January 2011 - Twice in One Day!

Big plans to fly on the next planned date did not look promising with snow in the forecast, so I squeezed in a lesson this day instead, first thing in the morning, then went home to do some work, had lunch with one twin, sent a few emails, and decided to take advantage of the weather and my instructor's open schedule, and went back for another lesson in the afternoon before returning home to hang out with the other twin, and then do some more work!  :D

Morning - Emergencies and Circuits
So, we get ready to take off this morning, and something strange happens with the engine during the take-off roll (sorry, not articulate enough in aviation-ese to describe it properly).  I know it's not me, because I checked the fuel before hand and the primer was locked.  Also, although I'm no star in the air, it's true, the one thing I am good at is smooth throttle on take off.  Plane seems okay after rotation, so we don't worry about it.  But then on downwind, it seems a little rough again, and just after leaving the circuit, it blurps again.  Lari, ever the conservative (and with the fear of guilt that would come from leaving two sweet little 6-year-old boys motherless if I died... although, I guess he couldn't feel guilty if he died too, hehe), decides the prudent choice is to turn around and make a precautionary landing of the plane.

We do so, dumping flaps to drop quickly, as we are way too high for the short distance we are from runway 26, and we make a precautionary landing to have the engine checked out by Aaron (sp?) a guy I have not met before, but who seems to know what he is doing.  Aaron does a full run up, which is a weird sensation, the throttle all the way in and the plane going nowhere, but it is kind of an interesting experience to debrief PDM, because as we know, there are bold pilots and old pilots, but no old, bold pilots!  (I noticed one of the other FIs giving Larry a hard time later because of his decision, but frankly, risk-taker that I am notwithstanding, I think he made the right choice.  Especially because he was modelling for a student.  Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.)

Anyway, so once we felt okay about everything, we were out of time, so we just did a couple of circuits, but the weather was so clear, and the wind so calm, that I actually landed the plane on my own once!  Big accomplishment.  I was rushed, but proud, when I left for the morning.

Oh, oh, and.... I ran into a buddy from GS at the end, and he had just soloed his first time!!!!  Very exciting!!!  Hurray for Randy!  :D

Afternoon - Upper Airwork and a Few More Cicuits
The weather being so lovely, and my schedule being somewhat flexible this day, I decided to return for another go in the p.m.  Pretty neat feeling to fly twice in one day.  (Probably wierd for pilots and FIs to "get" that, since they fly all the time, but for someone like me, who ever even flew until 6 months ago, and even now, flies for an hour a week at most, it was really a peculiar feeling.  I drove home later thinking, "Hmmm.... I could get used to this" -- Uh oh!  :)

Anyway, sooo....  this time I got to fly "my" plane:  GGNJ is the first Cessna 150 I ever flew (well, I guess the first plane I ever flew, period!), and so I'm a bit attached.  :)  Also, the "J", you know... we women have to stick together.  Ha!  So anyway, I finally got GNJ again -- it's been a while -- and it was good.  Circuit was pretty busy with Porter coming and going and other small aricraft, but I am thankful for the busy-ness of our airport -- it keeps me on my toes, and I am developing a little more comfort talking with tower and ground.  Also kind of neat to hear how many female CPs there are -- I often hear a woman's voice from the Porter planes, and that is encouraging.

Okay, back to business.  So we took off runway 26 and departed to the east, heading to the practice area to consolidate stalls (relax the controls, level the wings with rudder, and then ease out, applying power as needed), and practise spiral recoveries. 

Spiral dives are something else.  I can't get over the high from the Gs.  It's such an odd sensation, and I am sure it is comparatively light in the grander scheme of thing.  But  I can see why fighter pilots are so enamoured with it -- the adrenaline rush is huge! 

I am bringing power to idle, levelling the wings and easing out of the dive in three separate movements, however, I need to do it faster.  Lari made me say it fast before I did it.  (Cute, how he is trying to "leverage my affinities" -- even if he probably doesn't know what that means, as a fellow educator, I appreciate it!!)  Anyway... we need a few more consolidations so I can be more deliberate.


One thing I didn't get to today was speaking personally with two of the guys who I wanted to follow up with from this week's PD session... but maybe better to let it be, and just "be".  Screw their bullshit, and just Be the change, and all that, right?  :) 

I feel good about today.  I feel good about flying.  I am surprised because yesterday I was feeling tentative at best. 
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