Lesson 1 10/22 and 10/23/08

1.5hrs of ground instruction and preflight, but the flight canceled due to poor weather. The flight portion was rescheduled for the next day.

I performed the preflight on 4-Kilo-Uniform under the watchful eye of my instructor, then proceed to practice taxiing. At first I was all over the place, but smoothed out somewhat after a few minutes. After the run up and final checks, we taxied onto the runway. I had the controls, but was completely unprepared for the amount of right rudder pressure needed to remain centered. My instructor quickly corrected, and we never left the pavement, but to my still untrained eye we were headed directly for the grass and hangers beyond. We climbed out smoothly, but it took some time for my heart rate to come back down, and for my right leg to stop shaking. We practiced the four fundamentals, did a little sightseeing in the process to make it fun, some steep turns to add a little spice, and returned to the airport. I left airport this time knowing that this was going to be no easy process, as well as an increased heart rate and sweaty palms every time I thought of the takeoff run.