Pilot Life: Taking My Friend, Tyra Flying (Again!)!

It was redemption time! After a not-so-good attempt to go flying with my friend Tyra two weeks ago, today was the day I fulfilled my promise to take her flying on a better day with scenic views. As far as weather was concerned, it was gloomy but still good enough to get in the air and fly the Utah Valley and take in the view! After arriving at the airport, I immediately got to work on pre-flight inspections on the Katana we were going to fly.

We went up N968CT, a Katana that I haven't flown in over two months.

After completing the pre-flight, I re-positioned the plane and we hopped in. After closing up the canopy, I went through my checklists (it's become so routine at this point, given how much time I've spent with the Katana!) and got the engine started. After start-up I picked up the weather on AWOS, and then taxied a short ways to do the engine run-ups. After run-ups were complete and nothing out of the ordinary, I continued our taxi to Runway 30 a short ways away and we were pretty much ready for takeoff. But first, we had to take a selfie!

Obligatory selfie before takeoff!
(Photo credit: Tyra Draper, my lovely passenger!)

After visually clearing the final and departure ends, I taxied onto the runway, began takeoff roll and we got airborne. After takeoff checks were complete, I turned the Katana southbound and headed to I-15, which we would follow all the way down to Santaquin just south of Payson. As we flew southbound, I had my passenger feel along with me on the controls to give her an idea what flying a plane was like; I thoroughly enjoyed explaining and describing everything I did on this flight! And since we were flying in the Katana equipped with the Stratus router, I was able to hand her my iPad with the ForeFlight app active and get real-time information on the digital map which she thought was cool!

Once we were over Santaquin, I turned us around back to the north and headed to Payson so we could circle the Payson LDS Temple, as is customary for my first-time General Aviation passengers! I performed my favorite ground-reference maneuver, the turns around a point over the Payson Temple for my passenger to view. After circling the Temple a few times, we headed back to Spanish Fork. There was weather coming down from the north and forecasts for tonight called snow showers in the vicinity so I was in no mood to stick around and get caught in crappy weather, given how much I hate winter already. And I'm pretty sure my passenger shared my sentiments!

I entered the pattern over the airport and set us up for a touch-and-go landing. Last time I took Tyra flying, the one landing I did absolutely sucked, so I really had some redemption to shoot for here! I configured the Katana for landing on the downwind and base legs and made my final approach. This is also the same Katana where I experienced that runaway trim four months ago so the plane definitely has it's quirks! I realized I was still too high on final approach so I executed a slip to help bleed off the excess altitude. I got to the flare point over Runway 30 and made one of the smoothest landings on center line; I definitely redeemed myself here!

I got us back up in the air for one more circuit around the pattern. The second landing was going to be full stop. Again, I configured the plane for landing. And again, I came in high on final approach. So I did another slip-to-landing again! And I made another smooth landing, which I found satisfying! After clearing the runway, I taxied us back to the Platinum Aviation hangar, where I shut the engine down and called it a successful flight!

Today's flight was definitely a bulls-eye for redemption!