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I really enjoy writing up my flights.. but life has gotten so ridiculously busy that I haven't had time to get on here and just write.
I know that is a terrible excuse..but its true.
Well flying is still going slow.
I Feel like I am not making much progress because I am forced to fly when money and schedule allow.
For some reason, the two do not align most of the time. But that is okay.
When I do fly, it is just incredible. I get back home, and the only thing I can think about is flying again. Now a lot of times life gets in the way as well as work, money, and other things. But through all of that, I go flying one more time and I fall in love with it all over again.
The Flight I had last night was the closest I have ever been to flying by myself. Forest and I have never flown together before, so he wanted to see where I was at. Before the flight, we discussed what I had previously studied. Then we went down to the airplane, completed our preflight inspection, and got ready to take to the sky.
He was very reserved, and allowed me to complete the checklists and everything by myself. He was there to make sure that I was being safe while still allowing me to rely on myself for all of the flight.
At first I was nervous because he wasn't going back over everything checking what I was doing. However I did notice, that he was watching every move I made. Because he was not correcting me on little things the nerve's faded away and I pushed the throttle to the stops.
As we climbed away from home base, the beauty of an Oregon evening became apparent. The sun was low in the sky, and the clouds were shifting softly. Over towards Aurora State, we began to see smoke drifting to the valley from the Forest Fire on the other side of Mt. hood. This view, along with the constant humming of the 180 horses pulling us melted all anxiety away and I was able to really concentrate on honing my skills.
Approaching Aurora State on the 45 degree entry, we realized that this was going to be a fantastic night to practice landings. For one, there was a slight cross wind, which makes it a little bit challenging. The second plus was there was no one flying. We had a large airport All to ourselves. I was able to log 6 landings total in one evening flight with no stress. I was also able to complete all of the radio work, because I did not have to deal with tons of people on the radio. I made a few good cross wind landings and approaches. My approaches were a little bit high, but with 2 notches of flaps, and a little bit of a slip, it worked out well. Leveling out in ground effect allowed me to bleed off any excess speed, and softly set it down for a sweet kiss with the pavement.
Entering the left downwind for another touch and go I heard a voice pipe up on the radio. It was a cirrus entering the pattern from the 45 over the river. I called my position, and continued towards the base leg. Just before I reached the base leg, I hear yet another call. Someone calling a 10 mile final. After I turned final and made my call, the cirrus entered on the downwind, and a few other airplanes taxied to the run up area.
I decided then that this would be the last touch and go, because I wanted to leave before it got to busy. This last time, my approach was perfect. Not to high, not to low, not to fast.. just perfect. I came over the threshold at about 45-50 feet, and about 65 knots indicated. I entered ground effect and flared for what seemed like an eternity. But believe me it was worth the wait. The landing was smooth, soft and the famous "kiss" was heard as the stall warning started blaring. Feeling relieved and comfortable with the nights progress, we called out our intentions of departing the pattern to the north and headed home.
What a way to end a long busy week. Such an incredible feeling. I float home on "cloud 9" every time I fly, but this time was especially high.
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