Lesson 8 – Low Approaches

If anyone is keeping score, yesterday’s flying lesson really was the fourth one in a row. We couldn’t get above 2500 feet, but we did fly.

Today was supposed to be power-off stalls, steep turns and slow flight – again. We started with three power-off stalls. I’m getting better at these. I kept the rudder centered so the stalls were straight ahead with no roll at all. I was a little to aggressive pushing the nose down on the second stall and we lost over 300 feet instead of the 200 feet or less I was trying for. Overall though, not too bad.

Next, we took advantage of the winds by flying to Galt Airport and doing low approaches with a direct crosswind. I did fine with flying the pattern but, the side slip gave me a lot of trouble. I just couldn’t seem to get the uncoordinated part down. I needed left aileron and right rudder but every time I moved the yoke left my left foot went forward too. On base, I would tell myself I wasn’t going to do that again then; I would go ahead and do it anyway. I did finally start to get it by the fourth pass so next time should be much better.

Time was almost up so we never did get to the steep turns or slow flight. Those go back on the schedule for the next flight.

The visibility was lower than on previous flights so finding my way back to the airport was more of a challenge than usual. We were a little south of where I thought we were but not by far and I got it figured out before we got close enough for our 10 mile call to the tower. I know that Sandy knew where we were all along but, she let me find my way on my own. Radio work and the pattern at Waukegan were no problem. Sandy is still helping with the landings but, I’m doing a little more each time.

Will Thursday be five flights in a row? The long range forecast is for rain and snow but we’ll see.