Back to Basics in a Still Unfamiliar Airplane

Lesson 37
4-25-13
1.0 hours logged
45.3 hours total recorded in logbook



Climbing up above the clouds



Per our prior arrangement, I arrived a few minutes before our scheduled flight time to preflight the plane and pull it out of the hangar. Jim arrived and we were soon buckled in and ready for another flight. We taxied out to runway 27 and after being cleared, took off into a slight crosswind from the right. On climbout, we altered our course to the left to allow the jet which took off behind us to pass safely. That's one thing I never had to worry about that down at HXF!



Over Omro



There was a broken layer of clouds at about 2800 feet but we had soon climbed above them and over a sizeable hole, we picked up where we'd left off the day before with practice holding various airspeeds and altitudes using stick (or elevator) to control the former and throttle, the latter. Today we also added in the use of flaps. We were over Omro for a while and it was here we finally descended below the clouds and turned back towards OSH. Now Jim showed me how to use the VOR to navigate back to the airport (even though I knew right where it was). It was exciting to try my hand at this entirely new mode of navigation. The Cubs at CubAir are not even equipped with VOR receivers and so I'd never had opportunity to use one before, though of course I've seen them in other planes. With such an instrument available in most planes, you'd think it would be impossible to get lost!

Over OSH. The tower is at center.

As instructed by the tower, we entered a right downwind for 27 and Jim took over the radio so I could focus on flying. Right up until then, he'd let me handle everything on the radio and I was both surprised and delighted to find that I could actually do it! I do, admittedly, have little faith or confidence in my own abilities at times.



Now descending on final and finding that the wind had picked up considerably since takeoff and had become rather gusty, Jim decided to turn our planned touch-and-go into a low pass over the runway. The plane before us had aborted their landing and opted to switch over to runway 36 so as to be a little more into the wind. We followed them around the pattern for that runway and did another low pass then at last entered yet another pattern, this time for runway 31 (even more into the wind)  where we at last touched down and taxied to the fuel pump. As we climbed out, we found the wind not only strong but quite cold also. I was glad to climb back into the cockpit and get the required taxi clearance back to Weeks.



On final for Runway 31

After cleaning the plane up a bit, filling out paperwork, and a debrief, I was free to go, again with joy in my heart at being able to fly again. I guess I won't take take it for granted quite so easily again. If there's one lesson I learned from that seemingly endless wait, it's simply to appreciate every time I am able to fly as a gift and a blessing.