Sunday rolled around and it was time for another trip to the airport. I’d been listening to the traffic on my scanner most of the morning, and the winds were more or less right down the runway, but sustained at about 18 knots with gusts to 25. Not exactly the best wind, but the skies were clear and I wasn’t canceling unless my instructor did.
Joined by a friend, we headed to the airport. Carl checked the wind condition as I preflighted the airplane and decided it was ok to fly. My first true crosswind take-off left something to be desired, but we got up, and I’m relatively certain I was the only one with my hands on the controls.
Carl had mentioned during flight 5, that we would need to find a windy day to do ground-reference maneuvers, since the entire idea of the skill is to compensate for wind. Today he was ecstatic about the winds and I’m fairly certain enjoyed watching me fight the aircraft around the maneuver. I can’t say I disliked it, the Warrior handles great in rough air, and it didn’t bother me a bit. The maneuvers weren’t bad, despite the additional challenge. I definitely need to work on my distance when doing turns-around-a-point, but overall, I, and Carl apparently, were satisfied with my performance.
I’ll throw in one pat on my own back, I did possibly the two most beautiful steep turns I’ve ever done — after a couple for warm up.
After an hour or so we turned back to the airport. I’d been looking forward to making my first true landing attempt, but threw that idea out with the gusty wind condition. My approach — assigned from a 2 mile final — was much better, and my roll-out to final was right on the money. Carl took over a couple hundred feet off the ground, and made a beautiful landing, and a great demonstration of what might be necessary to achieve one in gusty winds.
My overall feeling was one of almost boredom at the end of this flight, which I find odd, because I love flying, and I’m still excited every time I jump in the truck to head to the airport. I suppose because we didn’t do anything new, and I didn’t really feel challenged at any point during the flight other than take-off.
We’re scheduled again for next Sunday, and I’m hoping the weather holds.
Logbook
Aircraft: N2875X (PA-28-161)
Dual: 1.4hrs