Lessons #12a and 12b: More Circuits, First Flapless and Glides
Lesson 12 started in grey conditions, but with circuits to do the cloud was high enough, but at the end of the first circuit the rain came down and the touch-and-go became a full-stop. Still, it had been nearly two weeks since my last lesson and although I forgot almost everything, culminating in turning onto approach with no flaps, it came out okay in the end as I got the approach under control and did a half-decent landing. The most important thing was that in the 10 minutes we’d been in the air I’d erased the bad memories of the terrible approaches in the previous lesson and I was feeling much more ready to start going forward again.
The following week saw one lesson cancelled after checks due to rain coming in so we covered yet more briefing, this time on forced landings. I feel well and truly briefed up now, having had flapless approaches, glide approaches, and now unpowered forced landings briefed. Hopefully I can remember it all when it comes to using them.
The next day was perfect for more circuits, though, and it turned out to be a nice long lesson at 1 hour 10 minutes, with a total of 11 circuits completed (albeit 1 was a demonstration glide that was aborted due to someone coming onto final, 2 were my own glide attempts which were only partially successful, and another 1 became a go-around as there were heavier planes taxiing back down the runway to avoid the soft grass).
The lesson was fantastic, though, and the first couple of circuits and touch-and-go’s went well. My problems with timing the flare are going away now I’m trying the “fly along the runway” approach, and especially making sure I’m keeping my eye on the end of the runway rather than fixing too much on the tarmac nearest to me. It helped that for the first time there was no cross-wind too.
After a couple of normal approaches, James requested I do a flapless one for the first time. We took the circuit out a bit wider and initially I had a bit too much power. The speed kept nailed to 70kts, though, which I was very satisfied with, and the numbers started to come back as we got closer to the airfield. Even from a few hundred feet away I thought we were still a touch high and was getting all ready to call a go-around, when a minor gust of wind not only needed a small adjustment but also helped us lose the small amount of altitude to put us exactly on course. Not that I can count on that every time, but still. The gentle flare was slightly early but as I didn’t overdo the pull-back we were still descending slowly.
The downside was I seemed to have developed some bad motor habit of pressing ever so slightly on the throttle during the hold-off. It’s not intentional, and it’s surpising just how much even an extra 50 rpm can keep a 152 in the air for longer, but it’s the black mark against all of the landings I did. I’m not too worried about squashing that reaction – I just need to focus on “don’t push the damn throttle” during the hold-off the next few times until my body learns to do what it’s told.
The glide approaches were less successful. Not that we wouldn’t have been able to land if we really had to in a real emergency, but we were certainly high and nowhere near the numbers. The judging of the approach was certainly far from accurate enough, though, and I think it’ll take another few at least before I get my eye in. Trying not to think in terms of the normal turn onto final is the key here, I reckon, but having just gotten into the “habit” it’s hard to get out of it.
All-in-all, if every lesson goes like this one then I’ll be very happy indeed!