Second flight of BFR

[cjsmith]

Stalls: WAY better than last week
Landings: WAY better than last week (I think I get to log only one per arrival this time)

My instructor also pulled the power on me when we were over the coast, which I'll happily take as another indication that I'm getting better. Now I need to chair-fly a few things: a standard pattern, the division of attention between sight picture and airspeed indicator on final, and the engine-out fuel flow check.

The most interesting bit happened before we took off, though. I got a stunning demonstration of why, if you're going to test both fuel tanks on the ground, you switch tanks early -- not right before run-up. My instructor had me turn the fuel selector switch to OFF, then do my engine run-up, check the mags and carb heat, check the controls, etc., and after that, over the continuing engine noise (!!) we chatted in the cockpit simulating the "you are cleared for takeoff" exchange with tower. The engine finally quit due to fuel starvation when we would have been a few hundred feet in the air. Badness 10000.

Comments

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

Badness 10000.

Overfull hbox?

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

I'm confused.

I understand turning the switch to off, and that the engine kept running for awhile. I'm assuming that meant that it wasn't pulling from either tank.

I don't understand why you would do that, and what is meant by testing the fuel tanks and switching tanks early. I are ignorant on flying stuff.

:-)

[deyo.livejournal.com]

Darnit, now you're making me want to get back in the sky again...

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's cool! I've never tried that before. I once worked through the same exercise in the 'toga mathematically, but due to the vastly higher fuel flow it's likely to kill the engine pretty quickly. I still haven't tried it empirically. It might be harder to get the 'toga started again with the likely vapor lock.