Did some touch and goes this morning, but was unable to go up solo. There was a broken cloud layer at 700 feet moving over the airport. Which is below the minimums required for me to go up solo.
Had some good touch and goes though…
We're going to try again Monday morning.
Today I had my pre-solo stage check, check ride. I met with another instructor here who is a designated check airman.
Basically it was an extended pre-brief, with an hour flight. We talked about aircraft systems, and a little bit about some FAR's. After answering all of his questions, I grabbed a plane, and did the performance and weight and balance.
From here it was a very normal flight. After all the pre-flight check was complete, we departed out north along the coast line. I did some clearing turns, a radio call, and set up for some maneuvers. I couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions. The air was smooth, trim was perfect, sky was clear. Did some slow flight, and power on, power off stalls. I haven't nailed those as perfectly as I did today. Standards say +/- 100 feet, +/- 10 knots, oh no. It was perfect every time. Kept altitude, kept my airspeed. Oh it was like flying bliss.
Came back into the pattern for some touch and goes. First one we had a very short base to final, and once we crossed the numbers we were way too fast, and still high. I called the go-around, and we came back for another, this was right on.
At this time the wind had shifted a little, so they switched us to another runway. Our first approach to this one, we were too high again. I extended a little on downwind, and threw out all my flaps on base. Once I swung onto final, I was still too high. No big deal, did a forward slip, and I swear it was the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Kept it in the slip all the way to the numbers. Swung the nose to centerline, and flared. I could have cried it was so awesome.
We did one last landing. This one was nearly textbook. Approach was good, right on glide slope on final. Good way to end the flight.
Overall he said I had very good aircraft control, my comm skills were great, landings were awesome.
Tomorrow morning after a quick flight with my instructor, I will be going up solo!
I have finished my Cadet written, and my pre-solo written.
The Cadet written is basically a test on aircraft procedures and checklists. This is a FlightSafety test, and was pretty long.
The pre-solo written was way longer than the original one I took when I first solo'ed. It had a lot of extra questions on it, and seemed a little excessive for a pre-solo test. Not a big deal I guess, but just weird they would require so much for it.
Tomorrow is lesson 8, and I think lesson 10 is my stage check for solo.
I had an early morning flight today, that went so perfectly.
I nailed steep turns perfectly. Stalls, slow flight, ground ref. All the maneuvers just fell together for me today.
My instructor actually used the words "If this was your checkride, you would have a rating today."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm super psyched. I'm getting really comfortable talking with the tower. I was nervous about it at first, and I'm getting back into it again. Things are really coming together.
By next week I should be ready to solo, and I'm aiming to have my Private rating done before Thanksgiving!
After a day in Orlando with my parents, and some quality time at Disney World, I'm getting started with regular flights.
I met my new instructor today, Jeff. Nice guy, very smart, and a good teacher.
Today was lesson 3 for me, we did some slow flight- steep turns, and power on/power off stalls. Getting the procedure down is harder than the actual maneuver for me. I'm still unfamiliar with the checklists and how to set up the maneuvers.
The only thing I didn't like about my lesson today- was he took the controls from me on final once. There was a lot of traffic in the pattern, and we had to shorten our base to final approach. Instead of just letting me lose altitude quickly, which I could have done, he took the controls and brought us down to glide slope. I didn't like that, I'm perfectly capable of handling that situation.
No big deal, if it happens again, I will mention it.
Other than that it was a great flight, and I'm really getting the hang of the plane.