Full Length Flight | Touch & Goes | Cessna 172 Skyhawk

I've been so focused on school that I've neglected my flying, so it's time to hit the traffic pattern and get the engine warm. In the last couple of months, due to a combination of trying to focus heavily on my grades, bad weather, and the airplane battery being dead, I'm finally experiencing a break in the homework, a day of nice weather, and a fresh battery in the airplane. The weather was too calm and smooth for me to pass up, so on this mid-week school day, I decided to head to the airport right after class to get some flying in before heading home. Checklist. Alright, my keys. I'll put those in the back seat. I got my wallet with my driver's license and pilot certificate. That's required. I got my phone. That can go in the back seat. Alright, up we go. I don't know why I put my keys in the back. It's got the airplane key on it. Alright, so what we're going to do is we're just going to go up and do a few touch-and-go's and then come back to the hangar. I got out of class a couple hours ago, and I'm just going to swing by the airport here and do a little flying before I go home. Alright, pre-engine start, pre-flight complete. Cameras, audio recorder are recording. Audio is going, and the GoPro in my head is going. Passenger briefing, not applicable. Seatbelts, belts, and shoulder harnesses are on. And I'm going to bring, I'm going to adjust my seat down a little bit. Last person that sat over here was a little girl named Brooke, and she's short. I'm going to just turn these cranks down here. Lower my seat a little bit. That was a little too far. Okay, and seatbelt's good there. Fuel selector is on both. Verify that. Avionics and all electrical switches are off. Avionics off. Off, off. Beacon is on. Mount can stay on. And we're good. DC cockpit power, there's nothing plugged into it, so that's disabled. Brakes test. Check the brakes and set the parking brake. Pull that lever down there. And circuit breakers check in. There is nothing that popped. Everything's in. Alright, mixture goes to rich. Carburetor heat in. Master switch coming on. And prime is required. We don't need to prime it. Throttle open a quarter inch. Prop area clear. Ignition start. Engine instruments check. Clear! We look good. And she fired right up. Oil pressure's coming up into the green. We have suction. Ammeter's charging. Avionics on. Alright, check one two, check check. Alrighty. Check one two, check check. We'll turn our intercom volume up a little bit. We got our second radio on and our Garmin 430 is booting up. Alright, pre-taxi Avionics. Master is on. Recording devices mark. ATIS check. We'll get ATIS here in just a second. Ground control contact. Airport safety diagram, or safe taxi diagram on. Seatbelts fastened. Nav lights on. We don't need those on. Actually, we'll go ahead and get them on. Landing light on. Brakes test. We'll get those on before we start taxi. Control to ground on that radio. And we'll get the ATIS in just a second. Bring up our airport diagram here. Alright, Information India. Wind 160 at 8. Visibility 10. Sky conditions few clouds at 2200. Ceiling broken 4800 and overcast 5500. Temperature 22, 2.13. Altimeter 3022. Visual approaches and use landing and departing runway 17. On initial contact advise you have Information India. Alright, we have Information India. We'll let ground know. I'm going to go to my scratch pad here and clear it. Information India. And I'm going to start taxiing here and get just outside the T-hangars here. There's a movement area line right there. I just can't cross that line. What I do is I just inch forward here. I'm going to check the brakes. Bring the flaps up. Kind of make sure nobody's coming left. Nobody's coming right. And I'm just going to stay right inside the movement area line here. And I just like to get where the tower can see me. Make sure my wing's not crossing the line there. And just kind of go out here on the ramp. San Marcos Ground. Skyhawk 80991. Skyhawk 80991. San Marcos Ground. 80991. Cessna 172 at the T-hangars. Information India. I'd like to taxi out to remain in the pattern. Cessna 80991. Runway 17. Taxi via B, C and J. Cross Runway 8. Hold short of Runway 13. Taxi to 17 via B, C, J. Cross Runway 8. Hold short of Runway 13. 80991. Okay. 17 via B, C, J. Cross Runway 8. Hold short of 13. Attention all aircraft. Information Juliet. Current on the ATIS at San Marcos. Altimeter 3020. 3020. We're clear left. We're clear right. Got NAV lights on, beacon light on, and landing light on. Clear left on Runway 8 and clear right on Runway 8. Strobe lights coming on. Run back to my notes. We are cleared to cross Runway 8. Approaching Runway 08. 26. That's my iPad letting me know I'm approaching a runway. It did tell me that I'm entering a runway here in a second. Entered Runway 08. 26. Yeah, there it is. Nice little audible warning there, just to let me know. Head is always on the swivel. Coming up to taxiway Charlie. There's nobody coming on Charlie. Nobody on Charlie ahead of us. Strobe lights coming off. We're clear of the runway. Getting a little humid. I'll crack this window open, too. There's some air moving in here. It's been a long time since I've sat in the left seat of this airplane. Or any airplane, for that matter. I've been doing some of the right seat stuff, flying with my girlfriend. I let her sit in the left seat, and she does the flying now. Not every time, but... I let her fly in the left seat a lot. And then, of course, when I fly with my dad, I'll always give him left seat. Plus, the CFI is kind of supposed to be over there anyways. We're clear left on Juliet. We're clear right on Juliet. We were instructed to hold short of runway 13. We are required to hold short of the ILS critical area when the ceiling is 800 or below, and our ceiling is up at around 2000, so we do not have to hold short of this ILS critical area line. We can pull all the way up to the hold line. I'll go ahead and stop here. Holding short of 13 on Juliet. There's a Black Hawk doing autorotations. There you go. Yank that cycling back. Cessna 80991, cross runway 13, taxi to 17. Cross 13 to 17, 80991. All right, strobe light's coming on. Watch out for his rotor wash. Approaching runway 13. The wind is kind of coming out of that way, so his rotor wash is going to blow that way and kind of dissipate. Entered runway 13, 5,500 feet remaining. Practicing autorotations. That's pretty cool. One day, one day I'll be flying helicopters, and notice just in case his rotor wash decides to descend, you know, after it's dissipated a little bit, of course, it descends down onto the taxiway where I am. I've got a grip on the controls. I'm just hanging on to them. Strobe light's coming off. We're clear of the runway. I'll just continue taxiing down Juliet to runway 17 over there. I'm going to put my heading bug on 170. Runway heading. Good afternoon, San Marcos Ground. Skylane November 3066 Quebec on the ground at Skyport. We'd like to pick up IFR clearance to Golf Lima Echo when we've got Juliet ready to taxi when able. IFR to Golf Lima Echo, tell me your tail number again. 3066 Quebec. Sorry about that. No, that was on me. I was attending some other business, but clearance on request. You say you're ready to taxi? Ready to taxi, yes, sir, and we can take that clearance when we get over to the run-up. Okay, it's going to take me a minute to get it. So, 366 Quebec, runway 17, taxi Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Juliet, cross runway 8, hold short of runway 13. Somebody turning final out there. Runway 17. And this is 366 Quebec. We copy taxi to runway 17 via Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Juliet, cross 18 and hold short of 13. Cross 8. Almost. There's no 18 here. Just cross runway 08. 08. Thank you very much. 366 Quebec. All right, we've got somebody on the upwind climbing out out there. We've got somebody on downwind right there, and I don't see anybody on final. This whole time, I'm getting a mental picture that's going to... I'm going to have to really think about that when they tell me to take a certain runway. If they switch me over to 13 or 17, I've got to know kind of who is where and who's doing what and where. Like, I know there's a guy doing pattern work here, and that guy's probably doing pattern work over there, and I've got an airplane at the FBO getting ready to taxi out to depart IFR. All these things, these are things to think about, things I need to know to build this cognitive map, this big mental picture about what's going on. I'm going to align myself with that windsock over there and just point the nose into the wind, and I'm going to set the parking brake. Give it a little bit of throttle there. Before takeoff, cabin doors and windows closed and latched. Closed, latched. Shut that window. Flight controls for incorrect. That one goes up, that one goes down, that one goes up, that one goes down. Elevators up and down, rudder left and right. Elevator trim, set for takeoff. Flight instruments check. Zero, neutral. That is set to the barometric pressure, not indicating a turn. Set the directional gyro to the compass, and we'll reset it when we get on the runway. And that's at zero. Indicating no climb. Fuel selector is on both. Mixture goes to rich. Parking brake is set. We've already got it set, so we're going to throttle up to 1,700 RPM. Check the magnetos. A little bit of sputtering there. Back to both. And check the right. A little bit of sputtering there. Back to both, which is expected. This airplane hasn't flown in a few weeks. I'm going to lean out here. On both, 1,700 RPM. I'm going to lean the mixture out. You can see how far I've got it lean there, just until it starts giving out a little bit. I'm basically just getting it real heated up in the engine and the cylinders there to burn out all that nasty carbon that's causing the problems. Those single mags. There's a hot rod. That's a military trainer, tandem. All right. Coming in. Mixture to rich. Left mag, very clean. Back to both. Right mag, very clean. Oops. A little bit of sputtering on that right mag still. I'm going to lean it out a little bit more. Always aware of my surroundings. I've got that guy on upwind. I've got a Cessna coming into the runway here in just a minute, and I've got a Cessna crossing the runway that's going to be taxiing up behind me here in a few minutes. Check that right mag again. All right, right mag is clean. Next on the checklist, carburetor heat. Pull the carb heat out. We get a slight drop. Little pressures in the green, little temps in the green. Plenty of fuel, suction is good. Ammeter is responsive with the alternator switch, and we get a warning light. Engine still runs with carb heat out, and we get a warning light on the vacuum. Carb heat goes in. Warning light, check the standby vacuum. Warning light goes out, suction comes up. Standby vacuum. And back up to 1,000. Okay. Throttle, friction lock, adjust. Flaps set. Both come down, both come up. We want them all the way up, retracted. Emergency procedures review. We're going to take off before, I'd say before 600 feet. We're just going to nose over and aim somewhere right in front of us. And then above 600 feet, we can turn around and try and make it back to one of the three runways here, so I think we're good there. Departure plans. Man, that guy made a quick pattern. Departure plans review. We're going to stay in the pattern, and we're going to do what tower tells us. Takeoff checklist review. Radio's set, so we'll switch to tower, and to contact tower. Tower, Cobra Zero-Three is on the go. We'd like to depart out of your VFR back to Randolph. Cobra Zero-Three, roger. Proceed on course. Thanks for the work. On course back to Randolph. Cobra Zero-Three, you're welcome. And friction change approved. Switching, thank you, sir. China One-Seven, thanks for your help in the pattern, and friction change approved. Ready for departure. I'll let tower know. San Marcos Tower, Skyhawk Eight-Zero-Nine-Nine-One, holding short of One-Seven on Juliet. Ready for departure. Skyhawk Eight-Zero-Nine-Nine-One, San Marcos Tower, roger. Hold short of runway One-Three, or runway One-Seven, I'm sorry. Hold short of One-Seven, Eight-Zero-Nine-Nine-One. I was going to say, I ain't at One-Three. Did I do something wrong? San Marcos Tower, Cessna Six-Six-Zero-Three-Eight, six miles east at two thousand, inbound for landing. I have Juliet. Cessna Six-Six-Zero-Three-Eight, roger, say again your position. Five and a half miles east, inbound for landing. Cessna Six-Six-Zero-Three-Eight, report left downwind, runway One-Seven. Zero-Three-Eight, report left downwind One-Seven. Juliet Seven-One-November, confirm your position and altitude. Are you at Two-Thousand-Seven-Hundred? Two-Thousand-Seven-Hundred, and I'm seven point nine miles to northwest. Juliet Seven-One-November, roger. Passing off your left wing is a helicopter below you at One-Thousand-Four-Hundred northbound. I have the traffic in sight. Mooney Seven-One-November, thank you. Mooney Seven-One-November, roger. Report that three miles straight in for runway One-Three. Report three miles straight in for runway One-Three, Mooney Seven-One-November. Cessna Eight-Zero-Nine-Nine-One, runway One-Seven, you're clear for takeoff and then say your intentions. I'd just like to remain in the pattern for repeat landings. Cessna Eight-Zero-Nine-Nine-One, roger. Make left close traffic and report midfield each time. Traffic is inbound from the southeast, so let's just fly runway heading on departure Nine-Nine-One. Okay, on departure, fly runway heading runway One-Seven, clear for takeoff, Skyhawk Eight-Zero-Nine-Nine-One. Transponder now, seat carpet cold, mixture is rich. Flaps are up. Fuel selector is both. Lights on. Approaching runway One-Seven. Approaching runway One-Seven, 1,100 feet remaining. Alright, we're going to fly runway heading. Fuel's down to full, full power. We're going to fly runway heading. Alright, engine's in the green, airspeed's alive. 50 knots. Little bit of wind from the left, keeping it down the center line, 60 knots. We're airborne. Step on the brakes. Let's be positive, right gear up. Oh, yes. Oh, it feels nice. Feels nice to fly. I got that traffic inbound from the southeast. Loosen my seatbelt just a little bit so I can lean forward and see him. Descender on Zero-Three-Eight. Wind runway One-Seven at San Marcos. Descender on Nine-Nine-One. You can make your left close traffic and you're following a Cessna that's approaching midfield. I got the Cessna in sight. We'll turn left close traffic behind him. Cessna Zero-Three-Eight, continue your downwind. You're number two to follow a Cherokee that's on a four mile straight and report that Cherokee in sight. Extend your downwind until you see him. Zero-Three-Eight, roger. We're looking for the Cherokee. I got that traffic on the downwind. Cessna Nine-Nine-One, follow the Cessna. We'll follow the Cessna, Nine-Nine-One. Tower, Skylane Six-Six, Quebec, holding short of One-Seven at Juliet. Three-Zero-Six-Six, Quebec, San Marcos Tower, roger. Continue holding short of runway One-Seven-Five for release. Short for release. Ease that power out. Cessna Zero-Three-Eight, you may have to extend your downwind quite a bit. Continue on your downwind until you see the Cherokee. Zero-Three-Eight, roger, continuing downwind. Mooney Seven-One-November, runway One-Three, runway One-Three, cleared to land. Runway One-Three, cleared to land, Mooney Seven-One-November. Zero-Three-Eight has a Cherokee in sight. Cessna Zero-Three-Eight, roger. Number Two to follow the Cherokee, runway One-Seven, cleared to land. Zero-Three-Eight, turning left. Base have a Cherokee in sight. We'll follow him. Alright, I got the Cessna turning on base in front of me. I'm getting that mental picture like I was talking about. And I'm looking for that Cherokee somewhere down here. Oh, there he is. He just passed in front of the water tower. Okay, so he's turning base behind that Cherokee, which is on final. Cessna Nine-Nine-One, you got the preceding Cessna in sight still? Affirmative. Alright, Cherokee's just passing off my left wing, and there's the Cessna. Okay, so I'm marking the tower Cessna with you. It's going mid-runway heading. Roger. Alright, there goes that Cessna turning final. Looking for traffic, looking for traffic. It's the first decent day weather-wise in a while, so we're going to have a lot of people out flying today. Tower, Skyhawk Eight-Zero-Nine-Nine-One, do you want us to follow that Cessna in? Affirmative, follow the Cessna. Nine-Nine-One. Didn't know if he wanted me to go ahead and turn, or he wanted me to continue, or what's that? Three-Zero-Zero on the heading. Mooney Seven-One-November, AFA will turn right taxiway Delta. If unable, you can take the next taxiway taxiway Echo and contact ground. I can make Delta, contact ground, Mooney Seven-One-November. Yes, sir. Thank you for your help. You're welcome. Final looks clear. I've still got the Cessna on final. Going to start to ease that power back. I haven't put any flaps in yet because we're doing a freaking 747 pattern here. For all that traffic that we had to extend for, so. Final looks clear. We're going to go ahead and start turning the line up. Jackie Seven-Whiskey, Echo, contact Austin Approach. Going to Austin Approach, Seven-Whiskey. Maintain about 80 knots here, 75 to 80. Alright, I don't quite see that Cessna anymore. I think he's right over the, actually I see him. He's right over the pavement. It's hard to see him. Okay, so we're going to get inside 85 knots on the airspeed indicator in the wide arc. And we'll dump the first notch of flaps, one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand. There's ten degrees of flaps. I have to count because I have to hold it down. Roger, zero-three-eight, turn right runway two-six, cross runway one-three, turn left Delta, Delta, contact ground. Zero-three-eight. Looking for a landing clearance here. Tower, Skyhawk 80991, short final one-seven. 80991, roger, runway one-seven, cleared for touch-and-go, then make left-close traffic, report midfield. Cleared touch-and-go one-seven, left-close traffic, 80991. Alright, 70 knots. We're doing okay on flaps. I'll add a second notch of flaps, which will be 20 degrees here, right about when we get over the edge of the brown there. Alright, doing good on speed, 70 knots. One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand. There comes the second notch of flaps. Seminole two-five-five, Tango Juliet, ready on one-three, departing to the west. Seminole two-five-five, Tango Juliet, Seminar Star, hold short of runway one-three for departing traffic. And we're going to get as close to the runway as possible. And just let it gently touch down. There we go, beautiful. Alright, carpete in, flaps coming up. Full power. Airspeed's up, 60 knots. We're airborne. On the brakes, gear up. I've seen a lot of people find it comical that I say positive rate gear up in a 172, which is, yeah, I mean, it's funny. It's kind of half-joking, but it's also, you know, when you start flying complex airplanes, it's just a good idea to make it a habit. You know, once you get off the runway, you pull the gear up. Once you're on final, you put the gear down. Or even before that, you know. So even though I'm flying a fixed-gear airplane, I still say it. Helps make sure that I'm not going to forget the gear. Make a right, close traffic, report midfield right downwind 991. Alright, I was just about to start my left turn. But he caught me. Or he changed his mind right in time, rather. And looking for traffic, looking for traffic. Climbing out at 76 knots on the airspeed indicator. Which is what we want. That's VY, which is our best rate of climb. Alright, passing through 1400 feet, 200 feet to go to pattern altitude. We're on crosswind. And begin our turn over to downwind. And I'm going to start easing power out. As we level off at pattern altitude. Skyliner 3066, Quebec, runway 17, cleared for takeoff. Turn left, heading 360. And also, new departure frequency, 119.0. Skyline 66, Quebec, cleared for takeoff, runway 17. And that's a heading of 360 with a new departure frequency, 119.0. That guy just got cleared for takeoff. He's an eye for departure. Quebec, on the roll. San Marcos Tower, Skyhawk 80991, midfield right downwind 17. Skyhawk 991, roger, continue your right downwind. Continue the downwind, 991. Just making my radio calls very clear and concise. No jibber jabber, no useless fluff in my speech. Just get to the point and read back my tail number so he knows who it's coming from. 1,600, 1,700 feet here, pattern altitude 1,600. So if I'm going to be a perfectionist, I need to descend about 60 feet. Got a guy on the roll down there. 4 o'clock, 1 mile, 1,000 feet below. My iPad just called that traffic out to me because his ADSB, or his transponder rather, went alive. On the roll there. It said traffic 4 o'clock, 1,000 feet below me. Alright, we got a very tall tower about 10 miles ahead of us. I can see it out there. Couple of shorter towers out here. Cessna 9901, you begin your right base runway 17, clear for touch and go, then make left close traffic. Ok, turning right base 17 now, I'll make left close traffic after that, 9901, clear for touch and go. Cessna 9901, possible traffic for you is a Cessna off the departure and a runway 17 and a left turn northbound IFR. Ok, we'll be looking for the traffic, we have him on ADSB, 9901. Cessna 66LB, possible traffic for you is a Cessna Skyhawk going at 3.5 miles straight, runway 17, contact Austin Departure. Alright, reduce the power just a little more. And we've got traffic on that side of the airport, climbing out, going to the north, so we want to make sure we don't overshoot the runway. We don't want to go too far to the east, or else we'll be getting in his way. Now I'm starting to lose my voice. Alright, what you say we do this one, and we'll make the next one a full stop. Oh man, my nose itches, god. 5TD, in the right turn. N369GB, cleared for immediate takeoff, runway 17, traffic is a Cessna a mile and a half straight, runway 17. 369GB, immediate takeoff, runway 17. Cessna 9901, traffic is departing ahead of your arrival. We've got the traffic inside, 9901. Inside 85 knots, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000. 5RH, 9901. 705TD, appreciate that turn, you proceed on course. It's getting busy. It'd be a good day to fly IFR. Nothing dangerous, wouldn't have to shoot an approach or anything, you've got these high, you know, 2,000, 2,500 foot ceilings. It'd be pretty nice. Alright, 72 knots, right where I want to be, coming over Highway 21 here. We've got 10 degrees of flaps in, we've got traffic on course wind. We're going to do this touch and go and then go and close traffic. 7RH, Cessna 118CV, approximately 6 miles to the east of the field and bound for Lansing with Juliet. Got that second notch of flaps in there. 118CV, 7RH, report entering left downwind for runway 17. Traffic is a Cessna just off the departure end of runway 17 and he is eastbound. 7RH, downwind for 17, we'll be looking for traffic for 118CV. Hold it off, just hold it off, hold it off. Traffic touched the runway, just hold it off, hold it off, hold it off. Oh, that was beautiful, that was freaking awesome. I'm going to turn that radio down just a little bit so we can hear it. Flaps coming up. Flaps are coming up, running up to full power. Maintain that center line, come on Josh. 58, 60 knots, airborne. On the brakes. Alright, we'll tell him that we want a full stop. Cessna 991, make right traffic. We'll make right traffic for this one, 991, and we'd like a full stop. Cessna 991, roger, if you would make right traffic for runway 13 and runway 13, cleared to land. Okay, right traffic for runway 13, cleared to land 13, 991. Wind, wind 200 at 4. Alright, we'll get about 1,000 feet here, 200 feet to go, and we'll make our turn on the right downwind. Check for traffic. Making our right turn. Ah, it's a beautiful day, look at this. Look at these rays, these sun rays coming through the atmosphere. Beautiful. Cessna 118CV, entering the 45 downwind 17. Cessna 118CV, roger, runway 17, you're cleared to land. 17, cleared to land, 118CV. Cessna 991, if you can, if they would make short approach runway 13, you're cleared to land. Okay, make short approach runway 13, 991. Wind 190 at 4. Thank you. Okay, so he said short approach, so that means we're going to cut it in tight if we can. Carb heat out. Start to ease the power out. We're cleared to land 13, which is the dark paved runway, we're parallel to it here. Ah, it's beautiful. Inside 85, 1 1,000, 2 1,000, 3 1,000. Starting to slow her down here. Bringing that power way back. 1,000, 2 1,000, 3 1,000. Another notch of flaps and we're going to begin our turn. Power is all the way to idle. We want to be sure we keep her coordinated and do not get too slow. We don't want to get any slower than, I'd say, 68 knots. And we're looking beautiful right here. We've got about a 700 foot per minute descent rate. And we're doing 65 knots, so actually a little slow. I want to let that nose come down. We're keeping it coordinated. Getting slow and getting uncoordinated is a perfect recipe for a spin. We're just gliding it in on idle. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. 68 knots, 67 knots, 66 knots decreasing. A little bit of power, get that nose down a little bit. We are a little high. So pitch that nose down to fix that speed. Now we're getting a little low, so a little power. A little power. Getting a little slower here, 65 knots, but that's okay because we're about to start the flare. Power to idle. A couple swipes of trim. Arrest that descent and hold it off. Let it gently touch the runway. Hold off, hold it off, hold it off. Beautiful. Perfect. That was awesome. All righty. Not going to touch anything on the car. 9901, turn right on runway 26 and turn left on Bravo, Bravo, contact ground. Thanks for your help. Right on 26, left on Bravo, ground on Bravo. No problem, 9901. All righty. Coming up to runway 26. Runway 08, 26. All right, and make a hard right turn here onto 26. Carb heat in, flaps coming up. And mixture out. Mixture lean a little bit, rather, for taxi. All right. That was a fun flight. That was good. Got three pretty damn good landings in. And actually a really flawless short approach, I must say. Pretty freaking fun. God, it feels good to get back in an airplane. Cessna 108CV, turn right runway 26, cross runway 13, turn left to Bravo and Bravo, contact ground. Nobody on Bravo there, nobody on Bravo over there. We're going to make a left here. Left on Bravo, Bravo, contact ground. All right. We're going to come up just past the hold line here. When we're clear of the runway, we'll get the strobe lights off. Get the whole airplane past that line, even the tail. All right, strobe lights coming off, switch to ground, and just tell them we're clear of 26, Bravo, go to the T-hangars. My hangar's right there. San Marcos Ground, Skyhawk 80991, clear of runway 26, Bravo, go to the T-hangars. Skyhawk 80991, San Marcos Ground, taxi to parking via Alpha. Taxi to parking via Alpha, 80991, thank you.