Touch & Go's

I flew again on Sunday. My instructor and I don't have much time in the next few weeks, so we scheduled two flights this weekend. She warned me not to get too excited because there was a hurricane coming through and most likely the lesson would be canceled.

I woke up Sunday morning and sure enough, 100% cloud cover. Regardless, I hung around the house and got ready just in case. 11am rolled around. No phone call. She promised me she'd call an hour before hand if it was going to be canceled. I waited until 11:15 - nothing. Looked outside again - still 100% cloud cover. But they looked kind of high, so maybe that's why. I checked my phone, made sure it was charged and turned it off/on. No phone call, no messages. I got my stuff together and got into the car, certain that my phone would ring any minute. Never did.

I got down to the airport and checked-in. Asked the guy behind the desk if we were still flying today and he said we were, as the radar said it was clear outside. My instructor arrived and also asked. We all checked again and it looked liked all systems were go.

My instructor said that maybe we'd change our plans for today and just hang around the airport. She didn't trust the radar and would hate to be faraway from the airport in case something happened. Instead, we'd spend the day doing touch & go's. My heart leaped - those are my favorite! Actually, I've only ever done one real one and it was assisted. But I've done them many, many times in my dreams. Thought they looked like fun ever since I saw Maverick do one in Top Gun when I was younger. I remember before all this craziness started and my pilot friends told me that I'd need to practice touch & go's until I was blue in the face. They thought they were boring; I've always found them fun.

Did the pre-flight again. I was in the same plane I've been in the last four flights. Not ashamed to say that I love this little plane. Her call sign ends in "Delta Charlie". I've been calling her "Del" and then it transformed into "Delphinus" (latin for dolphin). There's just something about her... She's my instructor's favorite plane, too.

(And speaking of names, I'm going to start to refer to my CFI as "Bambi". More personable and easier than "my CFI" or "my instructor" all the time.)

So we taxi down the runway. No radios this time. Bambi says I need to concentrate on just the touch & go's. She does the first one. I look for landmarks to tell me when to turn and if I'm where I need to be in the air. We land and go up again - my controls this time. Bambi still had her hands on the controls though, walking me through things. There were a million things going on up there - more so than usual. A normal flight, you take off and still have to do things, but not as quickly. A touch & go is different. You go up, do a lap in a square around the airport, land, repeat. It's very quick... or at least it seems that way. We only had enough time to do 5 touch & go's in an hour.

We turn final. I see that runway, as I lick my lips nervously. Wonder if I can score another perfect landing? No such luck - we bounce. I frown - Bambi says it was a good landing. No way... nothing like last time. This one was like my first landing. She laughs and tells me not to be such a perfectionist. It was a good landing, just not "mythologically perfect" like my landing the day before.

We push the throttle all the way forward, pull back on the stick and we're in the air again. 500ft - change the flaps to cruise. Turn left, line plane up with skyline of Atlanta, look out left window, make sure we are parallel with the runway, look for triangular building, turn left again, turn final left once over the triangular building, lower to 1500 rpm, watch out for tall green pole, lower flaps, aim for runway, cut power to idle, pull back, let stick go a little to lower nose, roll down runway, push throttle forward again, pull back on the stick and we're off again. Very exciting - can't see how a person can say this is boring!

I started to feel more comfortable with it. Take off and landings always made me a little nervous before. We were certainly beating that out of me today! The wind was a little strong, so it tossed us about during some of the turns. Besides, some of the turns need to be sharper than normal because these are so quick. It was a little nerve-wracking to see the ground like that. We'd go into a turn and I'd see only ground out of the window on my left. The visual made me have a tendancy to try and correct it. You may think of me as crazy but it was during one of the turns when I first heard/felt the plane "talk". We'd go into the turn, I'd see the ground coming, try to correct it and that's when I "heard" it... "Trust me". Really felt it more... Another turn, another pulling back and once again, "trust me". So I did and just went with it. Bambi even remarked afterwards that she felt a change in me and really saw how I was learning to trust the plane more.

I didn't tell my instructor, but I told my mom. She said it was probably just as well that I didn't tell the instructor. We joked about me being a "plane whisperer" or something. haha

After 5 touch & go's, we landed. Had two good landings and two that came down hard. Bambi said it was okay, as I was still learning. And she was right - something did change in me. Everyone thought I was loved airplanes before, but nothing compares to this! Usually after a good flight, I'd get a natural high and I'd just feel so elevated. After a bit, it would wear off and I'd slowly come back down. It's now Thursday and I haven't come back down yet. I don't think I'm going to come back down, nor do I want to ever. I feel it coursing through my veins and wonder why I didn't find out about my love for aviation sooner. It feels like it's always been there, but just waiting for the right time to let me discover it. Couldn't imagine my life without it.
As the song says, "I think I fell in love with the 8th World Wonder...". ;)