Sunday, July 03, 2016

Flying Lesson #64 - The Landing Improvement Process

Today the forecast was for pattern work with landings, landings and more landings.

On the initial takeoff I did a soft field which was going really well, right up until the time the aircraft that took off from 9R decided to do a left crosswind departure right in front of us on 9L as we were climbing out.

To say there was inappropriate separation would be an understatement. Not sure if the controller goofed up or the pilot did an early turn. Either way it was closer than it should have been. Later the same controller gave a plane permission to takeoff as we were coming in on final. The pilot of that plane held off on the takeoff until we were down and then on our way again. This controller seems to like the sequencing to be pretty tight. perhaps a bit too tight.

Then it was on to flying the pattern and my patterns are meeting Ray's expectations - not too wide and properly squared off with excellent altitude control. I did some soft field landing practice, followed by no flap forward slip landings. I apparently did it quite well, none were bouncers, every single one was pretty darn smooth, and I'm feeling a lot better about my landings.

Next up, Ray is going to start giving me practice check-rides and polishing up maneuvers for the test. Feeling pretty good right now.

That's 10 landings and 1.0 in the books.

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