Flight School Day 10

Today was WINDY.

First we flew to Moontown and practiced a few landings there.  Traffic was better than it had ever been to this point with three airplanes in line to take off after we landed.  We did a couple three-point landings and then practiced some wheel landings.  After a few goes he had me fly back to Madison county airport for some crosswind landings.

The wind was gusting to about 20 miles per hour perpendicular to the runway so by the time the airplane was touching the runway it was banked significantly into the wind with a lot of rudder compensation to get the airplane to track straight down the runway.  I keep touching on one wheel and subconsciously leveling the wings at touchdown which always results in having to add power and try again or perform a go around.

Takeoffs were also a little tricky as I had to turn the ailerons into the wind so when the tail lifted up and the airplane got close to takeoff speed it would rise up on one wheel, banked into the wind but still traveling straight down the runway before taking off.

So… anyway… my three point landings are turning out great but still having trouble with the wheel landings.  I think I would have done better at them without the wind, but that is what they are useful for.  We also worked on being more comfortable with the throttle while performing these landings and not hesitating to add a little power to compensate for excess sink rate or to help recover from a bounce.

Anyway… he said I might solo tomorrow if the weather is calmer.

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