Life's been full of aviation lately. Easter just passed saw my first flight in an RV-7, my first taste of aerobatics and my fastest speed in a piston single. Since then training flights have been relatively frequent.
I did a refresher with my instructor on steep turns and stalling. It had come up in conversation that handling rather than navigation seemed to be weak points in recent PPL flight tests. But after plenty of steep turns to the left and steep turns to the right and steep turns to the left, the man in the right hand seat said that handling shouldn't be an issue for me. I still wish there was more advanced handling in the PPL course and I'd really be happier if I was taught to spin an aeroplane. I'll be looking for more training once I get the PPL.
Last week I went out on another solo navex. I decided to pick a town I didn't know and a village I'd never seen before as my turning points. They were all within range of much larger navigation features so that even if I didn't find my targets, I wouldn't get completely lost. It was a good strategy. I flew my course and made my waypoints at the expect times. It was really very satisfying particularly the village. The town was large but I new it would be obscured from view by some high ground. This meant that while I couldn't just cheat by flying towards the town I would still be able to find it easily once I was over the high ground. The village, on the other hand, was just that a village. But it turned up and I turned for home.
Last Friday after work, I went out to do some touch and goes. The landings were patchy at best but I got the plane down in one piece. My instructor, who cleverly opted to stay on the ground, was happy enough though, pointing out that conditions weren't ideal but it was a good idea to go flying on imperfect days.
What's next? Good question. I took a trip down to Kilrush airfield yesterday and my other mount was still mid-maintenance. Once she's back, it'll be a flight or two to refresh on using the navaids and then wait for a suitable day to do my qualifying cross-country. After that - preparing to finally do the flight test.
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