Searching for the groove

Not too long ago, Jose wrote a post about getting his groove back. After my session today, I realized that I've been searching for the same thing.

Ever since I took a couple months off flying when Carina was born, I haven't been feeling very good about where I was with my landings. I was hitting hard or ballooning way up. I was struggling to fly the pattern smoothly. I was having enough trouble that I asked my flight instructor to come out with me last weekend to give me some help.

He gave me a few pointers, so I went out today by myself to see if I could put them to work on my own. Right about when I got on the runway for my first takeoff, the pattern suddenly became very busy. There were planes everywhere. They were all different kinds with different speeds, so people were doing weird things for spacing like flying very long downwind legs. I had to leave the pattern and come back twice.

Despite the stress of a busy pattern, I was very happy with every one of my landings. I even greased one or two. It was exactly the great session I needed to boost my confidence in my ability to get this license.

As I drove away from the airport, I realized that it has been months since I felt that great floating, soaring feeling that follows a good lesson. I haven't had a grin plastered on my face all the way home from the airport since before Carina was born. It was good to have enjoyed flying again after being frustrated by my performance for so long.

So, I got my groove back, too. Bring on the next step!