Flight 04-10-08

I went flying yesterday....it was tuuurbuuulent! The plane was fluctuating 100 feet up and down sometimes. Not instantaneous altitude changes, but large updrafts and downdrafts. This is caused by our geography often when there is a steep pressure gradient. As the wind blows from West to East, the air hits the mountains and then is quickly forced upwards. It then tumbles, imagine water hitting a boulder in a river, over and then oscillates for sometimes hundreds of miles if there is a strong inversion. If there is not a large inversion it is not quite so pronounced, but will still affect you when you are within ten miles of the mountain range.
We practiced short/soft field landing/takeoffs. We practiced them a few times in Preston, Idaho. The runway there is a little wider than one car lane, so that made it exciting especially with the wind. Preston was also the source of one of the scariest moments I have had flying too, before my mission a few years ago. Than we practiced some power on/off stalls which went pretty well. I am still a little stiff on getting my gear up and flaps in when recovering from the stall, but since I am flying an unfamiliar airplane, that is to be expected for a few more hours.
We then practiced an emergency gear extension. I thought it was interesting. This was the first time I have done this maneuver and when you put down the emergency extension lever you have to yaw back and forth so it gives a nice horizontal G-force. This is to make sure the gear clicks all the way down.
The last thing was a emergency engine failure. I do not have the checklist for that one memorized yet, but by next time I will. I guess I almost do now....pitch for 105 mph., choose a landing site, fuel pump on, change fuel tanks, mixture rich, props full forward, full throttle, check magnetos to make sure it is set on both. Those are always fun because we usually get down to just about 500 ft. above a field and line up as if we are going to land. I often wonder what the farmers are thinking. I guess that is about all that I remember from the flight.

Nate