Flight School
Week
2
Monday: Learned not to scrape frost off Plexiglas with ice-scraper. Used
big scratch as marker to set pitch.
Tuesday: Instructor wants me to stop
calling throttle "THAT BIG KNOB THING." Also hates when I call instruments
"GADGETS"
Wednesday: Radios won't pick up radio stations, so I turned them
off. Instructor seems to think I missed something.
Thursday: Learned 10
degree bank is not a steep turn. Did stall again today. Lost 2000 feet.
Instructor said that was some kind of record -- my first compliment.
Friday: Did steep turn. Instructor
said I was not ready for inverted flight yet.
Week
3
Monday: Instructor called in sick. New instructor told me to stop calling
her "BABE." Did steep turns. She said I had to have permission for inverted
flight.
Tuesday: Instructor back. He told me to stop calling him "BABE,"
too. He got mad when I pulled power back on takeoff because the engine was
too loud.
Wednesday: Instructor said after the first 20 hours, most students
have established a learning curve. He said there is a slight bend in mine.
Aha--progress!
Thursday: Did stalls. Clean recovery. Instructor said I
did good job. Also did turns around a point. Instructor warned me never to
pick ex-fiancée's house as point again.
Friday: Did pattern work.
Instructor said that if downwind, base and final formed a triangle, I would
be perfect. More
praise!
Week
4
Monday: First landing at a controlled field. Did fine until I told
the captain in the 747 ahead of us on the taxiway to move his bird.
Instructor says we'll have ground school all this week on radio
procedures.
Tuesday: Asked instructor if everyone in his family had turned
gray at such an early age. He smiled. We did takeoff stalls. He says I did
just fine but to wait until we reached altitude next time. Three Niner
Juliet will be out of the shop in three days when the new strut and tire
arrive. Instructor says his back bothers him only a little.
Wednesday:
Flew through clouds. I thought those radio towers were a lot lower. I'm sure
my instructor is going gray.
Thursday: Left flaps down for entire flight.
Instructor asked why. I told him I wanted the extra lift as a safety margin.
More ground school.
Friday: Asked instructor when I could solo. I have never
seen anyone actually laugh until he cried before.