Lesson 5

Today I had a good time. It was chilly - 30 degrees, and sky conditions were clear. I met my new instructor, we dispatched the airplane, a Cessna 152, and I called to file an ADIZ flight plan and at the same time I got a weather briefing.

The preflight checks were a bit different because previously I had flown a Warrior. While I worked on checking the airplane, the instructor went back to the trailer to get the transponder code. Then we had to preheat the engine, and finally we started up and I taxied (badly) out to the runway.

I made the announcement on the radio (my first radio call), and we took the active runway and took off. I have a hard time telling how much the instructor was on the controls, but I think I mostly did all three takeoffs today on my own. We took off to the west, turned in the pattern, then departed to the southeast for the Chesapeake Bay. We came out over the water near the mouth of the South River. We turned south and proceeded to work on some maneuvers near the Deale intersection.

I did a 30 degree turn to the left and then to the right; both were complete circles. On the second turn, I hit my own wake turbulence, which was kind of cool. We did some slow flight, and a couple of stalls. I botched the power off stall, not putting nearly enough rudder, so the instructor bailed me out on that one because it broke hard to the right. Then we did a couple of unusual attitudes. I recovered OK, but the procedure that I used wasn't quite right. We turned north and followed the coast line for a bit. I could see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge ahead and to the right. The instructor showed me the chart and asked if I could figure out where we were, but I botched that too.

Then we flew back to Tipton, entered the pattern, and landed. I struggled with control, trying to fly the right speed. There was a right crosswind. On short final, I was supposed to put the right wing down, put in left rudder, and bring it in gently, but I flared too soon, went too fast, and floated a lot. The instructor did most of the work and we landed well in spite of me.

So we did three landings at the end, taxied in after the last one to refuel, then put the plane away.

Now for some impressions... The rudder is a lot more effective than I remembered with the Warrior. I tried to be conscious about using the rudder when I was supposed to, but didn't use it enough. And that airplane is very responsive to aileron inputs - the roll rate was faster than I expected. Going forward, I'm going to have a challenge keeping below the class B airspace for BWI. I made a few of the radio calls, but there were lots of them. I found them to be overwhelming. Next up - more pattern work.

Long Wait Between Flights

It wasn't working out for me at the flying club that I joined last year. It was too hard to get an instructor on the weekends. So I finally gave up on that club and found another. The new one is in Maryland at Tipton airport. The monthly dues are lower, the rates per hour are lower, and the club has more aircraft and instructors available. The down side - it's farther away from home.

But now I have an instructor and a lesson this weekend. Now if only the weather will cooperate.