January 8, 2011 - Better! :)
The weather gods were smiling on me, and so I went flying again this afternoon.
Cross wind take-off (aileron left, into the wind, bit of right rudder, then turning gently back to neutral as I rotate at 50kts...)
HAHA!!!! That sentence would have made NO sense to me whatsoever just six months ago, lol!!! I must be learning something!!!! :))))
Okay, and then, a bit of shitty navigation; reading (not so well) the various squiggles on the chart that are supposed to mean something. Yikes!
And then, and then, STALLS, and plenty of them -- but getting better at managing mentally: Instead of grabbing my instructor's arm this time, I closed my eyes. And only did that twice, the rest of the time, I actually did recover fairly proficiently: 1. release pressure on the control column, 2. rudder to level the wings, 3. add power and ease out of the dive. retracting flaps in stages as necessary.
The only issue I have is knowing when to reduce rather than add full power. I mean, I know in theory: if the yaw is quite jarring, then you're supposed to reduce power and recover first before adding power. But in real life... I mean, I guess here's the thing, I am so never going into a stall in real life anyway, lol! This is such an exercise. I am going to be such a conservative, lame-ass pilot.... which is really quite funny, considering I drive like a crazy lunatic with need for speed!!
As confirmation of my emerging genius, we were richly rewarded with God's palette in the sky ahead of us: a delicate rainbow subtly blossoming out of a cloud of ice crystals... now there's something you don't get to see up close on the ground!!!
Cross wind take-off (aileron left, into the wind, bit of right rudder, then turning gently back to neutral as I rotate at 50kts...)
HAHA!!!! That sentence would have made NO sense to me whatsoever just six months ago, lol!!! I must be learning something!!!! :))))
Okay, and then, a bit of shitty navigation; reading (not so well) the various squiggles on the chart that are supposed to mean something. Yikes!
And then, and then, STALLS, and plenty of them -- but getting better at managing mentally: Instead of grabbing my instructor's arm this time, I closed my eyes. And only did that twice, the rest of the time, I actually did recover fairly proficiently: 1. release pressure on the control column, 2. rudder to level the wings, 3. add power and ease out of the dive. retracting flaps in stages as necessary.
The only issue I have is knowing when to reduce rather than add full power. I mean, I know in theory: if the yaw is quite jarring, then you're supposed to reduce power and recover first before adding power. But in real life... I mean, I guess here's the thing, I am so never going into a stall in real life anyway, lol! This is such an exercise. I am going to be such a conservative, lame-ass pilot.... which is really quite funny, considering I drive like a crazy lunatic with need for speed!!
As confirmation of my emerging genius, we were richly rewarded with God's palette in the sky ahead of us: a delicate rainbow subtly blossoming out of a cloud of ice crystals... now there's something you don't get to see up close on the ground!!!
