Another day, another flight. Found a cracked control yoke on the first plane during preflight, so we took the other one. I’m either getting good at breaking stuff, or just getting good at finding broken stuff during preflight.
We did cross-wind takeoffs and landings and traffic pattern work. Lots of traffic pattern work, and I did all of the radio work with ATC and in the pattern at the uncontrolled field where we were practicing. My landings generally sucked… BUT… I still feel like I accomplished some things.
- I recognized that I was way too close in on the first one, having made my 45 into the downwind leg a little late. Made a downwind-final 180, managed to get us lined up and landed. The landing was nothing to brag about, but salvaging the approach got me an “attaboy”.
- I recognized, in plenty of time, that one was beyond saving. I was too high and too slow. Did a go-around… now if I can just remember not to pull those flaps ALL the way up in one shot. Oops. Lesson learned.
- Figured out, I think, where and why my final was a little shallow. The last one was pretty good, right up to the flare (which still wasn’t horrible).
- Got a LOT more comfortable with ATC and managing the frequencies. It’s nice to have two flip-flop COM radios, reduces the knob twisting somewhat.
I’m on the schedule again for tomorrow afternoon. We’ll see if I can slip out of work and do it or if I’ll have to reschedule. Right now my poor old brain feels like mush. And a Cherokee does get bloody hot on the ground. But, we’ll be doing more stalls and doing emergency procedures, since I’ll need to cover that before solo. Oh, and I got my medical this morning — so I’m officially a “real” student pilot.