Woohoo!

Well... after about 15 CFI-assisted touch and goes at Nampa, and many end-of-lesson landings in Boise, I finally did an unassisted landing at the end of the day today--at KBOI. We practiced in Nampa for a while. As you get about 10 feet over the end of the runway, you do a "roundout." The descent is stopped and you fly at that altitude until your airspeed decays and you reach about 1 foot over the runway. At that point you pitch up, stall, and settle to the runway. If you have ever watched the Shuttle land, you get an exaggerated example. I was having a tough time converting from the roundout to the flare. CFI had me practice just flying over the runway at 10 feet...and not landing. It must have helped. After we touched down in Boise, he said "Congratulations, your first unassisted landing!" I felt like a little kid. Called Alex on the way home and he bought me lunch.

The day started cold. The plane under the shelter where it would be relatively frost free was unavailable, so I had to reserve one out on the ramp. We had to put an engine heater on it and deice it prior to flight. They use a hand sprayer with some glycol solution. Then we turned it to the sun and let it sit while we did ground. Evaporating glycol is cold on the hands at 18 degrees. We are about done with the book for a bit, although I have a lot to master, yet. Book picks up again after the solo with navigation and aircraft performance types of issues.

All in all a red letter day.