2/15/2008
So after far too long a hiatus from the controls, me and 2TA took to the skies with CFI. Ah, it was good to see her sitting on the ramp, looking all pristine. I almost feel like she's my bird. Obviously, she's not, but I tend to bond with machines and I really like 2TA.
Unfortunately, it seems other students in my club do not show her the respect I do. Her nearly new upholstery is already showing signs of wear and tear. Someone tightened an air vent so tight I couldn't get it to open until we got back on the ground and with some rather severe force I got it working again. This made for a very warm flight.
Tangent: I'm paying $75 hour dry for this plane, and as such, I treat her with respect. 1) My life is held aloft by her wings. If I don't take care of her, she won't take care of me, it's that simple. Ok, granted, I'm just a student pilot and I'm not an A&P, but to me if you're paying that much money for something, treat it with respect.
Anyway, I preflight my bird and all is going well until I check the sumps. Water in the gas. So, I keep dropping tester full amounts of $6.00 per gallon avgas on the ramp until there's not water. Oh, now we have small pieces of debris. After two tests, that clears up. OK. The bird's preflighted. I ask CFI to take the radios since I've only done it once and it's been over two months since I've sat in the seat.
Taxiing is still a challenge for me, I can't keep that plane going straight to save my life. Left hand turning tendencies and all that. Though I can tell the girl's eager to fly and she pops off the runway and we head over to the practice area. Climbing/descending turns which I actually did better than the last time we practiced.
There's something really awesome about seeing the Bay Area from a few thousand feet at rush hour. The line of cars on the freeway, the pastel shades of lavender, fuscia and orange on the horizon as the sun sets and you're in your own isolated yet connected world above it all. The steady hum of the engine your assurance that all is right with the world, the radio chatter as you hear voices over your headset that you usually only hear on the car radio talking to Oakland tower or ground. It's interesting hearing a traffic reporter call for ground clearance or approach asking someone if they're a traffic plane.
Far too soon, we're making the flight back to Oakland, the Mormon Temple a concrete bastion in my navigation before turning to wing over the bright red roofed McA....Oakland Coliseum. I line us up in the pattern at 2500 feet, fly the (downwind?) leg before turning base and have it lined up on final.
"My airplane" I wait for the CFI to say. That runway is looking rather big. Well, he didn't say it, so it was still my airplane.
200' and still no call for him to take the airplane.
100
50
20
So this is to be my first landing. Granted, CFI has been coaching me this way, and I have to say, I really fought the urge to nose up, it looked like we're getting ready to auger into the ground. The wheels make brief contact with the ground before the plane bounces up in the air that feels like a 200' bounce. I would have laughed if tower asked us if this was to be a touch and go, but they didn't. Now CFI took the controls and took the landing. Thankfully, 27R is a long runway (big jets can land on it) so we get on the ground and taxi to fuel which I notice is now "down" to $5.18 per gallon.
So, while I didn't strictly land the airplane, it was the first time that the wheels of a plane touched the ground with me at the controls.
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1 comment:
Congrats! I was over your way a few weeks back and watched planes flying over the Bay while I walked around and did "touristy" stuff. Husband and I thought about getting checked out to take a flight, but it was too cloudy.
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