ohmygoshohmygosh!!
Met with my instructor (Fletch) at 10:15 to review what I'd read then we got on to preflighting the airplane (c-152 Aerobat: N7332L) and going through checklists.
Took off from RWY 2 at OGG around 11:10, climbed to 1000' and flew at a heading of 165 deg for practice area west of Kihei. The practice area was surprisingly close to the RWY 2 approach corridor, kept hearing ATC telling us about 737 traffic on long final for rwy 2, traffic is 737 11 o'clock at 4 miles, etc. I guess too far in the other direction and you get into some nasty air where hte north wind wraps around Makena. Even at only 80kts you can cover terrain (or air) pretty fast.
Practiced pitch and power, climbs, descents, turns. Basic stuff. I had a blast, I was finally flying an airplane!
We wanted to go back and do a touch and go but as we immediately after requesting clearance we weer asked to hold off the coast to wait for 172 traffic on final. That cost us enough time that we just got in line to land. I flew the approach. At 1500' we were lined up on the centerline several miles out waiting for the vasi to show up. As soon as I got a good VASI slope (red/white) it disappeared into a little rain squall between us and the end of the rwy. Heh, the windsreen went rainy for a few seconds and when we popped out we were on the centerline, a little high and almost to the middle marker. Reduce power, pitch for 75-80kts and just wait. I love that the 152 is *really* responsive. Adding power immediately arrests descent...reducing power immediately start a descent, makes those final corrections a little easier. My approach was prefect, I wanted to flare high but Fletch didn't let me. We stuck it on the main gear right past the numbers.
That was the fastest .7 hours of my life.
Next lesson is Tuesday at 8am, I'll keep you posted.
Posted by johnpeace at November 22, 2003 09:54 AM | TrackBack