Hey, where would we be without a little sourness here and there
Keep up the good work mate!
Well, I had such an amazing flight yesterday. I figured I still had 40 mins slow flight to do, so we went on a little sight seeing flight down the coast of Wales, towards Rhyll. What a beautiful flight it was - a little misty but the scenery was fantastic - never actually been down that way before, but I can see myself flying down there when I have my license.
The order of the day was to fly slow in different configurations, including with flap (different stages) and how to be able to climb, say at 65 kts then level off, whilst still remaining 65kts. It wasn't too difficult to be honest, set the desired RPM (there are set figures which should work - these usually require a little tweaking to get it right).
I learned quite a bit on this flight, first of all, when you decrease the RPM to say 1700RPM and let the aircraft settle, the RPM will continue to drop for about another 500 RPM by itself, this is due to the aicraft actually slowing down, which results in less airflow, in turn slowing the prop down. The same works in the opposite, when you increase RPM. This is vitally important because you THINK you are all set up, but what actually happens is that you will begin to descend - you need increase the PRM ever so slightly, after you have slowed down. I figured this out after I kept descending
With the flaps down was a different ball game. This is an excellent way to illustrate the "throttle for height - controls for speed". What happens is, during slow flight, if you lower a stage of flap, the airspeed will bleed off, UNLESS you lower the nose. If you lower the nose to keep the airspeed, you will descend, as you are pointing to the ground. This is where the throttle comes in, if you increase the power to stop the descent, the result is a lower nose attitude, in straight and level slow flight. This gives you better visibility forward as you dont have a high nose attitude to maintain a high angle of attack.
Another thing that I need to get used to - when you reduce the RPM you will have significant left yaw, due to the reduction of the slipstream. I have always know this and have usually always compensated for it - however, when in constant level slow flight, the aircraft seems to always want to yaw, and I found that I kept losing heading to the left quite a bit. Flying is so much easier when the aircraft is in trim - this is an art and I am beggining to get the grasp of it. I now remove my hands from the controls and use my feet to steer the aircraft (just to test the trim). This is also good for when your hands are full or you are mapreading etc.
To conclude, a fantastic enjoyable 1Hr 30Mins flight - down the Welsh coast. I have completed the legally required time for slow flght anyway.
It's great to see those who are doing their QXC and that everyone (almost everyone) is flying. Keep it up and safe flying
Lee