I had my second lesson today. I scheduled it in the morning at about 10. I had no idea what to expect I just knew that I was exceptionally excited. I showed up early so that I had time to debox my new headset (a Softcomm C-40s – more about that later) and gather myself. I went inside and after some brief conversation and a recommendation from Nathan, the instructor for the ground school, that Josh, my CFI, quiz me on airspace, we went down to the plane. I was handed the checklist and we went about the preflight. I performed a noticeably larger portion of the tasks (namely everything) although I did receive help when I asked. I had to check all 13 sumps with the tiniest little cup but I was allowed to dump it this time. Interestingly enough, as I progressed through the preflight I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different. It wasn’t until we radioed clearance delivery and Josh called out our callsign that I realized it was a different plane. In my defense the school owns two Cessna 172SPs. This was the newer of the two and has thus become my training aircraft of choice.
As I reached the end of the external preflight and everything checked out we mounted up. I fiddled around trying to get the seat perfectly placed and struggled with the seat belt for about 2 minutes. Then once I was settled I some how managed to dislodge my phone from my pocket and it went tumbling out of the plane onto the ramp and scattered into about three pieces (namely the phone, battery, and cover). Not to worry, after undoing everything I had just done I got the phone back together and it worked. I got back in the plane, but not before knocking my head on the wing, and redid my seat adjustment and seat belt without further struggle. We closed the doors and started the plane. It was almost as easy as last time. The main difference was the ongoing quiz regarding airspace (which I handled perfectly – ground school was paying off already).
As we moved to the radio, Josh gave me a little tutorial on how it works and he briefly quizzed me on who we should call and when. We dialed in ATIS and got our weather which was followed by setting the barometric pressure into about 5 different things. I didn’t remember this part from before and I’d only learned that it was necessary to set it into the altitude indicator. As it turns out, I did remember Josh doing all that before. Next we called for clearance and got our squawk code. That preceded a lesson on putting in the squawk, which took more than I expected, and setting the switch to the correct broadcast setting. Finally we began taxiing toward runway 23L.
About the time we reached taxiway A, everything was going well I might add, we very nearly turned the wrong way…It was probably my fault but it was an easy fix. We just missed the centerline a bit. We reached the hold-short line and stopped our taxi as requested. Then I performed the before take off checklist, which was a first as Josh had done it the last time. It was pretty logical and I completed it well before ATC cleared us for takeoff.
Now came the fun part that should scare anybody in their right mind, the takeoff roll. I was ready. We rolled out on the runway, lined up, and off we went. I knew 55 was Vr (the speed at which you lift the front wheel) but it came and went pretty quickly and I definitely don’t want to jerk the stick back. So I gently pulled back, wheel lifted, and we floated off the ground and started our climb to 3000 feet.
The flight out to the practice area was mostly uneventful except that Josh pulled up the weather in the plane and there was some really nasty stuff out over the western part of the state. We were unaffected but my departure from work was delayed. Once we got out to the practice area Josh had me practice with trimming and we discussed my unconsious need to maintain a bit of back pressure. He recommended that I trim the aircraft so that it required a bit of back pressure. Then we discussed how I might lower my altitude quicker (since I was a little high) with out retrimming the aircraft or pushing harder. I fumbled around for an answer which turned out to be right in front of me. Reduce the throttle and let the airspeed drop. Then when the aircraft gets close adjust the throttle again for straight and level.
The next step was turns to headings. Apparently I did alright with this. I felt like I struggled some but I never over shot by much. Josh offered some helpful hints. Then he proceded to attempt to distract me while I made the turns. I wondered why he was giving me an indepth tour of the cockpit whilst in the air. I would congratulate him on distracting me but he told me what he was doing. Somewhere around mid-flight I realized that I felt much more confortable flying the plane this time.
After about 45 minutes of turns and headings we decided to return to the airport. On our way back Josh said that I had done very well and that next time we would start maneuvers. This entails a longer lesson but I don’t mind. We got back on the ground in rather safe and uneventful manner. Although I was aware of more of the landing procedures this time. After touching down and clearing the runway I completed the after landing checklist and we taxied to the hangar (the plane was in desparate need of a wash). Josh let me know that for the first few lessons landings would be glossed over and we would focus on other aspects of flying. Later lessons would be devoted to taking off and landing.
All in all I am completely excited about flying lessons. It is the best thing for relieving stress (despite being quite stressful). I’m hoping to go up once a week or more but I don’t know if I can make the finances work. I’m trying not to build a ton of debt doing this. Hopefully things work out.