The difficult second album

[Shepster]

Hi all - have been waiting for my first post until I went solo - the big day was a couple of weeks ago. Reading other threads, I really get the point about it being a memorable event, all the more so in my case because of a huge crowd of spectators at the airfield. Luckily for me, they were there for something else and weren't remotely interested in my sweaty-palmed screecher of a landing!

I've done two hour-long stretches of solo circuits since, and reflecting on them I actually found the first circuit session after the initial solo more demanding than my debut. I don't know if its just because you become aware of more things you should be getting right, or that sense of fatalism as you wait for S0ds law to strike, but I was much more nervous and in the course of 10 or 15 circuits made a number of quite poor landings, including one with a bounce that I chose to go around from.

Interested in whether others have had this high and low experience? Was hugely encouraged with my second long stint on solo circuits which was today, though - felt like it was coming together again and landings were more consistent and smoother despite a sneaky crosswind.

Anyhow, its nice to be here - I've really enjoyed reading the threads here over the last couple of months and its nice to feel a little closer to being qualified to take part!

cheers

Shep

[flybymike]

Congratulations, and don't worry, in another 30 years your landings will still vary between the sublime and the ridiculous...

[Shepster]

Thanks.

I think the biggest thing I learned from the difficult second round of solos was how quickly everything can go wrong in the final stages of landing.

I think I was helped, in a funny sort of way, by having read lots of back issues of the AAIB reports. It seems that every second report is of a heavy landing followed by a big bounce and a gear collapse.

When the big bounce happened to me (only once, I'm glad to say), I remember being surprised by how quickly it all happened and how little time there is to react - I just rammed the throttle in and went around, which I still think was probably the right call but without all that cautionary pre-reading I'd either have made a different choice or not made a choice at all quickly enough.

Its given me both a respect for how difficult the whole landing thing is and an appreciation for how important it is to hone your instincts as well as your intellect. Still, I hope I won't have to practice those bounces too many times! :)

Shep