Wings on High.

9 landings, with a bit of a breeze.

Flew the 152 out of Crest today.  Got in just under an hour and a half.  Worked entirely on pattern procedures.  We left Crest, and went right over to Auburn, did 4 touch and goes there, then went to Renton, did two touch and goes, then back to Crest for 2 touch & goes.

Still getting used to Crest – that will take a while.  Getting much better though.  Auburn is much comfier to fly out of – the runway’s bigger, the pattern is easy to visualize.  Lots of roads running parallel and perpendicular, helps keep your pattern track honest (i apparently like to go wide – real wide), and the altitudes are at sea level – i.e. TPA at 1500 /reads/ 1500 on the altimeter.  My 2nd or 3rd T&G through Auburn, and my CFI was hands off.  That felt pretty good.  He was still talking me through things, which I needed, but it was a nice feeling to hear (after the fact, albeit) that I was handling the plane, even resetting for takeoff right after the touchdown.  I’m also pleased to say that a number of those T&Gs were serious greasers.  Smoothest I may have ever done.

We had some pretty wicked winds though.  There were some points where we were approaching at a 30 degree angle off our track (we pointed 30deg. right but were flying straight – major crab).  Auburn wasn’t too bad, but when we went to Renton – holy crap.  Flying out over the water was some serious chop.  Bumps I can handle, I don’t worry about those.  It’s being 500 feet off the ground and feeling the plane slam down to the left, and the yoke working really hard against you.  That was a bit much.  We left there pretty quick, and I’m not complaining.  Though the runway is huge for a 152, it’s getting to the runway I had to worry about.  And that water looked cold. 

Working on the approaches from base to final, the pitch started to feel more comfortable.  What was also very encouraging was the number of times he said “See, you’re pitching for speed without even thinking about it.”  I’d just set the plane where it felt comfortable – 800ft, 65kts, 10deg flaps, bit of down angle, 1500rpm, and bam!  right on the line.  My flares came a long way, too.  I think all of my landings were pretty smooth, and a few of the flares I know I nailed.  I liked that

I need to keep with it though, to stay on top of it.  Keep flying that is.  I hit this point some time back, and then some scheduling and financial issues hit and I had to break for a long while – that set me back a long way, I know it.  It’s taken this long to get back to that point.  If I stay with it this time, I know I’ll see lots more forward progress, and pretty quick.  So, once a week for an hour and a half, if not two.  Once I solo I’ll probably go out much more frequently, since I won’t need to schedule time with the CFI, just the plane.  I need to find some way to get him to check me out on a plane at Boeing, since it’s /way/ closer, especially in traffic.  I could do a lot more with that arrangement. 

I added up my hours after I capped the first page in my log.  12.3 hrs total, with an even 10 of instruction time.  Figuring I’ll be around 60hrs for my checkride, that puts me 1/6th of the way there.  Every little bit. 

I like what I accomplished today.  Felt good.  Now I sleep.