Short and Sweet

12/3/2015

This was a quick flight (two flights in one here since that's how it sits in my logbook).  The plan was for me to fly solo for a couple landings (I needed 0.2 hours solo time) then pick my CFI up and work on stalls & more landings.

The specific plan was to do a soft-field takeoff, then one short field and one soft-field landing solo.  My first landing, which was supposed to be a short-field landing, ended up being a normal landing because I blew my target touchdown point by more than 200 ft.  I taxied back and did a short-field takeoff, then came back in and did a soft-field landing.  I logged 0.5 solo time, nailing down the last requirement once and for all.

It was almost night by the time I picked my CFI up, so we decided to forget stalls and just work on landings.  I did another soft-field takeoff and 2 soft-field landings.  We were both satisfied with my performance and called it a night.

After debrief we scheduled for the following Tuesday with plans to work on brushing up my skills on absolutely everything we could fit in, with my biggest concern being S-turns.  It's finally coming together, and it's looking like I just might get this done before the end of the year after all.

Two Victor Uniform, clear of Two-Seven

Practice Makes Perfect

I'm struggling to be motivated to go back and blog about the flights leading up to my checkride, but my OCD will not let this go unfinished, so I'm going to do the best I can to recall what each flight consisted of.  Compared to past entries, there won't be much to some of the posts, and for that I apologize.  There were quite a few in the month of December to get me ready, and they're all jumbled in my memory so I'll have to go by my logbook to try and recall them all.  

12/2/2015

This was the first flight after the new starter was installed.  They made the call to install a heavy-duty starter, with the logic being if you're going to spend so much money upgrading everything else, you might as well put the best starter on so it won't be an issue down the road.  Let me just tell you, this starter is a beast.  Barely two cranks now and 34Q fires right up.  

This was a dual-instruction flight.  We worked mainly on short-field takeoffs & landings/accuracy landings, and soft-field takeoffs and landings.  6 landings total, 3 of which were night landings.  During debrief we discussed the small amount of solo time I had left after my cross-country to CUL, and decided to knock it out the next evening, with me flying solo for a few landings, then picking him up to go work on stalls and then back for more landing practice.  More on that in the next post, but I'll just mention it didn't quite go as planned.  

Two Victor Uniform, clear of Two-Seven