July 2 - Dual/Solo Circuits
Since the solo cross country west was scrapped due to weather issues to the west, I decided to avail myself of the opportunity to revisit the circuit, where I had not been for quite some time.
My goodness, it's busy at CYTZ!!!
Our first several circuits were all "keep in tight, faster traffic" and "it's not going to work out, pull up and go around". And also there was a cross wind, and also it was a bit gusty, and also, I'm just not a very good pilot. So, my landings were rusty at best.
I am learning to pull out more power, though, pulling it out to about 1600 RPM before putting down 20 degree of flap, all at once, and then sort of playing with power and slip as needed to descend further if needed... only adding more flap if absolutely necessary, now. My current instructor talks to me about the purpose for things.., my previous one didn't, or at least, I don't remember him doing so (maybe I was too freaked out with all the new stuff to learn). I learned this week, for example, that the whole point of flap is not so much to get down, but to improve forward visibility on approach, and increase safety by allowing oneself to fly a little slower as needed before stalling. I learned that the primary method for getting down should really be power, and then slipping as needed. And I'm beginning to do that more.
Now I need to work on runway alignment, which is horrific.
I did get to solo, my first solo in almost a year, actually, or at least 7 months! I did three reasonable circuits, and rebuild a little confidence which I had lost due to not flying for so long.
Now it's off to Waterloo, where I am presenting a workshop for teachers, for three days, and then I will return to flying daily and studying for the next two weeks for some serious flight test prep!!!
My goodness, it's busy at CYTZ!!!
Our first several circuits were all "keep in tight, faster traffic" and "it's not going to work out, pull up and go around". And also there was a cross wind, and also it was a bit gusty, and also, I'm just not a very good pilot. So, my landings were rusty at best.
I am learning to pull out more power, though, pulling it out to about 1600 RPM before putting down 20 degree of flap, all at once, and then sort of playing with power and slip as needed to descend further if needed... only adding more flap if absolutely necessary, now. My current instructor talks to me about the purpose for things.., my previous one didn't, or at least, I don't remember him doing so (maybe I was too freaked out with all the new stuff to learn). I learned this week, for example, that the whole point of flap is not so much to get down, but to improve forward visibility on approach, and increase safety by allowing oneself to fly a little slower as needed before stalling. I learned that the primary method for getting down should really be power, and then slipping as needed. And I'm beginning to do that more.
Now I need to work on runway alignment, which is horrific.
I did get to solo, my first solo in almost a year, actually, or at least 7 months! I did three reasonable circuits, and rebuild a little confidence which I had lost due to not flying for so long.
Now it's off to Waterloo, where I am presenting a workshop for teachers, for three days, and then I will return to flying daily and studying for the next two weeks for some serious flight test prep!!!