Practicing for a bad day

 

More training today.  Focus today was on instrument work and one engine inoperative.  A twin is great and you have options when an engine quits that you don't have in a single but...  You need to do stuff correctly and that means practicing.  When an engine quits you have an imbalance of power so you need to use rudder and bank to keep the plane going straight.  You also need to keep sufficient speed so that your controls are effective.  

Shooting an approach on one is actually not that much harder than normal.  In a gentle descent, there is not much asymmetric thrust so staying straight is easy.  Going around is harder because you have the gear down and you need to transition from a descent to a climb.  Shooting the approach at 130 makes this all much easier.

The single engine go around starts with adding power.  A smooth slow application is preferred as this allows you to add rudder and keep everything smooth.  Next step is getting the gear up.  Having 130 knots means you can level off while you do all this and still have 120+ knots left when cleaned up.  Only at this point do you begin to gently pitch for a climb.  Today with the cool air, I was able to climb 300+ fpm at 120.  If I was heavy and it was hot, I would have climbed right at 100, the best rate speed.

After plenty of instrument work and some holding practice, we flew around and practiced the electronics.  The Garmin equipment makes it easy to split screens and project a lot of information.  You can also put different sources on different screens to compare them.  For example I can watch the onboard radar on one screen while looking at the ground based picture on the other.

I am just learning how to interpret the onboard radar.  Using it is a lesson in physics and geometry.  While it has a range of up to 320 miles, the practical distance is closer to 40-60 miles. Beyond this the radar beam gets exceedingly wide so the resolution drops.  Also pointing it becomes a challenge.  Point it straight ahead and a lot of your beam bounces off the ground and back at you.  Tilt it up to avoid the ground and then the center of the beam is miles above your path and points at a part of storms that don't reflect well. 

Finally, the big problem. Don't tell anyone but the earth is not flat.  Flying at 3000 feet, at 120 miles the center of your beam is around 16,000 feet if you point it straight ahead.  If you tilt up 2 degrees to avoid some of the ground returns, your beam center is at 20,000 feet 60 miles out.

There was a small shower North of Tampa this morning and down low at 3000 we could not detect it, nor was I surprised.  All this is fine, at cruise we can see 60 miles without issue which is 20 minutes away, plenty of time to maneuver.  I'll be looking for some days with nearby storms to practice my radar skills as I continue to learn. 

Lessons 3 and 4

 

Thursday I took the morning to train some more.  First up was flight maneuvers.  360 turns to begin and then steep 360 turns.  I always enjoy steep turns.  In a single engine plane the cowling is an excellent reference point for the horizon.  In the twin, the nose is actually longer but slope down more so you have to project the horizon above the glare shield.  It's not hard but takes some practice.

After some more maneuvers, we headed back to Palatka for a simulated single engine approach.  After landing we taxied back and did a few more  landings and then stopped to fill the tanks.  On the way back home, we did some additional simulated engine out including climbs, turns and just plain flying.

In the first 3 lessons we focused on the discrete aspects of safely operating the plane but long time readers will recognize that these flights are nothing like a typical mission for me.  Today we tied it all together and took a short trip.  We flew to Walterboro, SC and then on to Jesup, GA to refuel and then home.

Why these places?  Well it allowed for 3 hops which approximate the type of trips I take.  It allowed me to program and manage the electronics, manage the engines from start, to departure, to climb, to descent and finally landing. The locations picked were based upon the weather.  I wanted to avoid anything bad and with a big front coming, that pretty much set our direction.

Overall the trip went well.  I did get distracted at one point while getting the autopilot modes wrong.  I descended off intended altitude and heading while playing with all the new toys.  My instructor let me get far enough off my intended path before mentioning it to make the point.  Hopefully lesson learned.  I still need to work on my flows and scans.  

The amount of information displayed is more than I had previously had but several key pieces of information are now in very different places.  This causes 2 problems, first I am wasting time and brain power getting to things.  This just means I need more practice behind the panel.  

For example loading a new frequency.  I am used to just twisting it in and hitting the flip flop button.  With the new radios, you can type it, which theoretically is faster and then select it active.  This only works if you hit the right sequence.

The second issue is that I am used to certain behaviors.  For example my old panel had a very distinct "Altitude" call whenever I started to deviate from my set altitude.  This one does not.  Basically this means I just need to practice more.  

Here comes the sun

It has been quite a few days since I trained.  Had a good first session and then the monsoon came.  Either the rain was coming down or the clouds were really low.  While I would normally be all over some of this weather for instrument practice, with a new plane I  needed good weather to work through my next training objectives.  

I finally got some sunny skies this morning.  First objective was some Airwork.  Last flight we were loaded pretty much at the front of the envelope.  I moved some stuff around and we had less fuel today so while we were still at the front of the envelope, we were not as close to the edge.

I noticed the difference on departure.  The plane behaved a bit better on the ground with less weight on the nose wheel.  After wheels up we headed to 7500 feet and cleared the area.  Once clear I practiced some slow flight both clean and dirty.  The next exercise was stalls.  Barons have a reputation for dropping a wing in a stall.  

First stall was clean and I was ready on the rudders to pick up a wing.  I was pleasantly surprised though, as the plane slowed I could feel the imminent stall approaching and had a solid buffet before breaking straight ahead and a conventional recovery.  At our weight the book says the plane stalls at 83 KIAS.  It stalled at 75 which confirmed that the VGs were doing their thing.  VGs or vortex generators are small tabs across the front of the wing span that  help energize the boundary layer and delay the onset of the stall.  They claim to get you 9 knots reduction and we saw at least 8.

Dirty stalls (with flaps) were next and the break came at 65 KIAS while the book claimed 72.  The VGs are supposed to give you 5 knots so this was better than expected.  The dirty break was also straight ahead.  So much for bad mannered Barons.  After a few of each type of stalls, we moved onto simulated single engine flight.

The manual has a power setting which simulates one engine feathered.  The instructor set that power and I added power on the good engine.  At 7500 feet and 5250 pounds, the plane climbed 200-300 fpm on one.  It was relatively easy to manage the yaw with rudder and a slight bank into the good engine.  The ideal profile is 2-3 degrees of bank and a half ball deflection towards the good engine.

After single engine practice we slowly warmed the idling engine and then began a descent towards St. Augustine.  I called approach and requested some practice approaches.  We shot 3 GPS approaches, one with a hold in lieu of a procedure turn.  The final run was an ILS and then we broke off to the North to fly the GPS 32 back home with a circle to 5.

Lining up on final, everything was looking good and passing 50 feet I was on speed.  Having a slightly more rearward loading made a difference.  The flare went nicely and I was able to hold the nose off after touchdown.  This really helped slow the plane quicker and I think in a more typical loading I will typically fly. This should make arrivals and departures a bit easier but it was good to train at the more difficult part of the envelope.

Training begins

Training officially began today.  That is not completely accurate.  I am already a trained multi engine pilot.  This is really type specific training but the training really started months ago.  Before I purchased the plane I studied its performance and systems and compared it to several other types.  After I had decided on the Baron I continued to study both the aircraft specific material and did a complete refresher of multi engine flying.

Months later I was almost ready to fly.  I say almost because the day began with discussing the day.  We briefed the objectives, our plan and how we would manage any abnormal situations.  Since I am transitioning, the plan today was for the instructor to assume control if anything bad happened near the ground.

It was finally time to actually fly.  The plane's engines are a variant of the engine in the Bonanza.  It has 550Cs vs. the 550B.  There are differences but only things a mechanic needs to worry about.  From the pilots perspective, you operate them the same.  This made the start up and engine management much easier.

Taxiing out you feel the extra weight.  We were right at 4900 pounds, we would later top off bringing us to 5380 pounds.  This is about 80% more than the Bonanza.  The pre departure checks are almost the same except you have 2 engines to check and we need to check that the props will respond to the feather command.  Finally we reviewed the departure brief and then called tower ready to go.

First takeoffs are always more stressful and as I lined up, I reviewed the brief one more time as I prepared to go.  After that, power up, check the engine gauges to confirm good reading,  85 knots is Vmc and rotation, a bit of back pressure and we were flying.  Lots of power and a few seconds later, I had good rate and was approaching Vyse which is best rate on one engine.  Gear came up and off we went.

I got the feel of the plane on the way to Palatka.  My first pattern was wide to give me extra time and it was all looking good until at 100 feet the instructor commanded a go around.  I complied not knowing if there was a real issue or if it was for training.  It was for training and we made another run at it.

The first touchdown is always extra exciting.  I had sat in the plane and noted the sight picture but it is different to achieve that while managing the approach and all.  Speeds were good on final and I was rewarded with a smooth touchdown.

We did a total of 7 landings today.  Each time to a full stop.  The loading with full fuel and 2 guys is very near the forward limit and I can really feel that in the flare that the nose is heavy.  While I am not ready for short runways, I did one short field landing and had the plane stopped in 1400 feet.  It likes to roll so this required using the brakes more than I like.  

By the time we headed home, I was very comfortable with just 4000 feet and a gentle crosswind.  This was a good start.  Next up is air work and single engine procedures.

Times are a changing

 

Well February was a quiet month flying wise.  In January we closed on the new plane and then I had to wait for the mechanic to get to it to clean up a few issues we found on the pre-purchase inspection.  Then I went and flew it and found 2 small items and had to wait again.

Covid has devastated some businesses but others have had the opposite problem.  Back last year I was down an extra 2 weeks because the prop shop was way behind so I was not too surprised I had to wait.  I had planned to list the Bonanza when I brought the Baron home but a funny thing happened on the way to the forum...  Well the mechanic actually.

While we were getting into the Baron to fly it, a person was looking at the planes parked at the mechanic.  I said hello to him and in the ensuing conversation mentioned it was going to be for sale.  He already had a Bonanza but his friend was looking for one just like mine.

By the time we came back, the friend had reached out to me and he has an offer pending on the plane.  So far it has been visually inspected and test flown.  In the picture below she is heading off for a mechanical inspection and if all goes well, He will fly her back to the West Coast.  Somewhat ironic as I picked the plane up on the other coast and brought it here.

A little sad the plane is on its way to market but excited because the Baron is home.  This is probably for the best as the planes would have become jealous of each other.