Here I am getting behind again… went flying Friday morning, and yet here it is Sunday afternoon and I still haven’t yet written about it. Yes, the procrastination is strong with this one. Better get my butt in gear.
Anyhoo, after Wednesday’s weather bust, Friday morning was about as good as it could get; no clouds, great visibility, winds calm… can’t ask for much more than that. Showed up at PDK a few minutes before 7:30, and waited for Scott to show up. A quick check of the weather and TFRs, and it was time to fly.
After taxiing to the end of the ramp it was time to call ground. Scott gave me the usual rundown of radio communications (who I am, where I am, what I want to do) and asked if I wanted to call ground. Well, I did, but this odd feeling of stage fright came over me, so I demurred and let him do the talking. This would become a recurring theme as the day went on.
This time, I mostly flew the takeoff, though Scott was doing the rudder work to keep the plane straight. As a sort of side effect of being a veteran simulator pilot, I’m not used to even thinking in terms of rudder- I can handle the stick and throttle OK, but I have to make myself use those funny pedals on the floor in flight. Just another thing to overcome.
Approaching the practice area, we did our first exercise of the day. Scott told me he’d work the throttle, and he wanted me to use the stick to keep the plane level no matter what he did. I was quite stunned at the amount of back pressure it took to keep the nose up when he went to idle, but mostly I did OK. Over the practice area, we did a few clearing turns, and then I spent some time working on gentle level turns. I was still having trouble with indvertantly climbing the airplane… got to work on that.
Next came the real fun- my first attempt at a steep turn. I think I acquitted myself pretty well after a couple tries, though I had a tendency to decrease my bank angle as the turn continued, which resulted in yet another inadvertant climb. I’m still getting a feel for the control pressures I need, but hey… it is my first real lesson. I suppose I should give myself a bit of a break. After a few more steep turns and a little slow flight, we tuned back to PDK… I had to go to work still, and Scott had to get out to LZU to work with another student.
Remember my radio stage fright? Yep, that came back. As we approached the PDK airspace, Scott asked me to call the tower. Uhhhh… OK, I know what to say… come on, it’s not that hard… uhhh… Finally Scott took mercy on me and made the initial call. Tower told us to call him back five miles out. As we approached that point, Scott again prompted me to make the call. I screwed up my courage and, to my surprise, actually sounded vaguely like I knew what I was doing.
“Peachtree Tower, 546DC is five miles out.”
“546DC, fly right downwind, cleared to land runway 2R.”
“546DC, right downwind, cleared to land 2R.”
Once I got past that first call, the readback just came out of its own accord. Guess I just had to get over that hump.
So I flew the pattern, with Scott prompting me as we went on. Turning final, we were a bit high, so the throttle went to idle while I kept us lined up. Over the numbers, Scott took over and flared for a nice touchdown. Clear of the runway, I taxied back to the ramp (doing much better than before) and then we were done for the day. Before I left for work, Scott gave me what I considered to be quite a compliment: “You fly better than some licensed pilots I know.” I’m not sure if that says good things about me or bad things about some pilots Scott knows, but I was glad to hear it.
I really need to get off my butt and get my medical taken care of… based on Scott’s feedback and my level of confidence, I feel I might be ready to solo pretty quickly, and I need to be ready for that.
