woodstock
Final Approach
warning, long recap. also disjointed.
we went up! ceilings of around 2900 or so. visib 10sm, but I tell you, it sure looked less. lotta haze/ maybe mist?
it felt great! I was far from error free, but I didn't feel as stupid as I did the other time I was out for months and months. I do have a lot to un-rust though I think - little things - mostly common sense and PAYING ATTENTION. or better to say - need to relearn DIVIDING ATTENTION.
We flew to FDK from JYO. low ceilings so we didn't really get above 2000 feet the whole way.
Mostly smooth sailing, uneventful on the way up, but (SCARY) when we exited the ADIZ I somehow got too intent on trying to find the river/landmarks and somehow got myself pointed due east without even realizing it. the kicker is - take a look at a sectional for the ADIZ, and find Sugarloaf mountain, which is the typical exit point b/c it's so easily seen.
the ADIZ dips right there... but goes back up again, when you head east. i.e. I was heading STRAIGHT for the ADIZ again, after exiting!! he didn't say anything to let me know what I was doing, he just said, "let's turn it around now" and started turning it for me. I think he was waiting for me to figure it out without him saying anything.
this is how disoriented I was at this point - Sugarloaf is off to my RIGHT. had I been thinking (dividing attention even) that would have been my first clue but I was still concentrating on finding the river landmark (but instead should have just gone due north, eventually seen 270, and kept going). MENTAL NOTE - try to see the forest, not just the trees. WHAT IS SCARY IS THIS IS HOW EASY IT IS.
during all this muddling on my part, my CFI kept asking me to relax on the rudders, but he didn't have much to say about what I was doing in general, he let me muck around and figure it out. after we landed he told me what I did and how serious - he thinks I was giving it too much right rudder (and who knows, maybe even some aileron - I REALLY have a right turning tendency - always have). had we gone back in - not good. then again we were still squawking and no hand off yet so who knows? would they even notice?
things to concentrate on: pay attention to altitude more often, and start peeping at the heading indicator more often - I really do just look for landmarks - not good. I think I am not giving any thought to headings on certain things I may be aiming for.
one thing I will say - and this may also be a result of too many things at once - he would say something, I'd hear and acknowledge then not fricking do it or forget it 15 minutes later. i.e. he said, best thing to do when you want to turn 90 degrees is look under your turning wing, pick something, and when you turn and see it in front of you, voila. not 15 seconds after he said that, did I do it? nooooooooo
landings - did one go around at FDK and one landing then one landing back home. first one was runway 5, which I hate because you have to go over the quarry on final which is weird b/c you feel really high but all of a sudden you aren't. it wasn't too bad, I think I am calmer because it felt like slow motion (like it did when others are doing it and I am just riding along) but I flared too high and he said just go around. the second time was fairly decent but not a greaser or anything. the funny thing is, for as crappy as it was there was someone else out there right behind us practicing too! I figured we would be alone.
going home the haze really seems to compress things - plus it was getting to be twilight. I saw Sugarloaf mountain really well, and since it was already starting to get dark (about 630, not dark but nearing twilight) the lights on the power stacks lights were on, which are a good mile-plus south of the mountain. I swear they looked like they were right next to the mountain so I didn't even recognize them as the stacks - just a lit tower. duuuuuuuuuh.
I tell you though, one thing - some amount of haze, or maybe it was twilight, sure makes it a lot easier to spot the airport! I saw it way out there. the lights that is. passed the airport, swung around to the 45, came in, nice calm calm air so easy set up for landing, felt pretty decent about it and flared at the right time but I don't pull all the way back like I should, when I should. gotta work on that too. i.e. I leveled out ok, (still not feeling the butt sink really) and I think I started flaring at the right time but I stopped a little too soon. we did a little bounce but it settled in and then I got the nose where it was supposed to be.
for my first time back in 4 months, I felt pretty good about the landings - go figure. I remember when we really started to concentrate on landings, my heart would be pounding the entire time on final. I felt good - but the air was so calm though!
two biggies: watch the damn altitude already, and don't concentrate on just one thing at the expense of others. he wants me to show him happy feet every time we starighten out on final. (i.e. Moxie's feet wiggle - guess I should try the butt wiggle too huh Moxie?)
we went up! ceilings of around 2900 or so. visib 10sm, but I tell you, it sure looked less. lotta haze/ maybe mist?
it felt great! I was far from error free, but I didn't feel as stupid as I did the other time I was out for months and months. I do have a lot to un-rust though I think - little things - mostly common sense and PAYING ATTENTION. or better to say - need to relearn DIVIDING ATTENTION.
We flew to FDK from JYO. low ceilings so we didn't really get above 2000 feet the whole way.
Mostly smooth sailing, uneventful on the way up, but (SCARY) when we exited the ADIZ I somehow got too intent on trying to find the river/landmarks and somehow got myself pointed due east without even realizing it. the kicker is - take a look at a sectional for the ADIZ, and find Sugarloaf mountain, which is the typical exit point b/c it's so easily seen.
the ADIZ dips right there... but goes back up again, when you head east. i.e. I was heading STRAIGHT for the ADIZ again, after exiting!! he didn't say anything to let me know what I was doing, he just said, "let's turn it around now" and started turning it for me. I think he was waiting for me to figure it out without him saying anything.
this is how disoriented I was at this point - Sugarloaf is off to my RIGHT. had I been thinking (dividing attention even) that would have been my first clue but I was still concentrating on finding the river landmark (but instead should have just gone due north, eventually seen 270, and kept going). MENTAL NOTE - try to see the forest, not just the trees. WHAT IS SCARY IS THIS IS HOW EASY IT IS.
during all this muddling on my part, my CFI kept asking me to relax on the rudders, but he didn't have much to say about what I was doing in general, he let me muck around and figure it out. after we landed he told me what I did and how serious - he thinks I was giving it too much right rudder (and who knows, maybe even some aileron - I REALLY have a right turning tendency - always have). had we gone back in - not good. then again we were still squawking and no hand off yet so who knows? would they even notice?
things to concentrate on: pay attention to altitude more often, and start peeping at the heading indicator more often - I really do just look for landmarks - not good. I think I am not giving any thought to headings on certain things I may be aiming for.
one thing I will say - and this may also be a result of too many things at once - he would say something, I'd hear and acknowledge then not fricking do it or forget it 15 minutes later. i.e. he said, best thing to do when you want to turn 90 degrees is look under your turning wing, pick something, and when you turn and see it in front of you, voila. not 15 seconds after he said that, did I do it? nooooooooo
landings - did one go around at FDK and one landing then one landing back home. first one was runway 5, which I hate because you have to go over the quarry on final which is weird b/c you feel really high but all of a sudden you aren't. it wasn't too bad, I think I am calmer because it felt like slow motion (like it did when others are doing it and I am just riding along) but I flared too high and he said just go around. the second time was fairly decent but not a greaser or anything. the funny thing is, for as crappy as it was there was someone else out there right behind us practicing too! I figured we would be alone.
going home the haze really seems to compress things - plus it was getting to be twilight. I saw Sugarloaf mountain really well, and since it was already starting to get dark (about 630, not dark but nearing twilight) the lights on the power stacks lights were on, which are a good mile-plus south of the mountain. I swear they looked like they were right next to the mountain so I didn't even recognize them as the stacks - just a lit tower. duuuuuuuuuh.
I tell you though, one thing - some amount of haze, or maybe it was twilight, sure makes it a lot easier to spot the airport! I saw it way out there. the lights that is. passed the airport, swung around to the 45, came in, nice calm calm air so easy set up for landing, felt pretty decent about it and flared at the right time but I don't pull all the way back like I should, when I should. gotta work on that too. i.e. I leveled out ok, (still not feeling the butt sink really) and I think I started flaring at the right time but I stopped a little too soon. we did a little bounce but it settled in and then I got the nose where it was supposed to be.
for my first time back in 4 months, I felt pretty good about the landings - go figure. I remember when we really started to concentrate on landings, my heart would be pounding the entire time on final. I felt good - but the air was so calm though!
two biggies: watch the damn altitude already, and don't concentrate on just one thing at the expense of others. he wants me to show him happy feet every time we starighten out on final. (i.e. Moxie's feet wiggle - guess I should try the butt wiggle too huh Moxie?)
One area may report 10sm, the next reports 5, and 5 minutes after they report it, its out of date. 