Nerves
I flew last Saturday and again today. Last Saturday was fine, basically the point was to touch up on my landings. The first four were bad; actually on the first three I didn't even make it down far enough to land! There were several factors; for one thing, runway 13 was in use (it's the same as the usual runway 31, but the other direction -- 13 faces in the direction of 130 degrees, or southeast. 130 + 180 is 310, so runway 31 faces the opposite direction), which I'd never used before so everything was a bit unfamiliar. Plus, I was in a different aircraft, 9849L, and I never did get comfortable in the seat. Also, I think the usual winds had started picking up a little bit -- after my third attempt and flyover, they turned everyone around and made 31 active, and then things went better -- except for the one where I levelled off too high and landed with a thud. Not good.
Today was not bad. I flew 6521J, my old favorite before I discovered 5346D, which I'm not flying again. I had a halfway decent landing, followed by a great one. Then we did engine out landings, which I did poorly on, and then no-flap landings, which I did very poorly on -- in fact on one of these, I ballooned...and I failed to go around. Kevin had to tell me to. That was a big mistake and I feel awful about it, especially getting ready to solo -- I'd have been toast if I were solo and that happened, though I'd like to think I'd have known to go around. The final no-flap landing was quite good.
So, Thursday is my solo checkride. Another instructor who I have never met will watch me preflight, get in the plane with me, and watch me fly, wherever he wants. I'll have to do slow flight, steep turns, stalls, simulated (hopefully) engine failures, all kinds of landings, pattern work...pretty much everything. Plus I have to know all kinds of rules and regs, that he's going to quiz me on. I'm not looking forward to this. Kevin wanted me to do it tomorrow, but I'm way too tired.
If that goes OK, then I'll be back with Kevin on Monday. We'll work on whatever the other instructor notes as "unacceptable" and then if there's not too much of that, then I'll do my supervised solo, where I do three takeoffs and landings with Kevin sitting next to the runway on a bench with a radio.
Oh -- today at least I didn't have the biggest goof out there. Another plane was getting ready to takeoff before us. The tower said, "____, hold short." (I can't remember the call sign; "hold short" means taxi up next to the runway but don't get on it) The pilot responded with just his call sign. The tower said, "Please repeat hold short instructions back." The pilot again responded with just his call sign, and said "OK." The tower, now getting impatient: "You still haven't repeated the instruction back to me. Hold short." The pilot, still not getting it: "Wilco." The tower, who must've been loading up their BB gun: "You need to say, 'Roger, hold short' when I tell you to hold short." Finally the pilot got it: "Roger, hold short."
The tower then told him several seconds later: "Position and hold" (which means get on the beginning of the runway, and wait). The freshly chastised pilot responded correctly with "Position and hold" and his call sign...and then BEGAN HIS TAKEOFF!! The tower was not happy: "_____, you are NOT cleared to take off!" The pilot aborted his acceleration and said, "OK, we'll taxi back." The tower wasn't having any of it: "I don't understand: Is there some problem? Why are you taking off without being cleared?"
It was actually pretty scary. I hope I never make that much of a fool of myself on the radio, or put myself or others in that much danger.
So, getting back to the point: I'm very nervous about Thursday. But I'll just have to do my best and let whatever is going to happen happen. Wish me luck!
Today was not bad. I flew 6521J, my old favorite before I discovered 5346D, which I'm not flying again. I had a halfway decent landing, followed by a great one. Then we did engine out landings, which I did poorly on, and then no-flap landings, which I did very poorly on -- in fact on one of these, I ballooned...and I failed to go around. Kevin had to tell me to. That was a big mistake and I feel awful about it, especially getting ready to solo -- I'd have been toast if I were solo and that happened, though I'd like to think I'd have known to go around. The final no-flap landing was quite good.
So, Thursday is my solo checkride. Another instructor who I have never met will watch me preflight, get in the plane with me, and watch me fly, wherever he wants. I'll have to do slow flight, steep turns, stalls, simulated (hopefully) engine failures, all kinds of landings, pattern work...pretty much everything. Plus I have to know all kinds of rules and regs, that he's going to quiz me on. I'm not looking forward to this. Kevin wanted me to do it tomorrow, but I'm way too tired.
If that goes OK, then I'll be back with Kevin on Monday. We'll work on whatever the other instructor notes as "unacceptable" and then if there's not too much of that, then I'll do my supervised solo, where I do three takeoffs and landings with Kevin sitting next to the runway on a bench with a radio.
Oh -- today at least I didn't have the biggest goof out there. Another plane was getting ready to takeoff before us. The tower said, "____, hold short." (I can't remember the call sign; "hold short" means taxi up next to the runway but don't get on it) The pilot responded with just his call sign. The tower said, "Please repeat hold short instructions back." The pilot again responded with just his call sign, and said "OK." The tower, now getting impatient: "You still haven't repeated the instruction back to me. Hold short." The pilot, still not getting it: "Wilco." The tower, who must've been loading up their BB gun: "You need to say, 'Roger, hold short' when I tell you to hold short." Finally the pilot got it: "Roger, hold short."
The tower then told him several seconds later: "Position and hold" (which means get on the beginning of the runway, and wait). The freshly chastised pilot responded correctly with "Position and hold" and his call sign...and then BEGAN HIS TAKEOFF!! The tower was not happy: "_____, you are NOT cleared to take off!" The pilot aborted his acceleration and said, "OK, we'll taxi back." The tower wasn't having any of it: "I don't understand: Is there some problem? Why are you taking off without being cleared?"
It was actually pretty scary. I hope I never make that much of a fool of myself on the radio, or put myself or others in that much danger.
So, getting back to the point: I'm very nervous about Thursday. But I'll just have to do my best and let whatever is going to happen happen. Wish me luck!
posted by MKT at 11:24 PM
1 Comments:
Good luck! I honestly can't imagine myself in a situation where I was in charge of something with the potential for such serious consequences unless I was completely in command of everything I could be. That is, if I thought there was something I wasn't completely comfortable with that I thought I should be. I'm pretty sure I couldn't be completely comfortable doing it unless I had done it, though. So I'll stick to something with fewer consequences. Like parenting. Or guitar. Remind me later to tell you a pretty good Angry Ground Tower story involving large aircraft nearly running over people I know.
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