ikebana
I’ve had too much soda lately. I don’t really care to ingest this much caffeine–it ceases be a subtle pick-me-up and becomes the chemical equivalent of slapping me awake as the oscillations between jittery alertness and barely-contained drowsiness intensify. It’s certainly no substitute for sleep. And as I was telling Em last night, I seem to live between big sleeps these days. Let’s see… The last was this past weekend, and the next time I’ll get a decent window for sleep will be…this Saturday? Yeah. It’s like that.
Had my longest flight block yet today–I was in the air for the better part of two and a half hours, practicing short- and soft-field takeoffs and landings.
The good: Most of my landings were spot-on and excellent. In one particularly successful short-field landing, I got the plane on the ground smoothly and to a full stop in about 1000 ft. Soft-field landings are nice because the main criterion instinctively used to judge a landing’s success–its softness–becomes the whole point. The descent is halted a few feet above the ground and by juggling the yoke and throttle the plane is coaxed the remaining distance to the surface for an almost imperceptible touchdown. It’s not as hard as it sounds and almost all the ones I did were very comfy indeed.
The bad: Flying out of Lexington, coming back to Sugar Valley, I got lost. And what’s worse, without even realizing it. Sugar Valley was back to the northwest, and I flew a northeast heading for some time before Mr. Hahn prompted me to reevaluate the situation. The worst part is that not only did I announce over the unicom that I was leaving the pattern to the northwest (and didn’t do it), I had the correct heading written down beforehand and right in front of me on the approach plate. It’s one mistake I won’t make again.
The ugly: My instructor got out of the plane at Lexington and let me fly around in the pattern for 6 or 7 landings by myself. On the first time around, my approach was dead-on, but I didn’t relax on short final, instead pulling the yoke too far back, floating quite a bit and porpoising the airplane, cycling up and down a few times, bouncing off the runway before finally sticking. Not pretty. Not pretty at all. And not good for the airplane either, heh.
Mr. Hahn said flying has a way of keeping you humble, and today was certainly a humbling day. I’m just glad there were some positives in terms of the main goal–practicing those specialized landings.
See, this is why you/I need to locate a cabin in the woods. Intense Sleep beckons.
Also, it’s really, really cool watching you do this whole “learning to fly a plane” thing. While most of the terminology is Greek to me, I appreciate it through you. Or something :)
Mmm…cabin in the woods… Can we say ideal?
And thanks :) I’m glad you enjoy reading about my aerial mishaps, haha :)
Yes, ugh, especially right now. It’s cold and rainy and my work is just mocking me.
It’s not that I enjoy reading about the mishaps, M… but it would weird me out if you were having a 100% perfect experience. It’s just cool, okay?
So tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired.
You should come here. It’s just plain cold. And windy.
I understand :)
Me too. Just gotta make it to Saturday afternoon…