Finally starting to get comfortable talking to the controllers – don’t feel like a complete idiot, although for some reason I always miss the barometer reading (the altimeter needs to have the current pressure setting so that it gives reasonable altitudes). One would think I would be better at remembering random numbers, but apparently that is a talent I just don’t have.
Today became a lesson on taxing in high wind, as the winds were out of the southwest at 14, gusting to 22. Managed to taxi without any real problems (had to slow way down a couple of times before turns while thinking about which way the ailerons should be set, but nothing horrible). Takeoff was more problematic – I was too slow in rotating and getting the plane off the ground and didn’t adjust near enough to the cross wind. The first could have been problematic in the right situation, but wasn’t too big of a deal. The drifting all over the place is a definite problem. I think I need to spend some time in the not too distant future practicing maneuvers that require very active use of the rudder – I seem to not cope well with those situations. The climb out was entertaining because it was a bit bouncy and ground speed was much lower than I’m used to (we were pushing out into the wind for our west / south west departure). But I survived and we eventually reached altitude without any major difficulties.
Today’s lesson was power on and power off stalls. I don’t know why, but the hardest part for me was pulling back enough to actually stall the plane – why do something that is definitely going to go badly for you? Anyway, I need to work on recovering – not enough rudder and trying to compensate with aileron led to a couple of secondary stalls, which is not a good thing at all. Today was mostly power-off stalls, which are pretty basic to recover from: reduce angle of attack, increase power, and stabilize the plane (hopefully getting it into a climb somewhere in there so you don’t crash). Of course, when you open the throttle, the plane tries to roll and yaw to the left, so you have to get that under control. Which means using the rudder, which means I suck at it. Hopefully, that will improve in short order.
Landing, well, yeah, we didn’t even try. Between the bouncing and the blowing off course, I was having fun just trying to get to the pattern at some reasonable speed. The final approach wasn’t even an option. Maybe monday.