Anticipation...

Lesson 19
8-27-12
1.0 hours logged
20.6 hours total recorded in logbook

The lesson began and went as usual for the most part. We worked on--oh! Landings of course! There was only a slight crosswind but what wind there was turned out to be rather unpredictable. Even so, almost all my landings were pretty good. You just have to be ready for whatever strange things the wind might throw at you and that's a bit unnerving when you're within feet of the ground and trying to land! No matter what the wind does, you must aim to keep the plane lined up on, and over the runway, and add power if necessary just before touchdown.

As I was preflighting the Cub today,
I suddenly looked up and saw this perfect picture
opportunity.

While I can now make pretty consistently good takeoffs without a whole lot of coaching, and am getting there with landings, there is still plenty of fine tuning to be done on both of these. Whenever I make a landing that's not so good, the cause is usually still not getting the stick back enough. There is a critical moment between levelling and flaring when the plane has slowed enough that it will not climb if you pull the stick back but will instead sink gently to the ground and I am still learning to sense when that exact moment is. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. With takeoffs I could still use to let the stick come forward more before pulling back to lift off. I tried to improve these things with each time around the pattern and was doing better by the end.


It was such a beautiful day for flying again--such a deep blue sky, such clear air, such breathtaking views of the countryside from above! I just love flying on days like this! I felt it had been a wonderful lesson as we flew the pattern for what turned out to be my last landing of the day and was enjoying that feeling when suddenly, without warning, Joe pulled the throttle back to idle and announced, "Your engine just quit. What are you going to do?" I was taken totally by surprise. I suppose I shouldn't have been (though you usually aren't expecting the engine to quit when it does) as I've read all about simulated engine-outs and knew instructors like to pull them suddenly on unsuspecting students. It was a timely reminder against complacency for it is often when you feel most secure and comfortable that some unexpected thing like this pops up and, in such a situation, you have little time for pondering your next move.

I stuttered for a few seconds looking for an answer while my eyes instinctively searched the ground below. Obviously, we weren't that far from the airport so Joe instructed me to head straight for the middle of it and then decide which runway to use. 36 appeared to be the best option so I lined up as best I could and set down in a slight crosswind from the left and without the benefit of being able to use power to remedy a bounced landing.

What an end to my lesson! Still, it was with a feeling of genuine happiness at how things had gone that I taxied us to a stop in front of the hangar and cut the engine. After all, it was my very first simulated engine failure and I had managed to land safely! My lesson was not quite over yet, however.

As  Joe filled out my logbook, I heard him say, "I'd strongly recommend you start wearing shirts you don't care about to lesson because you're getting precariously close to soloing and when you do, a large part of the back of your shirt is going to end up right over there," and he gestured to the corkboard in the corner on which are pinned a large variety of fabric scraps--the shirt tails of numerous students before me who have passed that first great milestone in their flight training journey. (For those not familiar with this aviation tradition, it is customary to cut the shirt tail of a student who has just soloed.) Those words alone sent a thrill of delighted surprise all through me.

But then he continued, "If you'd been here earlier when the winds were a little more favorable, I might have even soloed you today!" I sucked in my breath. I couldn't believe my ears! Had I heard him right? I had both heard and understood the words very clearly but to fully grasp what he'd said took me a few moments. I was at once both glad and disappointed that the winds had been what they were. To think I am really that close to soloing! I'm so excited!

Joe congratulated me on a good job today, I thanked him, said goodbye, and once outside could quite literally have skipped the few feet to the car. Actually, I'm not even quite sure my feet were touching the ground! I'm so happy! After 20.6 hours, the big day is finally almost here! It's been a long wait. I've felt a little discouraged at times since I was hoping to have soloed in 20 hours and I suppose I might have had it not been for that unintended break in my lessons. That was so hard to take at times but I wasn't about to give up then, or when I found crosswind landings to be more of a challenge than I thought they might be, and now my patience and persistence is soon going to pay off. I can hardly wait!

Here I am, a very happy, "almost soloed" student pilot!