rudder co-ordination
Well it turned out that my lesson yesterday wasn't with the CFI after all, but a different German instructor. I now understand some of the comments that people have made on other threads about the lack of English fluency getting in the way of effective instructing at Fly-in-Spain. Well, there's nothing I can do about it other than make the best of it. And I did learn a lot yesterday!
The lesson was extremely demanding, and it was my first exploration of rudder co-ordination. At last, I am starting to understand the Great Mystery of the Rudder (bear in mind that I started my flying on flexwing microlights!). I'm getting it right a little over half the time - but I'm finding it very difficult, especially since the response is very very asymmetric. Left rudder never needs more than a feather-light dab, and right rudder needs constant pressure with a hefty shove if I want to actually bank in that direction. I understand that the propellor slipstream introduces some bias, but do you think that's normal for a C172 at moderate power settings?
The other problem yesterday was nausea from the sharp banking exercise that we started the lesson with. It wasn't incapacitating, but once it had started it never really went away, and it was extremely distracting and uncomfortable. It was all very hard work.
And now, it's time to do it all over again! Happy flying.
mtw