I'm booked in to do more solo circuits today. I'm going to work on getting it nailed on the centreline for the approach; I have a tendency to land to the left. I'm also going to pay more attention to using my feet. There's not a great deal of rudder work in a modern trainer but I will pay more attention to the slip ball. Given that there's due to be a crosswind today, I'll have plenty of opportunity to work on all those things.
Right now Dublin is giving 240/22 (that 240 degrees at 22knots). 22 knots, eh, not flying in that, thanks!! However, I'm not flying 'till 19:00 this evening which is forecast 290/12. Runway direction at Weston is 25 so that's a crosswind component of say, 40 degrees and 9 knots. At that I should have a reasonable "crab" on and the wind should be exacerbating my tendency to land left of centre (that's me, just a little left of field!!). If I can keep it right down the line I'll be happy. I'll pass on the flap-less and glide approaches this evening and focus on the basics. That is, of course, if the wind obliges by dying down.
The distant possibility of my first 'plane being a taildragging Luscombe is prompting me to improve my handling. For those of you planning to fly with me, don't worry; I'm actually a fairly decent pilot; like my driving I don't chuck it around the place. It's just that flying older aircraft requires even more finesse that the modern ones and I want that finesse.
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