My DA20 flight on Friday was canceled due to very gusty winds and my Saturday flight was canceled due to Alex’s car mechanic not being able to fix his car as promised. So I flew today (Sunday). I’d forgotten how small the DA20s are. And I’d forgotten how much the DA40 spoiled me! The DA20 has vacuum-driven instruments (ugh), doesn’t slave the heading indicator so you have to constantly re-adjust it, and doesn’t have an HSI! I also felt constrained by having only one NAV/COM on which to queue up frequencies.
All of that said, the DA20 is very sporty and a lot of fun to fly. I started by flying over to Gary (GYY) to fuel up and make sure that I can still land (I’ve only completed two landings in the last 60 days!). Amazingly, at Gary I performed the smoothest landing in recent memory. Must be luck, right? I did land left of the centerline, which I need to work on.
We then flew around many thousands of feet MSL and I practiced slow flight (never been difficult for me—I don’t know why), steep turns (usually very hard for me, but I did them very well this time—again, I don’t know why), and power-off stalls. The power-off stalls were a difference experience than in the DA40. In the DA20, an aggravated stall requires significant rudder work to prevent a wing from dropping. I say “aggravated stall” because the DA20 doesn’t “mush” in its power-off stall as much as the DA40 so the first time through the maneuver I didn’t realize I was really stalled until I was fighting to keep the wings level. Maybe I need to explain myself better. In the DA40, approaching the power-off stalls generates some buffeting, then you feel a “break” when the plane actually enters the stall. In the DA20, the buffeting doesn’t “break”—it just gradually gets more intense until you realize that you’re stalled and dropping a wing. In fact, dropping a wing is a difference in behavior from the DA40.
I felt like an idiot for letting a stall progress that far. Of course, the point of this lesson is to learn the “feel” of the airplane to know things like the different stall characteristics of the DA20 compared to the DA40. Still, getting to the point where I’m fighting against entering a spin is just bad piloting. I did much better on my second power-off stall recovery, although I pushed the nose further than ideal through the horizon to break the stall. We then simulated an engine-out forced landing with attempted restart.
We then did a crosswind landing at Lansing (IGQ) which was remarkably smooth. Left of the centerline again, though. Grumble, grumble. Then we flew back to Midway. Funny thing happened at Midway. I did my first go-around at Midway. The DA20 is just so clean that I didn’t lose my speed fast enough and was well over 100 knots on final. I climbed out, waited for a break in the radio chatter, and called my go-around. I was cleared for left traffic to try it again. I got it right the second time and performed another very smooth landing—this time on the centerline.
Another lesson or two and I’ll be cleared to fly the DA20. I really need to practice the emergency flows before I’ll be comfortable on my own in the DA20. Fun, fun.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
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2 comments:
I assume that on your go around you initiated it first, got the positive rate of climb and then called the tower. My current CFII reminded me, "The tower knows what you are doing, they will already be figuring out if they need to rearrange traffic for you." Sometimes they will even talk before you do, "Katana Mike Romeo, join left traffic, you are number three behind an SR-71."
And on your next DA20 flight you should do a no flaps landing. If there is an electrical failure, or an engine failure far enough up that you lose the battery, you can't lower the flaps. So it's good to have done a slip to landing.
You’re correct: I was climbing out and made sure I had everything under control before allowing myself to call tower. (I have to fight my impulse on this, as my gut response wants to communicate right away.) When I was ready to call, the radio got quite busy and I was ready to turn left crosswind before I could get a word in edgewise.
No-flaps landing—that’s a good idea. I’ve done several in the DA40 and should get the practice on the DA20. Thanks for the reminder.
I’m also updating the blog entry to note that I meant it was my first go-around at Midway. Obviously, I’ve practiced go-arounds many times during training and performed a of real go-arounds at Lansing when I was first learning landings and couldn’t stay ahead of the airplane.
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