Catch up

Catching up on a few recent activities...it's been a little busy lately and so I haven't posted as often as I should.

Last Monday I had my greatest experience so far in the aircraft. TP had been booked up all day, but a well-timed call to Glacier discovered a cancellation in the late afternoon. My new logbook endorsements in-hand, I planned a solo flight down to Chehalis. Took off to the north from Olympia, two left turns, and I basically followed I-5 south to KCLS. I leveled off at 2500, got the ship trimmed nicely, and had five minutes of enjoying the awesome scenery of a beautiful spring afternoon in the Northwest.

About 8 miles out from KCLS, I announced position and intentions on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), as there is no tower at Chehalis. Just after I unkeyed the mike, another aircraft checked in as well, and from his report it sounded like he was 3 miles to my west, and converging. Uh-oh. We remained in constant communication, and were scanning for each other constantly, but he never saw me, and I didn't find him until he was about a mile ahead of me. I reported him in sight and said that I'd follow him to the airport. I did one touch-and-go landing and headed back to Olympia. Three circuits of the pattern at Olympia, and I parked. All the landings were good and I was happy with the flight.

On Tuesday I had a lesson with Joel to focus on crosswind landings. The winds were actually right down runway 26 at Olympia, so we had to go to Chehalis to find favorable conditions. I announced a straight-in approach to runway 16, and the winds were from the west at about 10 knots: almost a direct crosswind.

I found the crosswind landing to be quite challenging. There are actually two acceptable techniques; Joel teaches the one in which the pilot banks into the wind and uses the rudder to remain aligned with the centerline of the runway. The idea is to maintain this attitude (which feels a bit strange) all the way to touchdown, where the landing is on the upwind wheel with the ailerons completely deflected into the wind. In case you're thinking it's difficult to touch down on one (of three) wheels and maintain control on the runway...it is. I tried three landings and watched Joel demonstrate one, and it's fair to say this maneuver will require more work. I'm pretty confident I could land the plane safely in such a crosswind, but not with as much control as I really need.

Last night, Joel and I were scheduled to complete some of the 3 hours of night cross-country flight that I require for my license, but the weather didn't cooperate. I was disappointed, as I had a nice flight planned up to Port Angeles, about 80 miles northwest of Olympia. Hopefully we'll be able to do it next weekend.