Getting a little better, plus some minor excitement!Another early evening in the pattern. This time I was treated to having Laura there to watch the lesson from the ground. We both got there about 5:15 pm, Laura watched me preflight the plane and peeked inside a bit. When we were ready to go, exchanged a smile and a wave, and we began taxing to runway 22. Winds today were light, and again fairly straight down the runway, good weather to practice my slowly developing landing skills. Now earlier in the week, Jack had warned me that someday I will have a door open in flight, the important thing is not to panic, and FLY THE PLANE. A door open is not an emergency, unless you make it one by panicking! He mentioned this because it happened to him earlier in that day. Sure enough (not more than a few days later) shortly after lift off, I felt my door open. I did not panic, told myself, "ok, the door is open, that is not a problem, concentrate on climbing to a safe altitude, I am not going to fall out or anything." So, after we made our crosswind turn, I had Jack take the controls for just a second, got my door closed, and resume the flight, no problem! When you are going 80 knots (almost 100 mph), its hard to even open the door (to close it), lots of wind pressure keeping it shut!
Anyway, today I saw some marginal improvements. I had many unassisted landings, although some were a bit ugly. I also was able to remember I had feet during the landings, and did better keeping it straight. We did about 10 landings, most were not that great, but a couple stood out nice. I am starting to see what a good flare is, its not 100% clicking yet, but I had a couple smoother touchdowns, but many need work. Fortunately, there wasn't any terribly teeth-crunching landings, but there was definitely one firm landing, and a couple where I had poor directional control after touchdown and needed Jacks help. Midway through, Jack mentioned he was going to try a "new technique." We take off, do the normal pattern, and Jack is quiet. I do my thing, waiting for him to explain this new technique. I proceed to have my best landing yet, while Jack isn't saying a thing. We touched down, I retract the flaps, accelerate, and off we go for another lap. So, I say, "your new technique is to be quiet?" Jack replied, "yep, seemed to work!" So, had some incremental progress, but I think its clear I probably won't solo until I have at least 20+ hours, which is just fine! This is what I still need to focus on...
- Still a little unsure when to begin the flare, a couple I knew I missed the window, and flare late, then over-compensated with too much flare which made me float
- Many had bounces, which meant I had too much speed going into the landing. This also might be because I am flaring just a bit late and not arresting some of that speed.
- I had more stabilized approaches this time, but still a bit inconsistent. I had definitely one approach too low, and many more too high, although I'd rather be too high on a longer runway.
- Many times, after the initial touchdown, Jack felt me "relax," particularly in my feet. I have to remember to keep the flare through the touchdown, and to control the nose with those rudders to keep on centerline. EAU has great, long, wide runways to learn and practice on, but I will be expected later to be able to land much more precisely so I can land on short, narrow grass and gravel strips.
As we taxied back, Laura was there waving, welcoming us home. She later said she was able to watch all the landings, she said most looked pretty good, but there were just a few she kinda covered her eyes on, yah, I remember those :)
Another 1.2 hours, had a lot of fun, and have a good attitude for the holiday weekend. Got 3 more lessons scheduled next week!
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