Lesson 78 – More Crosswinds and Stuff

I think Westosha is the toughest airport that I have used for training so far. I have never done very well there. The runway is narrow and the steep drop off right at the departure end of runway 3 can produce some weird air currents. I know that Sandy likes to take her students to 5K6 for crosswind practice because it is so challenging. Yesterday the wind was almost directly perpendicular to runway 3/21 so, that is were we went. I was only 50% on the day – three landings and three go-arounds. I wasn’t happy with how I did but, Sandy wasn’t too critical of my performance.

After the landings, we climbed up to 2700 feet for some power on stalls. I haven’t done them for quit a while but still did fine. Next, I did some slow flight ending with a straight ahead power off stall. As I was climbing back up after the stall, Sandy pulled the power. I pitched for best glide, picked my field and went through the engine start procedure. I made my simulated emergency call, did the passenger briefing and, we both agreed, made my field.

We had also planned to do some turns around a point but, the airplane was scheduled after my flight and we ran out of time. The wind at KUGN was right down runway 5 and I made a good normal landing.

I still want to do another solo to polish up some of my maneuvers. Soon after that, I will do a practice checkride with one of the other instructors.