Another good week of weather has allowed given me another two lessons and nearly 4 1/2 hours flying time. Most of the time has been spent going solo in the circuit and Sandtoft... and I must admit its getting boring., but my skill level is increasing and I'm feeling more confident about the flying as a whole.
Due to the DA40 still being away for its service, its allowed me to fly different varients of the PA28, the school has use of a PA28-180, which can move... Its rate of climb is amazing, buts its getting on a bit and is due a new engine so its not in the best of condition.
I think my favorite has to be G-BODD, which is a PA28-161 Warrier, although its only a 160 engine, due to the wind design it is a really nice plane to fly, very smooth. My regular instructor was away on holiday so I have had a new one for the last three lessons, a guy called Christian. Just for the record he really loves his job, he wants to be a commercial pilot and the instructor route is his way of building the hours and paying for his flying career to date.
I'm looking forward to moving onto the next stage of flying, which will be the navigation, but I still need to master the radio, not too bad in the circuit or setting off, its while in the air. Made a right mess of the zone transit through Doncaster, just couldn't get the words out.
On our last return into Sheffield, Christian thought it would be a good idea to do a glide approach, which isn't something I've done many of and the bulk were in the DA40, which is basically a glider with engine so I was a little apprehensive. It didn't go too bad, but the flare was somewhat early and we hit the ground with a bit of a thud, I think I need to practise them a let more.
The picture is of Sandtoft from the downwind leg of Runway "05" during my visit on Thursday, as you can see the weather was very nice.
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