Hmm, where shall I start.... Today was beautiful out, and work was slow, so it made sense to me to make the best of my lesson. I arrived a few minutes ahead of time and preflighted the plane. There was a NOTAM for runway/taxiway line painting at the field and they are out there with one of the lineman, but planes are still in the pattern and working well with the guys.
We briefly discussed the plan for the day with landings and how things have been since the last lesson and then I started up and began to taxi.
We moved down to the runup area and decided to go do some manouvers for 25-30 minutes to give them some space to stripe the center taxi area and some of the on/off lines of the runway. This worked out well, since I need some manouvers for my Flight Review, and when we returned they would be taking lunch.
I flew to the practice area where we did steep turns left and right, slow flight, power on and two power off stalls, dutch rolls, and an engine out. All went pretty smoothly and this plane sure is a lot of fun. Visibility was 50+ out, and great blue sky everywhere. From the Pottstown power plant we could see the Delaware Bay and the Power plant down there, easily.
This ate up some time and we made our way back to the airport. I flew the pattern and had nice approaches today. Wind was calm, but maybe a slight wind aloft at pattern from the north east. Still, 24 was being used, giving a light cross wind till down below the tree line and then it was calm at the surface. I made a nice 3 point landing the first time, but ever so slightly mis-alighned and had to dance some more to keep her straight and going down the runway. The other landings was MUCH better, and on one we ended up having a slight tailwind as we ended up floating a little down the runway, but I kept her aligned nicely on centerline and just kept the power out while she settled down to the runway.
Unfortunately, I soon needed to call it quits, as it was nearing the end of my allowed lunch break. I taxied back up to the parking area and shut down, and he congratulated me! He said he was confident in my abilities and I've demonstrated the knowledge and handling of the airplane, and he would endorse my logbook!! NICE
He encourages me to continue with tailwheel occasionally and keep up the good work. I was not expecting this, so I told him I wanted another lesson at a minimum to do some more wheel landings, so we booked for Tuesday afternoon. He thought that was great, and he could bring the chutes too for tuesday or sometime soon, As I have already told him I wanted to do some spin training and maybe some light acro. I still had him endorse my logbook though
Time to change my signature,... to Tailwheel Endorsement - May 2010!
Good on You, Rob. Congrats!
