We also had a little time left after stalls and executed some turns about a point.  I had just read about them the day before, so I knew the concept, which really helps in digesting the instruction.  I think I picked it up pretty quickly.  I wasn’t nearly satisfied with my performance, but they sure are enjoyable.  I look forward to practicing them more.  Next time we’ll do S-turns across a road.

I am easily understanding why airmen that fly “low and slow” enjoy it more than just the shortest distance between two points.  It’s the difference between the Interstate and the back roads.  So it seems that after I get my license I’m going to have to find access to at least three different types at some time or another: a 6-seater, a 4-seater, and a low-and-slow 2 seater.

One thing I’m struggling with is scanning for other airplanes.  In some cases, I have spotted other airplanes very far off, sometimes far enough off that T can’t even see them until they are much closer.  In other cases, though, I feel like I am glancing around the horizon without seeing anything.  In one lesson, we were surprised by an airplane.  She was not close enough to require any evasive action, but the surprise is not a good feeling.  It is a reminder to be vigilant.

T demonstrated a power off stall and then we practiced one together.  By the second stall, I was no longer getting the stomach in your throat sensation and by the third or fourth stall, I was responding quickly and properly to the stall.  We proceeded with power off turning stalls.  We talked about the reasons for practicing stalls: proficiency and confidence, but most importantly the ability to land by stalling the aircraft just inches above the ground.

T allowed me to call the tower to announce that we were inbound and then to report our entry into the traffic pattern, “Oshkosh tower, seven zero gulf reporting two mile right base for runway one eight.”

“Seven zero gulf, you are cleared to land.”

“Seven zero gulf, cleared to land.”

Again, T extended my control on the landing, this time all the way through the landing with bits of assistance and instruction.

On the way home I stopped at Cousin’s to buy a sandwich for C and myself.  You know you’ve just got done flying when the cashier at Cousin’s hands you your receipt and says, “Here’s your receipt, and your order number is two-eighteen,” and you read the order number back to her, “two-eighteen, thank you.”

I was able to do everything on my own, from pre-flight through climb-out, without assistance or correction or reminder.  That felt good.  It means that the practice and studying are paying off.  After practicing some more turns at minimum controllable airspeed — with and without flaps — we flew down to Fond Du Lac.  Along the way, we practiced correcting for wind by maintaining a course along a road, finding the correct crab angle by trial and error.  At Fond Du Lac, we flew into the traffic pattern, flew a low approach, and departed thence to Oshkosh.  With each flight, I seems am able to handle a little more of the landing.  This time, I was more or less in control (with T’s assistance) up till flare, but I tried to flare way too early so T made the necessary corrections for a smooth landing.

You could write it off as accidental or just one line or poor writing or whatever, and that would be fine, but yesterday I picked up Delirious’ next record, Kingdom of Comfort, and discovered this gem, “…and I’ll pay the price because my gain is someone else’s loss.”  Well, there you have it folks — clear Marxism in a Delirious song.  What can I do except write about it?  So let us examine the matter, because every now and then we encounter this confusion between Christianity and Marxism/Communism and every now and then someone has to clear it up.

(more…)

We demonstrated clearing turns, worked on banking directly into a 45 degree turn.  After a little practice, we flew down to Princeton and found Red’s Marsh Farm.  It’s easy enough to spot from the air because of the snake-shaped canal.  Heading back to Wittman, T had me call the tower to announce our position and the tower instructed us to enter left downwind for runway 9 and call back at midfield, but he gave us clearance to land before we asked, so of course I missed it till T pointed it out to me.  Then I had to reach back and remember what he said so I could read back the clearance.  T instructed me on the turn to base and then to final and again had me follow along below about 200′ AGL.  That maneuver is getting more comfortable, but I would like a lot more practice at it.  Actually, I am getting comfortable enough with everything that I can now see where I need more practice.  I still need practice on everything, but the practice isn’t as taxing as before, in fact it’s more fun, so I can’t wait for the next chance.

I have become excited not only about the prospect of flying, but about the challenge that learning this skill is presenting to my brain.  I had forgotten what it is like to learn something so new.  Learning to drive a car was not a fraction of this challenge and I do not believe I have ever in my life poured myself so heartily into learning something new.

I arrived early to the lesson and preflighted the ship on my own.  When T arrived, he quizzed me on information from lesson 1 and my reading assignments, including the C-172S Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH).

After the pre-startup checklist, T allowed me to request clearance from the tower and then taxi to runway 27.  He pointed out that a sign of excellence is taxiing on the yellow line, and not to the side of it.  I shall have to work on that.  Talking to the tower is intimidating at first because you don’t want to misspeak, although I would bet the controllers are more forgiving with students than you would at first think.  But I don’t know.  At any rate, I rehearsed the first call thrice with T and it went just fine.  I hesitated on the acknowledgment of the takeoff clearance because there was a bunch of stuff after the clearance that I didn’t catch.  But again, it went fine.

T had me take off too.  That’s relatively easy.  “It’s like a fast taxi.”

Since I had just come from Rush Lake and a family gathering, we departed West again and headed for Rush Lake where we practiced coordinated turns, demonstrated skidding and slipping turns, and then practiced coordinated turns some more.  So we flew over Rush Lake from all four points of the compass.

We demonstrated five basic pitch and power combinations and the kinds of climbs, descents, and cruises they will produce:

• Climb
• Cruise
• Cruise Descent
• Approach to Land Flaps Up
• Approach to Land Flaps Down

In lesson 1, T told me when to begin each step in leveling off to hit an altitude or when to begin rolling out of a turn.  This time, he just told me the steps and then which altitude to level off at or which direction to turn to and allowed me to learn by trial and error when to begin each of the steps to level off or roll out.  T has continued to suggest reading material and provide documentation about these things.   One of the documents is the aircraft checklist.  I appreciate this checklist because it is quite thorough, but it does take a novice quite a while to get through it.

Before this lesson I was ready to go flying for hours, but T was right; after an hour, I was physically tired from focusing and learning and taking in all of the stimuli.  Like any skill, though, endurance and ease will come with experience.  This is what I call fun.