I'm back flying. I took an extended lunch-break yesterday and headed out to Weston. After three months there was little chance that yesterday was going to be solo day but it was good none the less.
The weather was fantastic - Few cloud at 3000 feet; wind, 10knots right down the runway. It always comes back to me quickly after a lay-off from flying. With nearly a hundred hours, it's almost to be expected.
The mission yesterday was to get me back into "the groove" so there were about 40 minutes of touch and gos in various configurations. There were two or three normal landings. Safe but not perfect. I was landing a bit high, that is to say I flared the aircraft a too early. This has the effect of "dropping" the aircraft onto the runway a little on the hard side though a last second addition of power stopped them from being uncomfortable. In the past I've been complacent about keeping the aeroplane on the centre-line before landing focusing instead on the touchdown itself. In an effort to sharpen up my flying I was trying to get the centreline every time. What I was failing to do, though was to straighten up the aeroplane at the last minute, resulting in skewed landings. Not the greatest thing for the undercarriage but at least I am improving - or at least trying to.
The other landings were two flap-less and a glide approach. They're more challenging but I have to be honest I get a real kick out of them. I could see myself being a real fan of glide approaches in my life a a qualified pilot. Thinking back on last year's flying one of the best moments I had was in Portugal when I dead-sticked an X-air microlight.
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