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Back in the '40
Thursday 24th August, 2005
I'd booked Alistair and the DA40 after work in order to get re-checked-out. I've tried doing training after work before (actually, the last time I got checked out on the DA40), and you'd think I'd have learned from that experience. Predictably I was late getting out of work and so by the time I got to Enstone I was already feeling rushed and flustered. To add further interest to the mix, there were thunderstorms floating around.
The plane had already been out during the day and so only needed a transit check. Once airborne, the air was crystal clear, with excellent visibility. There were still a few storms way off in the distance, but they weren't close enough to worry us. We started off with some steep turns. First to the right; sloppy, losing height, and then to the left; just as sloppy but over compensating and gaining height. Then we went on to stalling, and I still had trouble; the plane just would not stall. I think I kept relaxing back pressure on the stick and ended up losing a lot of height that way - at least 200 feet before I eventually got the buffet and stall.
Heading back towards the field, we did a PFL from the overhead onto the runway, except over the threshold Alistair said "Go around", and off we went again into the circuit for some touch-and-gos. Most of the textbook errors were there -- flaring way too high and then ballooning or bouncing, then not applying enough rudder as I hurtled off towards the left edge of the runway on the take off. Twice I forgot to bring the prop lever fully forward on final. Once I nearly reduced RPM in the climb before reducing MAP! Eventually I got it right (Alistair said "We're staying up here 'till we get a good one...")!
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