today's a stinker - lesson 60

[slipstreamsurfr]

The weather is being finicky this morning, low ceilings, mist at the airport. I talk with the briefer, I talk with Mischa. I'll go ahead and head to the airport around 10:30 and see if it breaks off early enough.

While Mischa and I talk this morning the clouds finally break off and go away, we are pushed for time because we are getting of the ground late, and there's another student with a xcountry at 1. Preflight, taxi and runups are done and off we go. We are going to spend some time in the pattern today.

What follows is some of the worst crosswind landings I've done in weeks. My feet must be on backwards today. The goal today was to work on short field/soft field landings. We work on slowing things down on the final, working with a new airspeed. Pitch for speed, power for glidepath. Live it, love it. Even the centerline is goofing up on me today.

The first time up I drop that right wing on climb out and of course lose me extended centerline on climb out. This is an ongoing problem for me, some days it works out better than others. I will continue to be plagued today with it. I work the pattern and we try out a nice 70 knot approach. A bit of a bobble here and there and the landing sets up, and I'm sideloaded. The nose isn't straight on the runway.

I run a lot more landings, on the rare occasion I get it right. On some we do a go around. I know how to land on the centerline, I know how to straighten the darn nose with the rudder. For some reason today, I'm not getting into the groove. I do manage to hit my touch down point on the odd occasion. My crosswind skills are shot today though. They seem almost non-existant.

When I'm relaxed about things, my flying is better. When I put the pressure on, it goes out the window. I'm trying to hard I think. I'm thinking too much, just fly Mitch. Sure, a few new things were thrown at me today, but they weren't anything I shouldn't have been able to handle. What I'm messing up on is standard old stuff that I should have down. Left foot, you're the left, Right foot, you're the right. Get it? Apparently not for the most part today.

When it became apparent that my ability to compartmentalize was lacking today, when it worked out that I was carrying too much other stuff around with me in the cockpit, when I was over thinking the landings instead of just flying, I should have just ended the lesson. But I kept at it. I kept trying to isolate all the stuff that was getting in the way away so I could get back to flying the way I KNOW I can.

All I managed to do is disappoint myself in the end. Mischa? It bothers him too that I still turn in days like this.

Of the few things I did right today, at least I'm remembering the electric fuel pump on the pre-landing checklist now.... something went right.

--1.3 dual
--8 landings

Comments

[raggedass-road.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't kick yourself too hard. You're not the only one. My instructor and I have been polishing the short field landings off and on for weeks (probably doesn't help that my work schedule only allows me to fly once a week or so), and I'll have days where I hit the touchdown point every single time, other days where -- for no apparent reason -- my approaches are great, except for the part where I need to flare, and then it all just goes to crap and I end up touching down way too short.

Or, alternatively, my approaches kinda suck, coming in way too low but somehow managing to drag it in and touch down exactly where I'm supposed to.

I don't mind telling you, it's a little frustrating. But you know, sometimes you just have to cut yourself some slack. Roll with the punches, just know you'll do better next time. Far as I'm concerned, you have never wasted time that you've spent in the left seat. Every bit of experience helps.

[slipstreamsurfr.livejournal.com]

Thanks, you're right, any time in the left seat is worth it. It's just the pre checkride jitters I think.

It doesn't help that I have a centerline nazi for an instructor ;) It's coming together, I know it. Soon....