Got my fix today

Had another flying lesson today. The plan was to go back out into the
training area again today. Instructor said we'd do some more forced
landing practice, some more stalls, trying to get a wing to drop, which
apparently doesn't happen real easy in the Gazelle, and we'd also do
steep descending turns. The cloud base was rolling in, so the
instructor decided we'd head out to the training area, and see if the
conditions allowed us to get high enough to do what he'd planned. Well,
at about 1400ft, someone put a white sheet over the cockpit, and we
couldn't see anything, only for a few seconds. My immediate reaction
was to look down through the window in the bottom of the door to try
and see the ground. I was quickly told that that was not the thing to
do, and to focus on my instruments if I ever found myself in cloud and
couldn't see the horizon. It was my first time actually in the white
stuff, and I have to say I didn't like it. It was very un-nerving. My
instructor said that it was perfectly healthy to not be happy in the
clouds when flying a VFR a/c.
We decided to return to the airfield, so, my instructor asked me where
the airfield was, and I correctly indicated the direction, although we
were about 7 or 8 miles out by this stage, and it was not visible. Was
also very hazy, which limited visibility a bit. I knew where the
airfield was in relation to the lakes, so I knew I was headed in the
right direction. Rather than land and drop the instructor off, so I
could finish of the last 0.3 of an our I require to satisfy my solo
time for the first part of the curriculum, we decided to stay in the
air and do some precautionary searches. I quite enjoyed it. The traffic
at our airfield was basically non-existant today, which made it perfect
for what we wanted to do.
First up, we did a circuit at 500ft, to check for no powerlines or
other obstructions in the approach to the field. We did all this using
our runway as the potential farmers field.
Then we did a circuit at 200ft, to check for large obstructions like
rocks, ditches, holes, boulders, or livestock etc.
The last pass was at 100ft, to get a good look at the actual surface we
were proposing to land on. A it was our usual runway, it was of course
suitable, so we climbed once again to 500ft, and did a tight circuit to
land. This was to be a short field landing. Instructor did the first
one. As the Gazelle does not have flaps, it's basically just a slower
approach landing. 55 over the fence instead of 60-65. We were pretty
much full to the brim with fuel, so were close to maximum weight, so we
didn't stomp on the brakes to stop, but it was clear we stopped a lot
shorter than normal. Next we taxiied around again and this next take
off was to be a short field take off, so we started from the grassy
side of the runway. (The runway is grass and gravel). Heavy on the
brakes. Ease u to full power whilst holding the brakes. Release the
brakes, and feel the full force of the 80hp Rotax in action! Ahem!
Where was I? Oh yes! Release the brakes and off we go! Full of fuel,
with 2 on board, and I guess she took off a bit sooner than usual, but
not by much! LOL! My instructor said that had I been in the a/c alone,
I would have noticed how much sooner it took off. I'll have to take his
word for it until the next lesson when I can try again.
So, apart from the really weird feeling of being basically blinded for
the first time in clouds, I felt really comfortable with my performance
today. The flight felt more comfortable today than it has the whole
time I've been learning. Don't get me wrong, I've been comfortable
flying for quite a while now, but today I felt I was able to not only
control the a/c and learn the lessons required for the day, but I was
also able to keep my concentration whilst chatting to the instructor
about things other than the lesson itself. I found myself actually
enjoying the flight itself. That's a lot of 'itselfs' there, but I
guess you know what I mean.
My instructor said he's happy for me to go solo out in the training
area now, so next lesson it'll just be a case of him handing me the
keys and saying "Go fly somewhere for an hour!" That will be good!
Total time now is 14.1hrs.


--
Oz Lander.
I'm not always right,
But I'm never wrong.