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Taking In The Sunny Weather
This weekend I had two wonderful flights. The first, soloing in a Cessna 150 around Twin Oaks, the other, flying with Rick over to Lenhardt Airpark (7S9) and landing for the first time on a grass (soft-field) runway. Both flights were amazing and made me realize even more that this stuff is sinking into my brain!Fridays Change of Plans
Friday I went out to fly with Rick. I got there early even, but the plane wasn’t ready. When it finally was, Rick ended up having to go on a flight he had scheduled but thought was cancelled. Oh well. It gave me a chance to talk with James and figure out what I am going to do with my flying with regards to the size of plane I’m going to use. I made the decision that since I had over 40+ hours in a 172, that I would finish in a 172 and spend my solo time flying the 150 (except for some cross country flights).
I didn’t want the beautiful day to be a waste, so around 3pm or so, I decided to grab the flight book for Cessna 150 N66589 and go on up. I got the plane ready, made my calls, and took off. I did a couple flights around the airport and had two successful landings and take-offs. Not a huge deal, but I did everything on my own from start to finish. Such an awesome feeling!Logs:
Flight Time: 0.4 Hours
Landings: 2Grass Landings
Sunday I finally got the chance to actually land on a terrain that isn’t pavement; hard grass. Like any other day, we got the plane (Cessna 172 N734KU) ready and took off out of Twin Oaks after talking a bit about soft field landings. We flew to Aurora State (UAO) and practiced a couple simulated soft-field landings. Rick said that things were going well so we took off south down to Lenhardt Airpark (7S9). This Airpark has a runway around the same length and direction as Twin Oaks, but to the west of the runway is a grass strip generally used a taxi way. This wide grass strip was the location of my soft field grass landings.Unlike a cement landing, a soft field landing takes a bit more finesse as you have to glide over the runway after entering ground effect and gently bring the plane down to avoid getting the wheels to hit too hard and sinking into the terrain.
My first grass-field landing was awesome. I dropped the front a tad too soon, but my glide and flare were spot on. Such an awesome feeling! My second, after doing a go-around because I was too high, was also great; a bit smoother than the first.
Practice Maneuvers
After another great landing, I flew north and ended up flying over UAO to head to the south practice area for some stall practice. Other than once before, Rick and I hadn’t done much in the way of stalls, and I was feeling rusty. And though I was a tad rusty, instincts took over and I ended up performing my stalls very well. Still need to practice stalls and other maneuvers during my solo time.
Flying Home
Practicing the stall maneuvers made me even more confident and we were running out of time so we headed back to Twin Oaks. The flight there was great due to the beautiful weather conditions and my pattern and landing into Twin Oaks was awesome. Perhaps it was getting the feel for the soft-field landings that improved my landings or practicing in the 150, but either way, I was excited.The blue skies and sunny weather made this flight even better. Makes me so excited to get my license and take my friends up during the summer!
Logs:
Flight Time: 1.4 Hours
Landings: 5May 2, 2011 / Jason / 2
I Can Fly A Cessna 150! Three New Airports and a Night Flight!
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2 thoughts on “Taking In The Sunny Weather”
I learned to fly in N66589 in 1976. The plane was then based at Herbert Smartt airport in Macon, Georgia. It was orange and white at the time. I now live on Bainbridge Island, Washington, just north of you.
That is awesome. It is still a fun little plane! How did you find out about Looking To The Sky?