airport and I don’t see a runway zero niner. I see one eight and three six and . . .”
Then I saw a wide field that crossed the asphalt runway in the middle at a ninety-degree angle.
Of course. Runway 09 is a turf runway.
They can’t write numbers on it. I’m okay! Damn, if I just hadn’t—
“Roger,” the radio said, “Cherokee Four Four Seven Charlie, we—”
“Never mind, sir, I—”
“—have two runways. One is asphalt; one is turf. You will be landing on the turf runway to the east.”
I’d never landed on a turf runway. No problem.
I flew the traffic pattern, forgetting that I was landing at a field three hundred feet lower than my home field. I was so high on my first approach that I had to go around. On my second try I landed, taxied in, and finished my after-landing checklist.
When I walked into the flight building, the man behind the counter with the little radio set beside him said, “So, you’re Cherokee Four Four Seven Charlie.”
“Yessir,” I said. “I couldn’t get you on the radio for a while.”
“Your instructor called and said you’d be on the way. I had to go outside and I guess I missed your first call.”
I hadn’t known that radios at small airports often go unattended. “Yessir. I need to look at my map and flight plans for a minute. I got lost somehow.”
“Happens to the best of us. Probably be a good idea to call your instructor and let him know you’ll be a bit late on the trip back.”
“Good idea.” I was still flustered. This man was so kind—he didn’t say anything about the runway mix-up.
I called Mr. Vaughn. He asked no questions when I told him I’d be a little late getting back. It was as if he already knew.
I sat down, studied my plans, and discovered that I’d confused miles and minutes. I’ve never confused miles and minutes since. And I never will.
I’d thoroughly embarrassed myself in front of the radio operator, so I decided that my takeoff would be impeccable. Surely after all this, he’d be watching.
The preflight checklist for the inside of the airplane is divided into two sections: “Before Taxi” and “Before Takeoff.” On the before-takeoff checklist there is an item that says, “Trim: Takeoff Position.”
A word about trim. Imagine you’re on the Nevada salt flats in an automobile. You turn the steering wheel to the left. You release it and it straightens up by itself. Now suppose you want the automobile to stay in a turn for twenty minutes. Without a trim device you’d just hold the steering wheel in the turn position, exerting pressure on the wheel in order to keep the car turning—and you’d gettired.A trim device (a small wheel or a small movable button, like the one that moves a rearview mirror on a car door) can be set to the right setting, and bingo, the steering wheel will stay where it is (turning the car) without any pressure, whether you’re holding it or not. When you pull back on the yoke (or stick), the airplane will start to climb, but you’ll have to hold the yoke back to keep the airplane climbing; otherwise, if you turn it loose, the yoke goes back to a neutral position and the nose drops.
If you have a trim wheel, then you can position it to hold the yoke where it is while you climb, and the hands-off position of the yoke will keep the airplane nose up and the airplane climbing without your having to hold the yoke back. That’s what trim is all about. It’s an aid. Once you want to level off, you’ll change the trim back to where it was. Most pilots trim often so that little if any pressure on the yoke or stick is needed for long.
Now, before beginning your takeoff roll, you set the trim so that only a slight pull back on the yoke is necessary to get you off the ground at the correct airspeed. As you gain speed after takeoff, you may have to change the trim a bit, but basically with takeoff trim established you don’t have to worry about exerting strong back pressure on the yoke as you lift
Then I saw a wide field that crossed the asphalt runway in the middle at a ninety-degree angle.
Of course. Runway 09 is a turf runway.
They can’t write numbers on it. I’m okay! Damn, if I just hadn’t—
“Roger,” the radio said, “Cherokee Four Four Seven Charlie, we—”
“Never mind, sir, I—”
“—have two runways. One is asphalt; one is turf. You will be landing on the turf runway to the east.”
I’d never landed on a turf runway. No problem.
I flew the traffic pattern, forgetting that I was landing at a field three hundred feet lower than my home field. I was so high on my first approach that I had to go around. On my second try I landed, taxied in, and finished my after-landing checklist.
When I walked into the flight building, the man behind the counter with the little radio set beside him said, “So, you’re Cherokee Four Four Seven Charlie.”
“Yessir,” I said. “I couldn’t get you on the radio for a while.”
“Your instructor called and said you’d be on the way. I had to go outside and I guess I missed your first call.”
I hadn’t known that radios at small airports often go unattended. “Yessir. I need to look at my map and flight plans for a minute. I got lost somehow.”
“Happens to the best of us. Probably be a good idea to call your instructor and let him know you’ll be a bit late on the trip back.”
“Good idea.” I was still flustered. This man was so kind—he didn’t say anything about the runway mix-up.
I called Mr. Vaughn. He asked no questions when I told him I’d be a little late getting back. It was as if he already knew.
I sat down, studied my plans, and discovered that I’d confused miles and minutes. I’ve never confused miles and minutes since. And I never will.
I’d thoroughly embarrassed myself in front of the radio operator, so I decided that my takeoff would be impeccable. Surely after all this, he’d be watching.
The preflight checklist for the inside of the airplane is divided into two sections: “Before Taxi” and “Before Takeoff.” On the before-takeoff checklist there is an item that says, “Trim: Takeoff Position.”
A word about trim. Imagine you’re on the Nevada salt flats in an automobile. You turn the steering wheel to the left. You release it and it straightens up by itself. Now suppose you want the automobile to stay in a turn for twenty minutes. Without a trim device you’d just hold the steering wheel in the turn position, exerting pressure on the wheel in order to keep the car turning—and you’d gettired.A trim device (a small wheel or a small movable button, like the one that moves a rearview mirror on a car door) can be set to the right setting, and bingo, the steering wheel will stay where it is (turning the car) without any pressure, whether you’re holding it or not. When you pull back on the yoke (or stick), the airplane will start to climb, but you’ll have to hold the yoke back to keep the airplane climbing; otherwise, if you turn it loose, the yoke goes back to a neutral position and the nose drops.
If you have a trim wheel, then you can position it to hold the yoke where it is while you climb, and the hands-off position of the yoke will keep the airplane nose up and the airplane climbing without your having to hold the yoke back. That’s what trim is all about. It’s an aid. Once you want to level off, you’ll change the trim back to where it was. Most pilots trim often so that little if any pressure on the yoke or stick is needed for long.
Now, before beginning your takeoff roll, you set the trim so that only a slight pull back on the yoke is necessary to get you off the ground at the correct airspeed. As you gain speed after takeoff, you may have to change the trim a bit, but basically with takeoff trim established you don’t have to worry about exerting strong back pressure on the yoke as you lift
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