Looking To The Sky

Side Slips, Steep Turns, and Stalls

Yesterday evening, I met up with my instructor at 6:30 to do some ground followed by a flight. The ground was a good session going over a number of topics I need to memorize and work on. After a flight prep, we were off.

VOR Navigation

This flight was to practice navigation, stalls, and landings. My navigation to the Battleground VOR went great and over to Scappoose airport went well also, however I realized I need to work on keeping the plane on track with my VOR, especially when flying away.

Side Slips

We worked on my side slips, these are used during crosswind conditions when landing to keep the plane’s longitudinal axis in the direction down the runway since a straight flight with a crosswind if flying normal, would cause the plan to drift from the runway.

This is one of the few times where flying uncoordinated (the ball isn’t in the center of the turn indicator) is going to happen. The reason is that during a slip, you’re using the ailerons to turn into the wind while using the opposite direction rudder to keep the plane facing the runway.

This is different than a crab (crabbing into the wind), which is a coordinated maneuver allowing the plane to move in the direction you want to go with the front facing into the wind. A side slip is also different than a forward slip which is used to lose a lot of altitude over a short distance.

Steep Turns and Stalls

After departing from Scappoose, I performed some steep turns which Steve said were all examiner passable (sweet), and both approach (power-off) and departure (power-on) stalls. These went better than a few days ago, however still something I need to focus on.

Return to TTD (Troutdale)

The return back was done with Steve in silence as he wanted to see how I did without any input. I had a couple questions however he graciously answered and then I was on my way.

My return took me over the BTG (Battleground) VOR over to Lackamus lake. Once over the lake I made my approach call to Troutdale tower. Once that was done, I configured the plane to begin my landing approach.

Side Slip Landing at TTD

The landing into Troutdale on Runway 25 was again using a slip as we had a slight crosswind from the North West. My landings went well overall, though my slip recover to landing need work as well as me knowing when to take my right hand off the throttle and onto the yoke (steering wheel).

Thoughts

I felt the flight was one of my better ones with Steve. He made the comment that every time I see him I have improved quite a lot. I just need to make sure this keeps happening!

– Jason

Categories: Private Pilot Completion

Tags: Cessna 172, flying, KSPB, KTTD, Maneuvers, N5201H, Slips, Slow Flight, Stalls, steep turns, Steve, Training, VOR

Bummer… New Airport (Grove) with 360s!