killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
Flying from TKI to AUS last night, I rented a 1976 C-172N. It was a relatively cool night, and I was flying at 6500 MSL.
Now, the POH and the owner of the airplane both tell me that it cruises around 114 TAS, and would indicate about 110.
However, I was lucky to get it to break 99 KIAS. Okay...fine, there was wind.
Here's the problem, though, and this is where I'm getting confused...
Winds aloft around 6500 last night were 120 @ 7, give or take a couple knots, and my course was around 180-185. I wasn't drifting much, and was able to maintain that heading without a whole lot of correction - maybe just a couple degrees.
But the math says that for me to be going that slow I'd have a much higher wind (around 30 kts) to be fighting with a much greater wind correction. And my GPS confirmed this...it showed about 95-99kts ground speed, but my track, gyro and compass all had me on a pretty steady 180-185 bearing.
I know winds aloft forecasts are usually a bit wrong, but to be THAT wrong is not normal, and the fact that I was able to maintain heading tells me that the wind wasn't a 30kt wind, y'know?
I puzzled over this the whole way back. I should have been INDICATING at least 105-110.
I experimented with trim, trying to stay level but get a better pitch attitude, and experimented with power settings, too, running it anywhere from 2300 to 2450 RPM, trying to get the right combination to get the best airspeed. Finally, I made darn sure the ball was centered and that I wasn't flying a little sideways and dragging. Made visually sure the flaps were up, made sure carb heat wasn't on and sapping RPMs. Even tried a couple different altitudes, too.
So what am I missing? Shouldn't I have been flying faster? At least, shouldn't I have been INDICATING faster? Am I just overthinking this? Because I routinely get 105 KIAS out of the 152 we have. I'm stuck on the idea that the 172 shoulda been faster.
They were right - the PPL is definitely a license to learn. I'm learning a million different things the more I go out by myself....
Now, the POH and the owner of the airplane both tell me that it cruises around 114 TAS, and would indicate about 110.
However, I was lucky to get it to break 99 KIAS. Okay...fine, there was wind.
Here's the problem, though, and this is where I'm getting confused...
Winds aloft around 6500 last night were 120 @ 7, give or take a couple knots, and my course was around 180-185. I wasn't drifting much, and was able to maintain that heading without a whole lot of correction - maybe just a couple degrees.
But the math says that for me to be going that slow I'd have a much higher wind (around 30 kts) to be fighting with a much greater wind correction. And my GPS confirmed this...it showed about 95-99kts ground speed, but my track, gyro and compass all had me on a pretty steady 180-185 bearing.
I know winds aloft forecasts are usually a bit wrong, but to be THAT wrong is not normal, and the fact that I was able to maintain heading tells me that the wind wasn't a 30kt wind, y'know?
I puzzled over this the whole way back. I should have been INDICATING at least 105-110.
I experimented with trim, trying to stay level but get a better pitch attitude, and experimented with power settings, too, running it anywhere from 2300 to 2450 RPM, trying to get the right combination to get the best airspeed. Finally, I made darn sure the ball was centered and that I wasn't flying a little sideways and dragging. Made visually sure the flaps were up, made sure carb heat wasn't on and sapping RPMs. Even tried a couple different altitudes, too.
So what am I missing? Shouldn't I have been flying faster? At least, shouldn't I have been INDICATING faster? Am I just overthinking this? Because I routinely get 105 KIAS out of the 152 we have. I'm stuck on the idea that the 172 shoulda been faster.
They were right - the PPL is definitely a license to learn. I'm learning a million different things the more I go out by myself....