Climbs and Descents (Ex 7 & 8) - Saturday, November 13, 2010
Like the heavy fog that lifted miraculously from the ground surrounding the downtown core this morning, today's lesson material (or at least, my reception of it) cleared up ever so slightly, enough to really FLY this afternoon!
I celebrate Lari's teaching; I celebrate his ability to hear and understand where my zone of proximal development ends, and I celebrate his desire and success in finding that ultimate balance of challenge and safety that enables me to learn! Today we reviewed climbs, and "solidified" (if anything aviation can be solidified with me!) descents, as I began to experience the effects of wing flaps and combined power and attitude. As my lessons move forward, an increasing number of controls are being introduced, and I am beginning to realise just how much Lari has been doing while I diddled around with only the control column and sometimes the throttle. Haha! But now.... I know to apply carb heat before descending, I understand the necessity of retracting the wings in stages when overshooting, I am figuring out when the mixture needs to be adjusted to rich or when leaned out. There might be some possibility that I could actually learn to fly!!! There was a moment, after the inbound call had been made, the plane was trimmed, and we were just flying back to the aerodrome, that I was insulated by the calm of being "alone" in the sky, surrounded by such breathtaking beauty, as the sun's friendly light winked encouragingly at me from behind late afternoon cloudscape ahead, and I felt a surprising peace within myself, a calm separation from the calamity of the world below, and a hope about, well, pretty much everything. And then, suddenly, we were in the circuit and I had to snap back to attention! Perhaps the most surprising part of the lesson was that I practically landed on my own. Lari just told me what to do, and what the hell could I do, but obey?! And I wasn't that nervous! (Well, maybe a little bit...) I wonder if he really knows how I feel, or if it is just all luck, and he happens to be a really naturally talented teacher. In any case, I finally feel like I am making some progress! Notes about specific aspects of this afternoon's experience are to the right. Enjoy. |
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