In the lull between in-laws and Medieval Times, and while the birthday boy is busy playing with Legos while dressed as Darth Vader, I figure I’ll dash off a post about my last flight.
Last Wednesday was my 2nd flight. I did the preflight, as CFI Mike went to fetch the slip of paper with Hobbs and tach time on it that I left in the club. He can’t go in the building without getting asked questions so I was nearly done by the time he returned. I had just a few questions:
- Is the bolt that goes in this hole necessary to keep the wings on? (no, those bolts are bigger. The same hole was open on both sides and he wasn’t sure what went there)
- Should I be worried about the oil on the side of the cowling? (no, it’s not that much and is probably the result of a spill from a previous pilot)
- Why does it sound like an alarm going off when the strobe is on? (some electrical issue I didn’t quite understand…makes noise on the radio too)
And after that, off we went. I taxied us out, did the run up, and handled the take off. I think. He was telling me what to do and his hands were near the controls but I don’t think they were on them. I was too busy watching the speedometer.
The day’s work was slow flight, steep turns, and power off stalls. Keeping my altitude in steep turns is a little bit of an issue – using the right reference point might be helpful. It would have been nice to see the horizon too – it was all brownish haze, very indistinct.
It was my landing to make, though CFI Mike told me that if I get task-saturated to say something and he’d help. I reached that point about 30 feet off the ground…a little late to say something. I overshot the turn to final and had to come back to the left then line up with the runway. From my recent reading/DVD watching I know this is often how a pilot ends up in a spin on final. Rudder, then elevator, then rudder, then elevator, then stall and spin. That had me concerned, but with the ground rushing up (it seemed) I just tried to focus on the CFI’s instructions.
I don’t think I pulled it off exactly like he wanted – I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trying to get me to put down left of the centerline, in an ungentle manner. We were down, though, and nosewheel strut still had bounce to it. CFI Mike put it this way: it was more of an arrival than a landing.
I guess landing isn’t like riding a bike, but I soloed 22 years ago so I know I can do it. I just have to get the hang of it again. I’ve got a bunch of flying scheduled – I’m sure I’ll see improvement in my landing. Let’s put it this way – I’d better not do otherwise or I’m buying the club some landing gear, at least!