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Lesson22This past week, every opportunity for an afternoon lesson was greeted by fairly stiff winds, on the order of 12-15 knots. Nothing that would keep an experienced pilot out of the air. But we were in the middle of perfecting the flare, I was just starting to get it, and my instructor didn't want me to get frustrated trying to do a sensitive, subtle flare sequence while inputting monster wind corrections. So today, Saturday, there had been no lesson since last Sunday. PAO really really *really* busy today; we had to wait *IN PARKING* for 5 minutes. Then we waited at the runup area behind three or for airplanes. The ground control guy sounded harried.... During my takeoff roll, the tower said "Mumble Shmumble 2-4-November". My instructor said something like "Wilco, 2-4-November", and told me to turn off the runway and parallel it. If I'd been alone, I don't think I would have gotten that instruction; I've found the takeoff roll to be a very busy time. Heck, I don't think I'd even manage to push the mike button before the plane left the ground. Maybe for nosewheel airplane jockeys the takeoff run is nothing special... We flew across the Bay to Hayward; He hit me with an engine-out on the way across. I intoned: "Establish best glide, carb heat, find a field and turn towards it!". Then he gave me the engine back, we continued on. If such was possible, HWD was even busier than PAO! There was a "Young Eagles" meet and barbecue happening. There were airplanes trailing smoke, airplanes trailing banners, helicopters coming and going.... At HWD, we did 20 touch-and-goes. He still did the throttle and the radios. He said "Good Job" several times, but I found my performance lackluster. The plane always seemed to be going sideways when we hit :-(. Need more work on that crosswind technique! For some reason, he was always messing with the VOR. I never thought to ask him if there was any doubt as to where we were; I was too busy! Going back to PAO, the air was so smooth that the C120 felt like a 747! Coming back into the pattern at PAO, they asked us to do a short approach. Then he hit me with another engine-out on the downwind. I did the chant again, said "that airport looks pretty good", and turned downwind. We were way high. He took the plane, slipped us down straight at the numbers almost like a helicopter, straightened out about 10 feet above the runway, and did a wheel landing. "Showoff!" :-) We taxied back to parking, he told me that I would be doing the throttle next time, and he'd give the radios too, the time after that. Then he read the number of landings we'd done off the VOR....Oh, that's what he was doing with it! - Jerry "31.2 hours" Kaidor |