Winged Chef
Filing Flight Plan
First lesson after 2 1/2 years:
The day dawned rainy and windy, and I thought my return would be scrubbed. I called just befor leaving for the airport, and we were still a go, my instructor said he was just up and it would be fine, its not as bad as it looked.
So we go thru a short briefing, do the pre-flight and off we go. Thankfully he worked the comm, gave me less to concentrate on. Next time I'm going to be 'live.' Boy was it windy, 20 knt steady and because a cold front just moved thru it was quatering from the 270* to 320*.
We take off and it felt like being a cork dangling on a string, just hanging in the air and blown all over the place. Was the worst T/O I have ever done. Just couldn't keep the nose pointed straight ahead.
We fly out to the practice area and did some basic maneuvers. Slow flight, power on and off stalls, steep turns. He commented that my previous instructor must have hammered me on altitude control, because he thought I was very good at it. Truth was, I was within 300 feet high/low, I never did feel like I was ahead of the plane.
Returned for landing and I never did spot the airport, partially because the sight picture was all backwards. First RWY 23 is a right pattern, a first for me, second, we didn't enter the pattern at a 45* downwind, we were at a heading of 130* so we made headdin for 50* before turning base.
Now here is wher it got exciting. I hadn't done crosswind landings before, and I was 'fighting' for the centerline crabbed into the wind, bouncing all over the place. Truth be known, I didn't know what I was trying to do to get down. Sure didn't feel like a stablized approach.
All in all my instructor felt fairly impressed by my skills. I was mostly within the PTS on most of my maneuvers. His biggest critique was about my lack of use of right rudder most of the lesson. Personally I felt the plane was out of balance, flying straight and level I shouldn't need a touch of right rudder at all times, should I?
This is a journey, a learning experience, I have 3 lessons booked for next week and one the following week. I have lots of studying to do.
Boy is this FUN!!
The day dawned rainy and windy, and I thought my return would be scrubbed. I called just befor leaving for the airport, and we were still a go, my instructor said he was just up and it would be fine, its not as bad as it looked.
So we go thru a short briefing, do the pre-flight and off we go. Thankfully he worked the comm, gave me less to concentrate on. Next time I'm going to be 'live.' Boy was it windy, 20 knt steady and because a cold front just moved thru it was quatering from the 270* to 320*.
We take off and it felt like being a cork dangling on a string, just hanging in the air and blown all over the place. Was the worst T/O I have ever done. Just couldn't keep the nose pointed straight ahead.
We fly out to the practice area and did some basic maneuvers. Slow flight, power on and off stalls, steep turns. He commented that my previous instructor must have hammered me on altitude control, because he thought I was very good at it. Truth was, I was within 300 feet high/low, I never did feel like I was ahead of the plane.
Returned for landing and I never did spot the airport, partially because the sight picture was all backwards. First RWY 23 is a right pattern, a first for me, second, we didn't enter the pattern at a 45* downwind, we were at a heading of 130* so we made headdin for 50* before turning base.
Now here is wher it got exciting. I hadn't done crosswind landings before, and I was 'fighting' for the centerline crabbed into the wind, bouncing all over the place. Truth be known, I didn't know what I was trying to do to get down. Sure didn't feel like a stablized approach.
All in all my instructor felt fairly impressed by my skills. I was mostly within the PTS on most of my maneuvers. His biggest critique was about my lack of use of right rudder most of the lesson. Personally I felt the plane was out of balance, flying straight and level I shouldn't need a touch of right rudder at all times, should I?
This is a journey, a learning experience, I have 3 lessons booked for next week and one the following week. I have lots of studying to do.
Boy is this FUN!!