My Flying

I came so close to being sent solo today I could almost feel it. It was the things the instructor F(3) was saying and his overall mood. Problem is, it just wasn't meant to be. A set of circumstances lead to me really not being in the right frame of mind and my flying suffered accordingly.

It started with a really bad night's sleep, thanks to the neighbour's party that carried on until 3:30 this morning. I then missed my morning run due to me "sleeping" late. Then while on winch duty I decided to check my email. A bad habit I have when I'm bored. A business deal fell through, not an important one, but one I'd been working very hard at.

Furthermore, the pilot who was involved in the serious accident on 14 January this year also visited the airfield with his doctor. It was very sad to see, physically he is in a good condition, but he took a bad knock to the head and his memory is totally gone. So sad. They showed him the wreck of his aircraft in an attempt to jolt his memory back.

So I fly, good launch. Thermal for 20 minutes in 1 to 2 m/s thermals to 3000 feet. Thermalling both left and right. Instructor takes me trough some incipient spins, stalls and steep turns. Good circuit, but flare a bit high. Back on the ground in 29 minutes and he's pretty happy.

Then just before my surprise second flight the phones rings. The wife is in tears. Some f#cker tried to break in while she was at home. Fortunately he didn't manage to get into the house. So now I'm even more rattled. Take-off was messy, messed up the approach, but the flare was good. I could see he wanted to send me on my way, but not just then; I was heading for home.

A real pity. But I didn't feel ready anyways, especially today. Two flights totalling 32 minutes at 92,60ZAR.