Thursday 25 October 2012

I remember, part three

It gets a little hazy after my base turn.


I remember the plane feeling all wrong, the nose seemed really really high, and yet my speed was fine. I was a little high but some flaps and throttling back took care of that.  It still felt wrong somehow. And then the proverbial hit the fan with my landing clearance. SAR wanted a stop and go on 24, the spacing wouldn’t allow them to clear the runway in time. So the tower tried to switch me to 26. What followed was the most excruciatingly bad radio call ever.
The tower asked me if I would take 26. I was torn. I prefer 26 as a runway, but I knew the crosswinds were a factor. I didn’t know what to do, so I did a lot of “umm”ing and “err”ing on the radio (so embarrassed!). I accepted 26 (D’OH!).
I think that eventually though  the tower remembered I was on my first solo and got SAR to overshoot. Ha ha!! 24 was all mine, now I just had to get down onto it.
I remember very little of the approach. I think I came in a bit low, I think I added some power, and then I made contact. I have no recollection of a flare or holdoff. I do know that I bounced my landing a bit. I remember Bob telling me in our previous circuits “just let it settle”, so I did. I brought the control column back and applied the brakes.
I was on the ground. Alive. In one piece. And so was the plane.
Job done!

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