Flight #2.

Flight #2, 1.3 Hours, 9/11 @ 5:00pm.

I felt better on some things today, and worse on others.  I did the preflight today and did better taxiing to the run-up area.  I think I'm getting the hang of taxiing, which is not a big deal, considering its on the ground.  The CFI had me call out that we were taxiing and also when we were taking the runway.  We had a little crosswind and departed to the Southwest for the practice area.  We did some turns and slow flight.  Slow flight is where you slow the airplane down from cruise speed while maintaining the same altitude.  You use the rudders to turn the plane and power to control your altitude.

Then we started going over emergency procedures.  Pitch to your best glide speed (65mph in a Cessna 172M) and then go through the checklist.  I need to start going over those checklists more and memorize them.  We were out in the middle of a bunch of rice fields when my CFI said we were landing.  I thought he was crazy, but we ended up landing on a grass field with a shell (shale?) road off to our left.  The grass was too overgrown to take off, so we ended up going to the shale (shell?) road and taking off from there.

Score one to the CFI for making me think he was trying to kill me.  Unfortunately today, I ended up getting even with him

At this point my CFI said to head back to the airport for takeoffs and landings.  That's right, I was going to land the plane on my second trip up.  To set up for landing, he handled the radio calls and we entered the downwind at midfield.  Pattern altitude is about 1000ft.  We pull the power back to idle and pitch to around 80mph with no flaps.  We start turning base when we get a little past the end of the runway.  We decide whether or not to turn on final based on if we can make the field without any power.  If we can, we turn to final.  If we are too far up, we extend past.  If we're too low, we turn in faster.  Add power to keep the speed up and on the glide path as necessary, making sure not to pull back on the yoke to avoid a stall.  First and second landings were ok, I'm sure the CFI was helping out a lot.  But the third landing...that was a different story.

Have you ever heard about ground loops?  Its when you're on the ground and you start losing  control of the airplane and where the tail swings around in front of you...basically a horizontal loop - on the ground.  Well, I didn't think you could do one in a tricycle geared airplane.  We didn't but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try.  Suffice it to say, I need to work on my rudders better when landing.  I think I tend to over control a bit.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Time to spend time with the wife and kids.