Lesson 2
I skipped lunch today and flew instead. The weather was very nice today, with lots of sun and not too much wind. However, up at 2000 feet or so, it was kind of choppy, which made me work a bit to keep the plane level and pointed in the right direction. My instructor, Jimmy, said that this was good practice for me, and it agree.
Jimmy taught me how to use trim (to neutralize the elevator) and we also did climbing and descending turns, power off gliding, clearing turns, and mock landing approaches with flaps.
However, the best part was Jimmy let me fly to the airport pattern, enter it, and line up with the runway while descending. I did everything but set the plane down. A few more of those and I'm thinking that I might be ready to try the touchdown.
As usual, Jimmy was quick with compliments and he told me it's more fun to teach when the student is intuitive. I'm having a lot of fun and hope that I can stay ahead of the curve.
Next lesson is scheduled for the 16th of May (Friday) but it's supposed to be pretty windy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but so far the weather forecasts have been maddeningly accurate.
4 comments:
So did you actually shut the engine off and glide? or did you just power the engine real low?
Jimmy pulled the throttle to idle, so the engine is still running but not producing power. It's not a good idea to kill the engine - there have been occasions when it hasn't restarted.
Yeah thats what I was thinking. Isn't that what happened in that New Richmond crash?
Ah, not seeing that one. But it's happened enough that the FAA has recommended against shutting the engine off during flight. Honestly, if you're not trying to teach restarting the engine in the air, there is zero reason for it.
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