Pretty Darn Good

Woke up Saturday morning to dense fog in the Olympia area...and the freezing kind too, which doesn't always burn off as easily. I tuned the Olympia ATIS on my radio at home, and confirmed: less than 1/4 mile visibility, ceilings 100. About as far away from VFR as you can get. I grumped about it a bit, but decided to head out on my bicycle for a first-hand look. Confirmed again: pea soup.

Called Joel around 10:30, half hour before my lesson. He said he was optimistic, and there was always ground school anyway. So I drove out to the airport.

Skies weren't cooperating yet, so Joel had me go through my pre-solo written exam (required by the FAA). Of the 30-40 questions, I had trouble only with one or two, simply because I hadn't memorized something yet. Another hour or so of study and I'll be able to finish that up. Joel told me to complete it at home before my next lesson (it's open book).

During the exam practice, we kept one eye each on the "idiot light"...what seasoned pilots call the rotating beacon at the airport when it's on during the day. (If it's on during the day, the field is IFR; when it becomes VFR, the tower controllers turn it off.) Joel remained confident that the ceiling would lift, so he had me go pre-flight N40TP (which has become my standard aircraft now).

Just as the fueler finished putting gas in the tanks, the idiot light went off: VFR! Joel smiled behind his shades and said, "let's go fly!" Never one to argue (and knowing we'd check the ATIS just to be sure), I hopped in. I've been practicing passenger briefings with Joel, knowing the FAA examiner will expect me to do it on my checkride. That and the startup checklists went without much discussion--these are now becoming routine.

We did six pattern circuits in under an hour. On the first one, I did by far my best landing yet: right on the centerline, and barely a squeak from the tires. Joel looked over and said, "well, that was pretty darn good. Show me four more of those and next week you'll do it solo." Well, that must've been a bit of a jinx. I did three more that were barely acceptable, one that was awful, and a practiced short approach (simulated engine failure) that was, well, a failure. Ended in a go-around.

I have everything pretty much nailed now except the final flare. I'm still ballooning and landing too hard. But I did do it well once, so I know I can. Will just take practice.

On our last circuit we were behind an Ercoupe. Pretty aircraft. But slow. Joel warned me that we'd be quite a bit faster, and I backed off the airspeed a little, but not enough. On downwind the coupe started appearing in the windscreen about as fast as someone driving 45 in the left lane of the freeway. So I really backed off, and fortunately he began his base turn shortly thereafter. I extended our downwind by about a mile to give him space. The last landing was probably second in terms of quality to the first, though we got quite a bit of nosewheel shimmy as we slowed. Between dealing with that and comprehending my taxi instructions from the tower, I got a bit flustered. Just still not 100% comfortable, and I believe soloing is still several hours away.

Next lesson is Thursday (business trip to LA Mon-Tues), with study of my last couple of ground school lessons in the meantime.