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Jerry's 53rd Lesson; Maybe the grass _Is_ greener?
My CFI disappeared for another week. Went back east with partner to pick up his Beech Twin. They'd left it there because they didn't have enough vacation time, had to come back on a commercial flight and work some more. They both work for United, so I imagine they can fly cheap. Cat's away, the mice will play. I'd already been out for one lesson with another CFI; he'd said I was doing OK, but could use some review of basic airwork. So I called him and took him up on it. Drove my Triumph TR2 roadster out to the field - the car is almost as old as the C140. They have parking permits there - hopefully nobody would steal mine off the windshield. There sure wasn't any way to lock it up! The plan for the day was to head south, find a square field, and do ground reference maneuvers. He did the radios. One difference - this instructor likes to use the nav equipment. He gave me compass headings to turn to, instead of saying "fly to that gap in the hills". We tracked VOR radials too. I learned more about the compass and VORs than in all the preceeding 70 hours. Got a basic introduction to dip errors. First we found a square field and flew a square pattern around it. After 55 hours of pattern work in the C120, this was easy! Well, I did gain a hundred feet around the pattern. Would have busted a checkride :-(. Then we went down to Frazier lake and did a couple T & G's. This is a grass strip south of San Jose. We did a complete stop to rest for a moment. It was really quiet when we turned off the engine. All you could hear was the buzz of crickets in the fields. Classic airplanes were dimly visible in the open hangars. Field mice played on the grass runway. I had a feeling of deja vu - in fact I'd been to this field for my very first "landings" lesson. We watched as a gorgeous low wing two-open-cockpits taildragger with exposed cylinders came in to land. Anybody know what that might have been? Then we flew back home to SJC, taking a compass heading to intercept a VOR radial. The central fact of life south of San Jose is this: There is an ILS corridor for the big iron down the middle of the valley. You stay OUT of that corridor! Heck, our max speed is probably below the stall speed of a big jet :-). When we got back, I asked him - if I went with him - how much it would take to solo. He pulled out his syllabus, we went through it checking off things - "hmm, you've done _this_, you know _that_, we need to do _this_, you'd need to show me _that_, you need some more practice on _this_.... I'm not saying exactly what he told me, because solo time is not something that one can guarantee. But I will say that the list was specific, and reasonable. I think I've found a new CFI. Next lesson: more of the same, he promises that I'll do the radios. - Jerry "72.1 Hours" Kaidor |