March 6, 2011 - Cross Wind Practise
With a sick kid at home, our weekend plans were shot to shit, so I decided to take advantage of the unexpectedly decent weather and meet Lari in the afternoon for some more cross-wind landing practise. (Thank goodness for a willing husband!!)
Not only were the winds considerable, but the gusting made for some wicked turbulance. It was a challenge just keeping things level, and a fraction of my insides remembered the early days, when terror gripped every ounce of my being the second I stepped into a Cessna! But I managed to overcome that for the most part, and we did a few circuits on 26 before switching to 33.
Regardless of runway, my greatest challenge continues to be keeping the tin can straight down the runway. For some reason, I just cannot seem to make the plane do what I want in the final moments. (Towards the end of the lesson, my approaches were getting better, but I still get very easily distracted by what's going on when the radio gets busy, or looking too long inside at the airspeed indicator, and then just before the flare, or even right after touchdown I let go of my rudder and things go south.)
The few "good" landings I managed were in fact excellent. So, at least when I get it, I get it, haha!
I'm a bit nervous about Sat., as I am booked to fly to Brampton with Tatiana for some kind of women pilots' lunch -- I am sure she is expecting to see some kind of drastic improvement in my flying since we last flew together. Too bad she will be sorely disappointed, hehe. I am going to try to squeeze in a 1/2 hour with Lari between work and ground school on Thursday night, just so I don't get any worse!!!
Not only were the winds considerable, but the gusting made for some wicked turbulance. It was a challenge just keeping things level, and a fraction of my insides remembered the early days, when terror gripped every ounce of my being the second I stepped into a Cessna! But I managed to overcome that for the most part, and we did a few circuits on 26 before switching to 33.
Regardless of runway, my greatest challenge continues to be keeping the tin can straight down the runway. For some reason, I just cannot seem to make the plane do what I want in the final moments. (Towards the end of the lesson, my approaches were getting better, but I still get very easily distracted by what's going on when the radio gets busy, or looking too long inside at the airspeed indicator, and then just before the flare, or even right after touchdown I let go of my rudder and things go south.)
The few "good" landings I managed were in fact excellent. So, at least when I get it, I get it, haha!
I'm a bit nervous about Sat., as I am booked to fly to Brampton with Tatiana for some kind of women pilots' lunch -- I am sure she is expecting to see some kind of drastic improvement in my flying since we last flew together. Too bad she will be sorely disappointed, hehe. I am going to try to squeeze in a 1/2 hour with Lari between work and ground school on Thursday night, just so I don't get any worse!!!