Aviator90 Episode 8

Man: [0:31] Hey there again, and welcome to another episode of Aviator90
from Angle of Attack. This time we’ll be talking a bit about power
management, safe air speeds, and other basic aspects of flight.
Now, usually when initially practicing to become a pilot you just
buzz around the pad or… But you guys are learning to become
aviators, not pilots.
[0:52] Let’s now run through a few scenarios with the airplane and
test things out. First off, let’s just fly straight and level at
full power. This is generally your cruise situation. So, in a small
aircraft like a 152 or 172, you’re going to simply be at full power
most of the way, as long as we don’t go pass the red line on the
tachometer.

[1:17] As you can see, we get pretty good airspeed out of the
aircraft when we aren’t climbing — Just a nice steady pace. I’m
now going to smoothly pull the power back to where the engine is
idle. You’ll notice, without touching the controls, just the
throttle; the aircraft has a tendency to pitch down and lose
altitude.

[1:34] Now if I was to add back pressure, you can see that the
airspeed is really starting to bleed off. Once we reach the bottom
part of the white arc on the airspeed indicator, this is a good
indication we are about to go into a stall. So, let’s not go into a
stall now. That will come later.

[1:52] I’m going to now add full power again, smoothly but quickly.
This time let’s climb a bit. You’ll remember this same situation
from when we took off last episode. This is your typical climb
situation. You’ll be at full throttle, and simply adjusting your
pitch can maintain an airspeed. We can even maintain something like
67 knots for example, so let’s shoot for that. That’s our VY on
this Cessna 152, from Carenado by the way.

[2:24] So, pick that 67 knots, which you’ll put it just above the
tick in between 60 and 70. So, just kind of guessing where you’re
at, find that sweet spot on the yoke, the pitch that you need, and
then start to trim out that pressure. Usually the best way or
almost always the best way, to climb is to just get it set up with
the trim. That way you don’t have to fight it the whole time.

[2:52] I know that some guys kind of set their trim when they’re in
crews, and then they don’t worry about it the rest of the time. So,
just set your airspeed and trim off the pressure. I’m sure that
this will mainly just be something you’ll learn over time, but do
your best to get the aircraft set up so it’s running smoothly right
at that 67 knots.

[3:20] All right, now, let’s do the opposite. Let’s pull out the
power again and maintain a steady descent at a specific airspeed.
In fact, let’s keep 75 knots throughout the entire process just so
you can feel how much of a difference that power makes. This will
feel a bit like a rollercoaster, perfectly normal for the
situation. So as you can now see, we’ve gone from one extreme to
the other. It’s like one big rainbow maneuver.

[3:49] This particular scenario is much like your approach to land.
It’s better to keep stable airspeeds throughout an approach so it
is predictable and stable the whole way down. So now let’s ease up
to 1, 500 rpm, still maintaining 75 knots. We know have a very
realistic and stable descent for a landing profile, notably without
flaps; not bad at all.

[4:15] There’s a saying out there that may help you remember some
of these aspects. They are, “Pitch equals airspeed. Power equals
altitude.” Although that is generally great in theory, I want you
to keep something in mind during these early moments in the air.
When a pilot is more experienced he doesn’t think in his head, “All
right, so, ahhhh. Pitch is airspeed. Power is altitude. What should
I do now?” Rather he just has a sense of what to do.

[4:44] It may be too early to mention this now, but it’s up to you
to build a sense of the mix between power and airspeed and when you
need to adjust them. All of your flight profiles are dependent upon
knowing what you can and can’t do. It’s up to you to become
intimately familiar with your aircraft to know how it can be
handled in different situations. There’s no one correct way to fly
as long as it is flown correctly.

[5:12] Now I suppose the argument here would be what is correct,
what is the definition? You can only determine that with your own
experience, so hand in there. Now with that said, always be smooth.
I don’t mean like a cool guy. Don’t jerk around the controls and
whip your head around. Be smooth with the throttle, the pitch, the
roll, and remember eventually they’ll come in handy when you have
passengers.

[5:39] All right, that’ll do it for this episode. And if you are
feeling a little overwhelmed for now and just want to watch, you
know, that’s perfectly fine. We’ll be back next episode, talking
about turns. Until then, throttle on!

Transcription by CastingWords