Stepping Up!

[jnicholas]

Hi All, I am nearing the end of my PPL training here in Australia. I completed a flight today of Precautionary Search and Landing....Great fun!...

I am now to wait for a good cross wind and that will be my last flight before i move onto my Navs. For the Navs i will be flying Cessna 172's. So far i have flown a 152, Tomahawk PA38, Zenith CH2000 and an Embraer Learjet 45 (woot!)

What should i expect when moving from the zenith into a 172? is it just like a heavy 152?

Cheers guys, i'm new here!
Jake

[englishal]

I'm sure if you have flown the Embraer Learjet 45 then you should have no problems with a 172....although I must admit I didn't know Embraer made the Lear....But you live and learn ;)

The main thing with a 172 is to enure to tell ATC that you are a "172 Heavy" - wot with it being a heavy 152....

Good luck :ok:

[jxc]

The main thing with a 172 is to enure to tell ATC that you are a "172 Heavy" - wot with it being a heavy 152....


And then goto the local B&Q and ask for a long wait :E

[Dave Gittins]

Yer a miserable lot of buggers .. winding the lad up. Ah the days of sending the apprentice to the stores for a long stand and a tin of elbow grease.

Yes a 172 is just like a 152 except it doesn't bounce about so much in the breeze. Nothing to be concerned about .... and anyway you will have a good instructor with you so before you start ask him what the differences are .. such as the rotate speed, the base leg and final speeds etc.

Reading the POH helps too.

And if it's a realtively new one .. enjoy finding the 12 or 13 fuel drains for the preflight including crawling about and lying under the engine :ok:.

[jnicholas]

sorry guys, got mixed up with the 45. was great fun though! absolutely amazing to put such a piece of engineering through a few turns, then follow through on controls to land the thing!

[jnicholas]

Anyway, a bit more about me:
I started flying when i was just 13, started with monthly lessons. Over time i built up 2 fortnightly lessons etc. Achieved my first solo just after my 16th birthday when i got my student license. Couple of flight later i've done all the forced landings, stalls, precautionary search and landing, steep turns etc. And i'm almost right for my area solo and 6 to 10 Navs.

Turn 17 in Feb and hope to achieve my PPL withing a month or so of that. From there I have 2 years of school left and i will keep slogging away at it to try for my CPL at the end of year 12!

I've always wanted to go to the Air Force, but am starting to have my doubts about the length of commitment, etc. So the friend at Singapore Airlines who got me the gig in the 45 said he would like to chat to me about a ATP job. Will see what develops in the next few months but would love 2 hear of people experiences.

Cheers
Jake

[BackPacker]

Something else that you may encounter when going from a 152 to a 172 is a vastly upgraded avionics panel. Most 152s I've seen still have one old mechanical radio, while lots of 172 have been built later, or upgraded later, to include two relatively modern radios, audio panel, intercom, various nav radios, maybe a GPS, you name it.

Before you take your first flight, it might be worth just sitting in the aircraft for an hour or two, preferably with ground power connected, to find out what the different boxes do, and how you make the proper box do what you want it to do.

[kevmusic]

In the flare you might want to haul back a litttle harder than the 152.

[Torquatus]

The two most striking things I found moving from the 152 to the 172N were the heavy elevators (compared to the 152) and the tall instrument panel. At Vy the coaming is on the horizon, if I remember correctly, and it is strange not to be able to see forward when climbing if you're used to the 152. The most annoying thing about the aircraft is checking the fuel strainer drain in preflight - how is anyone meant to be able to reach the lever while holding the cup under the drain port?

On the bright side, I found the 172 a lot easier to land well than the 152. The version we were using had the 40° flap, which helped with short-field landings anyway.

As Dave says you'll have the instructor to point out the things to look for. and given the variety of different types you've flown, you'll be fine :ok:

I haven't had an opportunity to fly the Zenith, what is that like?

[jnicholas]

Zenith flies just like a tomahawk PA38 with a little extra performance. Extremely easy and is just a good simple trainer