Lesson 24 2/26/09

1.3hrs - Hoodwork, above the clouds, and crosswind landings on 20.

We departed Twin Oaks, and by the time we had reached 3000ft, I was under the hood. We continued to climb, making turns, selecting a couple nearby VORs, and finally leveling off at 7500ft (highest I've been so far in a light plane), where we practiced climbing and descending turns, level turns, and more VOR navigation. After 30 minutes under the hood, my CFI told me to take it off, and have a look around. We were on top of the clouds. Amazing. All around where the bright white tops of clouds, with a few mountains in the distance, blue sky above, and a few large holes with ground below. Wish I would have brought my camera!

We decided to begin descending to practice some crosswind landing back at Twin Oaks, and during the descent practiced determining our position using using two VOR's. This is done by selecting a VOR with the NAV radio, determining what radial you are on (a radial is a magnetic bearing from a VOR), and drawing the radial on the sectional (chart). You then select another VOR, determine what radial you are on, and draw that radial. Where the two cross is where you are.

Back at Twin Oaks, the wind favored runway 20 (over some down sloping terrain and trees on final, and a down sloping runway) with a slightly gusty crosswind. This promised to be interesting, and good practice.

My first three were pretty good, with my instructor giving hints along the way, on my fourth attempt I was too high and ended as a go around, but the fourth landing was good.

I really wanted one where my instructor didn't need to offer any hints, so we took one last time around. I had the whole pattern nailed, until I was beginning to flare and was caught by a gust. I quickly began to correct to get back centered on the runway, but didn't add enough rudder to keep us aligned. I quick stomp on the right rudder from my instructor straightened us out. So I got a little chewing out about being straight when touching down, even if it means that I'd be off of center or in the grass, and how I need to keep my feet moving.

Not the best note to finish a lesson on, but the way it goes.