Lessons #9, #10 and #11: Good circuits, bad landings, good stalling, bad approaches

Some patchy weather meant we initially put stalling on hold and got into circuit flying. Both lessons #9 and #10 had a fair amount of wind, but it was mostly coming down the runway, although still gusty enough to need a bit of work on the approach. The first few approaches went predictably badly, but the circuits themselves were okay for first attempts – on track, adjusting for the wind, and even getting the BUMFLITCH checks in after the first couple:

• Brakes
• Undercarriage
• Mixture (rich)
• Fuel
• Instruments: DI especially
• Ts and Ps
• Carb heat
• Hatches and harnesses

As the wind was in different directions for both lessons I got to fly both runways – albeit they’re both virtually the same bit of ground but in opposite directions. (Although not quite the same bits of ground.) I think I prefer 04, for some reason – there aren’t any pylons, the M25, or a hedgerow to worry about. Still, I’ve got to crack 22 as it’s the most commonly used one.

Some of the approaches on lesson #10 I was rather pleased with, although landings were still a complete mystery to me. I didn’t feel like I was seeing the runway and gauging the level off at all, just randomly pulling back on the stick when I got nearer the ground. Lesson #11 was more-or-less the other way around as I did two terrible and one passable approach, but the landing was actually okay… considering. Okay, we landed on the left hand wheel first rather than the right (into the crosswind), and although it may not have looked much different to some of the others from the outside I actually felt like I was controlling it a bit more. Still a long way to go, unfortunately, and now I need to get my approaches back.

I blame the lack of concentration on the half hour of stalling, which was actually fairly straightforward, but it was the first lesson for a few hours that I was doing regular flying like climbing, turning, cruising, and basically not just doing a circuit. Somehow my brain was overloaded after half way through and I was forgetting carb heat at the wrong times, left the flaps on for almost half a circuit on a go-around, and just didn’t get on top of airspeed on the approaches at all.

Now it’s time for a week and a half away, and hope that I’m not too rusty when I come back. At least I have a full set of course books to read (oh joy… although actually they’re not too bad), and the weather forecast for the coming week is atrocious anyway so I’m not sure I’d be flying anyway.

I’m just itching to erase the mistakes of the last lesson…