Getting There

My last lesson was a few days ago, but I'm just now getting around to a post. This was my 9th lesson, I think, and it was virtually identical to the one prior. We stuck around in the pattern and did a total of 9 touch-and-gos. That's a lot if you believe most of the books, which say that 3 or 4 is usually enough, but it didn't seem like too much to me. The main difficulty was that after 8 circuits to the left (a standard traffic pattern), the last one was directed to be to the right to avoid some incoming traffic. That's where going around in a circle for 90 minutes can be a bad thing. You get into a particular zone, and your internal balance mechanism gets accustomed to a particular direction of turn. Then to go the other direction, by bank angles were a bit off and I flew more of a horseshoe pattern rather than one with parallel ends.

The primary goal of the flight was to ensure that I can get the plane on the ground, which I can do (at least in calm wind). Again, the weather here is "all or nothing" and it's either a beautiful day, or it's a day you don't even want to go flying. So while I've had great weather for flying, it doesn't give a lot of opportunity for significant crosswind maneuvers. Those will just have to keep waiting.

I've now worked up to between 10 and 11 hours, so I'm nearing a solo flight one of these days. I completed my pre-solo written test (provided by the flight school) and could pretty much take the FAA knowledge test anytime.