Lesson Three: Turns

I met with George for my third lesson last night. I always go to these lessons so nervous that I almost get myself talked out of them. Once at the office, I get to chatting about some questions, and then I feel fine and ready to go. We quickly went over the routine of preflight, and then I was out to manage it on the plane. Asking questions for reassurance, I managed to remember most of the preflight by myself. I think that my problem is that I want to know "why" I need to be learning everything. George has told me several times that he did not completely understand something until he went in for his Certified Flight Instructor certificate. I guess it is better to learn first rather than later.

Anyway, once in the plane for prepping for take off, I was a little more comfortable making the radio calls this time, but did manage to take on a few more than just talking with Ground. I got the opportunity to call Tower and Departure today! Wow. As we were taking off, we were redirected slightly due to another aircraft in the area. It's amazing how they can be so close, but so hard to see up there. I managed to see it behind us, but it was a little time later before George mentioned it.

After arriving at our designated practice area, we moved onto learning turns. We practiced banking between 20 and 45 degrees. At 45 degrees, the g's really show their force. My body felt so heavy, almost like going on a fast roller coaster. After practicing the angles, we moved on to easing into and out of the turn so that we were straight and level when our direction arrived. I was a little whimpy on the controls, needing to use more muscle than I was putting forth, often crossing the mark before I was able to straighten out. I did manage to get a few rather good ones in before we headed back for landing, but still have lots to study and memorize.

When coming in for landing, we were directed to a new runway...one that I had never used before. We had to cross straight over the field (airport) and circle back to land. I was a bit shocked when that call came over the radio, as I was unsure of what that meant, and I wasn't sure of what strip we were going for either. George made the calls back confirming these directions so that it didn't seem like we had any question regarding it. This was an amazing landing. We crossed the airport and were over the city. To see everything (including Laurel) lit up and only knowing the runway by the lights was a complete AAHH to me. We took longer to touchdown than before, so George once again stepped in and took over controls to get us stopped before the end of the runway...thank goodness, because it came up FAST! I loved having all of the lights on the plane and the runways, it was definately an awesome sight. We've scheduled another lesson for early Saturday morning to learn stalls. I may get my wings yet, it seems as though I've picked up more from this last flight than before. I think that I am getting back into the study habits, something I have not had to use in nearly ten years.