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
After my last two crappy flights, I was determined to take control of my destiny and turn this ship around. I read up on landings, I assembled some tips I could put into action, and I tried to have a positive attitude for my next flight. Saturday was once again scrubbed for weather (this is becoming way too frequent!), so my last hope for the week was Sunday.
I wasn’t very hopeful — the forecast was calling for rain, but it looked like it might hold off for the morning. I went to bed early so I would be fully rested for my 8am flight and crossed my fingers as I drifted off to sleep.
I woke up and checked the ATIS — it looked a bit iffy…visibility was ok, wind wasn’t bad (~5kts), but the ceilings were pretty low…around 1,900ft with our pattern altitude at KDXR being 1,700ft. I headed out to the airport and got a weather briefing on the way — there was some rain heading into the area but the briefer thought it would hold off for awhile. As I got to the airport, I spied some nasty looking clouds and figured my CFI would say it was a no go. I snapped a couple of pictures at the airport that show how low the ceilings were:
My future rideFueling up at the airport
To my surprise, we were going up! We didn’t have a lot of ceiling to spare, but it was enough for some laps around the pattern. I quickly preflighted the plane and we were off.
We were using runway 26, which I have the most experience with, so I was grateful for that. I took off and immediately knew today wouldn’t be an easy day (as my instructor calls it, a “pinky day”) — the air was bumpy and the winds were considerably faster once we left the ground.
We went around the pattern and I was determined to pay close attention to my ground track. I got a bit off course on the first downwind leg, but my instructor helped me correct and I was back on course. I wasn’t quite ahead of the plane but I wasn’t behind it either, and I was taking care of all my cockpit tasks (carb heat, flap settings, radio calls, etc…) I was also taking more care to trim the aircraft after each power change, something I’ve been neglecting lately.
We came in for the first landing and I was having trouble keeping it on centerline. I have this nagging instinct that tells me I have to land the plane wings level. In a crosswind, you just can’t do that. We drifted way to the right as we were touching down, but more importantly, I didn’t plant the plane into the runway! I remembered to shift my focus down the runway, level it off, and hold it, and the touchdown was nice and gentle! This gave me a confidence boost and we were up and around for another lap.
This time I focused on keeping aileron correction in and giving the plane plenty of rudder. Another thing I’m realizing is that keeping the plane on centerline results in a slightly different sight picture than I thought keeping the plane on centerline should be. Applying all of this resulted in another fairly smooth touchdown with the plane more or less where it should have been.
I had one lousy landing where I did drop us in a bit harder than needed, but overall I was pretty happy with my performance. On our last lap, the winds were changing direction quickly as we touched down and my instructor called it a day — I just don’t have enough crosswind experience to be able to handle rapidly changing gusts like that. He thought the productive part of the lesson had been learned and anything more would be frustrating and counterproductive…I agreed and was happy to end on a high note. It was a short flight, but my confidence (and my wallet) didn’t mind one bit.
Now, my success during this lesson is probably due to the fact that you land a bit flatter in crosswinds and aren’t flaring quite as much. Be that as it may, I was still really happy to have some decent landings under my belt. Definitely a pleasant change after the last two flights, and my CFI agreed that I showed good progress keeping the plane centered and handling the roundout and (mini) flare.
I didn’t use CloudAhoy on this flight because I wanted to focus 100% on my flying, so no track to look at for today. Looking forward to getting up there again soon and hopefully proving I am ready to solo!
Flight time today: 0.8 hours
Total simulated instrument flight time to date: 0.6 hours
Total flight time to date: 40.2 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 141
Total landings to date: 137
I was certain we wouldn’t be going up today. The forecast wasn’t too bad when I left my house (6kts at DXR), but it was supposed to kick up pretty bad as the day wore on. I was going to skip the lesson, but decided to head to the airport because I had some questions for my CFI on my cross country plan and needed to pick up a textbook I had on order.
I got to the airport and was surprised when my CFI said we’d be doing some flying! He wanted to practice some maneuvers since I would soon be flying with another CFI and I would be tested on things like stall recoveries and steep turns.
We preflighted the airplane and climbed in. He told me my first task was to fly him to Dutchess County (POU) and pretend he wasn’t in the plane. I could use whatever resources I wanted to get us there. I felt a surge of excitement — here it was, the first simulation of what it would be like flying solo!
I took off and used the Carmel VOR to point us in the right direction. It was real choppy at 3,000 feet, so we climbed to 4,500 to get some smooth air. We were planning on practicing landings at POU as the winds were pretty calm (only 3kts). Turns out everyone else had the same idea and when we got there we found the pattern was a bit crowded.
We asked for a right base to runway 6 which would have made sense given the direction we were coming from. The controller gave us the approval, then rescinded it a couple minutes later because he had traffic coming from the opposite direction. He told us to join a downwind for runway 6, which meant we had to fly out of our way into a strong headwind. That killed some time.
I got established in the pattern and was on final when the tower told us to go-around. A plane had landed a few minutes before us and had not fully cleared the runway yet. It was good to get some go-around practice, in a real-world scenario to boot! We worked our way back around the patter and the winds were starting to get stronger near the surface. We came in for a pretty crappy landing and my instructor decided we’d head back — conditions were not improving.
We departed and headed back to Danbury. The turbulence was kicking us around so we climbed to 5.500 feet to escape it. To be honest, the winds were really putting me behind the plane — they weren’t even that strong, but I was constantly working to keep the plane flying straight and level as gusts knocked us up, down, and sideways. If I had truly been flying solo I would’ve been really nervous.
We scratched the plan to work on maneuvers since it was getting pretty crappy out and we set ourselves up for a long final into runway 35. As we were getting established and coming down to pattern altitude, the winds were getting a bit crazy. My instructor took the plane and took us in for the landing. I just sat there and watched in awe. He was completely focused, constantly working the throttle and ailerons to battle the winds as we came into the valley before the runway. There are some wicked updrafts and downdrafts caused by the terrain on that approach, so you really have to be on top of your game!
He brought us in for a nice landing, and right before touchdown a gust almost knocked us off the runway path. My CFI expertly fought the plane back and got us on the ground. It was pretty impressive to watch. He apologized for taking the landing away from me, but I had no problem with that…I told him, “I’m really glad you know what the hell you’re doing because I’d probably be dead right now if I’d tried that landing.” Eventually I’ll be able to deal with that kind of stuff, but I know for certain I’m not there yet.
Click the picture below to see the CloudAhoy debrief for this flight.
Flight time today: 1.3 hours
Total flight time to date: 26.3 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 75
Total landings to date: 71
I didn’t think I’d be flying today. When I went to bed, it was windy as hell out and weather reports were showing gusts up to 30kts. I went to bed early anyway, crossing my fingers.
When I woke up, the weather briefing was optimistic. It was currently blowing only 6kts at DXR…the forecast called for much stronger winds as the day progressed, but it looked OK for my 8am lesson so I headed out to the airport.
My instructor agreed it was mild enough to head out and get some practice, although he told me, “you’ll be working today!” I hate it when he says that!
He wasn’t wrong…from the moment we took off, I was working my butt off trying to keep the plane flying the lines I wanted. We started off working the pattern for runway 26, but it wasn’t long before the controller switched the airport to runway 35.
Crosswind landings – they’re no joke!
Here I was hoping to get some practice on my roundout and flare, and now I had to practice a whole other set of procedures! Crosswind landings are certainly a different ball game than calm wind landings. Not only is lining up with the runway centerline harder, but it just feels wrong, as you are coming in with one wing lower than the other to compensate for the wind.
It was a good practice day, but one of those lessons where it feels I couldn’t do anything right. I got blown off centerline after takeoff because I wasn’t crabbing enough into the wind. I wasn’t managing power well enough to compensate with the strong updrafts and downdrafts caused by the surrounding terrain. My pattern legs were sloppy because I was misjudging the wind. I wasn’t keeping the aileron input in after landing — as my instructor loves to say, “the wind doesn’t stop once you land!”
Even with all of the problems, I got a few good landings in and some more experience with the tricky runway 35 approach. At one point we were on final and my instructor was talking about engine failure. “Would we be able to glide to the runway from here?” I asked. “Let’s see!” he replied, as he pulled the throttle to idle. Spoiler alert: we made it.
Next time around, he requested a short approach and pulled the throttle while we were on downwind. I headed right towards the runway at best glide speed and once we got over some tricky hills I dumped the flaps to get down in a steep approach. It wasn’t perfect, but it was some great experience with emergency management.
The winds started blowing faster and we saw some snow clouds closing in on the airport, so we called it a day. It was getting a bit too much for me and my low experience level. When we landed, my instructor told me I would have to fly with a different instructor soon for a checkride, a school policy when a pre-solo student racks up 25 hours. We decided we’d keep tomorrow’s appointment as-is, but next weekend I’d schedule with a different CFI.
I remembered to record the ride on CloudAhoy — click the image below to see the details.
Flight time today: 1.2 hours
Total flight time to date: 25.0 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 72
Total landings to date: 68
Some days you fly the plane, some days the plane flies you…
Today started off promising. It was another unusually warm day (60° F!), a bit overcast but ceilings well above where I needed them to be, and a little wind. DXR was reporting surface winds of 7kts, and today’s destination, Waterbury-Oxford (OXC), was around 4kts. I didn’t think that would be any kind of challenge — we’ll come back to that in a minute.
My instructor was still in the air when I got to the airport, so I went out to preflight the plane. Everything looked good, and I even managed to get an action shot of me testing the fuel!
I love the smell of 100LL in the morning!
When my CFI arrived, we briefed our flight plan. This would be my first trip to OXC — it’s only about 17nm from DXR, so it wouldn’t take us long to get there. We planned to use pilotage to find our way, following I-84 and the Housatonic RIver as our landmarks. We got into the plane and started her up, and that’s where the day started getting away from me.
First off, I forgot to start CloudAhoy before the flight, so I have no recording of the day’s events. Not the end of the world, but annoying. Next, while taxiing out to runway 26, the plane got away from me a bit when I got uncoordinated on the rudder pedals/brakes. We headed right for a snowbank before my CFI took control and got us back on track. Embarrassing, and I don’t have any excuse — not sure how I got mixed up but it’s a reminder to be extra diligent during ALL phases of flight, especially those on the ground.
We took off uneventfully and headed over to OXC. Cruise was ok, kept my altitude at 2,500 feet and pointed the plane in the right direction. Radio calls went well and soon we were inbound for a left base to runway 36. Oxford only has one runway (18/36) and the airport is up on a hill, so wind is often a factor. I was about to find out what that meant.
We came in for the first landing and I was focused on the review I did yesterday of how to gauge the roundout and flare height. What I was totally unprepared for were some kicking crosswinds! ATIS said the winds were out of 300° at 4kts, but my instructor (and the windsock) indicated they were blowing stronger than that. Now I had to deal with an unfamiliar airport, crosswind technique (which I haven’t had much practice with at all), AND trying to figure this flare height thing out!
We did a full stop landing so I could get a sense of the airport and taxiway layout, then headed back to runway 36 for some touch and go’s. We made a few circuits around the pattern and it got progressively harder for me to keep the plane lined up on final. I’m not used to the concept of landing on one wheel with the wings tilted, so I kept wanting to straighten the plane out before touching down. I needed quite a bit of help on some of these landings.
I was a little better with my approach altitude, but I was still keeping it too high for some of our approaches. I need to learn better power management — something my instructor has been on me for. I have zero finesse when it comes to the throttle and knowing when to add a touch of power or when I need to back it off more to compensate for a too-low descent rate.
Eventually the winds were got a touch too nasty, so we headed back to DXR. We used pilotage again, and we practiced an engine out emergency. My CFI asked where I would go if the engine quit. I looked around — there weren’t a ton of great options, but I spotted some fields that looked like they would work. “OK,” he said, as he pulled the throttle to idle. “Get there!”
I set up for best glide speed of 80mph and he showed me how the wind was slowing us a bit too much so we would actually be better gliding with a bit more speed. We headed towards the fields and would have just cleared some trees and been able to put it down. I got my engine back at the last second and we resumed our trip back to DXR.
We did a couple laps of the pattern at DXR and here’s where things really started falling apart for me. I kept making stupid mistakes. Here’s the ones I remember:
On downwind, I added 10° of flaps and instead of returning the flaps switch to “neutral” I put it back to “up” and took the flaps right back out.
On a go-around, I thought, “take out 6 seconds (20°) of flaps” — however, that’s when you have flaps fully extended. Instead of bringing the flaps back 10° like I should have, I took them completely out.
Same go-around, after taking the flaps out I instinctually pitched the nose down. I guess I was thinking I needed to build up speed, but that’s the wrong thing to do. I should have immediately started climbing.
Turning on to final, I was completely uncoordinated, putting left rudder into the turn when I needed right rudder.
I kept over-banking my turns in the pattern — this has been a habitual problem for me.
I kept pulling back on the elevator and raising the nose when I should’ve been using power to gain altitude, not elevator.
When my CFI asked the tower to shoot me a light gun signal so I could see what they look like, I let the nose creep up while I was looking outside for the signal. This was because the plane wasn’t properly trimmed.
Not a shabby list for a few loops around the airport! They were all stupid things that I should know better than to do. And they are all things that could get me in serious trouble if I didn’t have someone in the plane watching over my shoulder. If there was any saving grace, it is that all of these mistakes were likely due to fatigue after the intense workload of the earlier crosswind landings. Even so, it underscored that I have a lot more work to do and that I am definitely not ready to solo yet. It also earned me a review of go-arounds on the next lesson since my CFI was not happy with my performance today.
Our time was up at this point, but my instructor would’ve stopped the lesson there regardless of what time it was — I was showing too many signs of fatigue to continue. I would’ve had no problem with that — as it was, my mind was reeling and I was ready to stop for the day. One silver lining — I did remember to use the “pizza slice” to look for my flare height on this flight. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much with everything else that was overloading me today!
I left feeling a bit down on myself, but tomorrow is a holiday so I have the day off and another lesson booked. If nothing else, this has steeled my resolve to study up tonight, mess around on my sim, and absolutely kill it tomorrow.
Flight time today: 1.5 hours
Total flight time to date: 22.8 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 59
Total landings to date: 55
Ah, another Saturday morning at the airport. I love the smell of 100LL in the morning!
More pattern work today — with the extra challenge of some crosswinds and turbulence to make things interesting.
Hang on!
I had my good moments and my bad moments today. On one hand, I felt like the steps of the pattern and landing sequence are slowly starting to stick and I am doing more things correctly (like watching my airspeed and adjusting as necessary). On the other hand, the wind still caused me to have sloppy turns and the turbulence made controlling the plane a bit of a challenge at times.
The worst part of the lesson came towards the end. I had just taken off and was climbing out when all of a sudden we were hit by a gust of wind and the plane veered sharply to the side. Before I even had time to react my CFI took control and told me to keep my hands off the controls while he got it sorted out. He stressed that it was vital to always keep the plane in coordinated flight, as not paying attention to that could lead to a (very dangerous) spin condition.
I was a bit taken aback — I didn’t think I had let the plane get out of coordinated flight, it felt like the wind had just gusted and kicked us to the side. Of course, it had also taken me by surprise and I hadn’t immediately taken corrective action. I was humbled by this quick turn of events — this was the first time I really felt like I had messed up during a flight.
I collected myself and we continued on with the lesson. I wound up logging 7 takeoffs and 7 landings before we packed it in. I was a little upset with myself on the ride home, but I have to remember that this is all part of the learning process. I can’t expect myself to know what to do in every situation when I only have 14 hours under my belt.
Flight time today: 1.5 hours
Total flight time to date: 15.8 hours
Total takeoffs to date: 28
Total landings to date: 24
