Back in the Air

I finally got back in the air yesterday after 17 days and I did feel rusty. The flight I had scheduled for last Friday 5/1 was scrubbed due to weather. I was scheduled to fly with Ken E. for a pre-solo checkout with another instructor. I flew yesterday with Cameron just to get back in the air and get some landing practice. I started off taking my pre-solo test and although I didn't study much, I knew most of the answers. I was able to look up the ones that I didn't know and discuss all of the questions with Cameron. The flight was just several times around the pattern. The first pass was just a standard traffic pattern to landing. There was almost no wind for the first time and the ground speed seemed much faster to me when I landed. The second pass was going to be a slip to landing with only 15 degrees of flaps. I climbed above pattern altitude and ended up too high on final and I was a little too fast when I tried the slip so the plane actually balloned up a bit. I also was not giving enough aileron and cross rudder input to be effective. I aborted the landing and went around. Third pass I was better at the slip, but I still had carried too much altitude onto final. The Diamond really wants to fly with only one notch of flaps. On the fourth pass I focused on decending at the beginning of the base turn all the way through to final. I had a good slip going on final and you can really tell when you are dropping altitude. The approach and landing were good. Today with no wind and landing with less flaps was really different, I learned that you really have to control the descent or the Diamond will just keep flying. I think I'd like to have 7 or 8 knots right down the runway each time I land.

Next week I'll be flying with Joe W. for my pre-solo checkout.