Flight# 30

I had little sleep last night as I was working on the Pre solo written exam. So, took a nap in the after noon and went back to the flight school for the 5 pm flight. Aircraft unavailability is becoming a big issue. Benjamin was very upset today, as he was hardly getting any flight time. Four students end up having to share one aircraft. As a result of this and the few days we lost to bad weather, I may need to extend my stay here a day or two. I am pushing Bill to finish it up by Saturday.

The maintenance guys put N4655X back online for use. So, we decided to take it up in the air. But, during the preflight inspection, we noticed that the battery is discharging. It's back to the shop again! Luckily, Benjamin wasn't interested in taking N5307Q as he was looking to go on longer trips. So we switched to it. I did a couple good landings. Bill also showed how to land in a cross wind. I think I need a lot more practice to master that. We then headed to the practice area. On the way, I spent around 30 minutes under the hood doing various maneuvers including slow flight turns, power off stalls, power on stalls, stalls while turning, etc..

Bill also introduced me to emergency procedures today. He simulated an emergency landing while we are at 2000 ft. It looked very easy. I'm not sure whether I can apply it when the time comes though!When we are in the pattern, he pulled the power on me and asked me to land. We were very high close to the airport. I had to deploy 40 degree flaps and do a steep forward slip to make it to the runway and land. I liked doing this maneuver. For some one on the ground, it may look as if the plane is going to hit the runway nose dive but, it is a very controlled maneuver. We called it off for the day. I may do solo followed by a cross country tomorrow. I have only two flights scheduled in N5307Q tomorrow. So, we went ahead blocked the early morning time slot. So, I need to be at the airport prior to 7 am tomorrow too.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.4 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 32.7 hours.

Flight# 18

Karl and I headed to the airport at 7 am but, no one was around! The FBO terminal wasn't open until 7:30 am to get N4655X tanks topped off. Bill and I headed to the practice area taking off from Runway 11 since the wind was from 90 degrees. We climbed to above 5,000 ft on this flight. Weather was gorgeous this morning. On the way, we saw a few baloon flights near the fantasy of flight landmark. I got to practice power on stalls followed by power off stalls. On the way back to the airport, I got to perform forward slip to lose altitude quickly.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 1.1 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 17.2 hours.