onwards
Pattern Altitude
So I am now PP ASEL, high performance, complex. Got that last bit today in our club's 182rg.
Kinda crazy to think back to December 2010 when I took my first demo flight / lesson, and was thinking "no way I am ever landing one of these things myself".
The reason I thought of that was that my landings sucked royally today. I mean, I did put the plane down on centerline and all, not hard, and there wasn't any real drama, but on both crosswinds I had the wrong wing up. Not sure why, but something got fried in my brain between my flights yesterday with the kids to the CA state fair in over 100 degree weather, and the checkout for the complex endorsement today in the RG, also in 100+ degree weather. My CFI suggested politely that I might want to go practice some crosswinds soon. I didn't have the nerve to tell him that only yesterday I chose on purpose to land on runway 14 instead of a perfectly suitable 32 with the winds 270 at 10, just to get some practice in unusual wind conditions. It was fun in the sense that it's very atypical not to carry power in the flare with the 182 (it drops fast) but the tail wind made it so.
But somewhere my brain just left the building today. Left crosswind - right wing down. Twice. What I need a cold cold drink.
But hey, I can do retracts now. Whoo.
Kinda crazy to think back to December 2010 when I took my first demo flight / lesson, and was thinking "no way I am ever landing one of these things myself".
The reason I thought of that was that my landings sucked royally today. I mean, I did put the plane down on centerline and all, not hard, and there wasn't any real drama, but on both crosswinds I had the wrong wing up. Not sure why, but something got fried in my brain between my flights yesterday with the kids to the CA state fair in over 100 degree weather, and the checkout for the complex endorsement today in the RG, also in 100+ degree weather. My CFI suggested politely that I might want to go practice some crosswinds soon. I didn't have the nerve to tell him that only yesterday I chose on purpose to land on runway 14 instead of a perfectly suitable 32 with the winds 270 at 10, just to get some practice in unusual wind conditions. It was fun in the sense that it's very atypical not to carry power in the flare with the 182 (it drops fast) but the tail wind made it so.
But somewhere my brain just left the building today. Left crosswind - right wing down. Twice. What I need a cold cold drink.
But hey, I can do retracts now. Whoo.