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| The Cherokee that I want to fly more has fussy radios. (I think the plane hates me!) |
There weren't any other aircraft available so I rescheduled us for today in a Katana as I knew the plane would be a lot more reliable. It was another early-morning outing so I conducted pre-flight in the hangar once we arrived. After pre-flight was complete, I pulled the airplane out of the hangar and we hopped in, and I got the engine started.
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| Back to flying in N992CT, a Katana I haven't flown in over a month! |
I taxied us a short ways to the run-up area and conducted engine run-ups. Once that was complete and everything looked good, I taxied us over to the far end of the airport to Runway 12. Winds and visibility were alright at the moment but the weather wasn't the most ideal so I was keeping an eye on it. We held short of the runway for a moment to do final checks; another Katana was in the pattern and I called them up to ask how the air was up in the pattern, to which they replied "a little bumpy." I knew what to expect at that point...
I taxied onto the runway, began takeoff roll, and I got us airborne. I started the flight by doing left-closed traffic to get a feel for myself on how smooth the air was; it was bumpy as previously reported, but still manageable. I set up for a touch-and-go landing on Runway 12; it was a smooth landing! I throttled forward and got back in the air, this time departing the traffic pattern and headed southbound. I stayed 1,000 feet above the ground the whole time because of the cloud layers; it was all I needed to do this short flight!
I flew us over I-15 and invited Korynn to feel along with me on the control stick as I flew the airplane; it was bumpy for most of the way. And to make matters worse, it started raining! Thankfully, the outside air temperature was well-above freezing so icing wasn't too much of a concern. I side-stepped the airplane over to the east side of the freeway and got set up for turns around a point over the Payson LDS Temple, to allow my passenger to get some pictures on her phone (my customary scenic flight profile for my passengers!).
After circling the Temple, I took us back towards the airport so I could hopefully get out of the rain. I was planning on spending the rest of the flight practicing some touch-and-go landings, but I decided against that after tuning into the airport AWOS frequency and finding out how squirrelly the winds became. So I decided to make a full-stop landing and played it safe (good thing that I did too!). I crossed over the airport at midfield before swinging back around to establish us on the downwind leg for Runway 12. I lowered the flaps, made my radio calls, and began the descent; on base, I got the flaps fully extended and established the plane on final approach. It was bumpy all the way, but I executed a smooth landing regardless!
I cleared us off the runway at the next available taxiway and began taxiing back to the hangar that I pulled the plane out of. As we were taxiing back, I got a glimpse of the windsock and it was indicating a crosswind across the runway; looks like I made the right decision to call it quits early! After bringing the plane to a stop in front of the hangar, we took a selfie to commemorate this flight!
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| Obligatory selfie after landing! (Photo credit: Korynn Gustafson, my lovely passenger!) |
I shut the engine down and we hopped out of the airplane. The rain caught up with us as it started pouring on the ground at Spanish Fork! Following a quick post-flight inspection, I had my passenger take shelter in the hangar while I worked quickly to secure the airplane and put it back in the hangar. The other Katana with student and instructor came in right behind us so I helped them secure their plane in the hangar after I got done with mine.
After all that, I called it another successful, albeit, bumpy outing! But one thing's for sure: I pushed my personal limitations out a little with today's flight!
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