15 - Still no cigar

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="045085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Golf Mike Bravo going around...</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>   </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>     </B><A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="14 Close But No Cigar!"><U><B><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="16 Solo"><U><B><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="046d2e83.jpg"> <div>     <IMG SRC="53da0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1 Trial Lesson"><U>1 - Trial Lesson</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2 Effects of Controls"><U>2 - Effects of Controls</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="3 A trip to Henstridge"><U>3 - A trip to Henstridge</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="4 Straight and Level"><U>4 - Straight and Level</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="5 Or not!"><U>5 - Or not!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="6 Up, down and around"><U>6 - Up, down and around</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="7 Stalls and Slow Flight"><U>7 - Stalls and Slow Flight</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="8 More stalls and PFLs"><U>8 - More stalls and PFLs</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="9 Into the circuit..."><U>9 - Into the circuit...</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="10 Golf Mike Bravo Going Around. Again!"><U>10 - Golf Mike Bravo Going Around. Again!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="11 Circuits and spice (and Things Not N"><U>11 - Circuits and spice (and Things Not Nice)</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="12 More circuits (and brain fade)"><U>12  - More circuits (and brain fade)</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="13 Developing a flair for the flare"><U>13 - Developing a flair for the flare</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="14 Close But No Cigar!"><U>14 - Close But No Cigar!</U></A></div> <div> 15 - Still no cigar</div> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="16 Solo"><U>16 - Solo</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="17 Getting the hang of it again"><U>17 - Getting the hang of it again</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="18 I Follow Railways"><U>18 - I Follow Railways</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="19 Head in the Clouds"><U>19 - Head in the Clouds</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id81.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="20 Second Solo"><U>20 - Second Solo</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="21 Reach for the Pie!"><U>21 - Reach for the Pie!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id84.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="22 Into the Zone"><U>22 - Into the Zone</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id85.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="23 Back to the Circuit"><U>23 - Back to the Circuit</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id86.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="24 Another Navex"><U>24 - Another Navex</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="25 First Solo Nav: The going gets tough"><U>25 - First Solo Nav: The going gets tough...</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="26 Divers Diversions"><U>26 - Divers Diversions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="27 Diversions, in a roundabout way"><U>27 - Diversions, in a roundabout way</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="28 Landaways"><U>28 - Landaways</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="29 Solo Landaway"><U>29 - Solo Landaway</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="30 QXC"><U>30 - QXC</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="31 Where do you want to go today?"><U>31 - Where do you want to go today?</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="32 Revision"><U>32 - Revision</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="33 Finals"><U>33 - Finals</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCE4" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>15 - Still no cigar</I></div> <bR> <div> 11th July</div> <div> Today we were back on runway 36 at Wellesbourne, which, from the visibility aspect of being a left-hand circuit is definitely my preferred runway. On the way out we did a PFL. The first field I picked was of ideal shape and size, but completely wrongly placed for the aircraft to circle and land into the wind. So quickly I looked for another, better placed. The field looked reasonable, although it had a footpath running diagonally across it. Alistair suggested some flaps, which I thought was a bit premature, but okay. Turns out he thought I was going for a different, closer field with a path through it. Confusion cleared up, we continued the approach to the point at which we agreed we would make it.</div> <bR> <div> The intention once at Wellesbourne was to go through a series of emergency procedures - EFATO, flapless and glide approaches etc. but we were regularly foiled in each attempt by other traffic -- either on the radio, stopping us from calling "fan stop", or in the circuit; there was a Cessna 150 or 152 that seemed always to be cutting inside us on the downwind leg, preventing us from doing the glide approaches, and forcing us to extend downwind on a couple of occasions.</div> <bR> <div> End result was, we couldn't complete the procedures, but we did get in 10 touch and goes, of which the last six were of a consistently good quality.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 14th July</div> <div> This was a mid-week lesson, the result of going to the dentist earlier in the day for a check up, and not really wanting to go back to work afterwards. The weather however was distinctly marginal, although improvements were forecast, and the lesson was delayed for 90 minutes while waiting for the cloud to lift. On top of that that, a flat front tyre during the pre-flight meant we had to wait some more while it was replaced. That turned out to have been a blown inner tube.</div> <bR> <div> While we were waiting we wet through a quick briefing. The circuit was runway 18 Right-Hand and the wind was 235/10 gusting 15, giving a crosswind component that was right on the limit for student solos according to the CFI. Given that, and the fact that the wind was gusting quite strongly meant it didn't look too promising, but we'd give it a go and see what was what.</div> <bR> <div> The trip to Wellesbourne was very bumpy, with the plane being rocked about by the gusting winds. We did a PFL on the way out, which was fine, and then joined the circuit overhead for 18. Down at 1000 feet it was just as bumpy as at 2200, but we bounced and lurched our way around the circuit. I did a crab approach to land, which was pretty reasonable considering I've not done very many crosswind landings, kicking it straight with the rudder just before touching down. Although a touch of aileron, and then too much rudder on applying power for the take off had us skidding around the runway like a wild thing!</div> <bR> <div> During the take off run I declared that I was not happy with the session. Not because of the crosswinds, which I felt I could cope with, given a bit more practice at the landing phase, but because of the gusting and bumpiness of the air, which still causes me to lose confidence. We did one more circuit just to confirm. This time a strong gust on finals unbalanced the aircraft to the extent that I couldn't recover the correct approach speed and path in time and had to declare a go around. The R/T now had the wind as 10 gusting 20, which was definitely outside solo limits, and so we called it quits and headed back.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>