Saturday, January 31, 2004

Second instructor not convinced :-)

1/31/04 - One checkout flight with a CFI, wherein (after a pretty good but not perfect takeoff) he had the towplane wave us off at 1,000'. I correctly interpreted, adjusted my pattern, and did a good landing into a slight headwind. The only real comments he had were about not going too fast on downwind, not giving up height with spoilers until on base leg, and not rounding out the base-final legs. He gave me the go-ahead for solo.

Next flight: perfect takeoff, nice flight although I keep getting a little slack on tow now and then. Not much lift, but some zero sink and a few turns of 1kt lift. Had I remembered to look under dark clouds, I probably could have found more. Nice turns - well coordinated, need to work a bit on speed control, and I probably didn't bank very steeply. Very fun.

Landing was PERFECT!! Touched down very smoothly just inside the box, remembered to put the stick back, stopped gently in about 200' (!) and angled to the right side. Even CFI said it was excellent! Very exciting and satisfying!!

I won't be flying at home for the next two weeks, as we're going on vacation. I might set up for a lesson in New Orleans.

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