Sport Pilot Talk

Started working on landings today. The saying goes that any landing you walk away from is a good one, and if you can use the plane again it was a great one. Another student took up the plane right after me, so I guess my first attempts were great.

I was scheduled to fly yesterday afternoon, but thunderstorms in the area forced us to cancel. I got up this morning, and we did a turn around a point to shake out the cobwebs and see if I'd forgotten last week's work. The turn was fine, well within PTS, so maybe the muscle memory is starting to work. Practiced a few steep turns next (also fine) then started landing work.

We had a wind from the west and the school airport (X04) only has one runway, 15-33. A direct crosswind didn't seem like a good way to start. We had intended to go over to Leesburg KLEE, but wx was working in from that direction, clouds were lowering, and the ride was a bit bumpy. We decided to use Orlando North Airpark (FA83) https://www.aopa.org/airports/FA83 , which has a 9-27 runway.

If I ever need to set down on a narrow country road, practicing at FA83 will come in handy. Narrow and short runway, trees on the approach and down both sides (pic attached). We did several touch & go landings, then returned to X04 where I did another messy landing on 33. I was awfully rough, but it's a start and I'll get better. (It'd be hard to get much worse...)

I'd scheduled another lesson for this afternoon, but thunderstorms were now working their way through the Leesburg area. My CFI came down from a noon lesson and told me it was too rough for any useful instruction, so we took some time to get me more familiar with the plane's Garmin. Sitting in the plane and taking my time to work through the various screens and explore dozens of options was helpful, so the afternoon wasn't wasted.

I'm taking tomorrow off from flying to drive up to Middleburg, FL and visit my dad for Father's Day. I won't be able to get back in the air until next Sun 6/26. Hopefully the wx will let us go to KLEE and work on landings there.

12.2 hours now. I felt today went well and my CFI seems satisfied that I'm making acceptable progress, so I'll continue plodding forward.

Keep at it and before long Zellwod will begin to look like LAX.

Half Fast wrote:Started working on landings today. The saying goes that any landing you walk away from is a good one, and if you can use the plane again it was a great one. Another student took up the plane right after me, so I guess my first attempts were great.

We did several touch & go landings, then returned to X04 where I did another messy landing on 33. I was awfully rough, but it's a start and I'll get better. (It'd be hard to get much worse...)

12.2 hours now. I felt today went well and my CFI seems satisfied that I'm making acceptable progress, so I'll continue plodding forward.

It's good that you are your own worst critic. Having said that, you're probably doing better than you think.

And you're only 12 hours in. I won't say it gets easier, but as you get competent in certain skills with muscle memory, i.e taxiing and takeoffs, it allows you to focus more on the harder stuff.

cynamonb wrote:Keep at it and before long Zellwod will begin to look like LAX.

I suspect LAX still has a higher ratio of asphalt to airplanes than Orlando North with one little Tecnam on the runway.....

Just hang in there and fly as often as you can, you'll be taking your check ride before you know it.

Don't beat yourself up. That morning was tough with the crosswinds.
Also, there is a lot of mechanical turbulence when using 33 and for some reason certain wind direction makes it even more pronounced.
15 is better...just make sure that you are looking at the PAPI lights and are ON the glide path and remember the runway has a long displaced threshold.

I wouldn't even attempt landing at Orlando North till I get a couple of landings under my belt.
It's a great place to practice emergencies later.

15 is better for landing because there aren't all the hangars near the runway at that end. The buildings along the south half of the runway are directing and channeling the west crosswind, so that you get gusts as you're between each building. It makes the situation very unstable. I can really notice it when taking off using 15; about the time you're airborne 10 feet above the runway, you start getting smacked by the erratic gusts.

Also, I think the runway berm is also more pronounced near the south end, and the berm causes the crosswind to have a vertical component as well.

X04 is challenging, no doubt.

Any updates to report?

Cluemeister wrote:Any updates to report?

Not really. Planes weren't available last Sat, so I only had one lesson scheduled for Sun afternoon. Bad wx wiped that out; large thunderstorms moving through the area.

My next opportunity is this upcoming Friday morning. I'm scheduled for two lessons per day on Fri, Sat, and Sun, weather permitting.

It will have been nearly two weeks that I've been on the ground. I just hope I haven't forgotten what little I learned.

As you progress you'll find that you aren't as rusty as you think when you have a layoff from training. At least that's what I'm finding. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for you. Windy days have been keeping me from getting my last supervised solo in (so far I have 6 solo takeoffs/landings). If things go well should get my x-countries in next week. Good luck and enjoy!

Well, I was awfully rusty today.

When I walked into the hangar today, I noticed a puddle under the front of the plane. Opened the cowling to find that the coolant reservoir was empty and that there was coolant residue in several places. CRAP. Showed it to the mechanic and he pulled the nose off to find that the radiator was damaged.

As a result, my usual plane was down for the day and I had to fly a different one. Between not flying for nearly two weeks and being in a different plane, I was very rough. We spent the entire session doing touch & goes, and I finally did one landing all on my own. It wasn't pretty, but at least I did it.

I was supposed to fly this afternoon, but wx made it impossible. I need to work out some other schedule, because most of the afternoon sessions are being knocked out by Florida's regular afternoon storms.

Oh well.

Tomorrow's a new day. Will they have a plane available?

I think so. One of the guys flew down to Sebring to get a new radiator from Lockwood and bring it back. If the wx didn't delay him too much, they should be able to get it installed this evening. There were a bunch of thunderstorms moving across the state. Guess I'll find out in the morning.

Less rusty today?

Still pretty rough. We flew over to KLEE and spent the entire session working on landings. Had my usual plane back, and that helped a bit, but overall I'm not landing worth a damn. I'm finding it difficult to cross-control the plane to get it centered and straight on the runway.

This is going to take a lot of practice.

And practice seems a bit tough to come by, with the usual FL weather pattern. I was blown out again this afternoon. My CFI suggested that I try scheduling a single 3-hour block in the mornings, rather than a morning 2-hour plus an afternoon 2-hour. Considering time for pre-flight plus time back & forth to KLEE, a single 3-hour session will yield about the same amount of landing practice as two 2-hour ones.

I'm flying with a different CFI tomorrow (my usual guy will be out of town), so maybe a fresh perspective will help.

I think I'm experiencing the "plateau" everyone talks about. My CFI tells me not to worry about it, that I'm doing fine and it will all start to click eventually. I sure hope so; I'm a bit frustrated at the moment.