October 23, 2011 - (Not So) Precision Landings
Finally decent weather, and Korkka back from his vacation (flight instructors make TONNES of money, so he's always going on vacation!!!), so I booked a lesson Sunday morning before church.
I was eager to solo, but I hadn't flown dual in over a week, so there was no chance of flying out to the practice area on my own. Also, the winds were calm, and right down the runway, and after my last lousy circuit session, it seemed like a good idea to stay in the circuit and try for a dual/solo there. So we did.
Lari narrated the first circuit, insisting on a specialty take-off. (Short field, which I later practised while solo-ing). Then I flew the second one with some acceptability, so we made the third landing a full stop and Lari got out and sent me off to practise short field landings and take-offs on my own.
One of the things about these take offs is that if you don't apply a little right rudder when releasing the brakes, the plane wants to veer to the left on take-off. Easy procedure to memorize, not so easy to actually DO! Takes a little foot finesse, hehe, but I finally seemed to get it towards the end of the session. The other thing was staying in ground effect. I always forget how quickly the plane wants to climb out when I am solo, and so holding the nose down during the early stages of climb-out during a short field take off is another one of those procedural motions you just have to remember to do. As it turned out, I was doing more of a "just above ground effect" thing. Hehe.
Cross wind was better in that I actually remembered sometimes to use right rudder in the turn. (This as a result of Tatiana -- who I had been flying with in Lari's absence -- pounding "right rudder" into my brain over the past several lessons together.) Downwind was pretty good, too -- my DW checks are automatic and complete now 99% of the time. Fun to have developed that level of automaticity! Tatiana or Lari (or probably both) reminded me recently that the turn from base to final ought to be done at roughly between 700-800 ft indicated, so for once I actually checked the altimeter as I was approaching the end of my base leg, and adjusted my height accordingly. This helped me line up a decent approach most of the time.
Ah, but now we come to perhaps the most critical part of the circuit -- the friggin' landing!!!
THEY WERE ATTROCIOUS! Out of approximately 7 landings, I managed to set the plane down sort of in the intended spot maybe once! Argh! And another time I was so darned high on short final that I just overshot.
I have to keep reminding myself to celebrate the small victories, though: For once, I actually made the decision to overshoot, rather than force the plane down unsafely. And my landings, though not precise in terms of touch down location, were safe and more or less smooth. Perhaps most importantly, I was confident in my run up, even solo, and in my shut down at the end -- I actually did things in the right order!!! :)))
No, on second thought, the confidence was not the most important thing. Most importantly, I HAD FUN!!! :))))
I was eager to solo, but I hadn't flown dual in over a week, so there was no chance of flying out to the practice area on my own. Also, the winds were calm, and right down the runway, and after my last lousy circuit session, it seemed like a good idea to stay in the circuit and try for a dual/solo there. So we did.
Lari narrated the first circuit, insisting on a specialty take-off. (Short field, which I later practised while solo-ing). Then I flew the second one with some acceptability, so we made the third landing a full stop and Lari got out and sent me off to practise short field landings and take-offs on my own.
One of the things about these take offs is that if you don't apply a little right rudder when releasing the brakes, the plane wants to veer to the left on take-off. Easy procedure to memorize, not so easy to actually DO! Takes a little foot finesse, hehe, but I finally seemed to get it towards the end of the session. The other thing was staying in ground effect. I always forget how quickly the plane wants to climb out when I am solo, and so holding the nose down during the early stages of climb-out during a short field take off is another one of those procedural motions you just have to remember to do. As it turned out, I was doing more of a "just above ground effect" thing. Hehe.
Cross wind was better in that I actually remembered sometimes to use right rudder in the turn. (This as a result of Tatiana -- who I had been flying with in Lari's absence -- pounding "right rudder" into my brain over the past several lessons together.) Downwind was pretty good, too -- my DW checks are automatic and complete now 99% of the time. Fun to have developed that level of automaticity! Tatiana or Lari (or probably both) reminded me recently that the turn from base to final ought to be done at roughly between 700-800 ft indicated, so for once I actually checked the altimeter as I was approaching the end of my base leg, and adjusted my height accordingly. This helped me line up a decent approach most of the time.
Ah, but now we come to perhaps the most critical part of the circuit -- the friggin' landing!!!
THEY WERE ATTROCIOUS! Out of approximately 7 landings, I managed to set the plane down sort of in the intended spot maybe once! Argh! And another time I was so darned high on short final that I just overshot.
I have to keep reminding myself to celebrate the small victories, though: For once, I actually made the decision to overshoot, rather than force the plane down unsafely. And my landings, though not precise in terms of touch down location, were safe and more or less smooth. Perhaps most importantly, I was confident in my run up, even solo, and in my shut down at the end -- I actually did things in the right order!!! :)))
No, on second thought, the confidence was not the most important thing. Most importantly, I HAD FUN!!! :))))