Up, Up and Away

Who ordered these winds?

Woke up this morning with a beautiful clear blue sky. I had worked it out with Kary to meet him at LUG at 9:00am. My work obligations had kept me from getting in the air any this week, so since I was off today for Christmas, I figured I'd capitalize. Being that I am getting close (real close) to solo'ing I have been wondering how Kary would spring it on me. We've discussed it, but I've wondered if he's the type of CFI that makes it no big deal, or the type that just says "hey, I'm getting out. Have fun".

For the last week, in my paranoia, I've been debating whether or not "I" feel ready to do this. I'm completely comfortable with every aspect of flying the pattern, except the last 3-5 seconds. Most every time I'm landing, I get SOME level of affirmation that I'm doing the right or wrong thing. Meaning that as I start my round-out, I know that if I'm doing it too soon, Kary's gonna say something. As I begin flaring, if I'm too aggressive Kary will say something. If everything is perfect, Kary will say so. He's not doing it for me, but I have this little CFI sitting on my shoulder telling me that I'm ok. Now that's good, but the way I work, I need to screw it up on my own and fix it on my own before I feel comfortable doing it....on my own. In my timidity (see 2 posts back), even though Kary says very little, I have a comfort level in that he'll say something if it's wrong (or right). So, can I do it without him affirming every step? That is the question.

With all this going through my head, I've been a bit anxious that I might solo during the next lesson. I really wanted to do a few more circuits with Kary to convince myself that it really is me doing it and not him telling me how (if that would even be possible).

So, When I finally pulled in to the airport, I noticed a familiar plane sitting on the ramp....hrm....what's Dad doing here?.......

Immediately, I begin to get the sweats....

1. I have a lesson today.
2. Dad's here (as is his wife, Gail)....why?
3. I should be solo'ing soon and
4. Maybe I shouldn't go in........

........cough...cough...I'm feeling like I coming down with something.


Ok, Ok, get a grip. Man up. As I was getting my gear from the trunk, I glanced at the windsock, I realized that we had a good 7 knot wind going. HA! there's no way Kary will solo me in this hurricane. So, I figure I'm safe to give it a shot.

The lesson was VERY good. Kinda funny how the preflight and taxi has now become "normal". Something I don't even have to think about. Today, the wind was blowing and only getting stronger as the day went. But, in the process of flying the pattern 7-8 times, I was able to experience some mild turbulence and see how the wind can really effect the "squaring" of my pattern. Luckily the wind was right down the runway, so it did effect final, but I didn't have to account for much of a crosswind.

About halfway through the flight, Kary had me exit the pattern and we did a couple of turns about a point. With the wind blowing the way it was, it made it more interesting in trying to account for where in the turn you were versus where the wind was blowing from. I did pretty good. Held my altitude within 150ft and speed was pretty constant. Woohoo! One PTS Standard down, 8657 more to go!

As we re-entered the pattern, Dad and Gail were taxing out to leave. I noticed from about 3 miles out that he was taxing awfully slow....dang him. I knew what he was doing. Taking his time so that he'd be sitting right there on the end of the runway when I was landing...that sucker. No pressure. I call entering downwind and our base turn. The wind was up to 10 kts gusting to 16 now. This could be fun AND with my first audience.

I didn't get my downwind to base turn in quite fast enough and the wind managed to push me further away than I'd woulda liked, but hey, I can do this. We had about a 1 mile final (felt like a King Air) and a lot of altitude to lose. I chopped the power, and she started falling. Got back in the groove, added a tad of power, crossed the threshold, cut the power, bleed off the extra speed I had picked up and "squirp, squirp" HA! Take that! I told Kary that now maybe Dad would let me take his plane to the prom.

Another time around the pattern and I'm done for the day. The wind was a new experience for me, but I'm real glad I did it. Just another step in the process of seeing how well you really can control a plane if you just stay in front of it. Kary confirmed I had my Student Cert/Medical in hand and I gave him my pre-solo written test. He's going to go over the answers and get back with me on it. Now, we're just waiting for a nice, calm morning and then....we'll see.

Was good.

Lesson's learned on this flight?

I (me, Jeff) am doing "it". I'm really the one landing the airplane. Even in the last 3 seconds.

Psshh. This stuff is easy :)

jf

posted by Jeff Franks @ 11:47 AM