Takeoffs Are Optional

A friend with whom I hang out at the airport has begun taking flying lessons. He was flying in a Cessna 172 with Jamie, the same CFI with whom I had my “refresher” lessons and successfully completed my BFR last summer and fall. An email last week from my Student Pilot friend, describing his second lesson, brought back memories from a long time ago. I thought it worthy to share.

Keep in mind that Harford County Airport (0W3) has a max runway length of 2000 feet. There are some pilots intimidated by a (so called) short field and choose not to land here. This lesson was originally scheduled to go into Martin State Airport for an introduction to a controlled field (Class D) and exposure to a long runway. Here is a recap of a “second flight lesson” as recanted by my pal, the Student Pilot.

So let’s see…. the trip to Martin State (MTN) was out due to the haze this morning but the vis was good enough to head off to the practice area for some slow flight and dirty stalls; figuring if the vis got worse we wouldn’t be too far away from home base.  Didn’t do too badly with either of the agenda items.

It does take some getting used to (1), using the elevator to control the speed and the altitude with the throttle and (2), just how far back you need to pull  the yoke to stall the plane. The slow flight was pretty easy, the stalls a tad more difficult because all the stuff that needs to be done when the nose drops. The first time I lost about 300 feet and the second was less than 200 which I thought was pretty good.

Time was up so back to the field and the landing pattern…..way too many things going on, throttle, flaps, airspeed, using the rudder to line up with the runway centerline, the ever enlarging numbers at the end of the runway. Kept thinking Jamie would, at anytime, say “my plane” and take over but he didn’t - sooooooo there was one fairly large bounce for the 172 and (this) student - who just completed his first landing attempt. Jamie did push the yoke forward after the bounce to get the nose down a little bit but that was about all……I think I was still shaking somewhat a ½ hour after we had parked and shut down.

Definitely a thrill, but a lot more practice is required to get comfortable and get in a “routine” because the amount of new information was overwhelming when you need to put it all together for that last fifty feet of altitude. I couldn’t even tell you exactly what I was looking at when we touched down but I think I held the nose on the numbers too long so the flare was a little late and not nose high enough as I didn’t have the yoke in my gut. The plane stayed glued to the ground after the second touchdown (good thing)…..and I didn’t swerve off the runway, but the roll out was a bit wiggly.

Next scheduled date for a landing horror show is Wednesday……weather permitting.

I am certainly waiting for a recap of his next experience.