Lesson 15 - I do remember how to fly

Well, with all the warm support I received from so many, thank you. This lesson went much better. So much so, Jack gave me the written pre-solo exam for me to work on as homework, and actually said about my next lesson, "we'll see how the winds are, then we'll see..." So, I made some good improvements. Jumped in the cockpit, and realized Jack had covered like lots of instruments including attitude, turn coordinator, rpm. He was going to make me fly the plane more by feel the entire time instead of fixating on some instruments, this should be fun! After the first two laps were interrupted by competing opposite pattern traffic for the same runway, and then by a student on their (apparent) solo cross country (wow, she flew the strangest patterns, lucky for the tower, she seemed very overwhelmed), I really wanted to practice low approaches, Jack agreed. I posted a question on AOPA forums on crosswind landing woes, and got very good responses and frequently they recommended to do more low approaches so I can get a better feel for the aileron/rudder controls on crosswinds. Went on to have 14 landings, a go around, several low approaches, a "short approach", lots of good traffic, and I handled many more of the radio calls. So, I didn't feel as rushed, but towards the end, even though my landings were ok, my approaches started to get sloppy, and Jack noticed too. So, we did two more landings, had an ok final landing, but not terrible.

So, in Jack's words, I had several good landings, and a few not-so-good (but not bad) landings. Some, I did drift a bit, or wasn't quite straight on touchdown, but I feel I got slightly better. I can't say I am going to have that *CLICK* moment people talk about, I think its more likely going to be a *CCCCCCLLLLLLLLIIIIIIICCCCCCKKKKK*

So, 1.5 hours added to the bill, 18 hours total! Scary to think I am almost technically half way to the minimum of 40 hours before checkride, but I think we all know that won't happen. But I don't care, the goal is safety and proficiency!