Stall

Stall - is a reduction in lift coefficient (fixed-wing aircraft) generated by the aerofoil (wings) as angle of attack (angle between the chord line and the relative airflow) increases.

It was a cloudy day but clearing up. I had a friend along with me, Mr. Billy. Well, this good friend of mine manage to travel a mass distance from up north of the country down here to my place just to get a ride in the good ol' Cessna 172. Fortunately, my generous instructor allowed him to backsit the lesson.

Today's lesson is going to be 'Stall', in which case whom I presumed that doesn't know what stall is, read the above. If it is still unclear, go and thank Google for creating a superb search engine. Actually, I have booked a 30min on the Cessna for a city tour for this good friend of mine because I don't want someone to paint the inside of the aircraft with some chewed up fried chicken and fries. But it seems that Billy was keen on backsitting earlier than planned.

It was while I was doing some inspection on the outer side of the aircraft where Billy was busy following me to see what the hell I was doing. He was keen on learning I presumed, but in the other hand, he was just awe looking at the mini beast behold upon him. Once I was done with the exterior, I entered the cockpit and did some checks. My instructor, well not really my instructor, he is the Resident Flying Instructor whom was assigned to check my progress. Some people said that I did my flying a bit too fast, so he wanted to check either I was doing alright or I was just fucking aroud in the cockpit.

"Do you want to follow now or later?" The instructor asked Billy.

"Eh, if possible, I would like to follow the training as well." Billy said.

"Ok, hop in."

I was quite starstrucked at my instructor's question, but nevertheless, it was alright since Billy can have a good long ride in the aircraft. Adding to that, this is Billy's first flight ever since he was born. Eventhough successfully working as an Industrial Engineer in one of the big companies, he never did try to get on a plane. So it worries me a bit since the last passenger I had managed to hold his food in his stomach up until we landed. Well, I guess everyone have different tolerance towards altitude and attitude change, especially when you know that the metal thing that you're sitting in can fall out of the sky anytime and anywhere it wants. Even thinking about it really fucked my mind up sometimes, but the sky is the aim, nothing to be scared about.

We received clearance for start up, taxi and enter RWY 22.

"9-FC, sir we're ready for take off." I told the ATC guy after done all the necessary pre take off checks.

"9-FC, left turn clear for take off."

"Left turn clear for take off, 9-FC," I replied.

Power 2000, brakes holding, temperature and pressure within limit, suction good, compass and DGI synchronized, hatches and harness secured, full power, release brakes and off we go.

"40kts, 45kts, 50kts, and 55kts, rotate," I pull the control column back causing the aircraft nose attitude to pitch up and the tires to slowly leave the hard ground. We were climbing at 75kts with a climb rate of 500ft/min. I level off at 1000ft before establishing the training area, R236.

Once arrived, we received clearance to operate there without any traffic. My instructor asked me to climb to 2000ft for ground clearance and I did that without hesitations. Once reached the desired altitude, my instructor asked me to do the HASELL check and 1 clearing turn.

Well, HASELL is a pre-stall check:

H - Height

A - Airframe

S - Security

E - Engine

L - Location

L - Lookout

Once everthing is done, I did one clearing turn of 180degrees and hand over the controls to my instructor. He told me to observe and follow through. He put the power to idle and hold the aircraft at a straight and level attitude. I can see the speed start to drop super fast causing the stall horn to scream aloud. My instructor pulled hard on the control column to make it pitch back and maintain level. Suddenly, I can feel the aircraft starts to shake a bit (buffet) and the nose suddenly dropped down causing the aircraft to plunge towards the ground. My stomach shrunk as if I were sitting on a roller coaster. But this roller coaster is a different one, imagine having a roller coaster rushing towards the ground but without any tracks in front, yeah, imagine having to cope with that.

"Yahhooooooooo!!" Opps, I screamed out loud on the microphone. To be honest, I'm totally sucked at riding roller coasters and riding one without any tracks make it worst. I tend to scream half of my lungs out. My instructor laughed at me while he maintained the nose down towards the earth attitude of the aircraft. As the airspeed passed around 60kts, he pulled back hard and level off the aircraft. We lost about roughly 200feet of altitude which is normal if no power was added. Yep, a lot if you don't have enough sky to recover, bad enough if this happens during final approach.

We tried a different exercise next, where power is being added once the nose drops. Once again with the checks and clearing turn, we brought the aircraft to a stall state and once the nose drops out of the sky, full power and right rudder to counter the slipstream effects. This time, we loose about 50 feet only which is good. This exercise is called SSR or Standard Stall Recovery. This is practised if stall happens on cruise flight or normal flight.

The next practise is the SISR or Standard Incipient Stall Recovery. On the verge of stall, usually when the stall horn starts to make the anoying 'screeching' sound, full power is being apply and right rudder while maintaining the the level attitude to avoid the aircraft from loosing any height. Hell yeah, it kindda stayed at the same altitude which is damn good enough for me.

Once I managed to handle all of the stalls situation, we did a tour around the city for the good friend of mine behind whom I almost forgot his existence throughout the practice. We landed roughly, well considered a safe landing due to my amateur skills (mind you, without any bouncing up and down), just a rough smack down landing which keeps us on the ground for sure.

Once shutdown process had been done, chokes in, control surfaces locked, suddenly Billy asked me, "Can I follow again tomorrow? That was great!"

Mr. Billy

Butterfly Tummy

It was going to be a long flight for today, as expected. As for today, a good friend of mine (Mr. K) is going to backseat my flight. I'm going to practice climb and descend, and a bit of steep turns due to my imperfections during the last session. Last session, I did medium and steep turns which seems to be fine when I relaxed. The first run I did was wobbly and imbalance due to me tensing up since I did not expect it to be a bit complicated comparing to the simulator (thank you Microsoft for creating such a great program). So, in order to compensate for the last time, my instructor asked me to practice a bit more on the steep turns. I did okay and my instructor was satisfied.

Next, he showed me on how to do a cruise descend. In this case, it's a descend at cruising speed which is usually ranging from 100-90kts. As for Julia, the throttle was set at 1900rpm in order to maintain 100kts while having the nose pitching downwards with a descend rate of 500 ft/min. It was damn easy since I managed to master the technique with the first try with me gleefully smiling to the instructor as he complimented me.

Then, came glide descend. Almost basically the same where I need to put Julia in a descending attitude, but this time, I need to make her fall out of the sky slower at approximately 75kts with idle power. Yep, idle power which makes it a bit tricky. Adding to the problem, the control gets super sloppy, not forgetting the turbulence from the uneven grounds down below. At first, while holding a straight and level attitude, I cut the power to idle letting the airspeed drop. During this phase, I need to pull back and trim the aircraft to avoid the nose from pitching down (to ensure the speed drops faster). Slowly, Julia started to wobble a bit as the speed drops to 80kts since there're less lift. 80, 77, 75, "Pitching down, Attitude - maintain pitch down attitude, Lookout - left clear, front clear, right clear, Performance - rate of descend 500ft per min, and 75kts." Saying it out allows me to remember these stuffs better.

"Level off at 1500ft," the instructor told me.

"Yes sir, 1500ft."

"1700, 1600ft.. Nearing level off altitude.. 1500ft, level off."

I yanked the control column backwards causing Julia to pitch up like a horse being pulled on the rein.

"Wooo wooo. Ease off a bit. Don't try to stall the aircraft, see your airspeed is 55kts already."

Oh crap. I thought Julia won't jerk at that rate since we're at low speed. But I forgot that the propeller is still spinning, causing the rudder and elevator to be more responsive compared to the ailerons. My instructor climbed Julia to 2000ft and asked me to do the practice again. This time, it is a much smoother glide. Nearing 1500ft, I slowly pull the control column backwards and apply cruising power plus the right rudder to counter the slipstream effect. Bingo, I hit the sweetspot and there we are, cruising at almost 200kmph at an altitude of 1500ft.

"Okay good. Now climb the aircraft, full power, right rudder, pitch up, trim, and maintain attitude for a speed of 75kts."

It was pretty easy.

"Now, request for city area for a tour since your friend is getting bored."

I turn around and I get what my instructor meant. There was my friend at the back, sleeping soundfully. I was suprised to see him in that state even after a lot of bumps here and there due to the turbulence. Maybe it was super boring I guess, going round and round for a whole hour.

"Simpang Tower, 9M-HAN, request rejoin for city area." I requested from the ATC.

"9M-HAN, track to Ampang, 1500ft."

"Track to Ampang, 1500ft, 9M-HAN." I replied back.

I asked for my instructor to fly the plane. I turn backwards and tap my friend on the knee. He woke up with a blurry face. I told him we're going to city area for a tour. He shrugged his shoulder with a finger pointing towards his headset signing that it was not working. Oh, no wonder he's bored. The headset is broken and he can't hear a damn thing. I text 'We're going to city area for a tour' on my Blackberry and showed it to him. He nodded quickly. I take another look at him, and I sense that his face is almost white as paper. I guess he's just scared of heights.

We did a tour around the infamous twin towers and a few other places around the city. Julia was bucking up and down due to the hot weather and turbulence from the buildings below. We did a few rounds above the city and my instructor asked me to request for rejoin.

"Simpang Tower, 9M-HAN, from city area request rejoin for full stop sir."

"9M-HAN, rejoin approve, runway 22, QNH 1010, report on final."

"Runway 22, QNH 1010, report on final, 9M-HAN."

The instructor positioned Julia for long final and he said the most exciting thing I've heard in ages, "Now, you do the landing". I almost crap in my pants once I've heard that. I asked him wether he is sure, and he said yes. I gulped a few times and pray to God that everything will be fine. Did the downwind checks:

BUMFFH

-Brakes off

-Undercarriage fixed

-Mixture rich

-Fuel selector both

-Flaps stage one

-Harness and hatches secured

On final, "Simpang Tower, 9M-HAN, on final".

"9M-HAN, beware chopper hovering, surface wind calm, clear to land."

"Copy traffic, clear to land, 9M-HAN".

I shook myself for a bit the release the tensions, pray a bit and prepare to land.

"Power to 1500rpm, flaps stage 1, nose down, aiming point threshold, trim a bit, airspeed still high, flaps stage 2, power to idle, flaps stage 3".

We were on a high decend, I can see the whole length of the runway. I thought that we're going to overshoot but my instructor asked me to relax. Slowly, the airspeed started to reduce to 65kts and we're on the correct glide path. I apply a bit of power to avoid Julia from stalling. Julia slowly descend towards the runway smoothly, suddenly the left wing dropped drastically. My quick mind reacted yanking to the right to avoid Julia from running off course. At the same time, I pressed hard on the right rudder to allign back for the centreline. Julia was wobbling roughly was in control. Slowly I descend to the runway, flare and let Julia to gently touch the runway. Screech went the tire and I apply the brakes to slow down.

"9M-HAN, vacate via Charlie".

"Vacate via Charlie, 9M-HAN".

I look at my instructor and he gave thumb up.

"THAT WAS A SUPERB FIRST LANDING!!" I scream in my heart.

Mr.K before the flight.

Effects of Control 1

Position: Approaching R236.. Altitude: 2000 feet.. Equipment: Cessna 172.. POB: 3 person..

This time, I brought along a Friend of mine whom I presume had seen me grow up for a duration of 5 years. We're college friends and had been closed buddies ever since, not to say that he is the only close buddies I have, but I have this speacial feeling of ease when he is around.

I also managed to grab a new Indian instructor who seems like a good guy, with good looks and attitude. He seems like a more chilled person compared to the last one, which makes me more relaxed and concentrate on my flying rather than concentrating on each and every single curses that I'm exposed to.

"You have control," the instructor said.

"I have control, sir" I took hold of the control collumn, throttle and feet on the rudder before saying this. Eventhough the instructor is a few months younger than me, I look up upon him due to respect as a teacher and a pilot with higher ranking than me. Some people say it's the 'respect on the left seat', but in this case, I'm on the left seat.

Julia swayed a bit to left and right due to some updrafts but I managed to ease her down and making the flight more pleasant. We are enroute to R236 (training area) and the weather seems nice except that it is a bit humid and hot, but still not hot enough to give us a horse ride.

"Simpang Tower, 9-FC established Romeo 236, 1500feet," I managed to blurt out once we've established the training area.

"9-FC, clear to operate 2000 feet and below, report ops normal at time 35."

"Clear to operate 2000 feet and below, report ops normal at time 35, 9-FC."

Basically, the tower wants us to fly not more than 2000 feet, which is yeah a bit too low and boring I guess, because we won't fly any higher than the base of the clouds. And at the same time, the tower wants us to report back to him when the minute hand of the watch is pointing to 35 within the same hour.

I glanced at my watch and it shows 1105 and its going to be noon soon, so the instructor brief a bit regarding the exercise to make sure that I remember all of the stuffs that had been briefed earlier. What we did was some exercise on the effects of aileron (banking/rolling), rudder (yaw where the aircraft nose pointing to the left or right) and elevator (pitch up or down). It was super basic and I guess my grandmother could do that.

The instructor then told me to maintain 'datum attitue', this is where I need to ensure Julia is flying straight where it doesn't bank or yaw to the left or right and fly level. Because it was getting hotter, the updrafts were strong adding more to my difficulty in maintaining the 'datum attitude'. But after like 12 years of flight simulator training, I managed to get the hold of Julia controls within seconds.

Once I'm satisfied, the instructor asked me to do some trimmings in order to maintain the attitude. At first, Julia was flying like a snake, but in this case, it was snaking up and down. This is due to Julia having only elevator trim. So, it takes off the load from the pilot when maintaining level flight. It was quite bad trimming for the first time, I keep on chasing the attitude making Julia pitch up and down non-stop. The instructor told me to use the 'SHOT' technique or 'Select HOld Trim'. I select the pitching attitude of Julia, hold it there and trim her until the load eases off from the column. Julia was behaving under my control and I gave her a lil pat on the column, thanking her of course. The instructor gave me a few more runs but this time without any aid at all and he was smiling which is a good sign.

"Ok well done, I thought it was gonna take us the whole hour but I guess we can go back now, good job." The instructor was happy.

"Thanks sir, so shall we go back?"

"Yes, call the tower and fly the airplane, I want to enjoy the view"

I pressed the radio button and do the radio call, "Simpang Tower, 9-FC request rejoin."

"9-FC, rejoin downwind, report above north of Bukit Besi, 1500 feet."

"Report north of Bukit Besi, 1500 feet, 9-FC"

I flew Julia maintaining her level at 1500 feet towards Bukit Besi. The flight was a bit rough since it was almost noon. It was getting bumpier by the second but I kept a hold on to Julia making sure she doesn't drop us out of the sky. I managed to think to myself imagining how would my passengers feel if I fly the airplane in a bumpy situation like this. Suddenly I remembered, I turn around and there was my friend, almost white as sheet.

"Dude, you okay?"

He smiled a sheepish smile.

"Don't worry dude, this baby is strong, we won't dive to our graves"

He looked at me smiling the most stupidest full of fear and confusion smile ever.

Life on the column continues.