Stranded In The Southland

Monday, June 16, 2008

Making Progress on Flying

I haven't been writing much about the flying, partially because it has been going so slowly. After a couple canceled lessons, I managed to make a 150 mile cross-country flight with H. That seemed to go pretty well; the navigation just wasn't so tough.

H. wanted me to repeat the same flight for my night cross-country with him. Scheduling was tough, as I work 'til 9PM Monday through Thursday, requiring me to burn my Friday and Saturday nights for flying (H. doesn't usually work Sundays). This meant that for several weeks, I made no plans for the weekend, only to have my flight canceled due to weather.

Then I had a two-week big rush at work, followed by a two-week vacation, and, all told, I didn't get to fly for six weeks or so. Saturday, I finally got up again. We canceled the cross-country, once again, due to weather, but decided to get up anyway and learn some night flying.

I found night landings to be pretty tough, especially after all that time off. I made a number of fairly "firm" landings, but finally seemed to get the hang of things. As they close the tower at 9PM at this airport, I even managed to do some non-tower radio work, which was kind of fun.

This Friday, my folks will be out to visit, and I'll hopefully be taking dad along on a lesson. I wish I had my certificate and could just take him flying with me, but given the travails I've been through already, I'm not too disappointed.