The Avian Fluke

The landings, up until today, have really been more like controlled crashes with no damage to occupants or airplane. You’ve gotta hand it to Cessna - they built the 152 like a tank. The problem is that if you fly in Texas, you fly in crosswinds, and flaring properly with crosswind correction is, according to Dr. CFI, the most difficult maneuver to do.

 So I’ve slipped em’ in mis-aligned. And I’ve side-loaded the plane on landing. And I’ve bounced, and I’ve ballooned. And this is, apparently, normal, although I’m glad the guy who owns the plane isn’t the guy who’s teaching me to fly it.

 But some things started working. We’ve figured two things out for me, and they’re both visual perception problems. The first was on taxi. I could never stay on the centerline. So Dr. CFI puts the plane on the centerline and asks me what I think. To me, it looks like we’re too far to the right. But it’s actually center, and I guess it’s just because I’m sensitive to parallax or something.

I’m having the same problem on landings. Because what looks “straight” to me is actually pointed left. And what’s actually straight, from my perspective, is pointed to the right a bit. Not a lot, but just a bit. It’s weird.

 So, basically, I need to compensate visually for this to land em’ right.

 I did, for the most part, land pretty well - I’ll spare you the horror story of the simulated-engine-failure-to-landing we did today. Suffice it to say that Dr. CFI had to take over when the left main gear was in the gravel.  (sigh)

 He thinks I’m pretty much ready to solo after tomorrow, and the prospect of this both excites and terrifies me. He’s not going to be up there with me to make gentle suggestions. I’m going to have to do it.

At the same time, I’m excited to do it myself.