"You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky." -- Amelia Earhart
My last lesson was a week ago today. I'm a little late getting this post completed but life has got in the way a bit. I try my very hardest to blog shortly after the lesson so I remember details, but it doesn't always work that way. It's funny pre-mommy phase I probably could've remembered every last detail of the lesson, but after pregnancy and now parenting my memory is shot. Yes, mommy brain is a real condition.
Here's what I remember. I got to the airport and we briefed in Shane's office. The plan was to keep working on the take-offs and landings. I know if you read the blog you know we've been devoting a lot of time to them. I don't totally suck at them it just requires lots of time and practice to become safely proficient at them. Hmm, safely proficient, it sounds like I'm writing a manual for the FAA. We headed to the airplane and I started the checklists. Once that was complete, I started to head towards three four because that is where we'd be taking off from. We got to the turn around and I finished the before take-off checklist, and we were ready to go. I had a nice take-off and was excited about that. The take-off has been my achilles heel, but I'm really starting to get proficient at it. I maneuvered through the pattern without any problems. Soon it was time to land and I had a good landing (good for a pre-solo student not Shane good). We all have to start somewhere, right? We did a touch and go and were back up in the air.
The advantage to having your husband teaching you how to fly is that he knows how and when to introduce a somewhat nerve wracking skill. After I turned to enter the pattern Shane said he was going to simulate engine failure, and he was going to show me how to maneuver the airplane to the ground. I was a bit apprehensive but knew that I was with a very safe and skilled pilot. Shane modeled how to get the airplane to the ground and I was glad once we touched down on the runway. We did another touch and go and I thought we'd resume our take-offs and landings. I figured Shane would just model landing the plane and that would be the end of it. I was wrong. As soon as we were in the pattern he told me it was my turn. I did have a bit of a panic moment but he pushed me, and before I knew it I was flying it. When I was flying it didn't feel much different than normal. It did require more strength to turn and maneuver the plane. I guess the best way to describe it would be to say it felt kind of stiff. We came in high over the runway but had the whole length of the runway to get down. I actually land quite well when we come in high on regular landings. I have no idea why. It probably has to do with me doing the opposite of what "normal" students do. I guess in reality it's probably a good thing that I know how to compensate if I come in high. Anyways, the landing was pretty uneventful and I safely got us on the ground. We went around the pattern one more time and did a standard landing before calling it quits for the night.
I left the lesson feeling good about how I was progressing. My take-offs are coming together and my landings getting better. I'm also thankful that Shane introduced the emergency procedure in the way that he did. He knew very well if he told me in briefing like he does with most students I would've fixated on it. It most likely would've impacted my performance during the lesson. The way he introduced it didn't give me time to think I just had to act. Oddly enough, I just came across some reasons why women don't stick with flying and one of those reasons was introducing stalls to early in training. Shane and I were talking about it last night and he told me he introduced them later with me. He normally introduces them around the third lesson and he waited until the sixth lesson with me. The man's a genius! Ok, so I'm partial. If you'd like to check some interesting information about women and flying go to http://www.teachingwomentofly.com/default.htm.
No comments:
Post a Comment