Another evening in the pattern.Well, this entry won't be terribly long, primarily because it's sounding a lot like the last few entries, lots of takeoffs and (ugly) landings. And in the words of my instructor, Jack, I've definitely hit a "plateau," in my training. Now it just depends on how long I sit in it.
Anyway, I was scheduled for a couple different times this week, and with Memorial Day weekend approaching, my availability was going to be limited. So, when I noticed today the weather outlook was nice this afternoon, and both Jack and the plane was free, I scheduled an impromptu lesson. Got to the airport around 5:30 pm, took my sweet time preflighting, and we were ready to take off on runway 14 (first time for me) by 6 pm. We did several laps around the circuit, and had little traffic to deal with, which meant I had little excuse. Granted, it was rather hot, which put density altitude at 2800 ft, and significantly degrades engine performance. Consequently, our takeoff roll was longer than normal and our climb performance was also weaker. This meant we watched very closely today how much fuel we had in the plane to make sure we were not overweight, so running with about 2/3 tanks fuel, we were safely within weight and balance.
So, the actual flying part of the lesson. Wind was pretty much down the runway, so I had little crosswind to deal with, but with it being so hot, we got plenty of thermals moving up and down. It wasn't terrible, then again, I think I am getting used to being tossed around, so it isn't bothering me that much anymore. As for landing, the good news is I think I might be improving only slightly on the actual landing part, only one teeth-crunching landing. My flare is still crappy, and I have trouble maintaining runway heading right before touch down. The bad news is now my approaches were totally inconsistent. Too high, too low, poor turn to base, waiting too long to turn to base, poor crab angles on base, sheesh! I am certainly in a rut. After about 8 landings, Jack called it a night. Granted, I didn't have any landings like my final landing from last week, which was truly laughable, but Jack definitely notices a bit more frustration from me and recognizes a definite "stall" in my progress. So, we had a longer than usual debrief, and he tried to reassure me, and talked about some of his landings he did recently, that were not great. So, its somewhat comforting that even with 900+ hrs like Jack, he'll still can have a few ugly landings too. It was also helpful for Jack to say, "I've seen you do this before, you can do it!" Jack also gave me some old VHS videos to watch, maybe a slight different perspective will help.
I am still having fun despite the frustration, and I keep telling myself I am in no hurry. I have a long way to go, it will not happen overnight, nor am I guaranteed to beat the "national average." So, I remind myself of two things at the end of these lessons: 1. The Lord has given me another day, enjoy it, and give thanks! 2. They can still use the plane after I landed it, so I must be doing somethings right!
Another 1.0 hours in the book, 12.6 total now. Hard to believe I've been behind the yoke of plane for over 12 hours already!
2 comments:
I had two parts in my training where I swore I'd never "get it" and considered quitting.
The first was learning to land. The second was cross country navigation.
Neither are as impossible as they will at some time seem... but both are particularly difficult to figure out. The problem is, there is so much going on that they're difficult to teach/learn. You just have to be "exposed" to them enough times to get the feel for it (or, at least, that's how it was explained to me).
Stick with it. You're making great progress and will soon be tasked with taking a trip (or a few) around the pattern as the only occupant of that plane. So, don't try to rush things... your instructor will know when you're ready.
Good luck, have fun and keep the posts coming!
Thanks Marty, I really appreciate the encouragement. Makes me look forward to cross country navigation ;). In all seriousness, thanks a bunch for the advise, it is really helpful and you've been a great mentor. I've actually gone back through some of your blog entries during your training, it's helped me relate to some of the same issues. Thanks again!
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