Emergency landing

9/27/03 - Two flights with T.

First takeoff was perfect! Boxed the wake well; it took quite a bit of aileron to get out of a vortex. Straight stalls, turning stalls, sequential slow 720's just above stall speed. No lift (early in the day) - just a little bubble as we flew through a small flock of crows at about 1500'. Near-perfect landing, but a bit short. Gotta remember to pull the stick back after touchdown!

Second flight, I was expecting T to pull a rope break but he instead had the tow plane wave me off at 300'. My first simulated emergency landing was pretty good - I kept speed up in the turns, and got back with plenty of height, although the ground definitely looks close! The only issues I had: I misread the runways and was heading too far right until T pointed out the space between the correct runways; T detected a slight crosswind and was pushing the upwind wing down, but I kept trying to level it out. Other than that, it went pretty well. He said I did about 85% of the landing and was in control of the plane all the way.

Unusual attitudes, turning slip

9/6/03 - Two flights with T.

First takeoff, I let the left wing drop a bit and he had to help. Second takeoff was perfect.

First flight, we did forward and turning stalls, combined turns (rollout from one turn into the next), and a couple of "unusual attitude recoveries" where T did a turning stall and I had to diagnose and recover. No problem, I applied full opposite rudder and then neutralized the stick and it pulled out great.

We descended through the wake - quite a bit of roll to counter!

On approach, we were high, so T talked me through a slipping turn to final, which worked really well. Approach was smooth, speed was good. I think I flared it a bit late and we might have bounced a little bit, and I used the wheel brake a bit too firmly, but otherwise good approaches and landings. I had thought I might be rusty after four weeks missed, but things went really well.