On Monday after seeing my friend Dave arrive and get his Private Pilot certificate, I sped over to Twin Oaks Airpark to meet up with my instructor Kelly for a few hours of lesson time. I was a bit late, but once I arrived we discussed the lesson for the day (all flight time, with some new navigation stuff that we reviewed). This was basically to be a review flight and a bunch of landing work. Then we got the airplane and headed out.
It was - in a nutshell - a fun day of flying. And the weather was great. There was a wind from the west once aloft, but on the ground things were pretty calm, with only a 3- to 5-knot crosswind tops. A lot of the time it was calm. After completing the run-up and pre-departure checklist, Kelly crossed his feet a little on the floor, said he trusted me (he made a bit of a show of it - good confidence builder) and told me to take off.
We departed Twin Oaks, turned left and made our way to McMinnville. I used the VOR with Kelly's help for the first time. We entered the traffic pattern and headed in for landing number one, a touch and go that was so-so. Then we got back in the air and flew the pattern again, and did an aborted takeoff drill. One more trip around and we decided to stop at the FBO at the airport to grab a cup of coffee and stretch our legs. That was a good idea. Once back in the air we were flying patterns so many times I lost count (but Kelly keeps track of them, so it's all good). Helicopters were flying along the right side of the runway doing training in the grass, which was kind of cool to watch. Other than that there wasn't a whole lot of other air traffic to contend with.
After a couple of simulated engine failures in the pattern and a bunch of "normal approaches" with progressively better landings (and better tracking of the centerline), Kelly flew a slip approach to a landing in order to show it to me, then we flew the pattern again and I stayed high on purpose, then did the slip myself all the way to the runway. Wow, that was crazy. When the plane is slipping, you are pushing the rudder in all the way to the foot with one foot while simultaneously applying aileron pressure in the opposite direction (for example, full right foot, which points the nose to the right, plus left steering, which moves the plane to the left).
The net effect is that the plane flies somewhat sideways and is "slipping" through the air. Your nose is pointed off toward one side of the runway and you're dropping much faster than usual because turning the plane so one side is running into the wind creates quite a bit of drag. So, it's a very effective way to get on the ground quickly if you're high on your approach. It also feels really weird, at the least the first few times.
We made a total of 13 landings, which is a lot, and flew a total of 1.8 hours, which is my longest lesson time yet. I finished the lesson a whole lot more comfortable landing the airplane. I can say I feel confident that I could land the plane on the runway alone if I needed to. And when we got back I was still feeling good. I could have flown quite a bit more time, actually.
Best of all, I felt like I made real, substantial progress. Kelly gave me great feedback, and there were even a couple moments that deserved quick high-fives while flying. When we got back to Twin Oaks, Kelly told me I'm about ready to solo. That will have to wait until I get back from two weeks of travel, though since the rest of my week is tied up and then I head to Spain and Vegas for work. Plus I need to hear back from the FAA on some paperwork, and those two weeks should be just about the right amount of time.
Anyhow, I'm now at 15.8 hours and 72 landings and starting to feel pretty good. Unfortunately since this weekend is Halloween and I live in Oregon, the rainy season will officially be upon us when I get back (Halloween is that calendar event around these parts that marks the start of the wet season). But there will be good days, and I'll be taking full advantage of those whenever I can I hope to keep flying a couple times a week as much as possible to stay proficient and so I can finish the private pilot certification up soon.
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