My Flying

A somber start to the day as we stand shoulder to shoulder along 26R as the ashes of a former member of ten years back are scattered into the air from a motor glider.

After the DI for the Twin and pumping the flat rear wheel I tow it to the threshold of 26L. The day is very pleasant with a slight south-westerly blowing. Soon it's my turn with instructor F(1) and the launch goes ok. The release, a few turns and we enter the left-hand circuit. The landing goes well and I'm doing about 80% of the flying.

On the ground and the rear wheel is flat again. A lengthy delay and a puncture kit later and we are ready to go. The following two takes offs and landings go very well and the instructor informs me I was about 95% in control, but he's still telling me when to turn, open brakes, hold off and so on.

Other people fly, then its my turn again. I want to practice circuits and the weather is perfect for that. The landing didn't go as well, the wind had strengthened and was now coming in at about 35° to the runway, and I failed to compensate for this. That was going to be my last flight for the day, but the instructor insisted that I do another to build my confidence. Not only did the landing go better, but the takeoff went great as I released at 1100 feet, a person record for me. I gave it hard stick all the way up.

A very nice day at the airfield, in between fixing numerous punctures and pumping up tyres, which more than made up for the previous weeks disaster. A bit expensive with the 5 launches, but the flights were a maximum of 5 minutes each. Cost = 220ZAR.