Runway 25 was in use which was good - I think there are better landmarks to follow on this side. Barrie did praise my ability to keep the downwind leg on target despite the wind - thank goodness for Hawley Lake, though he was good enough to point out I should be using the runway as reference. The wind was very strong and after take-off I over corrected and ended up further into the wind that I'd intended.
Because the wind was so strong from the south the time to complete various parts of the circuit changed - crosswind took longer and base was much shortened. This meant plenty of time to finish the initial climb, but an early turn onto final to anticipate the wind effect. Barrie pointed out that we should be aiming for an imagined centre line extending from the runway, joining at an appropriate distance from the runway.
The other thing we can consider is extending the downwind by about five more seconds. This fits in quite nicely with what Alan Bramson says in his book Make Better Landings - recommended by my MD.
Barrie re-inforced checking power at a couple of points in the circuit:-
- levelling off after the initial climb
- on base leg after setting flaps
He re-iterated that I should get used to setting power based on the sound of the engine and then verify with the gauge.
After we landed Barrie gave me a debrief covering the notes above. He also mentioned that the wind got up to 15 kts.
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