Flying Free
posted by Jen | 11:15 AM
Yesterday I took the plane away from the airport by myself for the first time. It was really warm out, which makes the ride a bit bumpy. And there was a broken ceiling at 2600 ft, according to the weather recording, but when I got up to 1500 ft the clouds were looking kind of close. So, I took it kind of easy. I left the airport toward Alvin, and when I got across Highway 6, I just flew around in lazy circles for a bit. I did a couple S-turns across a drainage ditch, circled a couple trees, and did 2 legs of "slow flight". (I really nailed the slow flight, by the way!) Every time I turned the plane around I’d look out and feel better. "Yes, the airport is still there!".
After about 30 minutes of flying around, I headed back to the airport. All those nerves tire you out quickly! I did two landings. The first one was pretty good, although it was kind of bumpy coming in over the trees and I’m sure it looked kind of funny with the wings waggeling as I tried to keep centered. The second landing I got a bit off and ended up landing a bit on one wheel and then had a bit of trouble keeping the rollout straight as I slowed the plane.
I chalked it all up to not having flown in a couple weeks and the bumpy air. However, my instructor called me halfway home and told me he found a crack in one of the nosegear struts! Did I have any trouble with the rollout when I landed? Hmm. I couldn’t honestly tell him if I was having trouble because of my landing or because of the structural issue. I don’t think I landed hard enough to break anything, but... Guess I'd better look a little closer at things down there during my pre-flight from now on!
Anyway, the plane is grounded for a couple weeks, which really sucks because every week is closer to me not being able to fly for a while. If it takes him the full two weeks to fix the crack, I probably won’t get any more solo time before the baby is born. I’m thinking once I reach "full term" in a couple weeks that it will probably be a good idea to keep my instructor in the plane with me - just in case. :)
After about 30 minutes of flying around, I headed back to the airport. All those nerves tire you out quickly! I did two landings. The first one was pretty good, although it was kind of bumpy coming in over the trees and I’m sure it looked kind of funny with the wings waggeling as I tried to keep centered. The second landing I got a bit off and ended up landing a bit on one wheel and then had a bit of trouble keeping the rollout straight as I slowed the plane.
I chalked it all up to not having flown in a couple weeks and the bumpy air. However, my instructor called me halfway home and told me he found a crack in one of the nosegear struts! Did I have any trouble with the rollout when I landed? Hmm. I couldn’t honestly tell him if I was having trouble because of my landing or because of the structural issue. I don’t think I landed hard enough to break anything, but... Guess I'd better look a little closer at things down there during my pre-flight from now on!
Anyway, the plane is grounded for a couple weeks, which really sucks because every week is closer to me not being able to fly for a while. If it takes him the full two weeks to fix the crack, I probably won’t get any more solo time before the baby is born. I’m thinking once I reach "full term" in a couple weeks that it will probably be a good idea to keep my instructor in the plane with me - just in case. :)
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