Howdy All,

Just got picked up as for a UPT Slot, and it is nice and all but its a ticket to the big dance, so i'm trying to break in my dancing shoes...and wondering if people want to give me some advice to what has helped them.

I have been taking private lessons to get my feet wet so it doesn't look like im a chicken with my head cut off, and each flight I always jack something or other up.  Last lesson it was the lack of cockpit management that I displayed.  at one point i had airport diagrams in front of nav charts and so on...the knee board just doesn't seem to be cutting the mustard, but then again, i am most likely just doing somehting wrong. Any adivce would be greatly appreciated.

Finally those darn crosswind landings.  Yesterday it was RWY 20 winds were 230 @19G27 (windshear +/- 15)  Granted yesterday was tough , but I was overcorrecting and it was just a disaster.  Anything that people have experienced in the past, that could help?  I want to amke the most of every flight, so that I'm not wasting money...so any info is awesome!

Thanks everyone!  happy flying

Yeah cockpit management is a really valuable skill to master. Getting organized where you can reach things you need quickly will help a lot in the jet. If you can avoid being the UPT stud that drops his only approach plate on the floor during flight (and can't get it without unstrapping the shoulder straps of a jet with an ejection seat that will kill him if it goes off) that would help. Experimentation is good and you can mess around with various kneeboards back at your place. Also, a kneeboard with print outs of the approaches you're going to fly is helpful.

Crosswinds are one of those things where you can talk about the "how" but really it becomes a "just do." Until it becomes that though...a two step process works well in my opinion. I don't know what kind of aircraft you're flying now but I like the wing low method (ie a slip). Get on centerline so you have time to drive on final. Then just worry about banking enough to keep from being blown off centerline (doesn't matter that your nose will be pointed off to the side as you go down final). Bank as required to get to centerline and then maintain it. Then once you've got that nailed, feed in rudder to the center the nose. That will require more power as you do it because you'll now be putting more drag on the jet (slipping). Hold that all the way through landing.

But of course it all depends on what kind of aircraft you're flying so don't take my thoughts as instruction (they're not)...go talk with an actual instructor that flies your jet.

Good luck.

My $0.02:

Before and during, and after a flight, figure out what you really NEED:

Local flight? Probably won't need that AFD or sectional too much. They should be accessible, but they don't need to be in your lap.

Checklist slowing you down? Sit in the airplane on the ground for an hour and work out a cockpit flow based on the checklist. You may not need to hit every item in order, but instead simplify it from cockpit left to right or bottom to top. For example, in an Aviat Husky, a left-right flow across the cockpit gives me: Carb heat=ON, Prop=FORWARD, Mixture=RICH/AS APPROPRIATE, Landing gear=DOWN FOR LAND/UP FOR WATER, Landing light=ON, Water rudders=UP, etc. It's the same way EVERY TIME, and there is only a slight modification for takeoff. If you do all this, and then look at the checklist to VERIFY you hit all the items, you will be much more fluid, and have fewer items distracting you when at such a critical point in the flight.

The above works for your PTS maneuvers, as well. Instead of memorizing the procedures handed to you on a piece of paper, think about "Why would I deal with a power-off stall? Oh, yeah, that would be in descent to landing, and I'm either flaring the plane for landing or didn't pay enough attention to my airspeed and it decayed. What would I do to remedy that?" It will make much more sense as far as a flow in the cockpit goes: F.Ex., for a power off stall, you'd do the same flow that you would do for landing to set the plane up. Then you can concentrate on the maneuver instead of thinking about what the step-by-step list is. Try to think 3 seconds ahead, so your hands are pulling carb heat on while your brain is thinking, 'next I'll need. . .' It's bad to be thinking, 'OK, now what?'

You may not need to actually write down ATIS/AWOS, since the information is fairly straightforward. Wind dir and speed needs to give you a basic idea of what runway to use and how difficult the approach will be, but you are not doing cross country planning in the cockpit. If you are left of centerline, go more to the right, but you don't have to know how many degrees at your current groundspeed, etc. Cloud/ceiling information is good to know for a general outlook, but you need to evaluate it as far as, 'can I go flying today?' If the ceiling is 500', no; but if you are only planning on flying at 3000', and the ceiling is 9000', no sweat. Temperature/dewpoint is good for knowing if you can expect weather conditions (clouds, rain) to be changing soon or rapidly. (If you hear Temp 8 Dewopint 8, will you be able to get back to the field in 45 minutes?) Some stations have Density altitude, which is good for a general idea of "is my plane going to perform like ass today?" If yes, then you can go crunch the numbers on how badly. Do you need to write down the altimeter setting, or can you just set it right then? As far as ATIS goes, can you remember the identifier long enough to switch frequencies? A kneeboard may be essential in IFR, but when I was using one while training, I'd always be writing stuff down that I never had to look back at.

As far as crosswinds go: You just have to do them. As many as possible. Get comfortable with that opposite aileron/rudder combination. Try an approach where you don't land, but just fly along the runway controlling left/right drift. Be flexible with how you fly the airplane. Flying exactly at 70 knots on approach EVERY time in great weather (because you've just always done things that way) works, until the gusty day with the wind right down the runway. What happens when a 30 knot wind suddenly turns into 10 knots, and your plane just stops flying?



The point of that novel is that as you become more comfortable in the plane and with routine procedures, you rely less heavily on information in front of you than information stored in your brain. Doing so allows you to pay more attention to actually flying. Remember, ALWAYS FLY THE PLANE FIRST.

This stuff comes with practice, which is good on you to get exposed to it now. You WILL make mistakes, and if you can remember them, it's better to make as many as you can while there is an instructor with you!

Agree with what Rynizzle and L Unit said.

Something that should definitely help with cockpit management for you (and flying in particular) is something HIGHLY stressed in pilot training and out in the CAF- Chair Flying. It has to be good practice, so don't just run through things quickly in your head. Take an hour or so and sit down with your checklists, charts, etc, and "fly" the whole mission. Actually take out and reference what you'll need during each portion of your flight, and move your hands to where the various controls are. "See" yourself flying the whole sortie, from ground ops through taxi back and shut down. During your chairfly sessions you should be able to sort out what you need and what you don't need, and in what order. Organize everything on your kneeboard or whatever in the order you'll need it. Then, once you're done using it, move it to the back so the next thing you'll need is on top. After a little while you'll develop your own style and know how you want to "set up your nest." Take only what you need. The less stuff you have, the better off you are.

After the flight, give yourself a thorough debrief. Here's how we debrief in the Air Force (at least in my experience). Compare/contrast what the expected outcome should have been with what actually happened. For any differences, try to figure out all the contributing factors and then find the root cause. Then go through and see what you could do better next time. Here's the important part: WRITE IT DOWN. Review the lessons learned before you go fly so you can see your trends and know what to really concentrate on next flight. Also, if you don't know the answer to "how do I fix this" make sure you talk to your instructor about it before you go flying next time. For examle, since your crosswind landing had less then stellar results, first ask, "Why did I fly a poor crosswind approach and landing?" Possible contributing factors: failure to control drift, failure to properly align the aircraft with the runway, poor airspeed control, shifting aim point, distraction, nervousness/psyching yourself out. The root cause would most likely be failure to control drift (since if you controlled drift the other problems may not have happened). Then ask yourself, what did you perceive, what was your plan, and how well did you execute that plan? For perception, did you correctly conclude that you needed to apply crosswind corrections (did you note the wind direction from ATIS, did you see drift on final, etc)? What was your plan (crab method or wing-low method)? Finally, how well did you execute your plan? Have your instructor go over the proper procedures and techniques for a wing-low landing with you. Not everything has to be this thorough, but using this methodology will definitely help you figure out what went wrong and how to correct things.

One more thing coming from someone starting UPT right now and who completed IFS a few weeks ago.

Don't get too worked up about making little mistakes especially now. Not sure what plane your flying but when you fly at IFS in the DA-20 those winds are dangerously close to solo limits and the gusts are over the 25kt max for dual flight meaning if you did fly under those conditions they probably wouldn't expect much from you anyways. The practice will help some but I wouldn't plan on being an expert, they do a good job walking you through it out at IFS. If you can go there being semi confident on landings and with a whole lot of motivation you will do fine. I went with 8 hours over the past 8 years and I got out of there in a little over two weeks soloed and checked, don't be too worried. What UPT base you going to if you don't mind me asking? Im at Columbus, goodluck!

Who knows!! Supposedly we find out at the end of the month! I can't wait!

Dude, I love your avatar...where did you find that pic?

af.mil

it was one of the pics of the week