Turns and stalls

6/7/03 - June Gloom. Overcast skies for a while, and a haze that never really lifted. No wind at first. Thermals never broke through the inversion layer. That's OK for me to practice turns, stalls etc.

Flew two 24-minute lessons with T - he's great to fly with! I did the second takeoff. I kept the wings fairly level, but used the rudder backwards, so T corrected. Tow was pretty good. Turns - MUCH better! Since last lessons, I've read up on initiating vs. establishing the turn, centering the rudder during the turn. Very smooth turns, although I do let the speed drop down to 40 kt sometimes. I did some steeper banked turns than before.

We did a couple of straight stalls, in which I nosed down too much instead of neutralizing the stick. T demonstrated turning stalls. He also demonstrated a very steeply banked, high-speed imminent stall, making the point that a glider can stall at any speed or any attitude.

I flew my first landings - T said I flew about 85% of them, and he corrected the attitude just a bit. I think I flew it on the ground pretty well, keeping wings level and remembering to pull the brake. The final few seconds are when I am fuzzy, trying to learn how much airbrake and when to sense the ground effect and flare.

I'm up to 10 flights, 4 hours logged. Still a bit tense, but I had fun!