Re-solo

Goals:

• Re-solo.
• Turns around a point with some wind.

Flight:
The flight was fine. There was a 5-6 kt wind out of 350, so we used 31 and had only a minor crosswind. Out at the practice area we did a left-hand and a right-hand turn around a point. This was actually interesting today because there was some wind and I couldn't just hold a certain bank and sit back.

Back at JGG we did three landings, all of which went fine, only one of which had a bounce to it. On one I kept the power in longer than usual so on final we had a steeper descent than usual, but it turned out just fine; that might have been the bouncer. Chuck asked what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to do a pattern by myself and if it went well, do another. If it didn't go well, I wanted him to come back on-board and we'd do more together. I was apprehensive but positive.

All three of my solo ones went fine. No bumpiness or turbulence in any part of the pattern except for a lethargic swamp monster. A little wobbliness on the ground just after landing, but no where near as bad with the directional control as what I demonstrated on Saturday. No grass in the nosegear this time. :)

Discussion:

1. What happened Saturday: We talked about what happened on Saturday for my first solo. Chuck believed that I could handle it then and still believes I could handle it now. My problems in his view were directional control (thus the grass mowing) and confidence. I don't think I've had a confidence problem, except for what was induced by the solo, and those gusts were also a problem. In any case, I now have a healthy amount of both confidence and conservativeness. He was also impressed by how calm I sounded on the radio compared to how freaked out he now knows I was, and said that it was more than just luck that kept those bad landings from being catastrophic.


2. Turn around a point with wind: This obviously takes some active correcting to maintain a constant radius turn around a specific point when the wind is trying to push you around. It is in fact harder than I thought it would be. I'm going to play the I'm just a girl card here and admit that I'm geospatially challenged. If I'm on a heading of 330 and the wind is from 350, which way is it going to push me? I literally have to look up (to activate the visual portion of my brain, I guess) and start making a little diagram. Then once I realize that it's going to push me "left" I can set myself up to anticipate that through the turn.
   
   You know what the hardest thing about that is? Knowing where the wind is. You can't see it. Better pilots can probably feel it but I can't yet (that is, when it's steady and I'm not on final!). I know what it is at the airport when I'm leaving, but that's not necessarily what it is 2000' higher half an hour later. Perhaps that will be an acquired skill with time.


3. Re-solo: This is what I wish my true "first solo" had been! This was energizing and positive and confidence-building! There was value in what happened Saturday morning, but this is what I would have liked to have been able to call and remember as my first time! At least, though, when I do tell people about soloing, I can tell them my horror story and follow that up with "but I stuck to it and the re-solo was awesome!"

Self-Assessment: Better, happier, more productive...

• Preflight: Good.
• Taxiing: Good.
• Take-off: Good.
• Maintaining airspeed: Good.
• Stalls: Power-off stall, good. Power-on stall, good. Landing stall, needs practice.
• Slow flight (VR and IR): Good.
• Maintain attitude, altitude, heading by instruments: Good.
• Change attitude, altitude, heading by instruments: Acceptable.
• Recover attitude, altitude, heading by instruments: Acceptable.
• Forced landing: Good, need more practice.
• Pattern: Good.
• Landing: Improved :)
• Directional control after landing: Improved :)
• Radio calls: Good.

Next: First fully unsupervised by-myself solo (with no instructor watching from the ground) and also a phase-check with one of the other instructors to make sure I'm learning the right things in the right way. Then in another two weeks or so, we'll start on flight planning, cross-country flights, and night flying.

• More landings.
• Practicing everything.

Hours logged this lesson: 1.2
Hours logged total: 15.0
Instrument hours logged this lesson: 0.0
Instrument Hours logged total: 0.8
Take-offs and landings this flight: 6
Take-offs and landings total: 42
PIC hours total:: 1.0!!!