Flight Training - July 2019 - 6

ALWAYS LEARNING BY KOLLIN STAGNITO

EDITOR'S PICKS OF THE MONTH
TECHNIQUES AND TRAINING TOOLS

Vice President of Publications/Editor
KOLLIN STAGNITO actively seeks
out public-use grass runways because
they're fun!
kollin.stagnito@aopa.org

Flight Training has prepared Technique illustrations on dozens of common flight maneuvers.
Here are a few that relate to this training flight:
Emergency approach and landing
aopa.org/ft/emergencylanding
Forward slips aopa.org/ft/forwardslip
Soft-field landing aopa.org/ft/softfield
Soft-field takeoff aopa.org/ft/softtakeoff
Short-field takeoff aopa.org/ft/shorttakeoff
AOPA Air Safety Institute Focused Flight
Review, for those interested in honing specific
skills during your flight review.
airsafetyinstitute.org/focusedflightreview
Thousands of Flight Training readers recently participated in a flight training content survey. We
appreciate your great ideas and are excited to
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feel free to reach out to me directly with requests
on training topics.
kollin.stagnito@aopa.org

SLIPPING INTO FUN
It was time for my flight review and my instructor asked if
there was anything I wanted to focus on. I said I wanted to
practice forward slips so that I could land my Cessna 140 on
shorter grass runways that have obstructions on both ends.
On the spot, my instructor concocted an exciting, fun, and
confidence-inspiring training scenario-although I did not yet
know the full extent of what he had planned.
We climbed to a safe altitude and began practicing full-rudder-deflection forward
slips at gliding speed. You sure can lose altitude quickly performing this maneuver!
Once I had a good feel for it, my instructor pulled the power to idle, simulating an
engine failure at 3,000 feet above ground level (agl). He also gave me a challenge: "See
that patch of grass down there nestled within the trees? It's a private airport. I know
the owner and we have permission to land. Do whatever it takes to get set up and land
on that field." Of course, he knew the destination from the start-but it came as a complete surprise to me. It was time to perform emergency procedures, ground reference
maneuvers, and-yes-a forward slip to a short-field landing.
We spiraled down to about 1,500 feet on the upwind side of the runway and
pivoted around the center of the runway to get into the key position-downwind abeam the touchdown point-at 1,000 feet. Now it was time to execute a
180-degree power-off landing.
My instructor coached me to stay high on the approach and use the forward slip
technique we had just practiced to lose altitude and land as near the beginning of the
6 FLIGHT TRAINING JULY 2019

runway as possible. I was experiencing
the real-life application of the slip we had
just practiced thousands of feet above the
ground. With the touchdown point assured,
I stopped the slip, kept the airspeed on target to avoid floating down the runway, and
managed a reasonable flare for a soft-field
touchdown. Success! Multiple soft-field,
short-field, and obstacle clearance takeoffs
and landings followed on this remote grass
runway until I felt even more confident in
my abilities. We flew back to my home airport where I couldn't wait to tell my fellow
pilots about the fun I had just had.
This memorable training flight
started with a simple request to practice
forward slips. Don't be afraid to ask your
instructor to come up with scenarios that
will make training more fun for you. He
or she can easily customize lessons to
keep you engaged and energized.
One of the ground reference maneuvers
I used on this flight was the turn around
a point, which Nihad E. Daidzic explains
in "Keeping Your Distance," beginning on
page 32. While maneuvers such as this can
seem awfully abstract when you are first
learning them, soon you will be putting
individual maneuvers together into a
sequence of actions that increases your
precision when flying near the ground.
This knowledge will allow you to fly more
confidently into a greater variety of runways. And, it could save your life one day if
the engine ever quits. FT

http://www.aopa.org/ft/emergencylanding http://www.aopa.org/ft/forwardslip http://www.aopa.org/ft/softfield http://www.aopa.org/ft/softtakeoff http://www.aopa.org/ft/shorttakeoff http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/focusedflightreview

Flight Training - July 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - July 2019