Anne Osmer had never thought of learning to fly until just a few years ago. A friend took her up in his ultralight and later in a Cessna. With time on her hands and a desire not to go meekly into her golden years, the retired videographer began taking lessons at Hendersonville Airport (0A7) in North Carolina.
On December 1 last year, at age 83, Osmer soloed a Diamond DA20 at Rutherford County-Marchman Field (KFOD) in Rutherfordton. A local television news crew was at the airport to capture her big moment. “I’m glad I didn’t know,” she laughs.
Osmer’s odyssey began when she met Philip Correll. Discovering that they had a common interest in video production, Correll told Osmer that he wanted to use his ultralight for aerial videography. She loaned him some lipstick cameras to attach to the wings. He eventually took her up in the homebuilt trike. “He kept asking me, ‘Are you nervous?’” Osmer recalled. “I kept saying, ‘Am I supposed to be?’” Viewing the landscape from the ultralight was “like looking down at toytown,” she says. “It was heavenly. I wish [everyone] could see it from the air.”
She has been training with Cindy Carter of Aerolina Inc.—an instructor whom Osmer calls “my psychiatrist, my cheerleader, and ego booster…But the nicest thing of all, she has become a dear, wonderful friend.”
They started out in a Cessna 152, but Osmer didn’t like the trainer because she couldn’t see over the panel. After about eight lessons, she convinced Carter to let her switch to the DA20.
Landings proved elusive for a long time. Osmer sits on three cushions to get the correct sight picture in the DA20. One day, while working with another instructor to get a different perspective, they discovered that her cushions had slipped and were preventing her from pulling back the stick enough to flare. Once that was fixed, she was able to land more consistently.
Osmer said that Correll “has been there all along the way, spending countless hours on the phone, computer e-mails, and at the house poring over textbooks with me, cheering each progress, picking up my spirits when I was discouraged, and even loaning his shoulder for me to cry on when I got frustrated.”
Osner doesn’t look beyond her next goal, or count the hours she’s logged—although Carter tracks them. But she intends to keep flying. Living in a retirement community where many of the residents are caught up in the small daily dramas of their health issues, Osmer says, “I want to push and see how far I can extend my mind. You have to keep going.” —Jill W. Tallman
What It Looks Like: High oil consumption
Unlike the modern car engine, an aircraft piston engine is designed to consume some oil, which is why we rarely check the dipstick on our family car but do it before every flight in the aircraft. The object of that preflight function, of course, is to make sure there is a sufficient quantity of oil in the engine before we take to the air.
Oil can seep out of an aircraft engine from any number of seals, hoses, and connections, but the biggest cause of oil consumption is worn oil rings on the pistons. Worn rings allow oil from the crankcase to squeeze past the pistons into the combustion chamber where it can foul spark plugs and mix with
fuel, resulting in less power. The unburned oil collects as carbon deposits on the top, or crown, or the
piston, and on the dome of the combustion chamber as the accompanying photos illustrate, and these carbon hot spots can lead to harmful preignition and detonation.
What is normal oil consumption for an aircraft piston engine? Generally speaking, your engine is in good shape if you have to add a quart of oil only once every eight to 10 flying hours. What is the maximum oil consumption allowed before corrective action is necessary? The engine operating manual for your aircraft should have the specifics, but a rule of thumb says that if your engine uses as much as one quart of oil per flying hour, better consult a mechanic—quickly.
What’s in ‘AOPA Pilot’?
Here’s what you’re missing if you don’t read AOPA Pilot, the association’s flagship magazine published monthly for certificated pilots.
- Catch the Sky. Cessna’s Skycatcher will be a major part of the flight training landscape for decades to come.
- Landing on Ice. Every year folks in New Hampshire brave the cold to open up a most unique runway.
- Feeding the Delta. Low flying is common for this aerial applicator.
Are you ready to read about more advanced subjects such as these? Just as pilots upgrade to more advanced certificates, it may be time to upgrade your magazine. You can convert your paid membership to AOPA Pilot at any time by calling AOPA toll-free (800-USA-AOPA).
Legal Briefing
Q: I’m just starting to learn to fly, and we don’t have an ELT in our aircraft. Are we doing something wrong or unsafe?
A: FAR 91.207 requires that U.S.-registered aircraft be equipped with an approved and functioning emergency locator transmitter, but there are several exceptions to this requirement. The reason for the law requiring an ELT was to give searchers an ability to find downed aircraft, so the exceptions in the regulation recognize that it is unreasonable to require the installation of an ELT on aircraft, that can be promptly located in the event of an emergency. The exception that may apply in your local training situation is FAR 91.207 (f)(3) that exempts an aircraft from having an ELT “while engaged in training operations conducted entirely within a 50-nm radius of the airport from which such local flight operations began.” The FAA contemplated that an operation, which is confined to a specific geographic location in the vicinity of an airport, would, as a practical matter, obviate the need for the device. If your CFI is taking you to the practice area near the airport, training you on the basic maneuvers and flight characteristics of the aircraft, you probably fall in this exception.
Send your legal questions to [email protected] and we’ll answer the best in upcoming issues. Kathy Yodice is an attorney with Yodice Associates in Washington, D.C., which provides legal counsel to AOPA and administers AOPA’s legal services plan. She is an instrument-rated private pilot.
South Carolina students to get exposure to aviation in high school
High school students in Horry County, South Carolina, may soon get the chance to experience flight training or airframe and powerplant training, thanks to a joint resolution by the county council and school board.
AOPA member Al Allen, a county councilman since 2001, helped start the initiative in order to both make use of existing airport facilities and give high school kids in the area exposure to aviation. “I can help through my office to give back to the kids in the area,” he said.
A flight school and airframe and powerplant school that occupied county-owned buildings recently went out of business, so Allen and a friend on the school board approached the county school superintendent, who loved the idea of getting kids involved in aviation.
Over the coming months Allen and his colleagues will work with the local vocational school to provide instructors and equipment necessary to get specially screened high school juniors and seniors into classes leading to pilot and airframe and powerplant certificates.
“We’re shooting for a fall 2010 opening,” Allen said. “But it’s a long shot. More than likely it will be winter 2011.”
ABEAM THE NUMBERS |
10 knotsThe maximum allowable deviation from the standard approach speed on a soft-field approach. 5.5 degreesAverage decrease in temperature per 1,000 feet of altitude, otherwise known as the dry adiabatic lapse rate. 700Number of islands that make up the Bahamas, many of which have airports accessible only by general aviation. |
Final Exam
Final Exam is composed of questions similar to those a student may expect on the private pilot knowledge test. Answers are researched by members of the AOPA Pilot Information Center staff and may be found below.
- One of the main functions of flaps during approach and landing is to:
A) decrease the angle of descent without increasing the airspeed.
B) permit a touchdown at a higher indicated airspeed.
C) increase the angle of descent without increasing the airspeed. - One purpose of the dual ignition system on an aircraft engine is to provide for:
A) improved engine performance.
B) uniform heat distribution.
C) balanced cylinder head pressure. - A precaution for the operation of an engine equipped with a constant-speed propeller is to:
A) avoid high rpm settings with high manifold pressure.
B) avoid high manifold pressure settings with low rpm.
C) always use a rich mixture with high rpm settings. - An abnormally high engine oil temperature indication may be caused by
A) the oil level being too low.
B) operating with a too-high viscosity oil.
C) operating with an excessively rich mixture. - A below-glideslope indication from a tri-color visual approach slope indicator (VASI) is a:
A) red light signal.
B) pink light signal.
C) green light signal. - During the runup at a high-elevation airport, a pilot notes slight engine roughness that is not affected by the magneto check but grows worse during the carburetor heat check. Under these circumstances, what would be the most logical initial action?
A) Check the results obtained with a leaner setting of the mixture.
B) Taxi back to the flight line for a maintenance check.
C) Reduce manifold pressure to control detonation.
Final Exam answers
1. The correct answer is C. Flaps allow us to have a compromise between a high cruising and low landing speed. When the flaps are extended, especially beyond 30 degrees, they create a large amount of drag, which allows us to steepen the approach angle without increasing airspeed. They also allow us land at slower speeds, thus decreasing overall landing distance. Answers A and B are incorrect because we’re able to increase the descent angle and touch down at a lower indicated airspeed as described above.
2. The correct answer is A. Magnetos use a permanent magnet and a coil of wire to produce electric power that is strong enough to jump a spark across the spark plug gaps in each cylinder. Most GA airplanes have a dual magneto system utilizing two spark plugs in each cylinder to provide efficient combustion. An individual magneto powers one of the spark plugs in each cylinder, which enhances safety and reliability. Answers B and C are incorrect because neither heat distribution nor balanced cylinder head pressure are directly related to the magneto system.
3. The correct answer is B. Unlike a fixed-pitch propeller, a constant speed propeller will maintain a set rpm by adjusting the angle of its movable propeller blades to compensate for the airplane’s speed and power setting. The propeller’s rpm is adjusted with the propeller control while the throttle controls the manifold pressure, the amount of power produced by the engine. If you operate the engine at a low rpm but high manifold pressure setting, too much pressure may build up in the cylinders, causing undue stress. Answer A is incorrect because high rpm matched with high manifold pressure settings are often allowable. Answer C is incorrect because mixture settings are related to changes in air density.
4. The correct answer is A. The oil system not only provides engine lubrication, but also cooling as the oil circulates from the hot engine block to the oil cooler. If there is not enough oil in the system, it may not be in the oil cooler long enough to maintain a proper temperature level. Answer B is incorrect because a correct level of higher viscosity oil would not have a significant effect on engine temperature, although it might make the engine harder to start in cold weather. Answer C is incorrect because as you add more fuel to the mixture, the additional fuel provides more cooling to the engine.
5. The correct answer is A. You will see a red light when flying below glideslope on a tri-color VASI. When on glide slope you will see a green light, and when above glide slope you will see an amber light. Also note that when descending below the green light indication, there will be a dark amber indication briefly before reaching the red. Answer B is incorrect because there is no pink indication on a tri-color VASI. Answer C is incorrect because green indicates an on-glideslope condition.
6. The correct answer is A. Air density decreases when altitude and temperature increase. In order to maintain the proper fuel/air ratio in the cylinders, the amount of fuel must be reduced, or leaned, as the air becomes less dense. If you operate with too rich of a fuel mixture, carbon from the improperly burned fuel will build up on the spark plugs and cause the engine to run roughly. Answer B is incorrect because your first course of action will be to properly lean the aircraft. But if you can’t get the engine to run correctly, then it’s advisable to have a mechanic take a look before flying. Answer C is incorrect because reducing the manifold pressure will not solve the improper fuel/air mixture problem.
AOPA members can discuss these or any aviation questions with Pilot Information Center staff by calling 800-USA-AOPA or sending an e-mail.
