You are here: Flying > Training > Lesson 40
Back

Flying Training

Lesson 40: General Handling (Cessna 172) and Photos

Wednesday 17 January 2007, 11.00am in Cessna 172 N99HV. Instructor: Spencer Marker (Hetrick Air Services). Location: Lawrence, Kansas.

Weather: freezing; broken cloud, wind less than 10 knots.

Lawrence Airport is situated just outside the town, off the road to Kansas City and less than 20 minutes from Donald and Loni's. I visited it yesterday, on a freezing cold day with not a cloud in the sky, and discovered Hetrick Air Services (785-842-000 or 1-888-785-8420). They actually had a slot free right then and there, but I wanted to run the idea past Cathy, so I slept on it and called in this morning at 9am. The girl on the desk called Spencer Marker, one of the two instructors, and he agreed to drive in early from Topeka to fit in a flight at 11am, before his pre-existing 12 noon appointment.

With all the hooh-hah about security I expected an interview first, and brought along my logbook, licence and passport for good measure, but they were pretty relaxed. I believe I showed a driving licence and filled out a small paper form, then Spencer offered to leave me in the reception area while he did the preflight (the outside air temperature was below freezing). Being well-dressed for the cold I preferred to accompany him on the inspection and found a shiny new Cessna 172S, registration N99HV, with the landing lights in the wing and about 20 fuel drain points (rumoured to be in response to previous liability claims but justified by the potential for water to collect next to the ribs in the integral fuel tanks).

Spencer collected a headset for me and started up, then handed over to me for taxiing. As with the Tomahawk, I overcorrected at first, then settled down and followed the yellow line fairly closely over a couple of snow drifts, then over an inactive runway (after looking both ways!), and out to the active. Spencer had made the radio call ("Taxiing to the active" instead of the runway number). I lined up on the impressively long runway and pushed the throttle forward. At Spencer's prompting I rotated at 55 knots and let the aircraft fly itself off. Climb was at 74 knots, and we levelled off at 2000 feet (1400' AGL - Lawrence Airport is at an elevation of 800').

I throttled back to 2300 rpm, trimmed for level flight (using the trim wheel rather than the yoke-mounted electric trim switch) and turned right towards Lawrence. Pretty soon Spencer took over and flew at a steady 65 knots with some flap out while I took a few photographs of the snowy landscape below. This time I checked that the film speed was set to 100 ASA, and Spencer also pointed out that the side window can be opened at any speed below V_NE. Although it was freezing outside, he said, "If you can take it, so can I." The result is distinctly sharper photos than those I took over Stirling. My left hand rapidly numbed in the cold, though (I was holding the camera outside in the airstream) and after noticing the strap slip off my wrist I thought it would be safer all round to close the window and take the photos through the perspex. Since it was a brand-new airplane there wasn't a scratch on it and I defy anyone to pick the difference between the pictures taken through the window and in the open air.

With twenty or so pictures of Lawrence in the can, and time becoming short, I took the controls again and flew out over Clinton lake before turning back for the airport. It was pretty hard to pick at first, but became apparent in a brown rectangle where the snow was thinner. Once more Spencer made the radio calls while I joined the base leg (apparently this is OK in the USA, whereas in CTAF airspace in Australia we are expected to fly at least three legs of the circuit).

Speed on base was 85 kts with one stage of flap. Turning onto final I added another stage of flap and reduced the speed to 75 kts. Final approach was at 65 kts with all three stages of flap extended. I paid particular attention to being trimmed for the appropriate speed at all times. Close to the threshold I pulled the throttle all the way back and held 65 knots by gently pulling back on the stick. The aircraft gently settled onto its main wheels and I pushed the yoke forward to gently lower the nosewheel to the tarmac. Glancing to my right I noticed that Spencer had his hands on the coaming. "That's impressive," I said, and he replied that he did that with all his students where possible. He said it was a pretty good landing, which was satisfying after my rather half-hearted performance on the Tomahawk.

We'd used only a fraction of the huge runway when we turned off at the first taxiway and returned to the apron. It only remained to pay the very reasonable US$94.20 (0.6 hours at $107 per hour, plus $30 for the instructor. No sales tax.). I thanked Spencer for his time, and for coming in early, and promised to drop in again on our next visit. The trickiest part of the whole operation was probably picking my way back over the frozen snow in the carpark back to the hire car.

Having come from Scotland in the winter, I can see why many British students choose to learn to fly in the US, particularly in the warmer spots such as Florida (where Spencer had just moved from). It's significantly cheaper than Britain too. At a conversion rate of A$1.00 = US$0.70 it's also cheaper to hire a C172 in Lawrence than a Citabria in Australia. However this is probably largly explained by lower fuel costs. I'll be more than happy to return to Curtis and continue my training, once we've got our finances back under control after the trip.

Photos

Click thumbnails to enlarge

Cessna 172, Lawrence	Turning over Lawrence	Kansas University, Lawrence	Kansas University	Kansas University
Kansas University	Lawrence	Lawrence	Donald's local area	Lawrence
Downtown Lawrence	Downtown Lawrence	Lawrence	Wheat silos	River
River	Housing contrasts	Slow flying	Kansas University	Clinton Lake
Spencer Marker	Cessna 172, Lawrence