Steep turns are a little more difficult than I remember the last time I did them at Charleston. I had trouble maintaining bank angle, staying coordinated, and maintaining altitude. I think the problem was that at Yeager, I did my steep turns with mostly instrument reference. Today, I tried to do them with mostly outside reference, and that was a bit more difficult.I actually did pretty well with my ground reference maneuvers, considering that it was my first time. You're supposed to understand the primary wind direction, and turn shallower with a headwind, and steeper with a tailwind. However, I could mostly judge the angle of bank I needed without mentally calculating wind direction. It just felt natural.
I also practiced emergency engine failure. The first thing I'm supposed to do is pitch for 65 knots. Then I must look for a suitable landing place (I found a nice little mountaintop removal project nearby). Then I have to check the fuel selector, mixture, throttle, pull out carb heat, check the magneto switch, and make sure the primer is fully in. If none of that works, I must squak 7700 and contact ATC and let them know I'm going down, and then land in my chosen field. Of course, we were just pretending, and as I started to get very close to the nearby mountains I aborted the simulation by applying full power and climbing away. After all, FAA regulations state that I cannot come within 500 feet of the ground, and I was damn near close. But if it were a real emergency, I could just toss the rule book out the window.All in all, except for being windy and turbulent, it was a pretty good lesson.
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