I will be going solo again soon and I’m hoping to get some input from you as to what I should do on my “free time.”
For the first few times I’ll be in the circuit so I plan on practicing soft and short field landings along with regular ones. Also, if my instructor allows it, some engine failures in the circuit (of course this would also depend on how busy the pattern is). What else should I practice?
After that I expect to go out to the practice area a few times. Here I plan to do some regular turns and steep turns, climbs and descents with and without flaps, range and endurance and maybe some instrument failures (electrical, vacuum, etc.) Anything else you suggest I should practice? What do you usually have your students practice when they’re up there alone?
I look forward to your suggestions in the comments! Thanks for your help!
Hi Dan,
Why not add flapless landings to the list? One thing I would also focus on is consistency: do plenty of normal landings and aim to be right on speed on each of the legs of the circuit, touchdown near your aiming point, minimize float, be right on the centerline, etc. All the while keeping a mental picture of the traffic in the circuit. Maybe also add a few go-arounds with full flaps. That should keep you busy
Cheers,
Julien.
I’ll discuss the engine failure on takeoff scenario with my instructor and see what the answer is.
I’ll also bring up flapless landings. I’m flying a Cessna 172 so I think it would be a valid emergency exercise in the case of an electrical system failure.
Great suggestions so far, keep them coming!
See if instructor lets u practice take-off engine failures at around 1000 feet above runway elevation. Then with him in the right seat, determine if u should turn back to the rwy u took off from or land somewhere else ahead of u.
I’m no instructor, pilot etc, but engine failure on take-off scares me the most and that’s why i’m writing this comment
I often focus on some of the more unusual emergencies including flapless landings, electrical problems and radio calls (of course this is with the instructor).
For the first few solos I have my students do the basics, landings, stalls, steep-turns, etc. By about 10 hours or so I usually start focusing more on navigation and working with GPS/VOR/etc.
Keep it even. Do the regular things and don’t try and get fancy. Do the circuit until you can do it in your sleep, then do it again. Practice flaring for the landing until each one is a greaser. Emergency landings, etc. will be done again as you do your pretest and they are pretty hard to do for a novice – and until they give you the little blue book, that’s what you are.
I just kept it cool, doing the landings and take-offs, and more landings and take-offs until I can do them in my sleep. When they let you loose on the practice area, do your 2g turns until you don’t drop a foot. You’ll know that they are nice and tight when you run into your own vortexes!
The stalls are important to practice on your own, there’s a different feel to the plane when the right seat is empty. I first noticed it on my 1 stop cross country from Brampton to Muskoka. Took me a moment to figure out why the plane kept yawing to the left. It weren’t balanced!
Have fun, and keep the green side down.