The Wx was good over the coast this weekend for once, so we could go sightseeing. We got up fairly early and off we went.
At first, I did a couple of practice landings. My first one was a standard approach, which I sort of dragged in and was not totally happy with. The second was a short approach where the approach was adequate, but on flare I sort of slid right of centerline a little bit, and the actual touchdown was clean.
I was not sure if Melissa would want to listen to ATC so I planned the flight without flight following. She later said she didn't mind, but I already had the plan "armed" in my mind and we were at the airport, so I decided to fly as planned and keep this in mind for the next time.
We departed KRHV downwind to the South, and flew to the Southern tip of Coyote Lake. I then descended to 2,500' and flew across the Coyote Valley, looking all the while for traffic that may be coming in to Hollister. Then we climbed back up a little and flew towards the Moss Landing powerplant. We turned Northward from there and cruised up the coast, up to the point where we were North of Santa Cruz.
It was getting late so I needed to make a beeline for home. I set a direct course for the Lexington Reservoir and climbed like hell so as to give myself glide distance away from the mountains should I get an engine failure. When about 9 miles South of Lexington, I called Norcal and got sent direct midfield KSJC, as usual, then direct KRHV. That was uneventful and Melissa later told me it was cool but "scary" to be flying so close over the large, busy airport!
For my landing, I again asked for a short approach and that one worked quite well. I did a soft landing, on centerline, without having to slip, and with a steadily increasing flap setting concluding in full flaps (on the SportStar, that's a barn door) right at the end. It was not a real "power off 180" since I did not nail my abeam sport, but I did make a reasonable landing from a power cut abeam the threshold so I am calling that a decent standard at my current level of experience. Of course, this was with essentially zero wind; recall last time I flew it was windy in Byron and I learned that I have a lot to learn about correcting for winds in that maneuver. But I'm getting there.
At first, I did a couple of practice landings. My first one was a standard approach, which I sort of dragged in and was not totally happy with. The second was a short approach where the approach was adequate, but on flare I sort of slid right of centerline a little bit, and the actual touchdown was clean.
I was not sure if Melissa would want to listen to ATC so I planned the flight without flight following. She later said she didn't mind, but I already had the plan "armed" in my mind and we were at the airport, so I decided to fly as planned and keep this in mind for the next time.
We departed KRHV downwind to the South, and flew to the Southern tip of Coyote Lake. I then descended to 2,500' and flew across the Coyote Valley, looking all the while for traffic that may be coming in to Hollister. Then we climbed back up a little and flew towards the Moss Landing powerplant. We turned Northward from there and cruised up the coast, up to the point where we were North of Santa Cruz.
It was getting late so I needed to make a beeline for home. I set a direct course for the Lexington Reservoir and climbed like hell so as to give myself glide distance away from the mountains should I get an engine failure. When about 9 miles South of Lexington, I called Norcal and got sent direct midfield KSJC, as usual, then direct KRHV. That was uneventful and Melissa later told me it was cool but "scary" to be flying so close over the large, busy airport!
For my landing, I again asked for a short approach and that one worked quite well. I did a soft landing, on centerline, without having to slip, and with a steadily increasing flap setting concluding in full flaps (on the SportStar, that's a barn door) right at the end. It was not a real "power off 180" since I did not nail my abeam sport, but I did make a reasonable landing from a power cut abeam the threshold so I am calling that a decent standard at my current level of experience. Of course, this was with essentially zero wind; recall last time I flew it was windy in Byron and I learned that I have a lot to learn about correcting for winds in that maneuver. But I'm getting there.
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