“Much to learn you still have…my old padawan. This is just the beginning!” – Yoda
Flying is so much fun and especially when it’s on a pretty Monday morning. It just sets up the whole week to be awesome!
This morning we flew to Dublin, VA to practice soft field landings. I had never done any soft field landings. Last week Roger was teaching me short field landings. It’s a demanding procedure to learn. You have to land it efficiently in a very short period of space, it almost feels like you’re trying to land the plane on a dime. You use short field landings when the length of the runway is relatively short.
Soft field landings, on the other hand, are much more gentle. You would use them on grass runways or in sandy areas. You don’t want to mire your wheels in grass or mud. Or like Roger explained it to me, it’s almost like doing a wheelie. You keep raising the nose in the flare to hold the main wheels off the runway. When you touch the runway, you keep the back pressure on the yoke to keep the nose wheel off the surface. It gives you more control to pull up out of a soft surface. It was fun!
After I did some of those, we flew to Floyd to check out two waterfalls. Pictures below. We live in such a beautiful area here. I don’t think I could ever take the beauty here for granted. I truly love it.
We’re at the airport at 6:00 AM to see the breathtaking mornings here. (Well, Roger gets here earlier to get the plane out of the hangar, taxi it over to the airport, etc.) I have to go to work around 8:00 AM. But, in all honesty, my mind is consumed with flying the plane, listening to instruction, and viewing the area. All worries go to the wayside. I feel like I’ve been on a vacation for a week when I get through with the lesson. It really feels like your soul is being cleansed. You feel re-energized! I know a huge part of that is Roger’s teaching style. He always makes learning fun. That’s another thing I don’t think I’ll ever take for granted.
