Lesson 15 consisted of more takeoffs and landings practice.  Today was a pretty nice winter day and the winds were from 330 at about 5 knots, so there wasn’t much side slipping required on the landings.  Again, we ran a few takeoffs and landings on runway 27 and then a few more on runway 36.  There was a simulated engine failure and a forced go-around for practice, which I think I handled competently.  That was about the extent of the lesson.

I think I am finally starting to feel the flare and time it correctly.  I ballooned once, but it was minor and I did the right thing to correct it.  Also, I believe my precision was back up to previous levels and may be improving again.  I still have some work to do on crosswind landings, but today, all of my landings were pretty soft, so I’m ecstatic.

Finally, we were able to take to the skies again.  The weather has been crummy all December so I guess we just had to wait till January of Aught-Nine and I’ll tell you one thing, it was a gorgeous day — bright sunshine and crisp air, but breezy.  There was a 30 foot long snow drift in front of the hangar so we started by shoveling a path for the airplane.  Upon starting the engine, I noticed immediately that I had failed to latch the left cowling hatch.  Apparently, waiting till the last minute to unplug the engine heater threw me off my game.  One must remember that when his routine is disrupted, he can forget simple things.  Most likely I shan’t forget that item again though.

The winds were from 290 at 9-10 knots so we took off on 27 and there wasn’t much of a crosswind.  We began the lesson by heading out to the practice area and trying out some sideslips and then some forward slips. Well, that was an adventure.  In coordinated flight, you always feel pushed straight down into your seat, but in a side slip and especially in a forward slip, your really are thankful for you seat belt and sometimes you use the OCHO (O Crud Hang On) handle.  After getting the hang of slips — which are relatively easy at 2200′ AGL — we headed back to KOSH for some touch-and-go practice.

We started on runway 27 and I could tell I was a little rusty from not having flown in three weeks.  The flares just weren’t coming back naturally.   In fact, I ballooned twice.  Also, on one takeoff, I got confused about holding aeleron against the wind and drifted to the right of the runway.  I think T may have explained something to me a little different than he had originally, but my mental lapse was just one of those things that happens to you when you’ve got more information trying to get into your brain than it is trained to process.  Well, we practiced a few more on 27 but since the winds were at 10 knots, it was prime time for some crosswind takeoff and landing practice, so we switched over to runway 36.

Crosswind takeoffs are a challenge.  You have to use your side slipping technique so that you can keep the airplane moving in a straight line (holding position on the ground but slipping into the wind) and still pointed straight down the runway.  You do this by lowing the windward wing and using opposite rudder to keep the airplane from turning.  Mostly there is a lot of hand and foot movement to get the position correct but you have to constantly adjust for wind and your position on the runway.  This is just a skill that will require a lot of practice.

The rust on my skills was also apparent in a generally lower level of precision.  For example, I did not hold altitude as well this lesson as last.  In the last lesson I generally stayed withing 20′ of pattern altitude, but this time I was sometimes more than 100′ above or below the pattern altitude.  Correcting these is just headwork, but sometimes that’s the hardest thing.  As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

It has been quite some time, but last week I encountered another toilet talker.  To be specific, he was a toilet whisperer, and no, I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.  I just laughed on the inside.

Why the furnace quit working last week:

Lesson 13 was more practice takeoff and landing.  We practiced several on runway 18 and then moved over to 27 to practice cross-wind.  I was able to handle all of the flying without any correction or assistance.   The first few landings, I over-controlled and was pumping the elevators a lot during the flare, but during the last few, I finally got the hang of things and the flares were relatively smooth.  On cross-wind landings, I need to work on two things: 1. Continue to hold aileron against the wind after landing and increase it as the airplane slows down.  2.  Side-slip into the wind.  This is a skill I have just started to use so I will need to get a feel for it.

During December so far every other lesson has been cancelled due to weather, so hopefully we can get a better streak going in the second half of the month.

It was about 7:15 on Saturday morning and a doe and two fawn showed up about 100 yards away at the end of the marsh to the east of Island Two.  They browsed for a few minutes and I thought maybe I should shoot the doe, but since I hadn’t made up my mind before-hand, I decided to pass.  They walked away.  About fifteen minutes later, I saw a small 6-pointer booking it from Island One towards Island Two.  I decided right away to pass him up and it was a good thing because as soon as he got abreast of me, a beautiful 8-pointer appeared, also trying to get somewhere fast.  In my estimation, they were running from something (a hunter), not to something (a doe).  Well, all I saw was that long rear tine and decided he was a shooter.  I couldn’t find him in the scope at first because he was moving through thick brush and I had my scope on high power.  When he was right in the middle of my shooting lane, he paused to scan to his rear so I put the crosshairs on the middle of his left shoulder and squeezed.  He ran about fifteen yards, stumbled in thick underbrush, and expired.

He is my biggest buck to date.  I wouldn’t call him a monster, but he was called by various members of our party “really nice,” “a fat pig,” and “a bruiser.”  Anyway, he is a symmetrical 8-pointer with a 17″-plus spread. His rack is thin for it’s width and height, but here is an interesting dimple in the left main beam, probably damage caused while in velvet.  There was also a hole in the left side of his chest.  It was definitely not caused by a bullet or broadhead because there was no damage inside of his chest and the hole went all the way through his chest wall.  So we guessed it was a battle wound.

By way of protocol, LK and I discussed the matter of mounting and decided that anytime you harvest your largest buck to date, you have a right to have a shoulder mount made without being questioned or harassed by your party.  Moreover, you have a responsibility to have him mounted in some fashion.  Keep that in your clip for future use. I have decided to have a European mount made.  A European mount is when you mount just the skull and antlers.

Here are a few pictures.

Lesson 12 was the third straight session practicing takeoffs and landings.  Again, we reviewed pattern procedures, talked over a couple of questions, and then went flying.  We took off on runway 22, which was directly into the wind and a runway I hadn’t used before.  We headed straight for Fond du Lac (KFLD) and I got my first experience landing there and landing on an uncontrolled airport.  Using the CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency) was interesting.  There really isn’t much to it.  You just announce your position approaching the field, and then on the downwind leg, base leg, and final leg.  Also funny (funny “huh”) was that KFLD was busier than KOSH at the time.  A Citation and a Skywagon landed after our first and second touch-and-go respectively.  So the CTAF can work pretty well too.

Well, things went reasonably well at KFLD.  We headed back up to KOSH and ran two more touch and goes and one final landing there.  I think I’m beginning to get the hang of landing and can’t wait to get out and do it again.

In lesson 11, we practiced more takeoffs and landings.  This is what you do leading up to your solo, so I’m just a touch nervous about that. I thought I would be overconfident leading up to my solo, but after two sessions of touching and going, I realize I need a lot of practice.  Because the winds were from 330 at 12 knots, we took off from runway 36.  It was my first time using that runway for a takeoff.  We practiced three stop and go patterns and then one simulated power failure on takeoff.  Even though you know it’s just practice and you have plenty of runway left (KOSH 18-36 is 8000 feet long) it sure gets your heart pumping.  Because we were then at the North end of 18-36, we asked the tower for permission to use 31 for further touch-and-gos.  We practiced several of these on 31, which was a little easier to use, being more directly into the wind, but a bit of a different challenge since you couldn’t use the roads as a reference to fly a rectangular pattern.  I think I did a fair job of that.

T mentioned again that my radio work was good.  I guess talking well on the radio doesn’t make you a good pilot — although maybe it indicates a healthy lack of tension — but I mention it because I did have an interesting thing happen during one of the patterns on 31.  I announced my position to the tower at midfield downwind and I heard a crackle or two from the tower but then no answer.  I figured her mic button got stuck, so I waited maybe 20 seconds, and then called again and she gave clearance to land.  No worries.

My landings were just about as wild as during the first session but towards the end of the session, I started to figure out when to begin to slow the descent of the plane and how quickly to slow the rate of descent.  I am going to have to practice not staring at one spot on the runway.  They say that helps your depth perception.

The artificial horizon was fixed and from the last lesson I realized I could fly just as well without it so I didn’t check it as much.

In lesson 10, T started off by reviewing a few emergency procedures and then we went flying right away.  Our Cessna had just finished her annual inspection and her artificial horizon wasn’t working.  This is not a required instrument for VFR flight so we went on without it.  I didn’t realize that I would miss that instrument, but I found out that I almost always check it after establishing a turn to see what my bank angle is…interesting.  Well, we practiced several takeoffs and landings on KOSH runway 27.  There was plenty of wind and with it, turbulence, so I never really felt confident and my landings were all over the place, but I did think I was at least getting the hang of the traffic pattern.  After a few landings at Oshkosh, we left the pattern and hopped up to Appleton.  It was my first time landing on KATW and naturally it was exciting to land on an airport whence I have flown commercially.  We hopped back down to Oshkosh and landed, thus ending the lesson.  All in all, it was enjoyable.

As near as I can tell, the trick will be seeing the runway properly and getting my eyes and brain to properly interpret the sight picture of the ground coming up to and at me.

On Sunday, when I asked the boys who wanted to go bowhunting, B piped up immediately, “me!”  As he put it the next morning, “I called it first.”  So we went bowhunting on Monday morning.  I had pretty low expections, but B woke up right away and was ready to get dressed and go.  When we got up in the stand, he got pretty antsy right away and was alternately cold and hungry and then out to the field to pee.  Lo, right after he got back, there were a young doe and her fawn walking right up to us.  We watched as they browsed around.  The fawn saw us and was a little more nervous and trotted off right away, but the doe hung around and walked right up to our stand.  B related later that she was stomping the ground a lot.  So he was observant.  We took a picture of the doe but didn’t shoot her because although we need to earn a buck, she was small enough to have been a buck fawn and we also wanted a bigger doe.