More lesson updates

Three lessons since my last post. Things that we have done are 1) Completed ground reference manuevers 2) completed steep turns and 3) Begun the arduous task of learning how to fly the traffic pattern and land the plane.

All I had to do with the ground reference stuff was touch up the S-turns. The biggest tip I got here was looking all the way down the wing to see when I was parallel to the reference line. One other thing for that lesson was some extended time doing simulated instrument work. We have a view-limiting goggles that allow you to see the instruments and nothing else. My CFI would say "Hold this heading" or "Do a turning climb to this heading and this altitude." It's all about keeping a steady, consistent scan of the instruments and making small adjustments.

Next up - steep turns. 45 degree turns, using almost entirely visual clues. It's a fun move, and one I took to pretty well. Needs work, but it will do for now.

Which brings us to landings. I'm now in the early stages of learning the finer points of the traffic pattern, and landing the plane. We did two landings at Warrenton airport, and then spent a full lesson flying 5 patterns at Manassas. Of those, 3 landings were mediocre, one was awesome. One we didn't land, but instead flew about 10 feet off the runway for the length of the runway. It's still fun, but it's also very tiring.

So, here's the cool part - if things keep up at this pace, I might solo by Xmas.

Lesson # 8 - Ground Reference Moves

Let's cut to the chase on this. Today I learned turns around a point, S-turns across a road, and rectangular patterns. The idea is to be able to make the airplane fly a particular ground track, while keeping altitude, using visual clues, and correcting for the wind. My instructor says that for a first crack, I did fine. Personally, I felt uncomfortable with them, especially the turns around a point and S-turns. I hadn't been doing much in the way of steep turns in the past few lessons, so that was a sensation I had to get used to again. Plus, after weaving over the road for 5 minutes, I got dizzy.

On the general progress, I feel like I can do everything by myself from preflight through flying the plane to the practice area. The easiest part of flying for me, hands down, is the radio work. I have no problem listening to and following the radio traffic, and actually speaking with ATC is no problem at all.

Next lesson we learn slips, and then it's on to hours and hours of flying the traffic pattern and doing landings.