Today was the day I have been looking forward to for a long time. What's that I hear you ask? How could I still be having firsts? It's simple. Today was the first day that I rented the aircraft and flew it on a non flying school day. Totally alone... No one even in the hangar, no one listening to the radio, no one looking over my shoulder in case I miss something.
It is exhilarating and scary all at the same time. Manny wasn't going to fly for a day or two, and I had been offered to take the aircraft any day I pleased. This was an honour to be trusted like this. I always thought that all of this being a pilot business would 'sink in' the day I rented the plane on a non flying school day. I was partially right.
I made an IOU to myself from next weeks' budget and flew a couple of days earlier. It was a day off work (moderately rare), I didn't have anything planned (rare), and the weather was quite good (extremely rare!!!), so I decided to take the plunge and go do it.
It was strange, being there with no one else to talk to. I kept second guessing whether the clouds were actually high enough for me to do circuits. The AWIS was reporting the cloud base being one hundred feet below circuit height, which made me nervous. I decided to continue with the daily preflight inspection and the answer may appear. Within five minutes, I had my answer as I watched with interest "Tweetie", the Ballarat Aero Club's Gazelle (which looks just like this one), take off and climb safely to circuit height. Excellent. If they can do it, so can I!
The main thing about doing it all by yourself is the time it takes... Unlocking and pushing the hangar doors, checking the engine thoroughly, check the fuselage, undercarriage and control surfaces, trying to add fuel from the portable barrel (which was empty!), pulling the aircraft out onto the taxiway... One doesn't usually have to do all that on a flying school day, because it's generally already sitting on the apron, warmed up and ready to go (one still goes through the motions of an abbreviated preflight, however). I'm sure I'll get quicker in time. I didn't want to leave anything to chance, so I checked and double checked everything.
After doing all that, it was finally time to get in and start up. I decided to go with the wind and take runway 13, rather than do what everyone else seemed to be doing and putting up with the crosswind on 18. I managed three circuits. Nice landings for two, the middle one was not as smooth as I would have liked, but that's the point of circuits - try things and hone what works. Then, a couple of guys in Cessnas arrived back from their local flights and wanted to do some circuits - announcing that they'd be using runway 18. OK, either I can stick to my guns - comfy normal circuits, or I can work with these guys and do something I've never done before... Solo crosswind circuits. I opted for the latter *cue orchestra with ominous music*.
Another first. Yep, I had always been too chicken to fly crosswind operations by myself. I thought that today, with it's good conditions and predictable wind would be the day. The first attempt was not too successful. In the process of lowering my into wind wing, I also pulled back on the stick a little too much and ballooned. On a normal landing that's ok, because you generally have the throttle all the way back by then. You freeze the rearward motion and the aircraft will resume it's sink in a moment or so. With crosswind ops, you actually slowly reduce the power to get the into wind wheel to touch down first. While this power is still on, any over-correction with the stick means you end up much higher above the ground, much quicker. A more experienced pilot probably could have saved it, but I figured that discretion is the better part of valour and went around. Oh, well... At least then I didn't hurt the plane or myself.
The second attempt was a little better. A tiny balloon still (must really work on that!), but I was able to salvage it and put down safely on the tarmac, aligned with the centre line. Not the prettiest, but got the job done. I'll work on them again next time. I had looked at the time and called this one a full stop, so I exited the runway and taxied back to the hangar. Usually, Manny is there to greet me and we discuss and deconstruct the flight. Not this time, though.
I now know that I need much more practice at crosswind ops, but I'm glad I was able to get in and do it for myself. That's a nice feeling!
So, the countdown continues until I can carry a passenger. With this session and last session in the logbook, there's only 2.4 hours to go!
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