Lesson 6: Radio And Landing .. And Barack Obama

Barack Obama wins!
Now its just a simple matter of running the United States for 4 years. Who in their right mind would want that job? Not me. But I'm glad there are those who do - and who seem to consider the office a privilege of national service, rather than an entitlement to 4 years of VIP rockstardom. Barack might just as well ask who in their right mind would strap themselves behind an engine and pretend to be a bird ..

Wednesday morning I had another flight lesson. Like last time, I did the pre-flight by myself with Chris looking on. The one thing I forgot was to untie the tail and left wing. It is not on the DA-20 standard checklist for some reason. Chris recommended that after the pre-flight, I stand back and look the plane over from a distance. That way, any major stuff stands out more than when you’re right up close.

I did my first radio communications with tower and ground. I had to write down what to say. I still messed it up, forgetting to repeat my call-sign at the end. Like anything else, it takes practice. That’s something I really appreciate about flight; it seems that the only real credential is flight hours logged. There is no substitute for experience. Aside from the communication, Wednesday was basically a repeat of last lesson: touch and goes at Winder. Chris told me that working up to the point of solo is in large part gauged by how good you’re landings and takeoffs are, since those are the riskiest phases of flight.

We did have a moment of excitement. On my third touch and go, I got wheels on the ground and then throttled back up. At about 45 knots, just shy of takeoff, a jet on the crossway started moving. In other words, imagine the runways as a big letter “L”. We were taking off on the long side toward the corner, and the jet suddenly started moving on the short side toward the same corner. Unsure of the jet’s intentions, Chris slammed on the brakes and watched the jet. The jet slowed down and it became obvious he was not going to pull out in front of us, so Chris throttled back up to complete the takeoff. We got back up to 55 knots and took off, but had very little runway left.

The whole encounter only lasted about 5 seconds, but felt much longer. He apologized, but I’m glad he had his eyes open. Over-caution is much better than unawareness. So 5 more touch and goes under my belt. Chris said next time we would practice emergency procedures. The next lesson will probably be in a week or so.

Also, I am especially looking forward to flying with my brother in law, Bill, in the DA-20's big brother : DA-40. That happens the Nov. 26th. I'm thinking I'll put him on camera detail so we can get some pics and maybe some video of the flight.