First Circuit

I'd like to say that the weather here had improved but that would simply be a lie. I checked the airport RVR from the office like your typical internet junkie - about every 90 seconds. Things seemed like they were calming down and I made a mad dash for the airport.

Today I flew with I3 again and this made me happy because we worked well together in the aircraft. Right before it was time to go she noted that the winds had picked up again to about 20 knot gusts - do I still want to go? After my "dream month" had been blown away by one problem after another, I wanted to get up in the sky one way or another.

By the time we made it all the way down to runway 25 the tower called and gave us an update that the winds were now gusting to 42 knots. Do you still want to go? I told I3 that I was happy to give it a try but would accept whatever her decision was. She informed ATC we were ready for takeoff.

I won't make any attempts here to sound macho. The flight was bumpy and the winds were howling. I fought the aircraft for every altitude and every heading. I spent so much time dealing with the winds that my brain was unable to process all of the information I had been briefed on the previous weeks regarding the circuit.

My first approach was horrible and I3 ended up calling ATC half way in and asking for a low approach. We stayed at this low altitude so that she could illustrate the illusions caused by drift. Maybe I missed something but I didn't notice anything special with this example in terms of my brain fooling me. Perhaps all of this flight simming I've done over the years has told my brain to watch the instruments and believe in them. I honestly don't know if this is a good or bad thing. It made perfect sense that the brain thinks you are in a skid while a turn is actually coordinated yet the drift is real.

One thing I did notice is that the downwind portion of the circuit (with a 42 knot tailwind) appeared to last somewhere between 6 and 8 seconds. The second spin resulted in a Touch and Go which I3 talked me through. Shockingly the approach and touch down were pretty good. I was shocked how much runway was remaining as we got ready for the "go" part. First Touch and Go was now out of the way - hopefully many more to come!

On the downwind of the third circuit the wind finally had taken its toll on me. I was not feeling well at all. I3 didn't appear to be having a blast either. I told her that I wanted a full stop this time and she didn't protest. The turns to base and final were extremely sloppy and I was fighting the speeds and attitude on the entire approach. The only feather in my pocket was that the landing was somehow magical again, though a bit left of center. I honestly have no clue what I did, it just worked.

When we popped the canopy and hopped out I realized that I was feeling pretty dizzy. I went into the club to grab a drink hoping it would settle my stomach and only at that point realized I was sweating like the only hooker at a Shriners convention.

Lessons learned were:

- When they say in the FBO "it's nasty out there" - they really mean it.
- Need to adjust clothing while flying based on sun/temperature
- I need to visualize the details of the circuit if I want to be successful.
- My concentration was brutal today. I imagined how it would felt being up there solo on a day like today.

The good news is - the circuit portion of the training had finally begun!

13.1 Hours and counting...