etsisk
En-Route
It was a perfect morning - absolutely perfect. Dead calm on the ground, but I had to hold it in a 30 degree crab to maintain my line around the pattern as we did three full landings in the pattern. I had realized the other day that one of my main problems was getting behind the plane - I'd know that at X point I would have to do Y, but I wouldn't really think about it until I got there. Today, I was thinking ahead of time, and when I got there, I just did the thing and started thinking about the next thing I'd have to do, etc. It worked like a charm. I announced to him everything I was going to be doing, what I was doing and why, what was wrong and what was right, made little changes to get where I wanted to be and it was all working like a charm.
Then the dang fool said he was getting out of the airplane and I was staying in it! And he really wasn't up for a lot of discussion about it!
So he did. And I did. I rolled out onto the runway and thought, "well, what I've been doing was working so well, I'll just keep doing that - talk my way through this, like I talked to him the whole time." Took off and, on a morning when the bird was just JUMPING up in the air, it jumped even higher and faster! I turned crosswind and, of course, that's when everyone else wanted to show up and start landing.
BUt we worked it out - I was ready to extend downwind, but didn't need to do that. In the confusion (at the point of the downwind/base turn) I had raised my nose to extend the downwind. When I didn't have to do that, I turned, but my nose was still a bit high, bleeding off some airspeed. I caught that, though, and lowered the nose and kept on truckin', same as it ever was. Made my turn onto final - was tweaking the power to stay where I wanted to be, then went back to idle and went on down there where the runway is. Rounded out, kept following the sink with more elevator and the next thing ya know, I'd landed the dang airplane! Wheeeeeeeeee!
I didn't start shaking until I turned it off over at the hangar. Then I could hardly write my time in the flight log. But I did it, and sonofagun, I feel like a huge weight has been taken off of me! Now it's about consistency, because I know that I can do it - heck, I've gone and done it!
Thanks for all the help, y'all - you're a great resource!
Then the dang fool said he was getting out of the airplane and I was staying in it! And he really wasn't up for a lot of discussion about it!
So he did. And I did. I rolled out onto the runway and thought, "well, what I've been doing was working so well, I'll just keep doing that - talk my way through this, like I talked to him the whole time." Took off and, on a morning when the bird was just JUMPING up in the air, it jumped even higher and faster! I turned crosswind and, of course, that's when everyone else wanted to show up and start landing.
BUt we worked it out - I was ready to extend downwind, but didn't need to do that. In the confusion (at the point of the downwind/base turn) I had raised my nose to extend the downwind. When I didn't have to do that, I turned, but my nose was still a bit high, bleeding off some airspeed. I caught that, though, and lowered the nose and kept on truckin', same as it ever was. Made my turn onto final - was tweaking the power to stay where I wanted to be, then went back to idle and went on down there where the runway is. Rounded out, kept following the sink with more elevator and the next thing ya know, I'd landed the dang airplane! Wheeeeeeeeee!I didn't start shaking until I turned it off over at the hangar. Then I could hardly write my time in the flight log. But I did it, and sonofagun, I feel like a huge weight has been taken off of me! Now it's about consistency, because I know that I can do it - heck, I've gone and done it!
Thanks for all the help, y'all - you're a great resource!
