Day 2

Saturday, January 6, 2007
San Carlos Airport (SQL)
1pm

Driving out to the airfield I run through all of the maneuvers in my head, especially those nettlesome power-on stalls. I get to SQL and do a little of what they call ‘desk flying.’ This is where you visualize the maneuver and physically place your hands in each of the control positions pushing and pulling those imaginary control inputs. I have the image in my head of how these maneuvers should go and feel pretty confidant walking into Diamond. I grab the keys to the plane and see Stan and he gives me the go ahead to go out to the ramp and preflight N21591. Preflight done and everything is ‘check’ we get in and take-off and I am feeling relaxed and in control. I am flying really smoothly and leading with a little rudder making graceful, coordinated turns. I begin to really appreciate the area I am flying in which is the San Francisco Peninsula - with the Pacific Ocean to one side and the Bay to the other with SF looming in front – really beautiful! We make a left at Bay Meadows and head out to Crystal Springs reservoir just east of the hills that precede the ocean. We begin the maneuvers and slow flight, check, emergency landings, check, power-off stall, check, POWER-ON STALL…. five attempts later and finally I am popping the plane up and stalling like a champ. Smooth application of power, pitch-up, stall and nose back to the horizon after a controlled drop in the nose of the plane giving it a little loving right rudder. I am starting to get a feel for the subtle nuances of power, pitch and the smooth application of control inputs. You start to realize what the horizon looks like as well as using your peripheral vision to take clues from the relative angle of your wings. You really get the idea of operating a vehicle in three dimensions.

I call up tower and head back only to make another less than par landing. There is a saying that ‘any landing you can walk away from is a good landing’ and I AM getting the plane on the ground and between the lines of the runway. HOWEVER, I want those main wheels (back wheels) to kiss the earth and the nose wheel to lay down right on the centerline of the runway. Anything less than that will not be satisfactory. Not a bad day of flying all in all.

Touch –n- go’s next weekend!!