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Lesson 16: More pattern work.Today we went back to Hayward, just plugging away at the pattern. Leaving PAO, he said "OK, you fly me to Hayward". Panic. When should we call them? What's their frequency? I got out the chart. Crinkly paper unfolding all over the airplane! Where's that airport?!? Damn, it's right on the crease! Glancing up at the horizon, down at the chart....don't forget to fly the plane! "My plane!" He took the plane before we busted Hayward's class D. I studied the chart while he flew round and round, up and down. I found the handy table on the back with frequencies for all the airports. Set up the radios, got the ATIS. We reviewed the radio call, I made it, we got cleared for a left base entry on the BIG runway. Back to the pattern. Down to the runway, up and around. I got a little better at quickly setting my speed. Pattern altitude for the big runway was only 600 feet. This was a bit inconvenient, in that I tended to reach it during the turn to downwind. But no big deal. Yesterday I'd been totally unable to approach the runway with the airplane pointing straight down it. After some serious thought over the evening, I figured out a general crosswind technique. Tried it out ..... it worked! "One wing low", slipping into the wind, holding the craft straight with the rudder. Trouble is, just keeping straight took so much mental effort that there were no cycles left for anything else. You know, like deciding when to flare... There is *so much* to do in the pattern.... mental overload! And that's with him doing the radio stuff and figuring out when to turn base to fit in the pattern. And what about this "flare" thing? I have no clue whatsoever as to when to flare. Either I try to do it ten feet in the air, or I try to fly the plane right into the runway. And once in the flare: Whups, the airplane's pointing in the air, can't see anything! Gee, I hope we're still headed straight down the runway..... I did exactly one landing by myself, with no physical input from the instructor, just audible. "Flare now - flare-flare-flare-flare-flare!!!!!" Bounce - squeeak-squeek! - Jerry "" Kaidor |