The weather has been pretty crappy lately, and I’ve been missing out on all of my Saturday flights. After being denied my solo again last Sunday, I was itching to get back in the air. I had to take Tuesday off of work to take care of some stuff around the house and — as luck would have it — the weather looked pretty good for a flight!
My plane and instructor were both available, so I booked a lesson and headed out to the airport. Unfortunately, the winds were picking up when I got there so I figured today wouldn’t be my day to solo. That’s OK, I wanted some more practice on my landings.
As I preflighted, I couldn’t help but notice this beautiful Falcon getting ready to depart:
What a nice ride! As it turned out, this puppy would be taking off right before me. We taxied out to the hold short and the Falcon took flight. I got cautioned for wake turbulence and then we were airborne.
All in all, a pretty uneventful lesson. I did better holding the centerline and landing, but with the crosswinds I’m not really flaring like I would on a calm wind day — the crosswind approach is a bit flatter and you kind of fly it down to the runway instead of doing a full flare. Good practice, but I really need a day with no wind to test if I really have the hang of this.
We went around a few times before the winds started really kicking and my CFI called it a day. I appreciate that he doesn’t want to waste my time or money, so we’re in a bit of a holding pattern (no pun intended) until I get a day where I can solo. A bit of crosswind practice is fine, but I still have this giant hurdle I need to leap before I can progress with my training.
So, I’ll chalk this up to a good lesson that increased my confidence in landing the plane. No solo today (can’t say I’m not getting a bit frustrated!) but a good learning experience overall.
No CloudAhoy track today — don’t think I’ll record another until my solo.
Flight time today: 1.3 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total flight time to date: 41.5 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 147
Total landings to date: 143