FCI Maneuver: Lomcovak

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Click here to see me in a Lomcovak

Here's a definition: A Lomcovak is NOT an inverted spin. It is NOT a non-precision maneuver. The pilot is NOT "just along for the ride". Recovery does NOT just occur at random without any control by the pilot. It is NOT a single maneuver, but rather an entire family of maneuvers, all of which are very precise and controlled from beginning to end IF they are properly done.

The key element in a Lomcovak is that the airplane's attitude and motion is controlled by four primary flight controls rather than the usual three. The fourth attitude control in this case is gyroscopic precession from the prop, controlled via the throttle. This is why it's extremely difficult (that's spelled i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e) to do a true Lomcovak with a model; in most cases our props simply aren't heavy enough to provide sufficent precession forces.

There are five main types of Lomcovaks. There are also variations within each type. All are performed under negative "G".

DE on Friday?

in

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With the schedule that I'm on now for the rest of the week, if weather permits, I could have a good chance of becoming a multi-engine rated private pilot by the end of the week. My flight have become so much better and the fact that my instructor likes the "commanding / authoritative" presence that I have in the airplane, this gives me the confidence that I need to believe that I'm ready. Its good to know that he feels that from me. I'm excited.

My upcoming week:

10/5: Pre-Oral exam with my instructor
10/6: In house End of course oral and checkride
10/7: DE ride

This schedule could totally change with the fact that there are four of us on this same schedule. I wouldn't mind finishing on the weekend either. I just want to start Commercial Multi and get done! It's been a good day!

Christmas

in

This just in! Looks like we will be having our Christmas Vacation this year! Mom...I'm buying a ticket home today. Look out for me in San Diego from Dec. 23rd until Jan. 2nd. I haven't been this excited for the holiday break since...elementary school! In case you didn't know, there was a good chance that I was not going to go home until next April! That being said, we almost had Christmas cancelled this year! No turkey day, but that's okay. I'm stoked!

Championship or Bust!

in

Even though we set a new record in the lowest winning percentage to enter the playoffs and capture a division in the MLB, you have to give it to the Padres for a great year. Check them out at Playoffs Padres vs Cardinals on ESPN. Hopefully they'll do okay today. Go PDARES!!!

*update* apparently we lost, but we did have a small rally. Not enough, but its a good start. Hopefully we can win the rest! SD 5 STL 8 final score :(

One of those days...

in

Two thumbs up! I must say that today was "one of those days" but in a good sense. It was the day that I needed after a couple of those "seven out of ten" flights that made me feel confident that I would be ready for next week. I need to study an awful lot, but it's what weekends are for. Now that there is football, the weekend has turned into only Saturday.

My roommate, Matty P. came along for the ride as an observer to check up on Manoj and I. He's in the interment phase of flying right now and just wanted to see what the Seminole was all about. With the added weight, we took 10 less gallons of fuel and knew that our short fields and maneuvers were going to be to a little different. When I say different, I mean by how the plane was going to react due to the added weight and shift in center of gravity. Manoj's flight went really well in which it was something that I was faced to compete with. I mean, I didn't need to out perform him, but the standard was set pretty high. He flew the wings off of the PA44.

I executed two short field landings, one with a feather like landing and the other a little on the rough side due to my foot being on the top part of the rudder controls on landing (that's where the brakes are). I did a "textbook" power-off stall and then a power-on stall followed by an emergency descent. It was great. I felt really good about everything. I was back to where I was just a week prior. I guess you might say that I'm just more experienced! I love flying!

There was a graduation that took place today. Another 5 cadets were given their diplomas and 4 bar epaulets. I hope that they are placed right away. We also had a little dinner get together at my house in the evening which turned out to be pretty chill. Some of the new guys came over for Laura's Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Deviled Eggs. It was good stuff. Now, I'm about to head off to bed and wake up bright and early for some studying! Can't wait!

Too busy on 125.8

in

We switched out back at X47 and began our flight over the ocean to practice some maneuvers. I did a power off stall, and a Vmc demo along with an Emergency Descent. I must admit that I need another flight to keep my currency in doing those maneuvers. They weren't that pretty. I was getting mixed up and confused on what things to do inside the plane. So, yes I will end up doing them again tomorrow.

After we were done, we flew around a bit listening in to Daytona approach and got ready for just the VOR-A back into Flagler. After about 10 mins, we just decided to head back because we couldn't get a word in. It was almost as if, they didn't hear us. Our radios checked fine, but due to time constraints, we had to head back. I was a little disappointed in my flight today, but I know that we a little bit more paper flying (sitting in front of a diagram of the inside of the Piper Seminole PA44) I will be able to get the steps down packed. I was even studying at dinner today. Of course right now, I'm not studying at all, but whatever.

We have another graduation tomorrow which should pose for some good fun. Time to talk and get to know everyone again. It's weird knowing that I am the third ranked senior in the Piston stage of things at CAPT. I remember walking in like the little kid who didn't know what was going on. I still don't anything but that's probably because I'm comparing myself to the ones ahead of me. I think that its kind of cool!

Short Final

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Today was exciting! Weather was coming in and as we landed in Titusville (KTIX) it started to rain a little bit. It slowly got worse and we knew that we had to switch out quickly. We swapped seats and I began to power up. As I cleared the left and right engine, rain poured down violently but the sky was clear to the east. We called up ground, got clearance, ran up and spoke to tower. Tower advised us that the winds change to 360 and that the storm wasn't too bad at the opposite end of the runway. As soon as we departed, we got a clearance to head east bound along the river but not to pass across the river because we were already edging Cape Canaveral's Restricted Airspace. Weather got better as we climbed out and up to 4400" Taking off in pouring rain was an exciting feeling. I probably wouldn't have done it if I wasn't with my instructor, or if I hadn't looked at radar while on my own.

I called up Daytona Approach for flight following and decided that I could fit an approach, the ILS 7L into KDAB, before we headed north for some maneuvers. As I was getting vectored around for the final approach course, we noticed that there was Cat 4 / 5 storms building up right on the approach end. I called up approach for an advisory and they told me that it was okay. I proceeded and my instructor while I was on final cut one of the engines. I proceeded inbound whilst correcting for the adverse thrust. I got off of the localizer a bit but managed to stay on glideslope. I got back to my course heading and went around. Avoiding any weather, we headed north and did some emergency descents, power on and off stalls, slow flight and then saw a huge buildup just west of Flagler (X47). We decided that it would be a good idea to head home. As we were on the 45 degree entry, people were calling around that while there were 5 in the pattern, they wanted to change runways from 11 to 24. The wind was variable as a storm was coming, so 11 was still okay. There was just a lot of traffic and some aircraft even started calling names. As one aircraft went around because of the traffic on runway 11, he decided to just begin landing on 24 while were just landing on 11. As we were rolling on 11 right because 24, we saw the other plane land. It was just ridiculous. Bunch of idiots I tell ya. No respect.

So, about my flight today. I would probably rate it as a 7 out of 10. I didn't feel like I was on top of anything at all. It's such a disappointment to me to know that I'm so close to a checkride and that I'm actually not progressing anymore. I'm actually getting worse. It stinks so bad! Oh well, I have the rest of the week to rebuild my confidence.

Feathering the plane...

in

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Today was the first day that we finalized the shut down sequence of an inoperable engine. It was kind of exciting to see the plane flying with one propeller spinning and the other just standing still. The shutdown procedure wasn't that difficult either. The restart was a little weird with the fuel pumps on because it gave way to a jolt of fuel and engine propeller spinning that yawed the plane back and forth. Even after that motion, the propeller still wasn't fully on. After restarting, things went accordingly. I departed from St. Augustine and headed south along the coastline.

Along the way, I did some steep turns and had a little bit of a hard time because I didn't have a horizon to use to look outside. I ended up wavering a bit in altitude but after just concentrating on my adjustments, I was able to maintain.

From KSGJ to KDAB, it's 49 nautical miles, so according to regulation, we were just 1 mile short. It was ridiculous. We then just figured that I should head a little bit more south to New Smyrna Beach for a touch and go to complete the distance requirement. The GPS 29 into KEVB was okay but I was getting a little of course when the engine failure occurred. I got back, did a touch and go and off we went. We then headed to KDAB for the ILS 7L and both of these approaches were done with single engine simulation. I wasn't on the dot as I was yesterday, but I wasn't that far off either. On to tomorrow. At this pace, I'll have my Private Multi-Engine License by the end of next week.

There's a picture of the prop in the feathered state on trelijah.