Moving toward the imminent solo flight, we did more practice in the pattern today.
The conditions were marginal. Scattered clouds at 600', overcast ceiling at 1800', light drizzle on the east end of the field, winds 020-040 at 18-22kts. Very challenging conditions.
It was sort of questionable whether we'd fly or not, but Fletch calling it legal I decided I wanted to take it on. I'm taking advantage of this time that I am under the wing of an instructor, enjoying being able to fly without the responsibility of making the go/no go decision, knowing that that responsibility will come soon enough. For now I'm just glad to be able to work so closely with my instructor and learn where the limits are and how you play within the bounds. Questionable as it looked on the ground, we had a great time in the pattern.
We were cleared for an expedited departure on runway 2, with heavy traffic on final behind us as I went through the pre-takeoff checklist while taxiing (fast) onto the runway. Full power, airspeed at 55 and rotate. What a freeing, wonderful feeling to leave the ground and watch as the earth slips away. It's indescribable.
We had a nice lady controller on Maui Tower who was very easy to work with and friendly. We asked for touch and goes on runway 2 whenever possible and were immediately cleared for right traffic runway 2.
We did 8 landings. Again today, it was a mixed bag. It was amazing to me how much better I flew today than last night. Everything was easier. I was able to keep my altitude and airspeed steady, fly better turns and keep track of what was happening on the radio. It was very rewarding.
I had one landing where I flared a little high and got a bounce, but used my airspeed to cushion before we touched down so even that one was not too rough. Several of the landings on 5 (the nasty runway with the big rotor at the threshold) were good enough that I would have been comfortable with Carie in the plane.
I noticed that on that runway, with the berm and trees upwind of the threshold end of the runway...there's a lot of really ugly turbulence and sink and just crappy air as you cross the threshold. I was flying great finals, keeping the plane on the centerline all the way down at 75 kts, looking good for a great landing. Then BAM! Just as we cross the threshold, we drop 200' and get thrown into a 30° bank. Be nice to have a little more than 100' to correct for that, but not here. Do your best to keep the plane flying straight and just keep flying it down to the comfortable spot. In my approaches where I carried a little more speed through the threshold, we floated in ground effect a little farther down the runway. Those were the more gentle landings of the day and I think it was because we were touching down farther down the runway from the junk air.
The advice I got from one of the CFIs at studentpilot.com was terrific. Forget about the control surfaces you're using...just fly the plane to the numbers. I had a much easier time with the slip on final today. Aileron into the wind and opposite rudder to keep the nose on the centerline. More often than not today, I ended up right on the centerline. That was great to see, since practically all of my landings were well off center yesterday.
Progress!
8 landings in .8
Posted by johnpeace at December 4, 2003 05:32 PM