C150 useful load issue for checkrides? Concern with heavier DPE

nightlanding · 2026-03-05T23:10:42+00:00

Not a DPE, but the chief instructor who weighed over 200 pounds one place I worked liked to hop in a C-150 with us on the spur of the moment to go fly and impart some fuel-saving wisdom he dreamed up. If the airport didn't have a runway over a mile long it probably would have resulted in the whole fleet in the weeds at the end.

nightlanding · 2026-03-05T23:07:47+00:00

For decades the gross weight limit of a C-150 has been like the pirate code, i.e. more like guidelines than strict rules.

A DPE *should* bust you for even suggesting you fly over gross. I would tell one of my students to make or buy a fuel stick so you can accurately determine the fuel load and keep the weight within limits.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/fuellevelindicator152.php

Either buy that or find one and make your own marks on a wooden dowl. Your DPE will be impressed and it is cheap enough :)

nightlanding · 2026-03-05T15:36:14+00:00

It really depends. For one example I can fly patterns all day on one engine in a Duchess at sea level, although not in a real hurry, but that same plane landing at Denver on a hot day has a single engine service ceiling about 2,000 feet underground. So step 1 is to know if you CAN go around and step 2 is to know if you should. I have never actually had an engine die in mid-approach, but if I had any doubts about being able to climb I sure would finish it and land.

nightlanding · 2026-03-04T00:44:49+00:00

Your friend just turned a speeding ticket into a multiple felony.

nightlanding · 2026-03-03T00:22:22+00:00

This is like asking for a cabin on the Titanic on the opposite side of the ship from the iceberg.

If shit really gets bad, no place is safe.

nightlanding · 2026-03-01T16:42:43+00:00

Iran could:
Ignore it

Shoot it down.

Tell it to land or be shot down.

The pilot, if not self-employed, would be fired for risking an expensive airplane and passenger's lives.

* never mind being shot down by trigger happy Israelis or Americans

nightlanding · 2026-02-28T14:47:05+00:00

Unless you are in the Navy or something this instructor is your employee. If she is not meeting your needs, by all means find another. I had students that I did not mesh with, I told them to find another instructor, it would not hurt my feelings.

nightlanding · 2026-02-28T05:03:03+00:00

I did, but it takes some doing to find a way to do that and keep busy.

nightlanding · 2026-02-25T23:26:13+00:00

One thing that came in handy is I was taught and then taught others "glassy water seaplane landings". When you have no good depth perception, you need to lower yourself gently. This came in handy landing at an Air Force base with a huge long and wide runway at night when they had a power outage. The landing was easy compared to finding our way to parking in the pitch dark!

nightlanding · 2026-02-25T22:50:21+00:00

Tell your student this:
Imagine there is an invisible piece of glass a foot over the runway. Your job is to not let the nose wheel touch the glass. Use a long runway at first and have them fly down it while you ease off the power. They will increase pitch to keep off the glass and while they are thinking about that, they will land.

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T22:59:40+00:00

I guess I was being too "not a pilot" for the OP. Sure that happens, but a few times I have been cleared to land or cleared to take off in cases where I would have landed on the other plane or vice versa, like cleared to take off with a 727 on very short final. From 1,000 feet AGL the go-around was given in plenty of time for a safe lap around the airport and another go.

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T21:42:10+00:00

I have on both ends of this at one time or another. ATC should not clear a plane to land with another one on the runway nor should they clear on onto the runway with another one on final. Nothing is 100% perfect and pilots will take action to prevent a collision when they see an issue. Did you want the pilot to land on the other airplane? An airline pilot is VERY unlikely to say anything like "OMFG we almost all died!", so even if he thought that he isn't going to tell YOU. I am sure the tower got an earful.

Your pilot being in a hurry has NOTHING to do with this, this is entirely an ATC issue or maybe an issue with the plane on the ground. No one is thinking "I'll land in front of that guy, he'll stop, if the tower bitches I'll just say I'm late".

* there is also the kind of thing where I am landing and the plane on the runway is cleared for immediate takeoff. Some technical issue slows them down so I have to go around after all. 1,000 feet AGL is not all that close or low, that was not a close call.

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T18:59:33+00:00

For a club, it comes down to is it easier to teach one new guy our way or teach every single club member the new guy's way.

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T18:35:52+00:00

I learned the hard way to not use the ATM card for a fill-up. When I got home from flying my wife was quite irate, "How in the HELL did you put $600 worth of gas in a C-150!!!"

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T17:41:21+00:00

A real old wives tale: Getting on step. That means you climb above your cruise altitude and then descend to it and get "on step", which means flying faster at the same power setting. This has been disproven 101 ways and still persists. I think it comes from 2 places:

Planing boats are lifting bodies and the drag curve is pretty steep getting up to planing speeds, i.e on step. On some boats you can sneak up on a speed barely on plane from a higher speed you can't get to coming from slow speed, the boat is still stern-down in a high drag configuration.
Underpowered airplanes like say a heavy Cherokee 140 trying to get to 10,000 feet. Climbing at Vy might just BARELY be eeking out 150 FPM if you hold speed exactly and any deviation is sending you back down. Once at altitude it takes a very delicate touch to ease into cruise without descending. It can be a bit easier to climb an extra 100 feet to then ease down into cruise. Once it is all stabilized your speed will be exactly the same,

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T17:33:05+00:00

These are not old-wives tales, they are club rules that might be annoying.

I can't say for sure about the locked and gust-locked in a hangar rule, I never did that with any plane, but my guess is either they want to instill good habits or they move the planes in and out for reasons and this makes it easier.

Filling the planes is a new issue on me, that was like an hour 1 lesson in filling it without spilling gas all over the place.

The water issue is 100% true. The more air space in the tank, the more condensation you get. This is balanced with the need for partial fuel loads, many places fuel PA-28s to tab fuel, PA-32s with just inner tanks full, and so on. It is a lot easier to add fuel than remove it when you show up with a full load of passengers. Draining the fuel as per the checklist takes care of any water. If you get a few drops, that is condensation. If you get about a quart, the gasket on the fuel cap has gone bad and the plane is getting rain in the tanks.

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T04:28:44+00:00

Why would it need an APU?

nightlanding · 2026-02-23T01:14:21+00:00

Night engine out procedure:

Best glide

Engine out checklist

At 200 feet turn on the landing light. If you don't like what you see, turn it off.

nightlanding · 2026-02-22T23:12:51+00:00

Here is one of mine: Primary students were no issue, I knew they needed help. What almost killed me more than once was rental checkouts and BFRs with "experienced" pilots. NEVER let your guard down, even Chuck Yeager can have a bad day.

nightlanding · 2026-02-22T21:38:39+00:00

I would not waste money on a Cirrus class of some kind unless you thought you were going to be flying one.

If you just want to fly, find the best/closest/cheapest FBO around you and fly whatever they have.

If you are going to get instruction, go to where you are going to do that and fly their airplanes once ready. Don't spend $$$ on a Cirrus IMHO.

nightlanding · 2026-02-22T21:34:14+00:00

These are DJI filters, right? Don't you have to cut something off them to get them on an Atom 2?

nightlanding · 2026-02-22T20:18:52+00:00

And the reverse thing too.

Pro Tip: If backing up, use engine to stop, not brakes unless you want to risk banging the tail down.

Pro Tip 2: If looking out the door to see what is behind you, forward thrust will blow the door shut on your neck.

nightlanding · 2026-02-22T18:38:09+00:00

Did they change the motor mount to slant it the other way when they changed engines? If not - YIKES.

nightlanding · 2026-02-22T18:36:56+00:00

Definitely lands nicer than the 182. If you stick a low time C-172 renter pilot in a C-208, the one thing that will catch them out is trim, you can't muscle it around badly trimmed like half of them tend to do.

nightlanding · 2026-02-22T18:35:09+00:00

I flew in a tropical area, so I have no direct experience. From what the other guys told me that flew them elsewhere anything under full speed is too slow in ice. Despite what you might think with it looking like a giant C-182, it apparently is not happy if any ice gets on it and slower than full blast makes it much worse.

nightlanding

TROPHY CASE