Our transponder was due for a check, so we set up an appointment with Precision Static Testing at KLVK. tl;dr -- they are awesome people and extremely friendly, and had us in and out of there in a jiffy. Carolina is a walking comedy show. They were very kind to me, being a new airplane owner, giving me everything I needed.
I took my co-worker Jatin along for the ride. He did like maybe 8h of PPL training 5 years ago or so, and was kind of on the fence. Of course this was my opportunity to sell him on finishing his training.
We were worried about the weather since there were forecast showers, but when we got to the airport in mid afternoon, the ceilings were in the high 3,000 to low 4,000 feet, and visibility was excellent. So we anticipated a bumpy ride but were okay for that short trip.
We took off from KRHV and went out towards the area South of the Calaveras reservoir then turned North. It was super bumpy, and over the reservoir, there was a rain shower. I started at 3,500' but descended to 3,000' or so to avoid the angry cloud above us. :) We bumped along until we came to the quarry near Sunol, and then things got more reasonable.
I gave Jatin the stick for a while, and he did very well, though of course he noticed this was way more sensitive than the C172 he flew before! Overall this was not a happy day for a new person to fly -- it required constant correction to fly straight and level, and there wasn't enough altitude under us to do any maneuvers or anything. But he got a taste of it.
We landed on Rwy 25L with a slightly bumpy but not horrible 3-pointer. I will allow myself the bump given the turbulence.
We got off and got progressive instructions to Precision Static and got our business done. We also walked around and looked at pretty planes.
We got Rwy 25R on departure. The wind was down the runway 10G20. By the time we lifted the tail, we were in the air. It was pretty amazing.
On the way back, we flew via the Sunol pass then down past Embassy Suites. The clouds were less angry. I cut power at 3,500' and mostly glided to a landing on Rwy 13R at KRHV.
My landing was passable but could have been better. I was too busy dealing with the bumps. At one point, the right crosswind seemed to slack off, and I leveled the wings to relax my slip. Then of course the crosswind picked up again and I was blown 2-3 feet to the left of centerline. Lesson for the wise: keep your slip in and err on the side of landing upwind of the centerline if necessary, rather than getting blown downwind. It was a wheel landing, but I also did not plant my mains as firmly as I should have. But in general, I think it was okay given the turbulence on short final.
Jatin did not run away screaming, so he must have had fun? :)
I took my co-worker Jatin along for the ride. He did like maybe 8h of PPL training 5 years ago or so, and was kind of on the fence. Of course this was my opportunity to sell him on finishing his training.
We were worried about the weather since there were forecast showers, but when we got to the airport in mid afternoon, the ceilings were in the high 3,000 to low 4,000 feet, and visibility was excellent. So we anticipated a bumpy ride but were okay for that short trip.
We took off from KRHV and went out towards the area South of the Calaveras reservoir then turned North. It was super bumpy, and over the reservoir, there was a rain shower. I started at 3,500' but descended to 3,000' or so to avoid the angry cloud above us. :) We bumped along until we came to the quarry near Sunol, and then things got more reasonable.
I gave Jatin the stick for a while, and he did very well, though of course he noticed this was way more sensitive than the C172 he flew before! Overall this was not a happy day for a new person to fly -- it required constant correction to fly straight and level, and there wasn't enough altitude under us to do any maneuvers or anything. But he got a taste of it.
We landed on Rwy 25L with a slightly bumpy but not horrible 3-pointer. I will allow myself the bump given the turbulence.
We got off and got progressive instructions to Precision Static and got our business done. We also walked around and looked at pretty planes.
We got Rwy 25R on departure. The wind was down the runway 10G20. By the time we lifted the tail, we were in the air. It was pretty amazing.
On the way back, we flew via the Sunol pass then down past Embassy Suites. The clouds were less angry. I cut power at 3,500' and mostly glided to a landing on Rwy 13R at KRHV.
My landing was passable but could have been better. I was too busy dealing with the bumps. At one point, the right crosswind seemed to slack off, and I leveled the wings to relax my slip. Then of course the crosswind picked up again and I was blown 2-3 feet to the left of centerline. Lesson for the wise: keep your slip in and err on the side of landing upwind of the centerline if necessary, rather than getting blown downwind. It was a wheel landing, but I also did not plant my mains as firmly as I should have. But in general, I think it was okay given the turbulence on short final.
Jatin did not run away screaming, so he must have had fun? :)
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