Va

Va is the maximum maneuvering speed. In the Cessna 172 it's about 12o mph. Tonight I flew. We did some S-turns around Swan Falls Road. I think it clicked with me on how those work. We then did some circles around Initial Point. It's the point at which Township and Range start for Idaho. You can hit Wikipedia for the details. On the way back to Boise we hit some turbulence. Severe enough that I couldn't keep the plane on course... let alone on altitude. We cinched up our seatbelts to keep us from bouncing on the ceiling. It wasn't frightening to me, but I knew I was in uncharted territory. CFI took over controls and reported "severe turbulence" to the tower. At the same time we started hearing similar reports from other aircraft in the area. We made our approach to runway 10L and it smoothed out. However, as we approached, we suddenly lost a bunch of airspeed. CFI adjusted and told the ower "experienced some fairly dramatic wind sheer on approach." We landed and heard a couple other aircraft alter their approaches because of the conditions. Landing was fine. Taxied to the parking are and put 870 to bed.

On the way back to the hangar we talked about what happened. In turbulence, it's important to get the aircraft below Va (the maximum speed that you can do dramatic maneuvers without causing structural damage (read, ripping the wings off). I will remember that because of tonight's adventure. Lesson well learned.

No more this week. Flying Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon next week. Still very exciting!