Warrior III VH-TXU
Weather QNH 1012; Wind: 20-25kt NW, Temp: 29c, broken cloud at 5000ft
Runway 35R
Today's lesson was a consolidation flight. While Jason didn't teach me anything new, I learnt a lot about how to put everything together.
We were half way to the training area before it really sunk in that Jason wasn't going to help me today unless really needed. The preflight, taxi and take off had gone fine, but as we entered the training area Jason asked "have you forgotten everything?" (aka "you have forgotten something"). At this point I quickly realised two things 1) I was expected to really "command" the flight and 2) we are well outside Moorabbin's Class "D" airspace and I'm still listening to the tower. So, I quickly change radio frequencies & the transponder.
Once in the training area we started with stalls. It had been a while, but surprisingly I quickly rattled off the HASEL checklist and got down to business. The stalls were a bit average as I wasn't really pulling back that last bit and properly stalling the plane. For some reason I was also taking a couple of seconds to reapply the power.
Next Steep turns. Also need some more practice here as it's been a while. 1st one I was very tentative getting it into the turn and climbed in the second half of the turn. 2nd one was better but applied too much back pressure on entry. 3rd was a bit of a roller coast, climbed on entry and lost height in the last quarter.
Then it was time to head back home via GMH. As we are approached GMH I realised I hadn't set the height bug and started playing with it. As a result, I was soon below 1500ft and needed to quickly climb back to the required altitude.
I got the ATIS and made my inbound call and requested some circuits. However I didn't correct read back the inbound clearance (forgot to read back the runway) so was asked to confirm by the tower.
The northerly had increased and was now 30-40kts, so the leg from GMH and "base" were a crab (Luckily after flying paragliders for 12 years I'm very comfortable crabbing). Final was also "interesting" as we got bounced around a little. However the real excitement was my landing. Unfortunately I cut the power to early and we sunk like a rock.
After taking off again and getting tossed about some more we decided one circuit would be enough. My second landing was much better. I kept power on all the way down and only cut it once we were almost on the ground.
My last "lesson" was to remember to leave the flaps extend for a full stop (to help stopping).
Another enjoyable flight but as always plenty of areas for improvement.
VH-TAX Piper Warrior III -"Consolidation Flight" - 1.0Hrs Dual, (Total time 30.8 hrs)
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