My week of flight training - Review of events

[Cluemeister]

Solo day!

[Cluemeister]

Solo day!

[drseti]

Congrats, Clue, on becoming an airplane driver! Next step - to become a Pilot.

[FastEddieB]

Congratulations!

I knew you could do it!

[Flocker]

Awesome! One of the most memorable days of my life! I'm sure you're stoked. I flew to WDR this evening (home of my first solo) in your honor! I look forward to flying with you.

[Half Fast]

Congratulations! Well done, sir!

[MackAttack]

Great report and pics! Congrats again ... It's a great accomplishment and the first step on a long and great road!

Cheers!

[Cluemeister]

Ok, my instructor is out of town for a week. But I am signed off to solo with the usual restrictions, x wind, ceilings, stay in the pattern or practice area, etc.

I decide yesterday I'm going to take a little time this morning to do 3 takeoffs and landings. I reserve the plane. This morning I drive to the airport. Some light rain, but still VFR with high ceilings, and no wind. I preflight the plane. I always take it seriously, but today it was double and triple check day.

Felt so strange being unsupervised. I do my usual preflight, and then the run up. Announce on the radio, and get on the runway. I'm much less nervous compared to my solo day, which is good. I line up, take off, and calm air feels wonderful. Make an announcement on downwind, turning base, and turning final. Watching my numbers, etc.

I knew I could do a go around today if I ran into a brain cramp, or came in too high, or bad setup, etc, but I did ok. Three landings, one great, one good, and one not so good.

Brought the plane back, secured it properly, and entered my time in the log book. Smile on my face.

1.4 total solo hours and about 22 hours with instructor.

[Merlinspop]

We need a "Like" button!

[MackAttack]

Nicely done!! You'll have your ticket in no time now ...

[Cluemeister]

Thanks for the encouraging words. Flight training is an amazing experience.

[rcpilot]

Congrats!

[Cluemeister]

So we are in Florida for the week. I figured why get rusty, let's take a few lessons while I'm here!

Tampa Bay Aviation has a Skycatcher, and KCLW is 30 minutes from where I'm at. I book two lessons, all they have is 1 pm Tuesday and Thursday. I said to the receptionist who booked the time, "how are thermals at that time of day?". She said not bad. I figured well, maybe the ground's all heated up by then, so we will see.

I arrive early, fill out paperwork, and meet my instructor. Nice guy, laid back (I'm beginning to think this must be a mandatory personality trait to fly planes with students) and we chat for a bit. I tell him I want to work on landings, but could also do a little work on turns and stalls.

We pre flight the Skycatcher, and taxi out to the runway. The runway is a left pattern 16, and a right pattern 34 for noise. We go to runway 34 and do a runup. KCLW is non towered, but very busy. Tampa Bay Aviation is an active flight school, with about a dozen aircraft including helicopters, and lots of local traffic.

We announce, and get on the runway. First thing I notice, it's much shorter and much narrower! I'm used to KRZR, which is 100' x 5500'. KCLW is 75' x 4100'. Now i know you're thinking "hey you're in a skycatcher what difference does it make". Not a lot really, but when you have the safety blanket of 100' wide, and now it's 75', it feels closer to 50'!

We center up, and I've got 10 degrees of flaps pulled. I push the throttle in all the way. We start to roll, oil pressure and temp look good. A little right rudder, and I glance down at the speed indicator. I see this: -- We keep rolling for a little bit, and I see this --. I said to the instructor, is the airspeed indicator working? As soon as I say this, the numbers start appearing on the screen and rolling 21, 25, 35, 40, etc. This sure is a long takeoff compared to what I'm used to! We hit fifty and I gently pull back and she flies off the runway. We are airborne with runway to spare. Now she won't get the speed up. I'm keeping the nose down, and about 300 feet up and bring down flaps to zero, and I still can't push much above 62 knots! So this is what hot and humid takeoffs feel like! Yikes!

But we're in Florida, so there are no mountains to clear. We get to 500 feet AGL, and start a turn to crosswind. The thermals kick in, bouncing us around. I think of the receptionist saying thermals weren't an issue, and I'm guessing they are not if you are sitting at a desk in an air conditioned office.

He directs me out toward the coast, and once we get past the Class B TPA 3,000 foot limit, we climb to 3500 and head down the coast along the beach. I have never flown along the beach like this, and it was phenomenal. I imagine it would be even more beautiful at 1,000' AGL, but today I needed to practice. But I did enjoy the spectacular view!

We go out over the ocean a little further and do 30 degree and 45 degree turns. Good except a little weak on right 45 turns. Need to hold altitude better.

We talk about doing a power off stall, but it's a little crowded out here, so after talking a little bit, we head back to the airport. We cross over the runway midpoint, and then enter the right hand pattern. Boy is that hard to get used to after always doing left. I ask the instructor to land, and I will shadow the controls. He says no problem. Lots of talk on the radio, lots of planes in the area, and I'm observing. He explains the golf course next door has some trees and then no trees next to the runway, and the wind comes through those openings. He comes in faster than I'm used to, and there are trees at the front edge of the runway. He pulls more flaps, comes down a little steep, and lands us. Between the thermals and the lack of familiarity, along with the gusts, I was a little overwhelmed.

We taxi back, and take off again. I'm ready this time for the longer roll and lower take off. No problem. Get into the pattern better, and then extend the downwind a little as someone is coming in on base ahead of us. As we enter base, we were still gusty, and I just did not feel comfortable landing. I followed on the controls.

We taxied back, and secured the plane. Prior to the lesson, the instructor had said "if you can land here, you can land just about anywhere". I hadn't given much thought to that until reflecting on the lesson.

So on one hand, I got up in the air, and flew in a new airspace, and it was a blast flying down the coast. On the negative side, my new found confidence soloing in Tennessee was knocked down a few pegs as I was overwhelmed in these landing conditions.

Now I know the patterns and procedures better, so I'm focused on Thursday going back up and improving my pattern and landing work. I would call this lesson not as much a setback as a reality check. Yes I can land a plane in light winds and light traffic no problem. But put me in a strange environment in a more difficult scenario, and I'm humbled very quickly.

[Flocker]

Great PIREP. Welcome to flying in Florida!!!

[MackAttack]

Excellent report. I see a similar experience in my future ... Good work!!