Well, this afternoon, I faced what I figured was going to be challenge- landing the aircraft, along with flying around in the pattern. I was right about the challenge part; it took a lot of concentration on my part, but I came out unscathed.
Actually, there was another challenge before the landing part- getting out to the airport in Gwinett County. Since 546DC was down with a flat tire, Scott and I squeezed in an hour of pattern work out at LZU. Normally I fly out of PDK, which is just five miles or so from home, whereas LZU is nearly 25 miles- plus I’ve never been out there before. I made the mistake of trusting my phone’s GPS navigation, which resulted in me barely making the field before 5, instead of being fifteen minutes early as I intended. Oh well- the previous instructor and student were just getting back anyway, so I didn’t lose any time.
Out at the plane, we did an abbreviated preflight so we could get in the air. This was going to be my first time performing the takeoff roll without assistance; I was a bit nervous, but confident. Got us on centerline, throttle up, put in right rudder… more right rudder… more right rudder; oh, it’s time to rotate. This was also my first time remaining in the pattern after takeoff; it turned out to be easier than I thought, and I got into a routine pretty quickly. At 500′ AGL, bring up the flaps and turn crosswind. Approaching pattern altitude, turn downwind, pull back throttle, level off at 2000′. Watch out the right window; abeam the touchdown point, throttle comes back, flaps to takeoff, start the descent. Bit further, turn base, continue descent; turn final flaps to landing, pick a aiming point, pitch for 65 knots, throttle to stay on slope. Over the numbers, power comes out, flare, touchdown, flaps to takeoff, power up, back in the air. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Now, I’d done all this a few hundred times in FSX, so I knew the mechanics, but the fun part was taking those mechanics and turning them into actual flying. I made the transition easily, but at a cost: flying the pattern took nearly all of my concentration. I was glad Scott was taking care of the radio calls and watching for traffic, because if I’d had to do those things, I’m certain I would have become task-saturated in a big hurry. As it was, I didn’t even have the presence of mind to keep the plane trimmed until about my third time around.
By the time it was getting dark and we made a full-stop, I was feeling somewhat mentally exhausted. On the one hand, I would have loved to fly some more, but on the other hand, I was glad to get on the ground and kind of absorb the experience. Scott was impressed with my flying; I was, too, but as I mentioned, I was well aware that I’d need a lot more practice before I’m safe to do this alone. Regardless, I had a blast, and I’m glad I made the decision to go to LZU to fly today.
