Lift and Drag
Five found poems inspired by a copy of the Cessna Manual of Flight
Photo: “A Wing Is A Road” Photo and poems by Will Hindmarch www.wordstudio.net © 2009
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When I was young, my dad could fly. He flew out of fear, I think, getting a hold of his terror by the control stick and bending it to his will. I remember going up in a little Cessna cockpit, and I remember the pilot handing off control to my father, but I can’t recall when this a dream or if it was real. I remember my hands on the fake fabric of stiff seats, but maybe I’m just remembering what I thought it would be like to see my dad fly. The book, though, is real. His notes are sketched into the margins, with equal signs and question marks. But what I take out of this book isn’t what the technical writers put into it. I don’t think like a pilot thinks. When I see that there are two main kinds of drag, I assume we’re speaking metaphorically. So Manual of Flight is a symbolic book to me. An educational work, for sure, but as much about personal momentum as airspeed, and more about drag than drag. The only way I know how to communicate that is to change the context of the words until they’re weird for you, too. I hope you picture yourself instead of a plane. This chapbook was released for free online just so these poems would feel finished and stop flitting around my head.
1. Roll Out of Your Turn Raise your nose to maintain altitude during your turn, it increases your angle of attack. This increases drag. This decreases airspeed. Steeper turns you must add, power to overcome, the drag. Or you’re faced with the choice: lose altitude or airspeed after you roll out of your turn, reset power for cruise so you can fly hands off.
2. Establish the Bank Once you establish the bank, relax. The pressure on the ailerons and rudder pedals? Neutralize them. Not all of the lift is available to overcome weight. You’ll tend to descend. It’s a shallow spiral. Roll out before the desired heading or you’ll overshoot.
3. Radio Phraseology Even if you aren’t talking, How do you hear me? Negative, out, over. Radio microphones are very sensitive. When the button is depressed it sends a carrier wave. But they are also highly directional. Only a squeal will be heard. Stand by. Sound waves that strike the face? That is correct: verify. Check with originator. Acknowledge affirmative correction. Roger. Say again. Speak slower. Go ahead. I say again: Read back.
4. Most Favorable Winds Pencilled next to that title, “Most Favorable Winds,” is a check mark. The wind side of the computer determines the altitude which results in the highest groundspeed, as they say. This is accomplished by comparing the winds aloft with the course. The wind forecasts each altitude on the rotating azimuth like a groundspeed/true heading problem. The true heading problem — the difference is that more than one wind is plotted and each wind dot is identified. The plotter portion of the sliding grid is used to measure true course. You can think of it as a device that measures directions. The following instructions explain how to determine your true course.
5. Parasite Drag Reduced pressure equals increased lift. Parasite drag increases with airspeed. Work your empennage. Work your elevators. Positive static is stability tending toward your original equilibrium. Negative static? The ball’s displaced and moving farther from equilibrium. You yaw in the direction of the lowered aileron. Call it adverse yaw. Call it. To measure your true course, center over an intersection. The course line crosses the azimuth in the direction of flight. Increase your airspeed and the parasite drag increases, too.