Pilot Life: Once More in the Pattern

Today was a very long day. It's currently finals week so that means the Spring semester is coming to a close. After this clusterf**k of a semester and all the crap I've had to put up with regarding flight training. I'll be glad to get this semester over with and finish out my flight training for a private pilots license. Only then, I can finally move forward from this patience-straining experience. So while I'm still in flight training for a private pilot license, I took the ground course for the Instrument rating this semester. That meant, I had to take the Instrument Rating Airplane (IRA) written test, which I did this morning. Needless to say, I passed (thankfully and miraculously!)! After I got done taking one of the hardest FAA tests out there, I went up flying with my instructor for a short flight, which was a good way to "celebrate" or rather let off some steam. My solo cross-country flight is around the corner and it's been a week since I last flew (mainly due to weather). In order to keep up the proficiency and keep the lapse rate of days under control, a quick flight in the pattern was in order! Plus, it was a good enough excuse to squeeze in some extra landing practice.

My instructor made the attempt to get a plane scheduled for an earlier time slot, which he succeeded in doing so. Once we got scheduled, I wasted no time in getting dispatched out and getting through the pre-flight check. My instructor joined me at the airplane and we hopped in and went through the normal start-up checks and procedures before turning on the engine and picked up our taxi clearance. As always, we stopped at the run-up area and checked the systems. After run-ups were complete, I continued the taxi out to the runway. Holding short of Provo's Runway 13, I called up the tower to pick up our takeoff clearance. We had to wait for a little bit due to a UVU DA-42 Twin Star waiting to take off in front of us and then some other air traffic coming in for a landing or a touch and go. We did eventually receive our takeoff clearance and I taxied out onto Runway 13 and lined up on center line. Once lined up, I crossed-checked runway heading with my compass and instruments and then immediately advanced the throttle and we began takeoff roll.

N220NH, "Wolf 03," the DA-20-C1 Katana my instructor and I took up for a few quick circuits in the pattern.

I verified that airspeed was increasing and once the plane reached appropriate takeoff speeds, I eased back on the stick and we got off the ground. I flew us on runway heading until we got past the departure end of Runway 13. At 500 feet above the airport elevation, I retracted my flaps which were set for takeoff configuration and then began a right crosswind leg of the turn into the pattern. I kept climbing up to pattern altitude, which was 1,000 feet above the airport elevation. We then got established on the downwind leg parallel with the runway. The controller tower instructed us to report in midfield on the downwind leg, which we did. From here on out, it was all redundancy as my instructor had me shoot and log five total approaches and landings.

On each circuit, I powered back the throttle and then lowered the flaps as necessary and descended. It was the standard VFR approach as I made my right base turn towards final approach for the same runway we just departed on. The primary focus of this flight was to help me polish up my landing skills via application of smooth control inputs, something I was struggling with during recurrent training since getting back into constant flying a month ago. On each final approach, I attempted to make small corrections as necessary and maintained the glide slope during the descent. As I brought the plane close to the ground, I pulled the power all the way back and flared over the runway until the wheels kissed the ground. Once the plane was back on the ground, I realigned back onto center line, raised the flaps for takeoff and throttled forward until airspeed reached takeoff speed; that's when I eased back on the stick and got airborne again. From there, it was a repeat performance in the pattern!

On the fifth approach, my instructor had me get ready for a soft-field landing. On short final, he suddenly called for a go-around; I gunned the throttles full forward and retracted the flaps and climbed away back up to pattern altitude. We also notified the tower that we were going around while we were at it. In the end, we got in six circuits in the pattern with a total of five landings. On the full-stop landing, my instructor once again had me do a soft-field landing. On touchdown, I kept the nose wheel off the ground as long as possible until we slowed down enough where it contacted the ground. We cleared the runway and taxied back to the ramp. My instructor felt that my landings improved vastly on this flight; compared to last week's flight, the landings were okay but today saw massive improvement so I felt pretty good about it.

Next up, a long-awaited solo cross-country flight, which should've been done earlier this year but didn't! It is what it is; I can only move forward from here.