For once, the weather was in my favor - no afternoon t-storms on Saturday afternoon. I headed down to the airport early like I always do. I was positive, I was excited.
My CFI was sitting at the desk when I entered. She told me she had a few things to finish up inside, but I could go ahead and start with the pre-flight.
No way. Pre-flight by myself ? With no supervision? Really?
It's okay - I've got this one. I've done this before and I can do it again. Besides, gives me more one-on-one time with the plane. She's one I've flown in twice before. It'll be okay. I've got this one.
I'm not even exaggerating that I nearly skipped out to the ramp. More responsibility makes me happy. I took great pride in going over the plane and checking everything. To experienced pilots, doing this part on your own may not be a big deal, but it is and was to me. I was finishing up when my CFI walked out. She checked the fuel and oil levels and off we went. She discussed about me being on the radios this time. I listened to her going up and was going to try it on the way back. She said she'd coach me a little on the way back too, so nothing to worry about. (Just wish they didn't talk so dang fast!)
She let me take off this time, too. I took a deep breath - putting out of mind my bad takeoff and thinking about the first time instead. Thinking about how magical it was to leave the ground and everything behind. Just watching it drop away as the plane soars away. Airspeed alive and we were airborne. Hit some hot pockets going up and while we were in the air, so we were tossed around quite a bit. Still not used to that. She was telling me that I just need to let go and go with the flow when that happens. Unless it tosses us into a 90 degree bank or something, I don't need to do anything or try and correct it - the plane will correct itself.
We worked on stalls and slow flight again. Getting better. Still need to commit those to memory. Silly to think I was ever scared of stalls. Hopefully the landing on a field and the checkride won't be as bad as they look from here either.
Was beautiful up there. REALLY clear visability. Saw a few rain showers off in the distance, which was pretty cool. They were kind of like a thinly stretched ball of cotton off in the distance. Very neat to see.
So we turn around to head home. We're about 30 miles out. She says we need to call into the Tower at about 15 miles away from the airport, so we have some time to practice.
"Peachtree Tower, 352 Delta Charlie, approach, 15 miles out".
Easy enough, right? I hit the button and go for it. "Perfect", says my CFI. We wait... and wait some more. Nothing. She tells me to try again. I go again; tower responds. The guy tells me to go to a certain runway. My CFI nods and tells me to repeat back what I just heard. Easier said than done. WTF did he just? So I repeat back what I heard... and in the wrong order. My CFI bursts out laughing beside me. She said it was okay - I got my point across and that's all that matters. Well, the tower calls twice more in rapid succession - changing our runway each time (wind keeps changing). She takes over because it's just too fast and there's too much information.
"Wanna try landing?"
Bring it on. I can do this. Okay, aim for the landing strip, gradually cut power, pull back a little, hold and gently let go. She exclaims, "wow, good job!". Even I know that was a good landing. We landed so smoothly that you had no idea you were on the ground. No bumps, no bounces. Unheard of to land like that on someone's second try. The plane just floated down the runway and alighted on the runway like a drop of rain on a leaf. Very smooth, graceful. She said she doesn't even get landings like that all the time. They are very, very difficult to do and even the most experienced pilot doesn't get them all the time. Like the Holy Grail of landings.
We taxiied back. I said g'bye to my plane and seriously, flounced out of there. I called my mom from the car and told her about it. I got such an adrenaline high from it and haven't come back down since. This definitely takes the cake for the best flight yet.
(P.S. The "s" word came up -"solo". We're getting closer and I'm excited!)
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