Well, yet again due to the weather, our Nav was out the window!
I started the afternoon with the RT written exam, which to be honest had some horrible, stupid questions in, but I passed anyway! I can now apply for my RT license when I get the papers tomorrow - this was a good start for the flight. It was decided that we would fly north and do a precautionary landing - something which I had not done yet, and which I had been looking forward to trying. I had this feeling in my mind that it wouldn't be too difficult, but it was not as easy as I thought....
After takeoff we asked for a non standard exit via Aintree Racecourse, instead of Seaforth - this was approved and it was good to be able to see the picture from a different angle. I am getting better now at picking out local features, and getting to know my "Ponderosa!"
Picking a spot to land was easy, we are spoiled for choice around here, it's more of a case of "spot the built up area". So, over we went to set up for a circuit pattern at about 500-600 feet. The wind at this point was roughly 22 knots, and was a little gusty, so this made things quite difficult. Keeping 80 knots, with one stage of flap and about 1800 rpm was a nightmare. On each turn I had to worry about heading correction due to the wind. I kept losing height, gaining height, going to fast, too slow etc - I just couldn't seem to get the dam aircraft in trim. Eventually, once I settled down, we flew one pattern to the right of the runway (or chosen grass area), then another one straight down the centreline, never losing sight of the landing area, this is very important. Like I say, the wind was palying havoc with my direction and at the end of it I felt quite drained - like I did at the end of my instrument flying lesson.
I have learned today that I need some more slow flight (not only by law, but I need to practice getting the aircraft in a good setup). One thing that I knew was going to be tough was the landing. We had a full 14 knots crosswind - very tasty. I set up for 80 knots, and no flap. Being totally honest, I nailed it and touched down with no problem - that felt quite good
I booked in for tomorrow as the weather (was) suppoed to be good, but it is looking like another cancellation according to the BBC.
Good to see you all making progress and getting some flying done - keep it up,
Lee
