Lesson: Eleventy-two
Today I had more landing practice. It was a bit warm but not too muggy, so we didn’t suffer too much while taxiing around. The “good” 152 was in the shop today (they were fixing the nose gear shimmy dampeners – YAY) so we had the “bad” one. I guess it’s not so bad, because in some ways it’s better. First, the nose gear doesn’t shimmy at all, it starts faster, and it has a very early GPS that can tell you how far and what direction the airport is. But, it’s an older plane with more hours, tends to get fouled plugs, and the radio has some weird squelch thing going on.
The Good
The first two landings were good. Landing 1 was a bit hard but that’s all that was wrong. Landing 2 was a nice solid landing.
The Bad
The next two landing were a mess. Suffice it to say that there was some really nice bouncing and yawing that didn’t wreck the airplane. But I’ve figured out the problem: I’m overcorrecting for wind, altitude, etc. when I should be just correcting.
The Aftermath
I know how decent landings look and feel, so I’ve made real progress. Jimmy wants one more lesson with just landings and I agree – I need all the landings to be good before I would consider moving on. I’ve got another lesson tomorrow, and hopefully everything will click.
I reiterated to Jimmy that I wasn’t in a hurry and that I’d do as many landings as I needed to make them all “decent”. I’m not trying to set a record or anything. Landings are not something that I want to rush.
4 comments:
Constant disappointment.
You sure agree a lot with Jimmy. I just want to know, do you mock Jimmy too?
Not to his face!
I'm about where you're at myself... takeoffs have come around and up in the air I can certainly point the plane where I want to, but bringing it back to the ground is still a work in progress. Everyone I've talked to says landings take the longest to "get" and I have to agree. Sounds like another few times around the pattern and you'll be ready.
-Steve
amileofrunway.blogspot.com
Post a Comment