Stranded In The Southland

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Finally, A Chance To Work On Landings...

Phwew, I finally got a chance to chat with my instructor about landings, and we settled in and did a bunch of touch-and-goes. Going from the Warrior to the older (and heavier) Cherokee, I was definitely comin' in too low with the Cherokee. It was great to get up there and work on it.

We tried out a number of power-off landings, rehearsing what would happen if the engine totally went out. At one point, we both agreed that it looked like we were high enough to make the runway, so H. pulled the power and let me try to glide it in. Despite the fact that I got the flaps off and promptly put the plane at the best glide speed (84 mph), the prop definitely would've been trimming the weeds at the edge of the runway if we didn't give up the glide and give it a jolt of power.

I gotta learn to keep this new (or old, I guess) plane up higher, so I can get down safely no matter what happens. H. is convinced that this knowledge only comes with actual practice; I'm thinkin' that a little more explanation wouldn't exactly hurt, but that's me.