1. Flight Briefing Stage 1, Module 4
Version 1.0, 25 September 2011
Flight Briefing Stage 1, Module 4
Copyright © 2011 Ted Dudley

2. Which airplane are you flying?
Hit the esc key
Click on “Slide Show”
Click on “Custom Slide Show”
Select your aircraft

3. Preflight Any questions? On today’s preflight, tell me
What documents are required to be aboard?
Identify the function of all the visible antennas on the aircraft.
What’s the proper inflation pressure for the nose and main tires?
How long can we fly with the fuel that’s aboard?

4. Radio Communications
What frequency will you use and what will you say…
On initial contact with ground control?
When ready for takeoff?
When sent to departure control?
Let’s pretend we’re going to KFSO for practice patterns. What frequency will you use and what radio calls are required there?

5. Sectional Charts Using the Montreal Sectional, tell me:
What does it mean when an airfield is depicted in blue?
What’s the lowest altitude at which you can overfly the Burlington Class C airspace?
When is R6501A active? When is R6501B active? What’s the difference between the two?
What’s the pattern altitude, CTAF and ASOS freqs, and runway length at KPBG? Would you make left traffic on all runways there?

6. Climbing Flight
Advance the throttle to full, apply back elevator pressure to raise the nose of the airplane and right rudder to center the ball
As power is increased, the airplane’s nose will rise due to increased download on the stabilizer
As pitch attitude increases and the airspeed decreases, progressively more right rudder must be applied to compensate for propeller effects and to hold a constant heading
Climb speed is MPH; establish the appropriate attitude and trim for MPH
49R, 93L

7. Climbing Flight
Advance the throttle to full, apply back elevator pressure to raise the nose of the airplane and right rudder to center the ball
As power is increased, the airplane’s nose will rise due to increased download on the stabilizer
As pitch attitude increases and the airspeed decreases, progressively more right rudder must be applied to compensate for propeller effects and to hold a constant heading
Climb speed is KIAS; establish the appropriate attitude and trim for KIAS
8ZD

8. Climbing Flight
Advance the throttle to full, apply back elevator pressure to raise the nose of the airplane and right rudder to center the ball
As power is increased, the airplane’s nose will rise due to increased download on the stabilizer
As pitch attitude increases and the airspeed decreases, progressively more right rudder must be applied to compensate for propeller effects and to hold a constant heading
Climb speed is MPH; establish the appropriate attitude and trim for MPH
43T

9. Level Off
Initiate the level-off at approximately 10 percent of the rate of climb
Retain climb power temporarily so that the airplane will accelerate to cruise airspeed more rapidly
Trim as you accelerate
Good way to remember: PITCH-POWER-TRIM
When speed reaches the desired cruise speed, set throttle to cruise power setting and trim for cruise speed

10. Straight and Level Flight
Set power
Select some portion of the airplane’s nose as a reference point, and then keep that point in a fixed position relative to the horizon
Crosscheck against altimeter and vertical velocity, adjust nose position and trim as required

11. Straight and Level Flight
Of course, if you want to fly straight, wings must be level

12. Descending Flight Descend with power as desired
Airspeed will increase if you leave the power up; trim as required
Carb heat on if RPMs below the green arc
Flaps as desired
But mind you don’t overspeed them!
Initiate the level-off at approximately 10 percent of the rate of descent
Return throttle to cruise setting after level-off
Again, it’s PITCH-POWER-TRIM

13. Level Turns Ailerons in the direction you want to go
While rolling, rudder to overcome adverse yaw
Equal amounts of rudder and aileron
A little opposite aileron when you’re happy with the bank angle to stop the roll
A little less rudder when bank angle is set
A little more power and elevator back pressure, especially in turns greater than 30 degrees bank

14. Turn Coordination
Keep the ball centered – step on the ball

15. Performing Steep Turns
Clear!
Ensure you’re in stabilized, level flight
Tell the IP the your target altitude, airspeed, and entry/rollout heading (360o turn)
Look in direction of turn and smoothly roll into 45o of bank, maintaining coordination
Add a little power to maintain speed

16. Performing Steep Turns
Maintain altitude, speed, and bank angle; make corrections as required
Lead rollout by about 15 degrees, and maintain coordination while rolling out
Throttle as required after rolling out

17. Tips for Steep Turns
Remember it’s a visual maneuver; look over the cowling and adjust the sight picture as required
Practice enough to memorize the sight picture for 45o bank and a reasonable airspeed
Check sight picture – check altitude trend – make correction
Check sight picture – check bank angle – make correction
Check sight picture – check airspeed – make correction
Repeat from the top until it’s time to roll out

18. Tips for Steep Turns
Because of parallax, the sight picture is different when turning left than when turning right
When stabilized in the turn, you’ll need:
A little rudder in the direction of the turn for coordination
A little aileron against the turn to avoid overbanking tendency
PTS standards:
Altitude, ±100 feet, airspeed, ±10 knots,
Bank angle, ±5°, roll out on the entry heading, ±10°

19. Tips for Steep Turns You’ll need to hold back pressure when stabilized
Constant airspeed, level, 45o bank = 1.4 Gs. You’ll feel heavy in the seat.
It’s easy to initially let the nose drop too much, then overbank. If the nose is a lot too low (altitude decreasing rapidly), take a little bank out, raise the nose to proper sight picture, put the bank back in

20. Performing Slow Flight
Clearing turns first!
Mixture – rich
Select and maintain an altitude
1500 AGL minimum
Throttle back; raise nose as necessary and trim for level flight
Flaps down below flap limit airspeed
Note airspeed at which stall horn sounds
Fly that airspeed or the airspeed the instructor specifies

21. Performing Slow Flight
Add power as required to maintain selected altitude and speed
Right rudder as required to center ball
Pretend there’s a rod linking your right hand (throttle) and right foot (rudder)
You may need a little left aileron to keep the wings level
Don’t descend! If you do lose a little altitude, correct it immediately
This will require (a lot) more power, more rudder, nose higher
After correcting, take a little power and rudder out, pitch to maintain level flight

22. Level Turns in Slow Flight
Use shallow (10-15 degrees) bank and a slow roll rate
At your speed, a level turn at moderate bank angles will result in a stall
You’ll get a pretty good turn rate at your speed even with a shallow bank
Use just a little more power to overcome extra drag while rolling / turning
Rudder as required to maintain coordination
Rolling left may require just easing up on the right rudder for proper coordination

23. Recovery from Slow Flight
Add full power, accelerate level and straight ahead
Flaps to 20o at first, all the way up after accelerating a bit
Trim!
Gradually take out right rudder as you accelerate; keep ball centered
Maneuver is done after you reach 100 KIAS/MPH

24. Why Practice Stalls? Inadvertent stalls are a very popular way to die
You must and will understand:
What a stall is
What it looks / feels / sounds / tastes/smells like
How to avoid it
And, most important, how to recover from it
If you ever have a bad enough day that it becomes necessary
Stall/Spin Accidents,

25. Why did all those people crash?
They didn’t recognize the impending stall
When they did stall, they reacted with a panic response instead of a trained response
Panic response is mediated from a different part of your brain than a trained response. It never does things by degrees
Once the panic response took over, the thinking part of the brain never regained control

26. Panic Response to Stall
Brain, surprised by nose falling when it thinks it shouldn’t be, says “&*%^! Nose is falling! Better pull back on the yoke!”
Yoke goes to the aft stop and stays there. Panicked brain will not move it from there as long as it’s panicked.
If a wing lowers during stall, as is usual, brain says “&*%^! Wing is dropping! Better roll in the opposite direction!”
Yoke turns full to the side and stays there. Will not move again as long as brain is panicked.
This combination of controls is also known as “pro-spin” controls. Aircraft enters a spin.

27. Panic Response to Stall
Now the brain is really panicked; little chance of overcoming this with a trained response
Either the aircraft hits the ground in a spin, or if recovery does get attempted, it’s interrupted by the surface of the planet
Objectives of stall practice:
Recognize impending stall in time to avoid it
If that fails, train the panic response away; substitute a proper response

28. Stall Training
Although excessive AOA and a stall can occur at any airspeed, attitude, or power setting, in a general aviation environment, it’s most likely to happen as a result of trying to fly too slowly
These are the kinds of stalls we’ll concentrate on
Good news: stall recovery techniques don’t change no matter what kind of stall you accomplish

29. Kinds of Stalls
FAA’s Airplane Flying Handbook discusses these kinds of stalls:
Power-on stall
Power-off stall
Secondary stall
Accelerated stall
Cross-control stall
Elevator trim stall
The first two listed are required maneuvers on your Private Pilot checkride, so we’ll concentrate on them

30. Stall Setup Minimum recovery altitude is 1500 AGL
What will that altitude be on your altimeter?
Accomplish a descent check; select mixture – rich
Clearing turns!

31. Power-on Stall Let’s pretend:
We just took off; we’re climbing out, full power, flaps up
We set the pitch attitude too high, and failed to notice indications of impending stall
When it finally does stall, we want to recover with minimum loss of altitude
We’ll practice these both straight ahead and in shallow (20 ±10°) turns

32. Power-on Stall Entry
After setup, throttle back, carb heat out, slow to a speed near takeoff speed
Throttle and carb heat full in, raise nose to about 20-25o nose high
Right rudder required as you push in the power
Hold attitude, keep it coordinated, ignore indications of impending stall
This will require constantly moving the yoke back and increasing right rudder as it slows
If turning, opposite aileron will be required to keep bank angle from increasing as you slow
Recover when nose falls due to stall

33. Stall Recovery Almost simultaneously, in order of importance:
Decrease angle of attack
Level the wings
Achieve maximum power
Stop descent and begin to accelerate
Continue to accelerate and recover

34. Decrease Angle of Attack
This means “decrease back pressure on the yoke”
Pushing the yoke forward will result in a longer time to recover / more altitude lost in the recovery

35. Level the Wings
Ailerons will probably still be effective, due to design of your aircraft
Wings are designed to stall at the roots first, tips later, and ailerons are near the tips
Rudder will be effective no matter what
Use coordinated aileron and rudder to get wings level

36. Achieve Maximum Power You’re already there; check throttle full in
You’ll need a lot of right rudder to stay coordinated due to high RPM/low airspeed effects

37. Stop Descent and Accelerate
Reapply enough back pressure to maximize lift
Stop descent; peek at VSI to confirm
When descent is stopped, ease nose over to accelerate
We want recovery to occur here

38. Accelerate and Clean Up
Accelerate level to slightly climbing
You’ll need gradually less rudder as you accelerate
For our purposes, maneuver is over when you reach 100 kts/MPH

39. Power-off Stall Let’s pretend:
We’re in the traffic pattern preparing to land, flaps down, throttle in idle
We set the pitch attitude too high, and failed to notice indications of impending stall
When it finally does stall, we want to recover with minimum loss of altitude
We’ll practice these both straight ahead and in shallow (20 ±10°) turns

40. Power-off Stall Entry
After setup, throttle back, carb heat out, extend flaps, slow to a speed near final approach speed
Throttle to idle, raise nose higher than normal for a final approach
Hold this abnormally high attitude, ignore indications of impending stall
This will require constantly moving the yoke back; if turning, opposite aileron will be required to keep bank angle from increasing as you slow
Recover when nose falls due to stall

41. Stall Recovery Almost simultaneously, in order of importance:
Decrease angle of attack
Level the wings
Achieve maximum power
Stop descent and begin to accelerate
Continue to accelerate and clean up flaps

42. Decrease Angle of Attack
This means “decrease back pressure on the yoke”
Pushing the yoke forward will result in a longer time to recover / more altitude lost in the recovery

43. Level the Wings
Ailerons will probably still be effective, due to design of your aircraft
Wings are designed to stall at the roots first, tips later, and ailerons are near the tips
Rudder will be effective no matter what
Use coordinated aileron and rudder to get wings level

44. Achieve Maximum Power Firewall the throttle Push in carb heat
Technique: stick your left thumb out to catch the carb heat knob as you push the throttle in
You’ll need a lot of right rudder to stay coordinated due to high RPM/low airspeed effects

45. Stop Descent and Accelerate
Reapply enough back pressure to maximize lift
Stop descent; peek at VSI to confirm
When descent is stopped, ease nose over to accelerate
We want recovery to occur here

46. Accelerate and Clean Up
While level to slightly climbing, raise flaps
Aircraft won’t accelerate well with flaps >20o, so bring them up to 20o right away
Flaps full up after Vx
You’ll need gradually less rudder as you accelerate
For our purposes, maneuver is over when you reach 100 kts/MPH

47. Stall Recovery PTS standard for recovery:
Recognizes and recovers promptly after the stall occurs by simultaneously reducing the angle of attack, increasing power as appropriate, and leveling the wings to return to a straight-and-level flight attitude with a minimum loss of altitude appropriate for the airplane

48. Collision Avoidance Eyeballs are your best collision avoidance tool
Look around during your airwork maneuvers
Back this up with monitoring the radio – BTV approach will call with any factor traffic he sees

49. Standard Traffic Pattern
45o to Downwind
Downwind
“Knapp State Traffic, Cessna 5749R, left downwind 17, Knapp State”
Abeam touchdown point:
CARB HEAT – ON
“Landing Check Complete”
On Final:
Flaps – Landing setting
Airspeed – 65 mph
Assess glidepath
Pitch for speed; Power for glidepath
Base
Prior to Downwind:
Clear!
SEATS/BELTS/HARNESSES - SECURE
FUEL SELECTOR – BOTH ON
LIGHTS - ON AS REQ
MIXTURE - FULL RICH
“Descent/ Before Landing Check complete”
Appropriate altitude and direction
Touchdown point 45o behind wing:
(this drawing not to scale)
RPM
Maintain level flight
Flaps (check airspeed below white arc) – 10o
Slow to 80 mph, then let nose fall to maintain 80 mph
Clear! Turn to base
Wind
On Downwind:
About 100 mph
Radio call if nontowered
Maintain altitude
Appropriate wind correction
Appropriate distance from runway
Final
“Knapp State Traffic, Cessna 5749R, left base 17, touch and go, Knapp State”
On base:
Radio call if nontowered
Apply appropriate wind correction
80 mph
Flaps – 20o
Assess glidepath
Lead turn to final to line up with runway
49R, 93L 49

50. Standard Traffic Pattern
45o to Downwind
Downwind
“Knapp State Traffic, Cessna 738ZD, left downwind 17, Knapp State”
Abeam touchdown point:
CARB HEAT – ON
“Landing Check Complete”
On Final:
Flaps – Landing setting
Airspeed – 60 KIAS
Assess glidepath
Pitch for speed; Power for glidepath
Base
Prior to Downwind:
Clear!
SEATS/BELTS/HARNESSES – SECURE
FUEL SELECTOR - BOTH
LIGHTS - ON AS REQ
MIXTURE - FULL RICH
“Descent /Before Landing Check complete”
Appropriate altitude and direction
Touchdown point 45o behind wing:
(this drawing not to scale)
RPM
Maintain level flight
Flaps (check airspeed below white arc) – 10o
Slow to 75KIAS, then let nose fall to maintain 75KIAS
Clear! Turn to base
Wind
On Downwind:
About 95 KIAS
Radio call if nontowered
Maintain altitude
Appropriate wind correction
Appropriate distance from runway
Final
“Knapp State Traffic, Cessna 738ZD, left base 17, touch and go, Knapp State”
On base:
Radio call if nontowered
Apply appropriate wind correction
75 KIAS
Flaps – 20o
Assess glidepath
Lead turn to final to line up with runway
8ZD 50

51. Standard Traffic Pattern
45o to Downwind
Downwind
“Knapp State Traffic, Cessna 5943T, left downwind 17, Knapp State”
Abeam touchdown point:
CARB HEAT – ON
“Landing Check Complete”
On Final:
Flaps – Landing setting
Airspeed – 65 mph
Assess glidepath
Pitch for speed; Power for glidepath
Base
Prior to Downwind:
Clear!
SEATS/BELTS/HARNESSES - SECURE
FUEL SELECTOR - ON
LIGHTS - ON AS REQ
MIXTURE - FULL RICH
“Descent /Before Landing Check complete”
Appropriate altitude and direction
Touchdown point 45o behind wing:
(this drawing not to scale)
RPM
Maintain level flight
Flaps (check airspeed below white arc) – 10o
Slow to 80 mph, then let nose fall to maintain 80 mph
Clear! Turn to base
Wind
On Downwind:
About 100 mph
Radio call if nontowered
Maintain altitude
Appropriate wind correction
Appropriate distance from runway
Final
“Knapp State Traffic, Cessna 5943T, left base 17, touch and go, Knapp State”
On base:
Radio call if nontowered
Apply appropriate wind correction
80 mph
Flaps – 20o
Assess glidepath
Lead turn to final to line up with runway
43T 51

52. Final Approach Objective: arrive over the runway numbers
On final approach speed
Over the runway centerline
With the planned flap setting
At a height suitable for the roundout/flare maneuver

53. Final Approach Flap settings Trim changes
First 200 extension – mostly extra lift
Further extension – mostly extra drag
Which is very helpful if you want to descend
Trim changes
As you slow, you’ll need to trim nose up. Until…
Flaps more than 200 – get less flow over horizontal stabilizer, resulting in requirement for nose down trim

54. Final: Airspeed/Aimpoint
Adjust airspeed with nose position; “Pitch for speed”
Want to go slower? Nose higher!
Want to go faster? Nose lower!

55. Final: Airspeed/Aimpoint
Adjust aimpoint with power; “Power for glidepath”
Too shallow? More power!
Too steep? Less power!
And don’t forget to stay on centerline

56. Common Error on Final
It’s common to get the previous 2 slides backwards
Student may just point the nose at the runway numbers, which results in nose low/higher speed
And try to slow by pulling the throttle back
Which doesn’t work because the nose is low
All this results in a long, fast landing

57. Estimating Glidepath Aim for the runway numbers
Shouldn’t be so slow or steep that you lose sight of the runway numbers
The point at which your flight path intersects the planet is the point which does not move up or down on your windscreen

58. Estimating Glidepath
You only have one engine, so why not approach a little steep?
That way, if the engine quits on final, you may not have to settle for landing in the trees just short of the runway
For normal approaches, use the PAPI/VASI “on glidepath” indications as a lower limit until nearing flare
The more headwind there is, the steeper your aircraft can approach

59. Roundout/Flare
A slow, smooth transition from a normal approach attitude to a landing attitude
Gradually round out the flightpath to one that is parallel with, and within a very few inches above, the runway
Look ahead half- to three quarters the way down the runway
Begin at about half a wingspan in altitude
Start a little higher, flare more quickly if steep; lower, less quickly if shallow
Once started, should be a continuous process until the airplane touches down on the ground
This means the yoke should be slowly moving throughout the flare

60. Common Error in the Flare
As you descend below 100 feet, you’ll notice the ground seem to approach you rapidly
Natural tendency is to pull the nose up to slow the rate at which the ground is approaching
This gets you very slow, high above the runway
Hold the nose down to maintain final approach airspeed until it’s time to flare
At about half a wingspan in altitude

61. In the Flare Level off a few inches above the runway
Power to idle stop
Align nose with runway with rudder
Try to keep it from touching down
It’ll eventually touch down anyway if the power is in idle
But you’ll need to continually and slowly keep the yoke coming back as you decelerate

62. After Touchdown You’re not done flying!
Don’t just release all pressure on the yoke
Ease the nosewheel to the runway
Nosewheel steering available after nosewheel touches down
Maintain runway centerline until slowed to taxi speed
Brake as required

63. Really Bad Common Error
Never try to touch down at a particular place by releasing back pressure in the flare
You will bounce, every time
And this can lead to very disappointing results
We’ll go over how to recover from a bounce in later lessons

64. Touch and Go Make sure there’s enough runway remaining!
While rolling down/correcting to the centerline:
Flaps –up
Either trim back to takeoff index or be prepared to pull back harder to rotate at proper speed
Power and carb heat all the way in; hand remains on throttle
Be prepared for left yawing tendency
Rotate at proper speed

65. Remaining in Pattern Wind On crosswind Roll out with wind correction
Clear!
Climb to pattern altitude
Prepare to do Descent / Before Landing and Landing checklists
Turn downwind
Crosswind
Wind
Upwind leg:
Maximum Power
Normal climb speed
(Nontowered) Climb straight ahead until 300 ft below pattern altitude
Clear!
Turn crosswind
Upwind
300 feet low ref AC 90-66A 65

66. After Landing
When clear of runway…
49R, 93L

67. After Landing
When clear of runway…
8ZD

68. After Landing
When clear of runway…
43T

69. Shutdown Flow
49R, 93L

70. Shutdown Flow
8ZD

71. Shutdown Flow
43T