Anyway, I fired her up and we took off (I could tell I had a full load, we used a bit more runway than I'm used to) and headed out to the west to snap some pics and take some video, and let the kids have some fun looking out the window.
Having gathered all the pics and vids that we wanted, I headed back to Flying Cloud airport and learned that the winds had picked up from 9 knots to 14. Funny thing was, though, that on final approach, I hardly had to correct for any wind, but about 20 feet above the ground I could feel it pushing me off to the side. Right before touchdown it swung the airplane ever so slightly to the right so when the wheels hit the pavement we were a little sideways...this made for a bit of a "clunk" when we hit. Glad my smooth landing was on my wife's FIRST flight!
Some photos from the flight:
My house:
Pilot In Command™:
My neice:
My little boy:
4 comments:
You're doing great with the pax, I'm lovin all these stories. So how different is it flying a full plane? I ask because my boss wants me to take him and his kids up sometime, so that's about 3 of adult weight and 1 smaller person in a 172. I've barely even flown the 172 and never full. My plan is to go up with a CFI and my girlfriend and another friend or something to get some experience first. Anyway, question is whether in your experience that seems like a good plan?
P.S. "She's old but she'll hold" ... Hilarious.
I was about 100 lbs below gross, maybe a bit more because the tanks were full but not right at the top.
You could tell on takeoff that there was a longer delay between rotation and liftoff than normal. However airplane control seemed fine aside from the longer takeoff roll.
There didn't seem to be any difference in landing. Rollout was no different.
I don't think you'll have any issues at all.
Thanks for the PIREP. More than anything, I think I just want a couple solo flights in the 172 since I barely have any hours in type. Not that it's light years away from the 150 but it'll be good to work on getting a feel for landing it, if nothing else. Might still take some people up with the CFI too just for an excuse to fly one day. Either way, it sounds like it'll be easy provided I do all the proper pilot things. Thanks!
Ah... I see you did the traditional "take a picture of the house" thing. Eggcellent. Each milestone (er... intersection) is fun!
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