Flight Lesson № 39
Wednesday, August 01, 2018
I'm still keeping up my determination to get to solo this week. They shouldn't, but the extra little papers in my logbook make me feel like I have more flying power. Even if no one else believes I can fly, those little papers do, and student pilots can't be picky whom their allies are. With that, I came to today's lesson all set on smoothing out my flares.
As my luck would have it, there was wind. There's wind every afternoon at KPAO. It's not like it surprises me, but I spend most of my time going around thinking, gee, wouldn't it be nice if I stumbled upon a pool of good luck? Wouldn't it be nice if I didn't have to work at this, but just by virtue of sleeping and getting out of bed, I could get some new skills? Could that be today?
No, it would not be today. And it probably wouldn't be that nice either. It'd be pretty boring.
6 kts crosswind component is right near the club limit for solo student pilots, but it is within limits and I should be able to deal with this stuff.
The first landing I bounced and ended up pointing leeward. Oof. Not dealing. The second landing I drifted way off centerline and went around. Third one, Rimas demonstrated. Fourth and fifth, we tried a continuous base to final turn which felt way more stable, but staying straight still had a lot of over correction. Sixth landing I started to really get a feel for it. Seventh one was perfect and I decided to end on a high note.
I felt more progress this lesson than in a long time. I think things are clicking as far as handling crosswinds. The old points I still need to remind myself of during landing:
- Look down the runway during the flare.
- Small crosswind corrections. Input, then wait.
- Look through my side of the nose, all the way through rollout.
- Rudder swings the nose, ailerons side step the plane.
- Elevator continually back during flare.
We fly again tomorrow. Hopefully today's progress sticks. If tomorrow's a good lesson, I'd feel ready for the phase check.
- Flight Hours: Δ0.9 Σ39.4
- KPAO 012347Z 34012KT 10SM SKC 23/15 A2995