It's a strange feeling to be in such a familiar environment, but yet have everything seem so different. Going through the preflight was very straightforward, and I had performed several of the steps myself on my dad's plane years ago. Not only that, but the DA-20 is fairly simple, and so there's not much to really check.
Sitting in the left seat was definitely unique, however. I recall only one time that I have operated any of an aircraft's controls from the left seat (of my dad's 172), and that was just to start the engine and then shut it down. I remember that I was so nervous, I was shaking (I must have been about 13 or 14 years old) but it was still something that I had seen so many times before.
Today was dramatically different. I was nervous, but not overly so. I had the checklist in my hand, and again, the plane is very simple. Startup was very smooth, and the engine came to life immediately. The DA-20 seems to have a greater length of travel for the throttle than the Cessnas I've been in, so my observations of the pilot's movements didn't translate to this one. It takes quite a bit to get the throttle set properly, and that was something that took getting used to throughout the flight.
As far as the lesson itself, things went very well. I think all my "book learning" has benefited me, but not as much as simply being a passenger so many times. Once we started moving, all I could think of was all of the various things I "knew" I was supposed to be watching, but I could only concentrate on keeping the plane going in the right direction. Obviously, though, no instructor would expect a first-timer to handle everything, so I had to remind myself to just take it one step at a time.
We did the basics, a smooth climb, straight-and-level, some medium bank turns, descents, Dutch rolls, and some playing with the flaps. (I see that the definition of the Dutch roll indicates that what we really did was "roll on a heading"). This aircraft requires very little left rudder due to the inherent left-turning tendencies; the right rudder gets quite a bit of attention. Then I was free to just try out some turns and see how the plane handled. Before I knew it, our hour was about up, and it was time to head in. By the way, I handled the radio communication during the entire flight, something that apparently most students handle a bit later. But it went fine. There was very little traffic in the area, so we were the only one in the pattern during the return.
The weather was warm, with some distant cumulus clouds that had me worried about thermals. Upon gaining some altitude, it was much smoother than expected (at least, for someone who's had some experience with mild turbulence). In any case, it didn't make the plane do much more than smooth dips and climbs, rather than be very choppy and rough.
About all I can say is, I'm ready to go again. So far, so good.
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