Hellllloooooo?!?!?!?
Well...It's only been 16 months since my last post, so I figured I'd catch everyone (well ok, the 2 of you) up on what's going on. Since Sept '07, I was able to get a little flying done. I flew solo for a couple of hours and Kary and I took a short Cross Country to Muscle Shoals, AL. He signed me off to fly the same solo and then that was it.....no more flying for Jeff. As life would have it, I let everything at work and home get in the way. My last flight was in April, 2008 and was just a quick flight with Kary to get my 90 day signoff re-upped. Then I stopped flying altogether.I started trying to get back in the air again around December, 2008, but bad weather and bad timing never let Kary and I get together....until today!
Kary and I agreed to meet up at the airport around 4:30, so I got to the there a little early, pulled out the plane and preflighted it (hoping I still remembered how). When Kary got to the airport, we loaded up and it was time to figure out what I'd forgotten in the last 9 months.
I grabbed the checklist and followed it line for line (like I always should) since I was convinced that I would miss a step. We started up 51F and started taxiing (hmmm..."taxi-ing", "taxing", "taxying"?) to runway 24. I was a bit concerned because this was my first flight since April and there was a 8 kt quartering crosswind to deal with. Well, nothing like REALLY learning how much I've forgotten.
We taxi to 24, go through the runup checklist, make the departure call and take the runway. It was at this point that I realized that much of this was "old hat" and I hadn't forgotten as much as I was afraid. For instance, as soon as I added power, I noticed my right foot pushing in on the rudder. Although I realized I was doing it, I hadn't thought TO do it. So, cool...maybe I can still fly!
The first takeoff was normal. As soon as we cleared the ground, the plane turned into the wind and we climbed out. We did a circuit and I did find that I was a bit rusty in judging my approach and I was a bit long on the downwind and a bit high on final. But a quick slip and we were in the flare. Left aileron, Right rudder, keep the nose straight....erp....we're down...not bad. So, we do it 2 more times and they get a little better with each. The final T&G we intentionally turned final high and did a BIG slip all the way down....that's always cool.
We climbed back up to 3000ft and did some steep turns. During these, I was able to hold altitude and speed, but my mind was in overload. I was having to "relearn" how to do this and what effected what. When you get up on your side like that, your controls tend to do different things than when you're straight and level. But, I managed to get the job done and kept it under control.
Then Kary gave me the option to do "whatever I wanted", so we did some power-on stalls, which were....uneventful. In our plane with the Horton STOL kit, stalls are really a non-event. There was a slight break during the first stall, but releasing pressure was all that was required to get it flying again. AND, as Kary pointed out, the pitch attitude that the plane was in was VERY odd feeling. I can't imagine letting the nose get that high in the air (and before the comments, I know that stalls are a function of Angle of Attack, not Pitch Attitude) to let the thing stall like that.
We played with the rudder some (can't be out of flying for 9 months without my feet getting lazy) and headed back to the airport. This is where the biggest surprise happened.
I've not flown at night since I was about 10. By the time we headed back to the airport it was getting pretty dark. I expected that the airport would jump right out at me (with all the lights and all). In the day, I can usually spot new airports pretty quickly. But now in the dark, I was couldn't see squat. I knew where the airport should be from the landmarks I could still make out in the light, but until I spotted the beacon, I couldn't see the runway.
So, we entered the pattern for Runway 6 (wind had calmed a bit) and I couldn't get over how hard the runway was to see, even from the downwind. So, Kary was quick to point out that we knew where it was, now just fly the plane like we always do. So, we turned base and final in a pretty tight pattern. The landing light lit up the runway from about 100ft above the runway, which really surprised me. I guess I just expected the light to show up a few feet away, but wow...it really lights things up.
Kary pointed out that the tendency of most students is to focus "inside" the light rather than down the runway like you would during the day. After he said this, I caught myself trying to do just that. But, without much trouble, we were safely on the ground and I get to log a night landing (I guess?).
Overall, it was just a simple local flight. But, unless something major happens at work, I'm GONNA FREAKING FINISH THIS TIME......I had a blast today and it helps me remember why I even started this whole thing : Flying is cool. :)
More later....but not 16 months...promise!
posted by Jeff Franks @ 8:45 PM
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