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Jerry's 45th Lesson: Short but not so SweetToday's lesson was prefaced by an adventure at the airport last night. Jerry was a bad boy..... I went out to the airport after work to watch airplanes in the pattern and listen to the radio. Took my FAR/AIM flashcards with me - figured I'd get in some study, too. Sat around and watched people land, found them in the pattern the best I could. Wind was 15 knots gusting to 20. The flashcards kept wanting to fly away, and I shoved them under my sweatshirt. Watched airplanes for a while, then got up to go. Forgot all about the @#$% flashcards. They fell down out of the sweatshirt, the wind caught them instantly. Looked like a damned white explosion out there on the taxiway. I ran around under the parked airplanes picking up cards - got maybe half of 'em. They got quite a wind at that airport :-(. As I walked by the tower, I heard one the radio "That your book fell down?". I waved and put my hands over my head apologetically..... Wished I could sink through a hole in the tarmac :-). Called the tower to apologize too - a machine answered, I left a message. I'd decided it was time for a heart to heart talk with my instructor. I wanted to know _exactly_ what was between me and soloing. And how long it might take to get there. His first answer was "Landings!". To which he added, "But your landings were pretty good the last couple of lessons". To which he added, "But your landings were pretty good the last couple of lessons". "But we haven't done crosswind landings yet" "What about that lesson where I had to crab every time down to the flare?" "Well, yeahhh." "And we have to do engine-outs and emergencies, but that's just one lesson" "And we need to do some high-traffic time at PAO." Well, late Saturday morning certainly qualified as "high-traffic time ". So we went out to do touch and goes at PAO. It was really, really, REALLY busy out there. They made us extend our upwind and extend our downwind "You're number three, clear to land".... I scanned the skies desperately for that Bonanza we were following. Got him! Turned base, came in on final, juggling a crosswind from the side I'm not used to. The landing was a pretty good double-bounce... I decided to make it a full stop, the tower instructed us to spend "minimum time on the runway". I started riding the brakes to make the taxiway, and the plane started to veer left. I figured it was my instructor guiding us to the taxiway to get us off the runway quicker. It wasn't. "Say, did you notice when you tested the brakes that one of them was dead?" Well, no, actually, I hadn't. On initial taxi, I'd pressed the pedals, the airplane had stopped. The damn things have no "feel" to speak of anyway. Well, from now on, I'm going to check them one at a time, and feel the plane swerve. I suggested going back to parking to fix it. He agreed. When we got back to parking, there was a shortage of brake fluid. He raced back to his hangar - no joy there, either. So it was a real short lesson, 0.3 hours total. No charge. - Jerry |