AirTalk.org

jsstevens@usa.net · Guest

Well, in spite of tropical storm Katrina and my forgetfulness, I flew
my dual cross country today. I arrived at the airport on time, my
instructor called in to say he'd be about 15 minutes late so I went to
check the weather. The weather feed in the pilots area was down. So I
went to go over my pre-filled out nav-log and, whoops! it's in my other
notebook. Sigh. I started to work on a new one. Once my instrcutor
arrived, he called the weather briefer, helped put my nav log back
together and said "Let's go!"

We were wheels up at 9:25 (or 13:25Z) headed from KORL to KOCF (60nm
north west). We had wind from the ENE so our ground speed was up around
108kts. All the check points came up on time, we drifted slightly left
of course while dodging some clouds and landed pretty well on time at
KOCF. We had a late breakfast but were wheels up for KBKV (44nms south)
at 14:45Z. Our plan called for 4500 feet so I could get a cross bearing
from the Orlando VOR, but the clouds were scattered at 2800 ft. (well,
maybe more broken than scattered) and I had to stay below 2300 ft. I
never picked up the VOR, but navigated with pilotage (and the DME) and
found KBKV. Also flew over some very pretty country, rivers and such.
We did a stop and go there and headed back to Orlando at 1000 ft.

Our calculated GS for that leg was 85 knts. which was right on. We flew
through some light rain. My instructor tried to show me that we could
contact flight service and have them talk to us on the VOR, but we
never heard them acknowledge us. Probably to low.

Once we got to about 10 miles out, my instructor tried to call Orlando
approach. No luck. The radios wouldn't talk. He told me to fly and he'd
handle the radios, so I did as I was told. He fiddled and finally got
out his handheld, called the KORL tower and we were cleared straight
in. They couldn't hear us very well and asked him to acknowledge by
clicking the mike twice for yes.

Once on the ground, he discovered that one of the switches on the audio
panel had gotten flipped so we couldn't transmit. (Remember that he
handled all the radio stuff on that leg). What bothers me about this is
1) I DON"T know what all the switches etc on the panel and radios are
for and 2) Apparently he dosen't either. What am I supposed to do if
that happens to me solo? I know to squawk 7600 and look for lights, but
this was a simple switch flip. I really feel I need to get the manuals
and understand all the switches and knobs on the comms stack so I can
trouble shoot from first principles when something goes wrong.

Pluses: Navigation was good. (living in the same area for 40+ years
probably helps). Flying was pretty good. We got everywhere we were
supposed to get and didn't get lost.
Minuses: Radio problem! My landings are still rough. I really tend to
flare a little high and don't get the plane completly pitched up when I
land.

I feel really beat physically.

John Stevens
29.5 hours, 2.5 hours cross country

Mark Hansen · Guest

On 8/25/2005 11:23, [email]jsstevens (AT) usa (DOT) net[/email] wrote:

Bob Gardner · Guest

In my experience, audio panels are given little attention in training,
although proper use is critical as you now know. Knowing which switch does
what can even make life easier. I agree that a little time alone with the
switch panel and the book would be time well spent.

Bob Gardner

<jsstevens (AT) usa (DOT) net> wrote

Blanche · Guest

I had an audio panel and new radio installed (SL30) 3 years ago
and *still* read thru the manuals for both! Slow day at the airport,
or on the bus downtown? Grab the books. There's not much more I
can learn on the audio panel, but every time I read the SL30
book, there's something new to go try out. Right now I'm
working on pre-sets stored in memory. we've got some new freqs in
the Denver area, so this will come in real handy.