Lesson 13, Flapless Landings + Engine Out Sim

I had another early morning lesson before work today, mainly to take advantage of the excellent weather. The purpose of today’s lesson was to try some different landings and engine out after take off procedures. Unfortunately I could not fly for long this morning due to work meeting therefore we only managed a 45 minute lesson with 5 circuits/landings and a couple of EOATO’s.

This lesson I did one landing with full flap and four landings with no flap, the main difference was the airspeeds, on base we use 80 knt descent and then on final a 70 knt approach. I found flapless landings easier than normal flap landings, purely because the plane is more controllable with a higher airspeed. Each landing was a “greaser” which was good and I am starting to get more of a feel for landing, however I found I was eating up long stretches of the runway unnecessarily, this was happening because I am being too gentle with the throttle and need to cut the throttle earlier.

I made a few other mistakes today, my approach judgement still needs work and twice today I forgot to carry out finals checks, another stupid mistake was my hand kept leaving the throttle when taking-off. I need to be more consistent and just not forget simple things like this. I have to admit my mind was not as focussed this morning as it normally is when I fly, partly because I was aware of the time constraints. Still, no excuses I MUST not allow myself to be non-focussed when flying, it is quite literally a matter of life and death.

On the positive side the engine out simulations went like clockwork. Tomorrow’s lesson I believe will be more of the same and I will try to polish my weak points with the circuit/landing. I plan also to spend this evening revising for the air law exam.