Flight Maneuvers and Emergency Procedures

Best Glide Speed and Flying the Airplane

• Always fly the airplane, prioritizing trimming for best glide.
• Know your best glide speed: generally around $65$ to $70$ knots.
  • Cessna 172S: $68$ knots.
  • Other 172s and 182s: $65$ or $70$ knots.
  • Cessna 162: $70$ knots.

Engine Failure Procedure

• Step 1: Fly the airplane (trim for best glide).
• Step 2: Find a place to land (airport or suitable landing area within gliding distance).
• Step 3: Attempt to restart the engine.
  • Follow the restart procedure (checklist).
  • Instructor may want you to memorize it, others allow using the checklist.
  • A suggested flow: fuel selector on both, mixture rich, fuel switch on both. Then, pull out the checklist to double-check.
• Step 4: Communicate (after squawking emergency).
  • Squawk emergency: $7700$.
  • Contact air traffic control (ATC) for assistance.
• Step 5: Prepare to land.
  • If landing in water, open doors or windows.
  • Use the checklist if time allows.

Flight Planning

• IFR and VFR flight plans are separate.
• Use initial requested altitude for level off.
• Destination identifier must include the four-letter identifier (add "K" to three-letter sectional identifiers).
• Usable endurance: usable fuel and time.
  • Example: 18 gallons translates to 0300 (3 hours) at a conservative fuel burn of 6 gallons per hour.
• For VFR flight plans, control towers do not automatically close them; you must contact Flight Service or close on Flight Service.
• For IFR flight plans, the tower closes the flight plan.
• PIC (Pilot in Command) responsibilities:
  • Preflight inspection and ensuring the aircraft is airworthy.
  • The owner is responsible for maintenance, but the PIC is responsible for preflight actions.

Maneuvering Speed

• Maneuvering speed is related to gross weight.
• Below maneuvering speed, you will stall the aircraft before over-stressing it (over-G).
• At or below maneuvering speed, full control inputs will not over G the aircraft.

Taxiing with Wind Correction

• Tricycle Gear (Nosewheel)
  • Headwind (wind from the front): Aileron into the wind, elevator neutral.
  • Tailwind (wind from the rear): Down and away – Aileron away from the wind, elevator in the diving position (forward).
    *Note: If the wind is 90 degrees or in front of you, always put it into the wind. If it's behind you, always go down and away, which means down and away from the wind when it's behind you.
• If the wind's over there, push the nose forward and in in away from it. Down and away if it's behind you. If it's in front of you, just into the wind with the airline.
• Remember that pushing the elevator forward makes the tail go up, causing the nose to go down.
  • Keep in mind that in strong winds taxiing can be more challenging than flying.
• Tailwheel Airplane
  • Headwind: Aileron into the wind, elevator up.
  • Tailwind: Aileron away from the wind, elevator down.
  • The elevator is usually opposite of the aileron.

Cross Country Flight

• Heading = Course + or - the wind correction angle
• True course is what you measure and you get the true heading
• Compass heading correction:
  • Magnetic variation and deviation (installation error).
  • Installation error: Error due to metal around the compass; only worry about this on checkrides in non-GPS aircraft.

Time Zones

• Zulu time is important for flight planning and communication.
• Zulu time is 7 hours ahead of Seattle time.
• Zulu time does not change, no matter where you are flying.

Ground Reference Maneuvers

• Flown between $600$ and $1000$ feet AGL (above ground level).
• The track pattern is usually roads. You are trying to keep the distance the same between you and the roads.
• Use wind correction to maintain a parallel track.
• Example: If the wind is $10$ degrees from the West/Northwest, the heading will need to be corrected by $10$ degrees into the wind.
  *Headings related to turns related to wind direction