Wake Turbulence

The more I think about it, the more positive I am that what I experienced on final approach yesterday was wake turbulence from the plane landing ahead of me. A strong kick to the right, followed shortly by a strong kick to the left, on a perfectly still day? A somewhat larger plane on final right before me? A low approach? I did come in low, as I undershot the pattern altitude by about 150 feet.

On the one hand, I'm still a little worried because I should've thought of that. On the other hand, my reaction was good -- I increased power, thereby increasing my airspeed and altitude, and especially the altitude helped me clear any further turbulence. And it's not like I was losing control of the plane for no good reason. So, a bit of comfort in that, and lesson learned -- watch out for wake turbulence!

I've got a lesson coming up later this afternoon. I'm nervous -- I don't know why I'm nervous, and am kind of annoyed with myself about it. I know now I can fly, I know I can land (when I'm not tense and too fast -- and even then I can land, just not very nicely!). I guess I'm just not sure what my temporary instructor expects; I don't have the familiarity with him that I do with Kevin. So we'll see how that goes, I guess.