Yep, I finally made it into the flying club...
As soon as we moved, I applied to join the Atlantic Flying Club. It took over a year of waiting, but I am happy to report that I am now a card carrying member.
I had my check ride on Sunday, and I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive. I have had Sunday coffee at the airport with the person who would be checking me out many times over the last year, and he seemed like a nice guy, but I also knew that he flies jets for a living, so I didn't know quite what to expect. Long story short, he was really nice, and is the best CFII I've ever had the pleasure of flying with. He made me feel at ease and gave me a great introduction to the procedures of the club and a thorough overview of the club airplane.
My takeoffs, slow flight and stalls were all fine. My landings weren't horrible, but they weren't pretty either. The main problem was that I kept coming in quite high. After one particularly poor landing, I turned to Patrick in frustration and asked "what am I doing wrong?" He first replied that my landings were pretty much what he would have expected from someone who has mostly been flying an Archer lately (wasn't that nice?) The problem he coached was two fold, first, the C172 - especially the club 172 with its STOL kit - floats a whole lot more than the Archer, and I was carrying too much throttle at the numbers, second, I was looking at my intended touch down point all the way into the flair rather than transitioning my focus to the end of the runway. Those two tips helped a bunch, and my last landing was much better.
The airplane is really nice, and a bargain at only $75 / hour (tach) wet. Now that I am checked out in both the CAP and Club planes, I hope to increase my flying a bit and really focus on honing my skills.
Speaking of the CAP, a good part of Saturday was spent doing CAP stuff. It started with our monthly squadron meeting, which was followed by a couple of local training exercises. Since I just recently did the Urban Direction Finding (UDF) training and got my UDF certification, I wasn't too keep on doing another UDF sortie, so I helped one of the other members take down the squadron sign so it could be refurbished. For the second sortie, I got my first taste of being a scanner. Some of the other members have complained about the scanner job, since it requires sitting in the back seat of the 172, but I thought it was a hoot. It was very comfortable, and all I had to do was look out the window! I always enjoy riding as a passenger in a small plane, because I get to see all sorts of things that I never notice when I'm the one doing the flying.
So, the weekend was largely focused on flying. Let's see - Saturday - get to ride in an airplane and perform a "service to my country" by sitting there and looking out the window; Sunday - go eat donuts and drink coffee with a bunch of pilots, then go flying, then get to watch a really good pilot practice his aerobatics. Can we say "life is good?"
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Posted by David at August 08, 2006 09:47 PM