Flyover Country

Went out today and did my first solo to, from, and in the practice area today. The wind might have kept me on the ground, it was 7 knots gusting to 11. But it was within the parameters of my endorsement and was a great day to fly otherwise. Mostly I just wandered around. Did a little bit of slow flight – not quite stalls – and a few steep turns. Figured I’d take it easy on the first flight out there. Need to work on my CTAF calls though. Came back and entered the pattern downwind at the midfield as instructed, but the landing came faster than I expected. It was a little rough, but nothing bent. Building up my solo time slowly, 4 hours now.

Another back-dated entry. Took and IP up with me, since mine was on vacation and I really wanted some feedback on how to fix my landings. It actually went pretty well. He gave me a quick lesson in aerodynamics which I think was pretty helpful. Some confidence after only one flight since the first solo, two weeks ago should be good.

15 landings between two different flights since going up last time withthe IP. They seemed to go fine. Not perfect, but certainly they seem much easier now. Only did 5 of them today because I was trying to figure out why the oil pressure went past the green during climb out, so I brought it back and talked to one of the IPs who said it is normal for that plane. Don’t know the planes well enough so I figured I’d come back down before I wreck the engine.

A few back-dated entries since I haven’t been keeping up. Flew the pattern for a while, was trying some solo landings for the first time since the first solo with my IP about two weeks ago. The first few went okay, the last two were not as good – pretty much bounced down the runway. Figured I should quit before I bent the plane.