I had some time in the afternoon. It was a hot day. There was a towering cumulus cloud over the Calaveras Reservoir, but otherwise the sky was clear. The METARs and TAFs showed normal afternoon winds, but I expected it would be bumpy due to the convective activity. I decided this was a good time to face my fear of flying during bumpy weather.
I'll say I got about 6 landings in today.
As predicted, the area around E16 was quite bumpy indeed. At no time did I go zero-G and stuff did not float around the cockpit, but keeping the airplane wings-level and coordinated required constant work.
The AWOS reported winds favoring runway 14, but for some reason people were using runway 32. I asked about that and someone in the pattern reported the winds were "calm". Hm. So I followed everyone and tried one landing on 32, but it was really bumpy so I went around. The next time I did an okay wheel landing. By that time the runway 32 fans had departed, and the windsock clearly favored 14, so I announced profusely that we were switching over and from that point on, we were doing 14 patterns.
Over the several landings I did, I got significantly more comfortable controlling the plane in the bumps. As my CFI told me a couple days ago, once you are near the ground, the wind can't go up or down and so it just stays horizontal. :)
I had a bit of trouble maintaining pattern altitude -- I would over-climb by maybe 200 feet every time. My speed control was also not great. Mostly, I was just very nervous and trying to keep up my speed so as not to stall. I know I was very, very far away from stalling, but for some reason this is where my nervousness went.
Another thing is that I was a bit ground-shy, especially when turning base and final, so I ended up high on most of my patterns, and had to chop-and-drop with full flaps to make the runway. On the other hand, it's pretty amazing how much the RANS Coyote can burn energy with flaps down.
As my CFI predicted, once near the ground, things always got really quiet. I could just keep ratcheting the stick back, and float over the runway, and if I caught a tiny gust and floated up I would just be patient and let the plane float back down a bit, and eventually I would make this super gentle 3-pointer at bicycle speed. Doing this several times really improved my confidence.
By the time I was done and heading home, I was just riding the bumps without worry, and also therefore doing a better job of maintaining positive control over my altitude and heading.
* * *
I commute to work by riding my skinny-tired bike to the bus station. At the station, there is a large patch of smooth gravel pebbles. I have made a point of riding over these for the past year and a half, at least, twice a day, 5 days a week. I started out super scared of falling, and over-controlling and wiggling around. Now it's a non-event.
I hope I eventually get to that point with flying in rough air. I may or may not want to take my hapless pax on roller coaster rides, but just for safety, I think this is something I need to be able to do comfortably.
I'll say I got about 6 landings in today.
As predicted, the area around E16 was quite bumpy indeed. At no time did I go zero-G and stuff did not float around the cockpit, but keeping the airplane wings-level and coordinated required constant work.
The AWOS reported winds favoring runway 14, but for some reason people were using runway 32. I asked about that and someone in the pattern reported the winds were "calm". Hm. So I followed everyone and tried one landing on 32, but it was really bumpy so I went around. The next time I did an okay wheel landing. By that time the runway 32 fans had departed, and the windsock clearly favored 14, so I announced profusely that we were switching over and from that point on, we were doing 14 patterns.
Over the several landings I did, I got significantly more comfortable controlling the plane in the bumps. As my CFI told me a couple days ago, once you are near the ground, the wind can't go up or down and so it just stays horizontal. :)
I had a bit of trouble maintaining pattern altitude -- I would over-climb by maybe 200 feet every time. My speed control was also not great. Mostly, I was just very nervous and trying to keep up my speed so as not to stall. I know I was very, very far away from stalling, but for some reason this is where my nervousness went.
Another thing is that I was a bit ground-shy, especially when turning base and final, so I ended up high on most of my patterns, and had to chop-and-drop with full flaps to make the runway. On the other hand, it's pretty amazing how much the RANS Coyote can burn energy with flaps down.
As my CFI predicted, once near the ground, things always got really quiet. I could just keep ratcheting the stick back, and float over the runway, and if I caught a tiny gust and floated up I would just be patient and let the plane float back down a bit, and eventually I would make this super gentle 3-pointer at bicycle speed. Doing this several times really improved my confidence.
By the time I was done and heading home, I was just riding the bumps without worry, and also therefore doing a better job of maintaining positive control over my altitude and heading.
* * *
I commute to work by riding my skinny-tired bike to the bus station. At the station, there is a large patch of smooth gravel pebbles. I have made a point of riding over these for the past year and a half, at least, twice a day, 5 days a week. I started out super scared of falling, and over-controlling and wiggling around. Now it's a non-event.
I hope I eventually get to that point with flying in rough air. I may or may not want to take my hapless pax on roller coaster rides, but just for safety, I think this is something I need to be able to do comfortably.
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