After a run in with the flu I was finally able to fly my second flight toward earning my VFR Pilot designation with the Civil Air Patrol. With two flights down I am expecting one more before I take my Form 5 check ride.
Today we flew for 2.5 hours and focused on the following:
- Short-field Takeoff & Landing
- Soft-field Takeoff & Landing
- Power-Off Stalls
- Power-On Stalls
- Maneuvering During Slow Flight
- Steep Turns
- Clearing Turns and Collision Avoidance
- Normal Approaches and Landings
- Forward Slips to Landing
- ATC Communication
For the most part things worked out well, but strangely enough I was still coming in too high and fast. I am also not trimming much for my landings. I blame myself for not flying enough, for only flying this particular plane twice and for never going nuts on the trim. That’s not to say that I am NOT trimming, I am…but I’m not trimming it fully enough to just let it do its thing.
In the clubs 172 I use to squeak them on almost all the time. In fact I was doing really well compared to my instructor (Sir Trim a lot) – and I mean that with all respect. The result was…with a little or a lot of trim….same result. No big deal.
However since I also fly a Cherokee I got use to understanding the need for speed so we don’t sink too soon. This really meant an extra 10 knots during each phase of landing. I also don’t remember needing a lot of trim…I just keep flying it to the runway like I did with the Cirrus a few times.
So I got out of the habit of dealing with a falling leaf Cessna where 55 to 60 knots doing a short field is no big deal…so long as you keep flying the plane. Now I just need to get my head around this issue more which is why I will be playing with Microsoft FSX and practice landings before I get in the plane again.
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