Mon 9th February
I got to Lynfield early to check out the Drifter and fuel it up. As I was the first student for the day I was hoping we might get up early before the wind came up and it worked.
I fired the drifter up fifteen minutes earlier than normal and we took off into a clear blue sky and turned onto a coarse for Bradfield. We joined on crosswind and when I turned onto downwind I couldn't help but smile at the fact there was no drift and the Drifter was gliding through almost still air.
My first landing was a little past my marker but Kev said it was a good landing, so I powered off again and as we were climbing towards the crosswind turning marker I brought the power back and turned the booster pump off. Then suddenly the throttle was closed, I shoved the stick forward, sighted a paddock that looked suitable, checked the airspeed to make sure everything was good, cleared the fence easily and then started easing the stick back to set it up for a landing then Kev called "OK, take us out of here".
We hadn't gained much height from that exercise when the throttle was closed again and I did another "engine failure on take off" practice, then Kev said "OK, get us back to circuit height".
I joined downwind, did the downwind checks and turned onto base, pushed the stick forward as I cut the throttle and set it up for a short final approach. I judged the throttle shut down better this time and put it down nicely on the marker and received an applause from the back seat, which made me smile as it was the best landing I had done so far.
I started to open up the throttle to take off again but Kev yelled over the intercom as he pulled back the throttle "no pull over I want to talk to you". Then he got out and told me I can do the next one on my own.
As I taxied down to the holding point I kept busy checking instruments, switches, like the boost pump was on etc, and my harness was secure, just to keep busy. But when I got down to the holding point turned into the wind to do pre-take off check my mind went blank. I just could not remember the checklist so I checked the instruments and the switches again, made sure the boost pump was on, ran up and did the mags check, could not think of anything else so I moved out to the runway centre line, pushed the throttle forward and said "wow" when it jumped into the air and clawed some serious altitude.
I pulled the throttle back to climbing power and turned the boost pump off and then remembered "oh, If engine fails land straight ahead". I was at circuit height before the turn for downwind so I levelled off, pulled the power back to cruise and then discovered I hadn't set the trim for take off.
I remembered the downwind check, got that done, then turned onto base and closed the throttle as I pushed the nose down. When I turned onto final I was looking straight down centre line and the height looked good. I flared right on my marker but the thing just seemed to want to keep floating, but it finally touched and then floated again with it's nose starting to go skyward. I pushed the stick forward, got the nose down, flared again and it gently touched down and stayed there.
OK it looks like with one up I have to give it more time to wash off energy before I try and put it down.
1st solo circuit completed.
I got to Lynfield early to check out the Drifter and fuel it up. As I was the first student for the day I was hoping we might get up early before the wind came up and it worked.
I fired the drifter up fifteen minutes earlier than normal and we took off into a clear blue sky and turned onto a coarse for Bradfield. We joined on crosswind and when I turned onto downwind I couldn't help but smile at the fact there was no drift and the Drifter was gliding through almost still air.
My first landing was a little past my marker but Kev said it was a good landing, so I powered off again and as we were climbing towards the crosswind turning marker I brought the power back and turned the booster pump off. Then suddenly the throttle was closed, I shoved the stick forward, sighted a paddock that looked suitable, checked the airspeed to make sure everything was good, cleared the fence easily and then started easing the stick back to set it up for a landing then Kev called "OK, take us out of here".
We hadn't gained much height from that exercise when the throttle was closed again and I did another "engine failure on take off" practice, then Kev said "OK, get us back to circuit height".
I joined downwind, did the downwind checks and turned onto base, pushed the stick forward as I cut the throttle and set it up for a short final approach. I judged the throttle shut down better this time and put it down nicely on the marker and received an applause from the back seat, which made me smile as it was the best landing I had done so far.
I started to open up the throttle to take off again but Kev yelled over the intercom as he pulled back the throttle "no pull over I want to talk to you". Then he got out and told me I can do the next one on my own.
As I taxied down to the holding point I kept busy checking instruments, switches, like the boost pump was on etc, and my harness was secure, just to keep busy. But when I got down to the holding point turned into the wind to do pre-take off check my mind went blank. I just could not remember the checklist so I checked the instruments and the switches again, made sure the boost pump was on, ran up and did the mags check, could not think of anything else so I moved out to the runway centre line, pushed the throttle forward and said "wow" when it jumped into the air and clawed some serious altitude.
I pulled the throttle back to climbing power and turned the boost pump off and then remembered "oh, If engine fails land straight ahead". I was at circuit height before the turn for downwind so I levelled off, pulled the power back to cruise and then discovered I hadn't set the trim for take off.
I remembered the downwind check, got that done, then turned onto base and closed the throttle as I pushed the nose down. When I turned onto final I was looking straight down centre line and the height looked good. I flared right on my marker but the thing just seemed to want to keep floating, but it finally touched and then floated again with it's nose starting to go skyward. I pushed the stick forward, got the nose down, flared again and it gently touched down and stayed there.
OK it looks like with one up I have to give it more time to wash off energy before I try and put it down.
1st solo circuit completed.
TT 9.9 hrs
Congratulations RR. It's a great feeling and a source of deep satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog.
Regards
Mike