SSDD

I flew Monday and did fairly well after the first one. Still close to solo. I will likely not get to fly until next week because of scheduling issues.

Wind, broken plane

Windy yesterday.. didn't fly. Broken plane today. No fly. Next chance is Monday.

weather and marginal landings

We tried on Monday. Gusty winds. Fought for them all. No solo. Today--no flying. Lousy weather. Try again tomorrow.

que sera sera

No solo yesterday. My flying was not quite "on." By the end I was doing great again, but the week and a half off showed at that start. A really crappy day at work didn't help. CFI likes to do 2 or 3 landings. Then a couple solo. I wasn't ready until about 5 or 6. Pilots like to stick to patterns...and will tell you that when they deviate, things always go awry. We were out of his pattern. After the first couple, I knew it wasn't in the cards. My son, Alex, was standing there when we got done, hoping I had made it. Very nice of him. He said he watched my approach and landing from the end of the runway. Very cool. Hopefully next week. I know I can do this when the time is right.

Four Strong Winds...

...that blow lonely (Ian Tyson). Too windy again today.

29017G27KT

Translated winds from 290 degrees at 17 knots gusting to 27 knots

Trying again on Thursday.

Another song title. Strong winds predicted for this afternoon. Will try again another day.

Plan for the Future

If I don't get weathered out on my solo tomorrow, here is what I have upcoming

1. A couple of flights to brush up on maneuvers, stalls, and VOR/ADF navigation
2. Local night flight
3. Short dual cross country
4. Short dual night cross country
5. Long dual day cross country
6. Stage 2 check with another instructor
7. Short cross country with another instructor
8. Two solo day cross countries
9. Prep ride for the FAA checkride
10. Stage 3 check ride with another instructor
11. FAA Check Ride

At some point prior to the first solo cross country, I need to take and pass the FAA written.

This all seems like a lot, but it's a couple months.

Juju

If the "solo juju" keeps going, I will solo on Thursday. My CFI soloed his other student last week. (With the economy sucking, the number of students is down.) I did well today in gusty conditions and am confident about my abilities. I will take a camera for him to take pics of this event. I will also wear an old shirt (see my January 31 post for an explanation). Time to actually post some pics to this blog.

Maybe Next Week

I may get to solo next week if I do well on Tuesday. I think I will be fine. More confident than I have been since I started and it feels great.

Working for Them

"Awesome job, today, Eric!" "You fought for each of them under challenging conditions."

Note the quotes.

A few more good ones today to add to my string. Each landing is different.. and you have to work for each and every one of them. Unsderstanding that fact is a big help to my confidence. I had the idea that at some point landings were automatic.. and always smooth. Wrong on both counts. We talked about soloing today. Some instructors surprise students with a solo. Mine plans for it, like everything else. We will talk about it in advance and then mutually decide on the appointed day if things are cool and we should proceed.