Sunday, October 19, 2008

Solo Practice 10: Take off, land, rinse and repeat

Plane: Cessna 150
Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 53 degrees, wind 070 degrees at 5 knots

Seems my lesson was at 2:00 today instead of noon. No worries though, I just decided to go up solo for an hour. The usual bird (60338) was out, as Dave was flying back from Kentucky on a XC, so I took the other 150 up, 3718J. They're very similar planes, only a year apart in manufacture. A pull starter, only one VOR receiver, and pull knobs instead of switches are the main differences from what I have become familiar with. Oh, and it has a well-known but yet-to-be fixed issue with the radio. Whenever you key the PTT switch to transmit, an insanely loud hiss comes screaming through the headset. Due to that, I nixed the plan to practice at Wright Brothers and instead stayed in the pattern at Stewart so I wouldn't need to worry about using the radio.

The winds were much calmer than yesterday and right down the runway instead of a direct crosswind but it was still quite bumpy at pattern altitude. I made seven circuits around the pattern and brought 18J in for landing six times. On one approach the Decathlon was still on the runway so I went around and came back in. To me the landings all felt better than my average as of late but still somewhat firm. However, back on the ground a few pilots who had been launching the glider in the grass next to the runway said my landings looked great. It's nice to hear that for sure, although I know I could have been a little smoother when I flared and allowed the wheels to touch back down.

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 0.9 hours
Solo/PIC Time: 19.3 hours
Total Time: 61.2 hours

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