One Hit, One Miss

I had a great lesson with Steve on Wednesday. The conditions were okay if somewhat cross windy. We were flying from runway 25 in Tango Echo - a good combination for me. Steve had me book out on the phone and there was some friendly chatting with Jamie in the tower. I did almost all of the radio work and was praised for my circuit shapes. All went well including approaches - until the actual landing. The first two were heavy and off centre and as a result Steve told me to practise going around. Cross wind landings need more practise, but I felt pretty pleased with myself as Steve was quiet for most of the circuit. Today I actually feel I'm getting closer to that solo.

As a result I booked a last minute lesson with Barrie for Friday [today]. Of course the weather was terrible with very strong gusts and so Barrie cancelled. It is with new resolve that I plan to study for Air Law this weekend. Let's get that swine out of the way!

I've exchanged a couple of messages on Facebook with Tony. He's teaching in Florida now and is keen for me to go over there once I have my license. Frankly there isn't much I'd rather do flying wise. Texas was very freeing and I'd love to fly in the States again.

Fear of the Ground

I had a very good lesson with Barrie on Friday. It was bright and overcast with a layer of cloud at 3000ft. Wind was around almost straight down the runway at 10 kts and we were using runway 07 - not my traditional favourite though it worked out pretty well today.  There wasn't much messing around, alpha check and we were off. I entirely missed the pre-flight power checks while Barrie tried to sort out some static on the radio. Oops. The first circuit was a bit rough and the second was marred by somebody in a C152 cutting in front of us not leaving much room and forcing a bit of slow flight to let him land. My circuits were okay and my setup and approach seemed to be working. However once again my tendency to pull back on the stick while on finals rises its head again - too slow and too low. Barrie told me it's quite common - the instinct to pull away from the ground as one gets close. He came up with the idea to put his hand behind the stick to stop me if I pull back. After a couple of circuits it started to work and I had a great lesson. Anyway here's G-BPTE waiting for me.

It must be time to try again

I hadn't flown since September - what on earth stopped me? Fear of exams? Fear of getting better? The weather over the winter has been terrible and I don't imagine I'd have got that much flying in, but that's no excuse.

I have to take Air Law and Human Factors exams. Still.

Anyway I had a lesson a couple of weeks ago and another on Friday. Tony has moved on from Blackbushe and now lives in Florida so I have new flying instructors. I had met them and seen them around - it's a small club. I flew with Steve the first week and Barrie on Friday. Two quite different styles but I hope between them they can get the point across.

I'm back in the circuit which feels familiar. There is quite a workload as usual and I have got much out of practice. The weather was at least awesome on Friday:

My lesson with Steve last week included some crosswind landings - I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that yet, lets get back into the swing eh?