Saturday, August 19, 2017

Flying Lesson #144 - Shaking Off The Rust Of Two Weeks Off

Getting Jet Lag while flying is one thing, flying while jet lagged is another.

This afternoon I went up with Ray. I did a short field takeoff and headed to the north. There I did some turns around a point, slow flight, power off stall and steep turns. All went well.

Then I headed back to Pontiac and was told to setup for a 4 mile final due to traffic. It was a nice long, straight in approach which worked out very nicely with the wind at 310 at 10 knots for a bit of a crosswind and an excellent landing.

I then did another short field takeoff, followed by a short field landing which was decent, then another short field takeoff and what would have been a nice short field but had to go around due to a slower Cessna not getting off the runway in time. No big deal and I'm quite good at go rounds. Then back for a very nice short field landing indeed, followed by a nice soft field takeoff and a soft field landing. I then did another short field takeoff and finished it off with a textbook short field landing that was just beautiful.

Ray said I flew just fine indeed and I'm looking good.

1.5 and 5 landings.

3 comments:

drjim said...

Always good to be back in the cockpit.

I always dreaded "soft field" landings after a buddy came down too hard, and bent the prop on his Cherokee.

I watched him come in, and thought his sink rate was, uhhhh, a bit on the high side.

Sure enough, he compressed the gear all the way, bounced around a bit, and sod was flying everywhere.

I wound up giving him a ride back to his home field.

Old NFO said...

Nicely done!

Aaron said...

drjim: That would be bad. I've done actual soft fields in a 172 and it was rather fun, never done it in a Cherokee though, sounds almost like he confused a short field landing with a soft field.

OldNFO: Thanks!