January 2011 - Twice in One Day!
Big plans to fly on the next planned date did not look promising with snow in the forecast, so I squeezed in a lesson this day instead, first thing in the morning, then went home to do some work, had lunch with one twin, sent a few emails, and decided to take advantage of the weather and my instructor's open schedule, and went back for another lesson in the afternoon before returning home to hang out with the other twin, and then do some more work! :D
Morning - Emergencies and Circuits So, we get ready to take off this morning, and something strange happens with the engine during the take-off roll (sorry, not articulate enough in aviation-ese to describe it properly). I know it's not me, because I checked the fuel before hand and the primer was locked. Also, although I'm no star in the air, it's true, the one thing I am good at is smooth throttle on take off. Plane seems okay after rotation, so we don't worry about it. But then on downwind, it seems a little rough again, and just after leaving the circuit, it blurps again. Lari, ever the conservative (and with the fear of guilt that would come from leaving two sweet little 6-year-old boys motherless if I died... although, I guess he couldn't feel guilty if he died too, hehe), decides the prudent choice is to turn around and make a precautionary landing of the plane. We do so, dumping flaps to drop quickly, as we are way too high for the short distance we are from runway 26, and we make a precautionary landing to have the engine checked out by Aaron (sp?) a guy I have not met before, but who seems to know what he is doing. Aaron does a full run up, which is a weird sensation, the throttle all the way in and the plane going nowhere, but it is kind of an interesting experience to debrief PDM, because as we know, there are bold pilots and old pilots, but no old, bold pilots! (I noticed one of the other FIs giving Larry a hard time later because of his decision, but frankly, risk-taker that I am notwithstanding, I think he made the right choice. Especially because he was modelling for a student. Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.) Anyway, so once we felt okay about everything, we were out of time, so we just did a couple of circuits, but the weather was so clear, and the wind so calm, that I actually landed the plane on my own once! Big accomplishment. I was rushed, but proud, when I left for the morning. Oh, oh, and.... I ran into a buddy from GS at the end, and he had just soloed his first time!!!! Very exciting!!! Hurray for Randy! :D |
|
One thing I didn't get to today was speaking personally with two of the guys who I wanted to follow up with from this week's PD session... but maybe better to let it be, and just "be". Screw their bullshit, and just Be the change, and all that, right? :)
I feel good about today. I feel good about flying. I am surprised because yesterday I was feeling tentative at best.