft up so much that UND can't use it anymore.

For those that have time to waste, my instructor gave me a website I could go to and listen to the radio calls on the frequency for Grand Forks Tower. Head to www.LiveATC.net and look to the left and click on "LiveATC Feed Archives." Then click on September 20, 2008, select "KGFK - Grand Forks, ND," and select the 1500-1530Z block for the time. After clicking "Submit," a green "Listen" button will appear on the next page. It may or may not play in the web browser. If it does not play then it must be saved to the computer. 1500Z was when I departed Grand Forks and the 1600-1630Z block is when I arrived back at Grand Forks.

It is possible to move the slider over to specific times, so for the 1500Z block I have transmissions around 17 minutes, 20 seconds, 18:20, and 19:25. My call sign is "Sioux 43."
For the 1600Z block I have transmissions around 19:30 and 22:00. My call sign is still "Sioux 43."

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. One where you can use the airplane again is an excellent landing.