Sunday, August 15, 2010

Lesson 8 - Progressing in the Circuit

Yet another lesson in the circuit.  Circuits will be a common theme on this blog for a while so I hope I don't bore you too much.

After last lesson's heady pace, I talked to the instructor I was flying with today and let him know I'd like to do full stops between the first few circuits.  Doing a full stop means that you land the plane fully and have a bit of time on the ground to regroup and discuss the set up and landing before going again.  I'm glad I spoke up today because the breaks in between helped me to relax somewhat over the full on touch and goes that I did last time.

Going well:  take off, climb to 200' and lowering flaps, turn onto crosswind leg at 500', radio call on downwind leg, downwind checks, initial set up.

Needs work:  judging when to turn base, lining up the runway, maintaining 65 knots, flaring, and touching down softly.

You may remember that I was having trouble with taxiing...  Having driven a car for so many years, the nerves associated with taxiing an aircraft took me by surprise but now I realise is that it's so different from driving a car that I shouldn't compare the two.  Anyway, taxiing is becoming more and more controlled; I have adjusted my sitting position so I can adequately control the rudder and brakes and be comfortable.  I think within the next few lessons it will start to become second nature. 

On a different note, I bought some red and white rhinestones to bling my headset!  Exciting :)

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