Lesson 27 - 1st May 2021

Lesson 27 - 1st May 2021

My lesson on the 24th April was cancelled due to high winds, which was a shame as the previous week I had worked with Martin on getting back in to the circuit and landings.

This week I was with Dave and the idea was to continue with that practice.  We were using 0 7 again this week but the wind was a bit cross runway, albeit only about 5 to 10 knots.  Dave threw in a couple of fan stops in the circuit to make sure I remembered how I would deal with them.  One was straight ahead off 0 7 and the other was part way round the circuit so I was able to pick 3 3 to land on.

After about 40 minutes of this, Dave said to go back to the parking areas so he could get out and I could do some circuits on my own. I have to admit that I wasn't really expecting this, as I didn't think I had done particularly well, but Dave obviously thought differently.

It was a repeat of my first solo except that this time no extra ballast was added.  As before, I did 3 circuits overflying 0 7 and then on the 4th time, came in to land.  The landing was not brilliant and I did balloon a little, but got it down.  Dave, who was on a handheld radio, said to go again and do the same 3 fly overs and then land on the 4th.  This time I was a bit high and long so chose to go around.  Coming in the 5th time, I got it more under control and landed OK.

I was then given the option to repeat the task again, this time with just 2 circuits and then to land.  The final landing was the best of the lot and the only comment Dave had was that I keep the nose a little too high once I was on the ground.  I was trying to replicate what he had shown me earlier, but over did it.

Overall, it was a good day and it was nice to go solo again, just to prove I can still do it.  It reinforced that the landing is the hardest part of the flight and takes a long time to master.  When you watch people with 100s or maybe 1000s of hours, even they occasionally get the landings wrong.

Next week, subject to the weather, will be more of the same.  I need to do a certain number of hours of solo consolidation before I can move on to the next step, which is flying solo out of the circuit.  That then leads on to navigation and cross country.

I think it may be time to brush up on my navigation skills!!

Totals

1 hour 35 minutes £213.75

Total Costs = £5766.36

Total Hours Icarus C42 = 28 hours 40 minutes

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