For crying out loud (warning: aviation related)

etsisk

etsisk

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iYiYi
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I guess every now and then it's all about learning that learning ain't linear!

It's windy in NC these days. Something to do with Spring, I'm told, whoever she is. Went out to the airport yesterday for the first time in two weeks, making it the SECOND time in three weeks I'd flown. Wind blowing up a storm. Whitecaps on the lake you could surf on. Gusts up to a zillion, give or take a hundred, but it was all right down the runway-ish, and I had a CFI sitting right there, so I thought, "why not?" and away we went. Busy as a bee and discovered my dancing feet, but all went pretty well. Surprisingly well, as a matter of fact. Although it's sort of interesting when, 15 feet above the ground, the plane makes a quick 30 degree bank to the right, but maybe that's just me.

Today, it was a different story. The wind was there a bit, but I certainly wasn't. Walking into the FBO I looked at the flag and sock and they were both favoring 32. Didn't think to look again, though - took off on 32 and went around the pattern. Turned final and thought, "man, feels like we're getting pushed." Was having trouble losing altitude (a bad thing for landing). Went around. Tried it again, got pretty close to the ground and the CFI says "go around" so I did. He suggested I actually take a look at the windsock (what a concept!), so I did. Funny thing, tailwinds...

Ok, so now I'm landing on 14. I'm not going to bore you with a litany of all the things I did wrong, but some of 'em were doozies. Flaps - you remember flaps? Well, I didn't. Let my speed get up. Sometimes I let my speed drop. I was a second behind the plane all the damn time. Once I got within, oh, 15 feet of the ground, I could set that baby right on down there. But boy howdy, getting to that point was interesting! CFI was starting to preface remarks with, "At least you <did this thing>..."

Really it was the day I should have had yesterday, but was too busy trying to save my bacon in all that wind yesterday to have it. Sheesh. Never had an hour long brain fart before. Did I say "sheesh", yet? Sheesh.
 
only cause it's bolted down!!

And when I showed up today for my 11am lesson, the CFI was taking someone for a ride, and while he was gone I watched someone preflighting the 172 and taking off for their checkride (on which I wish them well!), and I left at 12noon without seeing the CFI come back (although that might have been them in the pattern). Three hours down the tubes for zip. (1 3/4 hours travel time back and forth, 1 1/4 waiting time). Wish they'd called and let me know what was going on.
 
etsisk said:
only cause it's bolted down!!

And when I showed up today for my 11am lesson, the CFI was taking someone for a ride, and while he was gone I watched someone preflighting the 172 and taking off for their checkride (on which I wish them well!), and I left at 12noon without seeing the CFI come back (although that might have been them in the pattern). Three hours down the tubes for zip. (1 3/4 hours travel time back and forth, 1 1/4 waiting time). Wish they'd called and let me know what was going on.
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Are you saying you had a scheduled lesson but the CFI didn't show and the lesson was not cancelled due to wx or mx?

Of the CFIs who pull a no show, I've found that they are loathe to cancel in the off chance they can be in two places at one time. That happened to me once. Once. We had a talk.... As the student you also have a duty to protect your interests...which sometimes are contrary to those of the CFI.
 
Tom,

Gosh, sorry I missed that. Plane's down for it's annual right now.

Hopefully flying at the end of the weekend.

Keep at it. You remember more and more the more you fly.
 
You'll have days when it seems like you've forgotten everything you learned. Just gotta gotta get back on the horse.

As for the CFI leaving you sitting on the ground, well that's just not very nice. Worth at least a mention to him/her.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about it, the MOST important thing is that you learned something...correct? You recognized that you where behind the plane....that good, now study why you were behind it and don't let it happen again.

I too have been in your shoes and had my CFI ask me “what the hell was your problem today.” That is why you pay him to sit next to you so when you do have a brain fart the main fart is there.

Whatever you do, do NOT worry about it....learn from it and go on to the next lesson. I have had my ticket for 1 1/2 yrs and I bounced the other day....first time, if you believe that...really.

Just keep on keep'n on!

Mark
 
Terrible?????

One star?? Someone thought this was a TERRIBLE thread???

Sheesh. Sorry to bother ya - but I figure, just as I learn from other folks posting the good and the bad in their lessons, others might get the same from mine.

Guess I was wrong.

EDIT: one minute later... now it has three stars. I don't get how this works, y'all. Well, whoever saw the single star and took pity on me, thanks! I appreciate the extra stars and the rep point. You've got a good heart and are obviously FAR above average in intelligence, looks and general social aplomb! :D
 
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Re: Terrible?????

Heck, Frank - if I'd known it was you . . . I'd have been even more expansive in my praise! You ain't bad, for a rightie! :D

Thanks, William - I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease! :D
 
Good description, Tom. I'd say pretty much all of us have been there, done that. It happens...

I flew the Cherokee yesterday for the first time since Feb 9 (weather, IFR cert, annual, etc.). I got established on final and on short final there was a strong updraft and all of a sudden I'm way high. Pulled the power but couldn't get it to sink fast enough and had to do a forward slip to make the runway. Ugly landing but at least not a hard one.

It wasn't until my 3rd or 4th landing that they started looking like I knew what I was doing. On number 6 I was coming in behind a 152 who was also doing patterns. Let's see if I can do a short field... it was a beauty, and I got off one intersection before the 152 got off, and got on the taxiway ahead of him :yes:

Flaps? That's one the reasons I like flying Robinsons... no flaps, no gear, no prop control, no stinkin' runway needed, none of that nonsense -- just put on full carb heat and land it B)
 
It happens. This is training, and it takes awhile before you get more consistency. Even after a long while, you may still surprise yourself!

Thanks for the writeup. I enjoy these types of writeups.
 
RotaryWingBob said:
It wasn't until my 3rd or 4th landing that they started looking like I knew what I was doing. On number 6 I was coming in behind a 152 who was also doing patterns. Let's see if I can do a short field... it was a beauty, and I got off one intersection before the 152 got off, and got on the taxiway ahead of him :yes:
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Am I reading this right? You landed with another plane on the runway?
 
etsisk said:
And when I showed up today for my 11am lesson, the CFI was taking someone for a ride, and while he was gone I watched someone preflighting the 172 and taking off for their checkride (on which I wish them well!), and I left at 12noon without seeing the CFI come back (although that might have been them in the pattern). Three hours down the tubes for zip. (1 3/4 hours travel time back and forth, 1 1/4 waiting time). Wish they'd called and let me know what was going on.
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This is the reason I left Lake Ridge. I loved flying on a grass strip and having obsticles on both ends of the runway.

The 1st time I had something go wrong with Lake Ridge was I had a lesson at 11:00 am probaby with the same guy you were flying with, and I show up at 10:30 so I had time to eat my sandwich and get an early start on preflighting the a/c. 11:00 came and went, I waited at least another hour & 1/2 & the instr and his "other" student came back at 12:30. He told me my lesson was at 1:00, which was complete BS because I asked him the day before if my lesson was at 11:00 and he said yes. This was before my lesson. I asked again after the lesson and one more time before leaving the flight school for the day. He swore up down, left, right, frontwards & backwards that my lesson was at 11:00. Ah ok so he showes up 1 1/2 hr late. I let it slide this time.

Next he calls me at home at 11:15 am waking me up from my dream of flying none the less, and is like "Why aren't you at the airport? You had a lesson at 11:00." "Well I called you at least 10 times with no response so I thought I didn't have a lesson today."

He calls me during lunch saying "Could you come out later today and fly?" It would have been nice if he called me during or before lunch to have a lesson. I run home pick up my flight bag and get stuck in traffic on the way to the airport. I call him to tell him that I would be a little late. He was kind of upset with this and told me I needed to be there with in the next 30 mins. I show up with 2 minutes to spare, and was greeted by this kid who asked me who I was. I told him & he said that he would be doing a free 30 min ground school with me. I was thinking that geez I should be getting 30 mins of free flight training, not ground training. :mad:

Later on the ground school guy tries to Amway me. He was pretty p!ssed when I told him NO.

So Tom, if they do this to you again, you should start looking for a new flight school. If you are like me, you don't have a lot of spare time and need to get the PPL in a timely manner.

Good luck.
 
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