PPL: Stage Check

Private Pilot

IN OP Flow FAR/AIM 91.213

-KOEL (has to be working) Kinds of Equipment list, CEL (has to be installed) (both found in the POH) comprehensive equipment list, MEL (we don’t have because our manufacturer didn’t make one for our plane, but if we did have one, it would void everything else) minimum equipment list

-91.205 in the FAR/AIM ATOMATOFLAMES

-TCDs//Type Certificate Data Sheet (the parameters of the aircraft/Aircraft Limitations)

-ADs//Airworthiness Directives (a regulatory statement issued by the FAA to correct an unsafe condition in an aircraft

-LASTLY: Remove or replace OR placard as INOP + let maintenance know

ATOMATOFLAMES

A-Airspeed Indicator

T-Tachometer (RPM gauge)

O-Oil Pressure Gauge

M-Manifold Pressure Gauge (only for adjustable propeller planes; we have a fixed propeller)

A-Altimeter

T-Temperature Gauge (we don’t have one in our plane because this is only for liquid-cooled engines, and we have an air-cooled engine)

O-Oil Temperature Gauge

F-Fuel Quantity Indicators

L-Landing Gear Extension Indicator (we don’t have it in our plane because we do not have retractable landing gear)

A-Anti-Collision Lights (Beacon + Strobe). The beacon is on top of the tail and red. The strobes are on the wings and flashing white

M-Magnetic Direction Indicator/ Compass

E-ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter)

S-Seatbelts

FLAPS (Added to ATOMATOFLAMES at night)

F-Fuses/Circuit Breakers

L-Landing Light (only needed on commercial aircraft & CAU is a commercial-operated company)

A-Anti-Collision Lights

P-Position Lights/Nav Lights (red, green, white + on the back of the plane) (needed for sunset and sunrise)

S-Source of Power (Alternator)

SPARROWED (Is the aircraft airworthy?)

S-Supplements (G100)

P-Placards

A-Airworthiness Certificate

R-Registration (7 years)

R-Radio License (for international flights only) (one license for the plane and one for the pilot)

O-Operating Limitations (in POH)

W-Weight + Balance

E-External Data Plate (a metal plate attached to the outside of the aircraft that contains identifying information about the airplane like the make, model, and serial number)

D-Deviation Card (a small card in an aircraft that tells you how much compass error you have + found in the POH if no card is displayed under the compass)

V-Speeds

• Vne: Never exceed speed; 163 knots

• Vno: maximum structural cruising speed; do not exceed this speed except in smooth air, then only with caution; 129 knots

• Vx: best angle of climb (62 knots); best for when you want to clear something during take off

• Vy: best rate of climb for time (74 knots)

• Va: maneuvering speed (can find in the POH); 105/98/90 knots

  • The heavier the weight, the higher Va

  • The lower the weight, the lower Va

• Vso: stall speed landing config, with full flaps (ready to land) 40 knots

• Vs: Stall speed in the clean config, 48 knots

• Vfe: maximum flap extended speed for full flaps; exceeding this speed with the flaps extended may cause damage to the flap system or wing

  • 0 degrees: 110 knots; 10 degrees to full: 85 knots

Forward & Aft CG

• Forward CG: more stable, less fuel efficient, higher stall speed, good stall recovery 

• AFT CG: less stable, more fuel efficient, less drag, lower stall speed, bad stall recovery

Newton’s 3rd Law

For every action or force, there is an equal but opposite reaction force

IMSAFE (Personal Fitness of Flight)

I- Illness (congestion + headaches are a NO GO for flying)

M- Medication (FAA document that lists medication that will say if it’s safe to fly or not, or you can contact your AME and ask)

S- Stress (Acute Stress: you can fly + Chronic Stress: you cannot fly)

A- Alcohol (8-hour rule to throttle, 0.04 BAC, can’t have any hangover side effects)

F-Fatigue (Acute Fatigue: you cannot fly + Chronic Fatigue: you cannot fly)

E-Emotion + Eating

Go Around Procedure

1. Full Power

2. Flaps immediately to 20 degrees

3. 60 knots & positive climb, flaps to 10 degrees

4. 65 knots & positive climb, flaps to full

5. Capture 74 (Vy) knots to climb back out

Touch + Gos

1. Land

2. Full Power

Flaps immediately all up

1. Stay on Center Line

2. Pitch up at 55 knots

5 C’s Procedure for Go Arounds

Cram- power to full

Climb- get the aircraft in a Vy (74 knots)

Clean-flaps up to 20 degrees immediately, 60 knots & positive; flaps to 10 degrees, 65 knots & postive; flaps to 0 degrees

Call- make the call to ATC to go around

Comply-to whatever ATC is telling you

Take Off Briefing

• If we have an engine failure or abnormality before rotation: Immediately throttle idle, braking as required.

• If we have an engine failure after takeoff with runway remaining: Land on remaining runway

• If we have an engine failure below 1000' AGL: Best glide 68/65, find a landing spot no more than 30 degrees from our nose, declare emergency and execute a forced landing.

• If we have an engine failure above 1000' AGL: Best glide 68/65, attempt to return to the airport and land on the runway.

SAFETY Briefing

• S-seatbelts work just like they do in your car should be worn during all phases of flight 

• A-airvents are to your left and right; twist to let out more air

• F-fire extinguisher is below us and between us; to use it, pull the pin, aim, and sweep side to side

• E-emergency, to open the door pull the handle up and push out, exit away from the propeller

• T-traffic/talking: if you see something, say something. We use a clock code: 12 o'clock in front, 6 o’clock behind. Please limit personal conversations or anything not about the flight during the critical phases: taxi, takeoff, and landing

• Y- Do YOU have any questions

Instrument Check Briefing

• Airspeed at zero

• Blue above brown; wings are level.

• Turn coordinator, ball is centered

• Heading indicator matches magnetic compass

• Altimeter within 75 ft of field elevation

• VSI (vertical speed indicator) at zero

• Lights (turn them on), camera (confirm XPDR 1200), action mixture full rich (go to runway for takeoff)

Magnetos System

• : provides its own power to create the spark that ignites the engine (think of it like its own power source that sends electricity to the spark plugs)

• Magnets surrounded by copper wires provide a spark to the spark plugs, then the spark plugs then go to the cylinders to create the ignition process. The magnetos spinning very fast to generate that energy to begin with 

• Key in ignition process: 

  • Powers battery first

  • Battery powers the starter

  • Starter moves the fly wheel

  • Crankshaft is attached to the fly wheel so it starts moving

  • Crankshaft gets the engine moving and the crankshaft takes over and starts to spin the magnetos

  • Once the magnetos start spinning enough, they ignite the spark plugs (8 spark plugs)

  • Ignition of the fuel air mixture  

• ENGINE DRIVEN: always means mechanically geared to the crankshaft

• Uses permanent magnets to generate the electrical current

• Check them before take off and look in the POH to find the best setting for take off

• If the RPM drop exceeds the allowable limit (no more than 175 or a 50 difference between the 2) or there is no drop in RP when running on a single magneto, DO NOT FLY

• The magnetos provide the electrical energy for the spark plugs.

• Accessory housing containing the magnetos is where magnetos are located

Electrical System (AMABC)

Turned on via master switch 

• Alternator: the heart of the electrical system + provides electrical power, and charges the battery when engine is running, the alternator has 28 volts; takes mechanical energy and converts it to electric energy so our battery doesn’t run out 

• ACU: alternator control unit; meters how much energy is being produced; high volt means our alternator is charging too much, low volt is alternator isn’t charging enough

  • Produces alternating current (there's a break in the current) into a DC (direct current) is a straight current 

  • 60 AMPS (speed)

  • 28 Volts is (strength) 

• Battery: provides electrical power when the engine is off and a reserve of electrical power if alternator fails 

  • Main battery is 24-volts (this is what the plane would switch to if the alternator failed) (its only a short amount of time)

  • If the STANDBY battery fails, you have at least 30 mins until it dies (this is what it would switch to after the main battery dies)

  • Standby instruments have its own charge, but the main battery charges it (you only have about 30 mins left for this too if everything fails and you go black)

• Circuit Breakers: protects the wiring and equipment from damage from overload of the circuit  

Fuel System

• (TFRASSECD) (Gravity Fed)

  • Tanks (we have 2 fuel vents to prevent a vacuum from forming)

  • Fuel Selector (which tank we pull from, but we mostly do both

  • Reservoir (extra fuel we store to prevent fuel starvation at unusual altitudes and sits on the belly of the plane) we are sumping this tank

  • Auxiliary Fuel Pump (electrically driven) (we use this to prime the plane before the engine turns on, or for engine restart for engine failures) 

  • Shut OFF Valve (red long knob and it shuts of all fuel)

  • Strainer (strains all the fuel or any extra sediment) 

  • Engine Driven Fuel Pump (mechanically driven by the engine and the primary one) 

  • Control Unit (controls the ratio of fuel and air, meter it so the right ratio is being sent to the engine)

  • Distributor (has 5 nozzles, one for each 4cylinders, and the 5th one goes into our fuel flow indicator; goes from the fuel lines and injected into the cylinders) 

  • Definition from the POH

    • The airplane fuel system, Refer to Figure 7-6, consists of two vented integral fuel tanks (one tank in each wing), three-position selector valve, fuel reservoir tank, electrically-driven auxiliary fuel pump, fuel shutoff valve, and a fuel strainer. The engine-mounted portion of the system consists of the engine driven fuel pump, a fuel/air control unit, fuel flow transducer, a fuel distribution valve (flow divider) and fuel injection nozzles.

  • Fuel vents to prevents vacuum from forming: we have 3; 2 on each fuel tank and 1 on the wing that looks like a J 

Ignition System

Ignition System: what creates the spark that will ignite the fuel-air mixture in the engine cylinders. It's made up of 2 magnetos, 2 spark plugs in each cylinder so 8 total because we have a 4 cylinder, ignition leads + wires, and a magneto switch (OFF-L-R-BOTH)

VFR, MVFR, IFR (look in SOP to see my standards)

VFR- Visual Flight Rules (ceilings greater than 3,000 ft AGL; visibility greater than 5 SM)

MVFR- Marginal Visual Flight Rules (ceiling between 1,000 and 3,000 ft AGL; visibility between 3-5 SM)

IFR- Instrument Flight Rules (ceiling less than 1000 ft AGL, visibility less than 3 SM)

For VFR Fuel Regulations DAY FAA

You need enough fuel to make it to your destination, plus 30 extra minutes; which is 5 gallons extra

VRF Night Fuel Regulations NIGHT FAA

You need enough fuel to make it to your destination, plus 45 mins of fuel

For VFR Fuel Day + Night Regulations CAU

You need enough fuel to make it to your destination, plus 1 extra hour; which is 10 gallons extra

Documents/Endorsements Needed for Solo Flight

-Gov. issued ID

-Medical

-Endorsement from your Instructor

-Student Pilot Cert.

Our Engine

LHAND:

• Lycoming IO-360 is the cubic inches of the cylinders 

• Horizontally opposed, fuel injected, and horizontally opposed

• Air-cooled (air goes through those big air inlets in the front)

• Naturally Aspirating (when we take off, the air is dense and has more air molecules, and we have better performance; as we climb, the pressure decreases and the air molecules decrease, and we have less performance) (we have to deal with the air that's given)

• Direct Drive (our crankshaft is directly geared to the propellor)

PAVE + Hazardous Attitudes

• PAVE: Pilot, Aircraft, Environment, and External Pressures (the 4 risks of flying)

• 5 Hazardous Attitudes: Antiauthority, Impulsivity, Invulnerability, Macho, Resignation

Left Turning Tendencies

• P-factor: counter with right rudder

1. Caused by the clockwise rotating propeller, generating more lift as it comes down on the right side than it does as it comes up on the left side

2. As it comes down on the right side, generating more thrust, that forces the nose of the aircraft to turn left

3. Produces more thrust on the right side yawing to the left

4. Higher AOA on the right blade

• Torque Effect: counter with right rudder

1. Caused by the propeller turning to the right, and has an opposite and equal reaction to the left, which makes the left gear force downward

2. Rolls the airplane to the left

3. Newton’s 3rd Law

• Spiraling Slipstream: counter with right rudder

1. air spins around the fuselage from the air the propellor is creating

2. Hits the vertical stabilizer on the left

• Gyroscopic Precession: 

1. Propellor acts like a spinning gyroscope 

2. Force is felt 90 degrees ahead in the direction of rotation because it’s spinning

3. When pitching down, a left yawing motion happens (force applied on top of the propeller)

4. When pitching up, a right yawing happens (force applied on bottom of the propeller)

5. Most applicable with tail wind airplanes 

TAF

TAF: Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (more updated weather than our phone app)

• Reports for 5 SM radius around airport

• Valid for 24-30 hours and updated 4 times a day

EXAMPLE

TAF KSDM 081720Z 0818/0918 27010KT P6SM SKC FM090000 25008KT P6SM FEW040

METAR

METAR: an aerodrome meteorological report; tells you what's happening NOW

• Reports of surface conditions

• Updated every hour unless speci

• Use the METAR decode key if I can’t read everything on it

EXAMPLE:

KSDM 081953Z 27012G18KT 10SM FEW030 SCT060 25/15 A2992 RMK AO2

• AO2= automated station with a precipitation sensor

• SLP161=sea level pressure in millibars 103.2 so 1016.1; always add a 10 before the number 

• TO is a more accurate dew point and temp so example 022201256

• $: there is maintenance going on

AWOS

Automated Weather Observing System

• Updated every minute 

ATIS

Automated airport/weather information + runway + other important airport information

Updated every hour

What creates Lift?

Bernoulli’s Principle & Newton’s 3rd Law

BP: When molecules move fast, there is a decrease in pressure; Any increase in lift causes an increase in drag

• Top of wing=low pressure because the air is moving faster

• Below the wing= high pressure because the air under the wing is moving slower

• High pressure always wants to gravitate towards lower pressure, which is what makes our wings lift upwards

3rd Law: creates the lift of the airplane because the air going down off the top of the wing forces the wing to create an opposite reaction and lift upward

Wake Turbulance

• Big planes or jets create big wingtip vortices, so we feel their turbulence because they leave behind a strong spillage of air from their wing tips called a vortex; wingtip vortices our greatest when the generating aircraft is heavy, clean and slow.

• always be well before/behind or above them when taking off and landing 

  • Wait 3-5 mins to take off or land if I am behind one, or stay above their path, since the wind will go downward, or land/takeoff after the path of the bigger aircraft’s takeoff

Ground Reference Maneuvers

• Designed to help develop your skills in correcting for the effects of the wind

• Flown at 1000 ft AGL always for safe flight 

• The biggest thing to worry about is engine failure during these, so always have a landing spot in mind 

• FAA rules for this

  • Congested (yellow on the sectional map) 1000 ft above legally 

  • Non-Congested (not yellow on the sectional map) 500 ft above legally

  • Always have to be at an altitude for a safe landing to do this legally

Spin

• Spins: an aggravated stall in which the pilot is using improper rudder and aileron coordination (sideslip or yawing), resulting in a spin; may result after a stall occurs 

  • An airplane needs to be yawed or stalled to enter a spin

  • PARE Method for Recovery

    • Power to IDLE

    • Ailerons NEUTRAL

    • Rudder is to be applied opposite of the way you are spinning

    • Elevator should be pushed forward to break the stall

• Phases of Spin: entry, incipient, developed, and recovery 

• Intentional Spins: make sure the plane is capable of this; found in the POH or placards in the plane or in TCDs

Pressure Altitude Formula

• Pressure Altitude (PA): PA=29.92-current setting x 1000 + Field Elevation

  • Altimeter is the current setting (find on foreflight airport info) 

  • Field Elevation info in on foreflight under airport info (Elevation tab)

Density Altitude Formula

• Density Altitude: Current Temp - standard temp x 120 + PA

  • 15 degrees at sea level is the baseline number | we are at 427 MSL (find on foreflight airport info) so that’s rounded to 500 ft AGL, and that 500 is in between 15 degrees and 13 degrees; 1000 ft is at 13 degrees, and 15 degrees is at 0 ft so the middle of 15 + 13 degrees (0 and 1000 ft) is 14 degrees 

Cold Front vs Warm Front

• Cold Front: good visibility, cumulus clouds, unstable air, the cold air is more dense

• Warm Front: poor visibility, stratus clouds, stable air, the hot air is less dense

Stationary Front

Stationary Front: combo of both, cold front and warm front colliding; on a map it looks like a mix of blue and red lines

AIRMET

Air Mat (applies to smaller aircrafts), issued every 6 hours and valid for every 6 hours of hazards other than conductivity issued

• Icing (Zulu): issued for moderate icing and freezing levels; super hazardous to aircrafts and creates no lift on the wings

• Turbulence (Tango): surface winds greater than 30 knots, moderate turbulence 

• IFR (mountain obscuration) (Sierra): IFR conditions, ceilings less than 1000 ft and visibility less than 3 SM, extensive mountain obscuration 

SIGMETS (7-1-6 AIM)

• Significant weather hazardous to all aircraft that is not associated with a thunderstorm; valid every 4 hours (7-1-6) AIM

  • Severe icing 

  • Severe turbulence

  • Dust storms/sand storms

  • Volcanic ash

Convective SIGMETS (7-1-6 AIM)

convective weather hazards to all aircraft that is associated with thunderstorms; valid every 2 hours (7-1-6) AIM

• Severe thunderstorms due to surface winds greater than 50 knots

• Hail at the surface greater than ¾ inch

• Tornados 

• Embedded thunderstorms 

• A line of thunderstorms

• Thunderstorms producing heavy  precipitation affecting 40% of an area that 40 sq miles 

• If there's one 20 miles within CAU, you cannot go flying 

PIREPS

Pilot reports of what is happening currently (most accurate and valuable weather observation we have); routine(UA) + urgent(UUA) as the categories for these PIREPS

AV1AATE (is the aircraft Airworthy to fly?)

• Annual inspection every 12 months (logged in log book maintenance records)

• VOR Inspection; Required every 30 days if the aircraft is operated under IFR using VOR navigation; Not required for VFR-only operations.

• 100 hour inspection if the aircraft is operated for hire (it can be exceed 10 hours if you need to get it to an inspection site)

• Altimeter + pitot static system; Static system + encoder  certification within the last 24 months (for IFR its required)

• ADS

• Transponder certification expires on the last day 24 months after previous inspection

• ELT Inspection (emergency locator) within the last 12 months + check ELT Battery due

East & West Altitudes

Fly even plus 500 for west 180- 359 degrees

Fly odd plus 500 for east 0-179 degrees

Arm, Moment, CG, Datum

• Arm: The arm is the distance from the aircraft’s reference datum to where the weight is located. It tells you how far forward or aft that weight is. Arm = how far the weight is from the datum.

• Moment: The moment is the turning force created by that weight around the datum.

• Moment = how much that weight affects the aircraft’s balance.

• The datum is the reference point we measure from.

• The center of gravity is the point where the aircraft would balance. Aft is positive CG, forward is negative CG