Gryphon's Aeire

Today's flight was just to fly a "new" plane and see if I remembered how to fly a retractable gear aircraft.

Paul wasn't scheduled to work and Jenny was already booked so I scheduled with Corey. I have flown with Corey once before, back in July of 2009.

I am thinking about working on my Instrument rating and if I do, I will need to fly more than once a week on the weekend. I thought I would try flying on Wednesday afternoon. This would split the week as well as since I normally attend the Perpetual Ground School at Air Associates on Wednesday nights, this schedule would work well for me.

When I scheduled for today, I left the weekend open to see if I would fly again then. As it turned out, all the instructors took the weekend off for the Independence Day Holiday. I get 3 days off and can't fly, boo hoo.

For today, I thought I would schedule a short 75 to 90 minute flight just to get in some time and hopefully do 8 touch & gos or landings. 8 would give me an even 2,350.

I looked for where I could go and decided on Fulton, MO. I have been there before, but not for a while.

I did my planning and guessed at a speed of 120 knots. If this held, the flight would be about 50 minutes each way, not counting the effects of wind.

This time includes flight time plus time for touch and gos and a little extra for fudge factor.

Fulton is 64 miles from Spirit of St Louis.

I am still working on my flight planner, but it is working pretty well so far.

I called and got my VFR Pre-Flight Weather Briefing. The briefer said it was a beautiful day to fly. I agreed. There were a few scattered clouds around 5,000 feet, but no real problems expected.

I left the office about 2:40 and headed for the airport.

When I got there, Tim, the new instructor was working the desk and Corey was outside talking on the phone.

I asked for the book for 6464R and reviewed it. This plane is shared between Spirit and Olathe, KS. It spends about 3 weeks at each location. For some flight training, you have to have a complex aircraft available and the Cessna 172RG qualifies. It has retractable landing gear, flaps, and an adjustable prop.

Kansas does their books a little different and the checklist is just a 1 page, front and back pre-printed sheet.

N6464R Checklist

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After reviewing the book and copying the times to my notebook, I headed out to the plane.

N6464R
1979 Cessna 172 Retractable Gear

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I have talked with Paul about this before, but there is no consistancy in how the planes are tied down. Everyone just does it how they want. This knot is an example of one that is overly complex.

Complex Tiedown Knot

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As I was finishing up, Corey came out and we got in. I did my internal checks then checked the weather. It was reporting the wind from 080 at 5, clouds scattered at 5,500.

I pulled out and headed for the exit of the ramp. When I was away from the other planes, I did my run-up and checked the engine. All looked, and sounded good.

I called Ground and said I was at Air Associates, with Foxtrot, ready to taxi for departure to the west. Ground cleared me to taxi to 8Left via Echo. I acknowledged and headed for the runway.

At the hold short line, I did my final checks, called Tower and said I was at 8left, ready to depart. Tower cleared me to takeoff, 8Left, left turn out approved. I acknowledged and started rolling down the runway.

At about 60 knots, I lifted the nose and we were up. I climbed up to about 1,000 feet, about 550 feet above the ground, before turning left.

Since I was taking off on runway 8, I was on a heading of about 080 degrees. (Actually, it is 076 degrees magnetic.) My planned heading was 280 degrees so I had to turn 200 degrees behind me.

While I was turning, I was climbing up to about 3,000 feet.

This plane was built in 1979 and has old radios in it. The newer radios let you have 2 frequencies set and just push one button to switch between them. This plane has two radios, but you can't easily switch between frequencies. As a result, I couldn't listen to Tower and St Louis Departure. I waited till I was about 5 miles from Spirit before switching over to Departure.

Since it was less than 60 miles to Fulton, I decided I would just listen to St Louis then switch to Mizzou Approach. There was a fair ammount of traffic in the area, but nothing really in our way.

I climbed up to 4,500 feet. High enough to have good visibility, but low enough to stay out of the scattered clouds.

Though the FAA tells pilots not to "linger" around nuclear power plants, or any power plants really, you can fly near them.

The Callaway Nuclear Power Station is located on a 5,228-acre site in Callaway County, Missouri, outside Jefferson City.

Here are some pictures as we flew by.

Callaway Nuclear Power Plant

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Here is a picture looking southwest. You can see a few scattered clouds and lots of fields.

Sky Looking Southwest

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I gave Corey the camera to take some pictures of the airport. He ended up taking about 30 pictures. I excluded a few because they were blury or I couldn't figure out what he was trying to show.

Elton Hensley Memorial Airport (FTT) at Fulton, MO

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I checked the weather and it was reporting wind from 060 at 7, gusting to 14. In my planning, I didn't know if I would be using 06 or 36. 36 is longer and wider, but as I was expecting, the wind was from the northeast. Since it was gusting at 14 knots, I decided to land into the wind as much as possible and that meant runway 6.

I approached the airport from the west and had to over fly the field to get on the proper side to enter a left downwind for runway 6.

10 miles out I reported inbound for touch and go on runway 6. I said I would be overflying the runway at 2,000 feet and that is what I did.

Once I was past the airport, I flew out a little and turned right and back around to enter the downwind on the 45.

I was a little high when I turned final but touched down nicely. I am still working on trying to get my flare better. I still tend to land a little flat. I have enough landings that I know how to recover if I mess up on my approach but I want to do a better, stabilized approach.

Here is a picture Corey took of the power plant off in the distance.

Callaway Nuclear Power Plant

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As I was entering the downwind for my third touch and go, I saw another plane taxiing for departure off runway 18. He was going against the wind and not making any radio calls.

I reported my position, hoping he would say something. He never did.

With the layout of the runways, he was never in my way, but I don't understand people that don't use the radio. I couldn't tell exactly what he was flying, but I could see it was new enough that it had an electrical system and radios.

I did a total of 4 touch and gos before reporting airborne off 6, departing the area to the east.

I was at the airport from 16:50 till 17:03.

Elton Hensley Memorial Airport (FTT) at Fulton, MO

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Here is another picture of the power plant.

Callaway Nuclear Power Plant

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It seems that there is almost always a cemetary or a prison near airports. I guess they all need wide open spaces.

Prison Near Fulton

Callaway Nuclear Power Plant

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The flight back was uneventful. I checked the weather at Spirit. It was reporting wind from 030 at 7. I reported 10 miles out, inbound for touch and gos with Golf. Tower cleared me for the option, straight in for 8Left, left turn on the go. I acknowledged and adjusted my heading to get lined up for a straight in. This always messes me up. Normally when you fly a pattern, you put flaps down (and landing gear) about mid-field, reduce power when even with the end of the runway, more flaps after turning base, less power after turning final and full flaps when I think I can glide to the runway.

On a straight in, that all changes. You have to get all set up as you get closer to the airport and it just messes me up.

I came in and did my first touch and go. It was pretty good. I kept everything centered and touched down nice and smooth.

Flaps up, power in, and I was back up.

I went around 2 more times and when Tower cleared me for the option for the fourth time, I said this would be to a full stop, parking at Air Associates. Tower cleared me to land and I did.

I let the plane roll and slow down and Tower cleared me off at Echo 3, taxi to the ramp, stay on the same frequency. I acknowledged and did as I was told.

I pulled in and parked in the same place I left from. I shut down and while I was getting my times and cleaning up, Corey got out and tied down the right wing and the tail.

I tied down the left wing, locked it up, and headed inside.

Here is a picture of Corey working up my invoice. I had a credit from a fuel purchase so this flight turned out being cheap.

A nice flight and a good oportunity to make sure I remember how to fly retractable gear. The main thing to remember is to put the gear up when you take off, (It causes a lot of drag.) and to be sure you put it down before landing. Otherwise it will make a lot of noise as you scrap along.

A nice day to fly with 1.8 hours and 8 more landings.

Corey Probst