By Larry Bothe
Flying an airplane is actually pretty easy, once you get some instruction. But time and time again as an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) I examine Sport or Private Pilot applicants who are just working their butts off to fly the plane.
There are many things these low time pilots could be doing to ease their workload, but nobody showed them how. The sad thing about this is that when I talk to their instructor after the checkride, I find out that he or she knows these work-saving procedures but just hasn't told the student. Why not? I hear things like "oh, that's an advanced technique," "I didn't think the student could do that," or "we teach that in the instrument program."
It's almost like instructors are requiring students to "pay their dues" at the entry level of flying by making things harder than necessary. Are CFIs thinking that the easier ways of doing things cannot be revealed to these lowly beginners?
It's no wonder we have a significant dropout rate in GA pilot training. An AOPA study showed that over a third of all student pilots drop out of flying from year to year, and only 13.9 percent of all students eventually earn any pilot certificate. We can do better than that.
Here are some of the more egregious workout items I routinely see on Sport and Private checkrides. The number one thing is in the level-off after climb, while transitioning to cruise flight. Most pilots climb up to their desired altitude and simultaneously lower the nose and reduce power. The problem is that the airplane is initially still at climb airspeed, and with the power reduced it takes a relatively long time, perhaps two or three minutes, for it to accelerate to cruise. During this acceleration period the pilot must repeatedly adjust pitch, power and trim while the plane is stabilizing in cruise. The airplane porpoises through the air, with the poor pilot making constant corrections. The better way to do the cruise transition is to climb about 40 feet above the desired cruise altitude, lower the nose all the way to level flight attitude, and make a gross nose-down trim movement (one roll, bottom to top, works well in Cessnas) without touching the throttle. With the throttle still wide open and the airplane in level flight, cruise speed will show up rapidly on the airspeed indicator. Once at the expected cruise speed, reduce the throttle to the desired cruise power setting. Other than perhaps one small trim refinement, you're all done. It takes about 15 seconds. Lean the mixture when time permits.
There are several other work-saving procedures related to trim.
Descent: Reduce the power as appropriate, butdon't touch the trim! Let the nose seek its own attitude. You'll get a 500 to 600-fpm descent. For level-off, take 10% of the descent rate and initiate the level-off that many feet above the desired altitude. If it's a 600-fpm rate of descent then start the level-off 60 feet early by promptly returning the throttle to the previous cruise power setting. The nose will come up by itself, and the airplane will use that last bit of altitude to return to level cruise flight. No trimming will be necessary because the trim wasn't changed. Enrichen the mixture as necessary.
Takeoff: Due to wear in the system, setting the trim indicator opposite the "Takeoff" mark doesn't always yield the desired climb airspeed. A better procedure is to note the trim setting after you have taken off and trimmed for climb. Use that setting for takeoff in the future. Then you won't have to trim once airborne on subsequent takeoffs.
Engine failure: We tell our students that the first thing to do is pitch for best-glide airspeed and then trim. The student then proceeds to take half of forever to get the trim set using the trim-and-test method. A much better way is to just trim full nose up; move the trim wheel or crank all the way to the stop. No, it won't stall (certification requirement), and the resultant airspeed will be very close to best glide. Don't believe me? Try it.
There are several other extra-workload items I often see when performing checkrides. Consider teaching these procedures to your students.
Radio setup: Have your primary students set up the VOR or GPS while still on the ground. They will be much less likely to make an error. Once in the air they will have more time to look for traffic and their first checkpoint since they won't be fiddling with the radio. Setting up a VOR must include both the frequency and the OBS. Approximate the OBS setting if you haven't bothered to calculate it.
Magnetic course: The OBS needs to be set to the magnetic course because VOR's are laid out on the chart relative to magnetic north, and the VOR radio signal is not affected by wind. I often see applicants set the OBS to the magnetic heading, which they have calculated using a wind correction angle. The best way for students to get the magnetic course is to simply read it from where the course line on the chart passes through the blue compass rose around the VOR.
Check the DG: If navigation isn't working out, the first thing to do is check the DG against the wet compass, and reset it if necessary. That will usually solve the problem and get the student back on course.
Turning: After clearing the direction of turn for traffic, have the student be sure to look back straight ahead while setting the bank. If they continue to look in the direction of turn they usually overbank. And of course they need to ...
Use the rudder correctly: No flat-footed turns! Rudder and aileron are used simultaneously; one does not lead the other. Common errors are not using rudder at all, continuing to hold rudder pressure after the bank is established, and using rudder while rolling into a turn but not using any to roll out. Please don't accept this shoddy rudder usage from your students. I won't.
"Sawing" the ailerons: Don't let your students continuously "saw" the control wheel back and forth in a vain attempt to correct for every little bump they feel. Tell them to instead let the airplane fly itself. Initiate correction only when a trend (wing low) develops. That makes flying so much easier and more pleasant.
Here are some ideas for saving work and effort during the landing phase.
Short-field landings: Have the student start out by going a little further downwind than normal; then everything else will fall into place. Also tell them that they have to "aim" about 150 feet short of where they actually expect to touch down.
Soft-field landings: Use a final-approach speed 5 knots/mph faster than for short field. Ensure a soft touchdown by carrying a little power all the way to touchdown. 200-rpm above flight idle will generally do the trick.
Slip-to-a-landing: Note the side from which the crosswind is blowing and slip with that wing down. It's much easier to use all the rudder there is (pin it to the firewall) and then "steer" with the ailerons.
We need to make things as easy as we can for our students. If a given task is more difficult and time consuming than it needs to be, that spills over into the next task. If the student is struggling for several minutes to get the airplane stabilized in level cruise flight then he may unwittingly fly past a checkpoint, creating a navigation problem that shouldn't have surfaced.
I have found that flight instructors use most of these tips when they fly for themselves. Flying is difficult enough without instructors withholding information from students. Sport and Private pilots should not have to wait for advanced training to learn the efficient way to level off from a climb or descent. Often, during a flight review, I demonstrate some of these techniques and let the pilot try them. The reaction I usually get is "boy, that was easy! I've been doing it the hard way for all these years. I wish my primary instructor had showed me that." Don't let me hear such a response from one of your students.
Larry Bothe is an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, FAASTeam Representative and Gold Seal Instructor in the Indianapolis, IN FSDO area. He is also a Master Certificated Flight Instructor and has over 6000 hours in more than 60 types of aircraft. He may be contacted at LBothe@comcast.net.
From AOPA Flight Training Magazine. Republished with permission
Memories of Elwood
If you landed on runway 27 you had to come low over a farmhouse, clear a fence, then grind to a stop at the top of the hill. When the wind favored runway 9, which was very rare, you had to come down over some high trees on the west end of the runway, then land on what ended up being a downslope. Because the airport was immediately adjacent to the town, the pattern for runway 9 was a right pattern. I don't recall ever landing to the east.
By far, most of my landings were on runway 27, mostly to avoid taxiing across so much of the rough ground. Usually the wind allowed it. "Two-seven" was often a challenge for many pilots, not only because it was relatively short and had the final over the farmhouse, but it also had what we used to call the "ski jump" in the middle of it. Touch down short and you could find yourself "wheelbarrowing" on the uphill part of the runway. Touch down on the top of the hill just a tad fast, and you could find yourself launched back into the air with insufficient runway to go around and not enough room to get planted on the ground to stop. Don't even think of trying to touch down past the ski jump; you would never get stopped in time. Elwood just wasn't the kind of place where you wanted to make your first landing at gross weight.
Because of the uphill runway and trees on the west end, I only departed from runway 27 once, and that was in my Cessna 150. It had a Lycoming 320 so I knew that it would get out OK, but that was something that I never felt compelled to repeat.
For many years the airport restaurant's menu was right out of the 1950s or 1960s: burgers and fries, big farmer's breakfasts, country home cooking dinners and daily specials. The prices were right out of the 1960s, too, until just a few years ago when they reprinted the menu to keep up with the times.
Elwood's specials always looked good, and the prices were right, even now. They had elk burgers that were very tasty, so I had them a few times. But my all-time favorite was their hand-breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. Whenever I would get one I'd cut it in half and save it for Katie. They also had a giant pork tenderloin. I had that just a couple of times but it was really too big to eat before flying home.
Whenever I gave rides to family or friends in my Cessna, or later in the Zenair, I always tried to make their first flight on a Saturday or Sunday morning so we could head over to Elwood for breakfast or lunch. As a destination, it was a step back in time. Everyone seemed to enjoy the nostalgic touch and old-time food.
Several times we would have up to five airplanes from Boone County Airport all fly together for lunch, bringing about ten of us to crowd the restaurant at once. They were always able to move some tables around to accommodate us. The waitresses seemed to know all of the locals, and if they didn't know you then you were ones that flew in. They called everyone "hon" and were great fun to joke around with. Most of us tried to get them to go for a quick ride but I don't recall any of them taking us up on it. Elwood has been a destination for Indy Flyers during their poker runs and other ultralight activities.
One of my favorite Elwood moments would be when a parent would bring their kids outside to see the airplanes after lunch. I'd let their kids sit in the airplane for a photo before I had to depart. You never know when you'll connect with a kid and light the spark.
Like almost all privately owned airports, this one was going to run its course. Once the owner dies and passes it on to the family, the heirs have no interest in operating it. Elwood was a bit different because the airport brought in its share of flying patrons, but eventually the cost of maintaining the grounds would be higher than the proceeds from the meals. Elwood's airport hasn't had an active local flying community for years. The hangars were old and rarely housed any flyable or airworthy aircraft. During all of the years that I flew in I never saw any fuel available. With such short, unimproved runways, the city wouldn't have wanted to buy it as a municipal airport. The end was in sight; it was only a matter of time.
Elwood Airport's fate is that it will be plowed up into farm land. Although it could potentially be converted back to an airport, I suspect that will never happen. It's gone and it isn't coming back. What was once a piece of our aviation heritage, a challenge for the uninitiated and a nostalgic little luncheon journey, it's soon to become just a memory. I'll always list Elwood as one of my top three flying destinations. If you've ever flown into it, I'll bet it's near the top of your list, too. If you never flew in there, it's time to get out and fly into a small grass country airport while they still exist. Make your own memory. While you're at it, bring someone with you and make a memory for them, too.
Go back to Section 1
by Michael Mossman
Shortly after I got my private pilot's certificate in 1994, I started looking for fun places to fly. One of my top three favorite places was the little grass airport at Elwood. Its all-grass runways weren't very long and were usually very lumpy and one was hilly. I never went in there with any of Shorty Graves' rentals, but when I got my own plane (a Cessna 150) I decided to try it. I had heard many people rave about the restaurant, so a food destination was at the top of my list.
For all of the years that I've owned an airplane, I went to Elwood about once a month during the drier months; it was often too soggy during the winter and early spring. It had two grass strips, a north/south and an east/west, with the restaurant at the far west side of the airport. If you landed on or departed from the 18/36 runway, you had a long, bone-jarring taxing along the length of 09-27. And if you were thinking about departing on runway 18, forget about it! That meant taxiing along the full length of runway 09 then back taxiing along the full length of 18, which totaled nearly a mile of rough grass. Runway 36 required a right-hand pattern because of the town, and I don't think that I ever used it. Runway 18 had a low fence on the south end but a clear departure path for at least a mile across the corn fields. I departed on runway 18 just a few times, always when heavily loaded. I used to wish that they would have had a Jeep to carry my passenger to the departure end.
Elwood's little restaurant had a sign on the roof that said "Welcome World's First Fly-In Drive-In." If you looked at the place it certainly looked old enough to be the first. It was in a run-down little building but very homey inside. The restaurant was built in the days when there weren't many building codes. The ceiling fans were low enough that anyone over maybe 6-3 had to duck to avoid getting their hat knocked off. You had to practically walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom, and you always had to stumble over someone else's table to get in or out of the place. The main dining room walls were covered with a dark wood paneling, and had a nice, cheery fireplace, so the room looked a bit like a ski lodge. There were many framed photos of airplanes from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s on the walls, which definitely gave it a nostalgic ambience.