"Repetition is the mother of learning."
- Latin Proverb
I'm typing and reflecting in a hotel in the heart of aviation country, Wichita. Wherever you look you see names that are rich in aviation history, Cessna, Beechcraft, and Boeing to name a few. Everywhere we've been there are professional pilots sporting the gear of the aircraft they fly, my husband included. I'm saying pilots but lets face it 99% are men. I've only seen one female I'd surmise to say was a pilot. Why aren't their more female pilots? Women have overcome so many odds to break into male dominated fields, but I don't think aviation is one of those. I know we have female fighter pilots, astronauts, airline pilots, and flight instructors but they are few. Here is a statistic from WAI (Women in Aviation) of 600,000 active pilots in the US only six percent are female and only three percent have their Airline Transport Pilot ratings. Hmm, well this doesn't really have anything to do with last week's lesson, but it's been swirling around in my head. If you'd like more information about women in aviation visit http://www.wai.org/.
Shane and I hit the flying pretty hard last week. We flew Monday, Tuesday, took a break Wednesday, and decided to have another lesson on Thursday. After finally getting a handle on how to maintain my altitude Shane decided it was time to refine the take-offs and landings. My first few take-offs went pretty well and I started to gain some confidence. The pattern flying and procedures I felt I knew pretty well, and my landings were progressing.
The weather was perfect that night which was a bonus. Perfect weather also meant that there were other people out flying. After a couple of times around the pattern we came in to land, and I saw one of Shane's other airplanes getting ready to taxi out. Shane had planned for us to do a touch and go after we landed. A touch and go is when the pilot lands the airplane, slows down a bit, and then proceeds to give the airplane full power and takes off. I'm sure my landing was less than perfect but it was safe and we were on the ground. We start rolling down the runway and I got totally distracted by the other airplane that was waiting for us. The reason I became distracted was because I was convinced my take-off would be on display. I didn't want anyone watching especially if I was going to mess up. Well, because I was distracted I did mess up. I became so obsessed with who was watching me that I started to give it power, pulled up prematurely, and forgot to give it the rest of the power. Everything I knew I had to do was forgotten and I totally botched the take off. Shane calmly reminded me to add the rest of the power, and we completed the take-off. I'm sure we went zinging all over the place in our ascent, because after being so flustered I'm sure I forgot to use the right rudder. I'll have to ask Shane if he remembers.
Shane was great about the whole thing. He also knew that I would be far harder on myself than he ever could be. Plus, the whole hover craft thing done the runway was pretty embarrassing. Honestly, if I was Shane I would've said "Ok, that's enough! Let's call it a night. " He must be a glutton for punishment because we entered the pattern and prepared to land again. This time we landed and did a full stop. I got turned around and lined myself up on the runway. I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to lining myself up. Shane bless his heart tried to get me to favor the right side to compensate during the take-off, but that went south. Shane had me stop the airplane. I lined up for the second time and prepared to take-off. I was still flustered from the previous take-off and the aborted taxi, and ended up needing a reminder about adding FULL power. Good grief this was getting ridiculous. Shane being the great instructor he is didn't let me end on one of my failures. We did about four more take-offs and landings before calling it a night.
That lesson was our longest lesson ever. We flew 1.3 hours, and I would guess we did eight or nine take-offs/landings. Shane said that some say that an hour of take-offs and landings can be like the equivalent to working an eight hour day. I didn't notice it that night but I sure did the next day. I was exhausted and probably would've slept until noon if I could've. Even though I had my share of goof ups during that lesson I had some triumphs too. I've really got a good grasp on the procedure for flying in the pattern and landing. I've said it before my landings are better than my take-offs and that was evident on Thursday. I realize I'm the most backward private pilot student there ever was, but I'm making gains. I look forward to seeing what the next month brings.
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