3/8/13: Basic Circuit Training #2

Saturday 3rd August.. a beautiful sunny winter's day for flying... perfect visibility, no clouds and calm winds  CAVOK :-)

Got to Archerfield for another session of touch-and-go circuits.  Runway 28R is the active today with a slight crosswind according to ATIS.  I did the usual pre-flight inspection then hopped in Jabiru J170 24-7984 with my instructor for today, Doug.  No pre-flight theory briefing anymore whilst I'm doing basic circuit training.

I completed the usual checklists but after making the radio call to Ground for taxi clearance, I received a reply from Ground saying my transmission was unreadable.  Hmmm... we checked our headset connections, radio volume and squelch controls.  We could hear ourselves and each other ok.  Turned off Electronic Turn Co-ordinator (ETC) and ran the engine RPM up briefly so the alternator kicked in and started to feed the battery.  Made other radio call to Ground...

"Archer Ground, Jabiru 7984, on the Eastern Apron with Golf, dual for circuits, request taxi"

They could hear me ok now so I received taxi clearance to holding point Bravo One for runway Two Eight Right, meaning I'd be making right-hand turns in the circuits today.  Last flight lesson I was using runway 10L so had left-hand circuits.  Circuits usually have left hand turns although some aerodromes have runways with right-hand circuits in which case you'd find the details in ERSA.  The Archerfield ATIS recordings usually give the circuit direction and usage of runways.

During runup, the right magneto check caused the engine to run a little rough - we had spark plug fouling in the cylinders!  I let the engine run at about 2800RPM for 30 seconds to help clear the oil off the plugs then bought it back down to 1800RPM.  Checked the right magneto again and all was ok  :-)

Just before taking off, I turned on my mobile phone app called "My Tracks".  It basically tracks your movements via GPS onto Google Maps.  I'll use this for each circuit training lesson so I can see how consistently I fly the circuits and see where I am in relation to the runway and ground fixtures.

The circuits today were challenging given the wind had picked up somewhat by the time I took-off and was certainly not as smooth as my last circuits lesson.  We had a crosswind meaning I had to compensate on each leg by "crabbing" into the wind.  This meant my heading (direction of the aircraft nose) and track (course along the ground) would need to be different.  Early introduction to crosswind circuits!  :-)

The crosswind circuits lesson comes later in my training, but for now I understand the basic theory of flying a circuit where a direct headwind is not blowing.

Take-offs required some left aileron to dip my left wing slightly into the wind plus the usual right rudder, although found I needed a touch more right rudder during the take-off roll.

After landing, I learned I had up to about 10 knots crosswind.  The crosswind was coming about 45 degrees to my left, meaning during the crosswind leg I had to turn with a greater angle of bank as the wind was pushing me along.  If I turned at the normal shallow turn on crosswind, I'd be too far away from the runway when turning crosswind onto downwind.

Same applied for the base leg.  Knowing the wind direction and speed determines how you fly each leg of the circuit to remain in the circuit relative to the runway.

Landing was more of a challenge than my last flight lesson.  I was descending with my nose to the left but tracking in line with the runway centreline, trying to keep my aimpoint steady in the windscreen while the wind was changing direction.  The final leg was a little different for each circuit... sometimes I had a gust that lifted me up so suddenly found I was higher than I should be for my position, so reduce throttle slightly and adjust attitude to maintain my aimpoint reference.  The opposite also happened during final where I sunk (dropped a few feet), so had to apply a touch of power and adjust attitude to maintain my aimpoint reference. 

I was basically doing all the landings myself with the occasional finger touch on the control column from Doug :-)  Good fun and glad I had some crosswinds at this point in my training as am sure if I can improve crosswind landings, normal landings will seem easier.  Practice, practice...

Checkout my circuits from today as recorded by the My Tracks app (shown at three different levels of zoom - click image for larger view)...

 

The green pointer is where I turned My Tracks on (at the holding point) and the red pointer is where I turned My Tracks off after exiting the aircraft and in the terminal building... you can see where I taxied back to the apron  :-)

I can explain the crosswind leg and base leg that's quite different from the others!  :-)  On my first circuit, ATC radioed instructing me to maintain heading as I was starting crosswind leg due to an aircraft joining downwind.  I'd need to position myself behind him, so had to widen my crosswind leg.

Similar situation with the extra long downwind leg as you can see by the wide base leg.  Had to extend my downwind leg due to an aircraft doing a straight-in approach as I'd be number 2 to land.  Otherwise the other circuits don't look too bad considering it was a bit turbulent up there today.

Weather permitting, I have two circuit training sessions next weekend... Saturday & Sunday... looking forward to it  :-)