|
4 - Straight and Level
3rd Apr.
A regular lesson for once! Today we learned abour FREDA, and what a wonderful friend she is (actually, we covered it last time, but let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story!). FREDA is one of the many acronyms that aviation seems to love, and its a list of checks to perform every 10 to 15 minutes while in flight. F - Fuel: check contents are sufficient, and make sure the fuel pump is on when below 1000ft, or off if above. R - Radio: check frequency and make calls if necessary. E - Engine: check carb heat (not fitted on Mike Bravo) and engine temperatures & pressures (Ts & Ps). D - Direction: make sure the direction indicator (DI) is aligned with the compass. A - Altitude.
We did a lot of straight and level flying in the Warrior last time, and so the first part of the lesson was very much revision, and getting used to the electric trim in the Katana as opposed to the mechanical wheel in the Warrior. Unlike my first attempts at trimming back in lesson 2, this time I was pressing the rocker switch the right way and keeping it in pretty good trim. Supposedly I'd learned the FREDA checklist after the last lesson, but still the first time we did the check, it was a bit of a struggle to rememberit all. It's the same with acting; the first few rehearsals "off books" are always a bit of a struggle. At home in the bath or the car or wherever, you can recite the lines perfectly, but come the rehearsal, your mind goes totally blank.
By this time, we were approaching Moreton-in-the-Marsh disused airfield, which marks the boundary of our training area (I still had to have it pointed out to me - I'm not very good at spotting things from the air yet!), so a nice turn put us on a course for Wellesbourne. Once again I found it hard to spot, but eventually saw it, and while Alistair did the radio, I turned us this way and that to put us over the threshold of runway 18 at right angles. Alistair then took over to do the touch and go, and once we were safely back up in the air, gave me back control.
On the way back we looked at the way throttle and pitch work in combination to contol our speed. To slow down, bring back the throttle, and pitch up at the same time to maintain altitude. Similarly, to speed up, open the throttle and pitch down. Once we are slow enough we can lower the flaps, a stage at a time, retrimming the aircraft each time. The first stage of flaps can be taken any time below 100kts, even though this is not in the white arc (which stops at 80 kts), but you must be in the white arc to take the second stage.
|