Lesson 41 – Simulator and Crosswinds

Sandy called me while I was on the way to the airport yesterday. She was stuck in Kenosha getting a flat tire fixed on the airplane I was scheduled to fly so she would be late. Since I was already headed there, I went on to the airport anyway. I was content to just hang around for a while.

When I got there, Skip suggested that I try a flight in the GAT II full motion simulator. This was my first time in the sim so I wasn’t sure just what to expect. It seemed that most of what I did for this first session was just getting familiar with how to fly it. Brian, one of the other CFIs, put me through the spin and graveyard spiral sequences which were fun. They did give me some idea of what spatial disorientation feels like. Next, he had me do some VOR tracking which is what I was working on Tuesday. He also had me do takeoffs while he failed various systems. The idea was for me to recognize the problem, abort the takeoff and get stopped on the runway. That was probably the part where I learned the most.

Sandy was just getting back as I got out of the simulator. When the mechanic took the wheel off to fix the tire, he found a bearing that was going bad so he fixed that to. That made her even later so it was well after 3:00 before we were ready to fly. It was raining a little and the plane had to be back by 4:30 so we decided to stay in the pattern. Since the wind was from 160 degrees, I requested runway 5 to have a good crosswind. I only got 4 landings in but it was a good session. Two of the landings were very good and the other two were OK. Most importantly, I feel more confident about landing again so, hopefully, this slump is over.