Weather: KBJC 211150Z 00000KT 20SM SKC 21/03 A3008
Today was a day to practice pattern work, takeoffs and landings, and get ready for my solo flight. Right now I am really good from the parking spot, to the ramp, to takeoff, through final (and all my maneuvers in between). That takes me to about the flare. I am even getting good at reading when to flare. But at this point, I flare a bit too hard, so instead of holding it and gently drifting down, I apply too much back pressure and come up a bit. I might still be flaring a bit high too. Then I get the addition of the ground effect and that keeps me a bit high. So I end up gliding over the runway longer than I intend. But then instead of holding the controls, I try to relax them, to get the plane down. That’s when I bounce. Now I’m back in the air again. So I work the controls again to come down easy, and end up over correcting and over controlling the plane. That’s when I bounce. Again. Repeat steps 1 -3. Bounce. Again. Rinse. Repeat.
That gets a bit tedious after 10 landings in one day. I didn’t bounce all of them. Just most of them. The positives: my pattern work is very good. I’m very good with the radios. My approach is getting really good. My takeoffs are really good. I think I just needed to get today out of my system. I did have a couple good landings. Not everything went bad today. I was just hoping to really nail a few so I could be one lesson closer to my solo.
Labels: flying
