My brother is a stock car driver in CASCAR (he drives the #8 Carhartt car). He has been selected as one of 21 “wild cards” in a new reality television show, Racin’ for a Livin’. His press release is here. I’d appreciate anyone reading this to go vote for him.

I’m still alive (again).

It’s been a busy fall/winter/spring and now flying weather is back and I’m trying to get back up in the air some more. I’ve only been up a handfull of times in the past few months and I’ve had to take refresher flights (for insurance purposes) twice, including today.

I spent about an hour with instructor Neil today in a 172. He has a slightly different style than my previous instructors and I learned a lot of nice tips, especially a relaxing landing technique in the 172. Since had I learned on 152s I was used to dumping full flaps in a light wind and just riding it down with a gentle flair. In the 172, doing this can result in a steep decent angle and a sudden flair which feels unnerving. I mentioned this, and Neil suggested I cut power during the entire decent and just glide down with 10 degrees of flaps. This results in a shallower glide and a gentle flair at the end, with only a bit of power added in if necessary.

I went right back up in a new plane (with Garmin avionics) and got to play with some new NAV/COMs as I took a friend into Madison airspace for some more pictures of his property. I remembered all the ATC stuff I had to do and it was enjoyable. Like riding a bike!

I haven’t been flying at night since my training, and with winter here and night coming so much sooner, I thought I should get current so I can take people on night flights.

Saturday night I rented 70739 around 5:30pm, a few minutes before “true night”. I whipped out my trusty Maglight and did a thorough pre-flight. I had forgotten how weird it felt sitting in a dark cockpit with nothing but a little flashlight. After starting the engine I got the red instrument lighting going at maximum brightness, but even then it was difficult to see some of the smaller instruments, like oil pressure.

It was a very clear and cold night, so the plane practically lept into the air. I was to pattern altitude by the time I started turning downwind. I had never been in a plane at night by myself before, and the first trip around the pattern felt a little “weird”. From altitude the runway is just a black slab surrounded by lights. But by the time I was on final, with the landing light on, I started feeling more secure.

Three trips around the pattern with full-stop landings and I’m current again for the next 90 days. I’d like to plan a cross-country trip soon where I can fly back during sunset.

Once again I have gotten caught up with work, a new baby, and other things, and have somehow avoided writing here. I was nicely reminded today that people apparently do read this stuff, so with my apologies I’ll try to write more.

I’ve been doing the odd bit of flying here and there – mostly introducing general aviation to people who haven’t been in small planes before. With the baby it is even harder for the wife to go flying with me, so I’m still always looking for passengers to share the fun with.

I thought I would post a bit of non-aviation adventure here to mix things up a bit. Recently I went on a trip with some friends to West Virginia, home of some of the best caving in the world.

For some reason, I get my kicks when I’m not standing ON Terra Firma. Along with flying and crawling around under ground, I am also a certified diver. Go figure.

We made a quick long weekend out of it, taking Spencer’s new truck, driving all night, doing three caves on Friday and another larger one on Saturday, then driving home Saturday night. Two of the caves we were in had over ten miles of mapped passage each, with multiple entrances. It’s a fascinating hobby, and can be quite the workout! And in West Virginia, with over 1800 known caves, you can’t throw a stone without landing near one. Pictures can be found in the gallery.

So this isn’t entirely non-aviation related, I’ve decided to start working on my instrument rating. I plan on going slowly, with plenty of time in my own simulator, but at least I’ve started the ball rolling.

Yes, I’m alive. I’ve been pretty busy lately and just plain negligent in writing about my exploits.

The good news is I’ve been doing plenty of flying!

Back in August my parents came up from Florida for a visit to see my new daughter (who is now almost 12 weeks old), and Mark got me up in the 172 again with my Dad in the back seat for some “loaded 172” practice. After that, my Dad and I took a 152 out to Stoughton, WI (just SE of Madison) to look at the recent hurricane damage. It was devastating. Got some practice working with Madison ATC to keep watch on some other planes in the area.

A few days later I fly my Mom and Dad up to Oshkosh, WI, to visit the Aviation Museum there. It is a very nice museum, with tons of vintage and experimental planes and some wonderful WWII exhibits. This was my first real “trip” in a 172 and we had a great time.

Last week I took a 152 (with Spencer in tow) back to Madison for the first time in a very long time. We landed, taxied to Wisconsin Aviation, shut down, then negotiated with Clearance, Ground, Tower, and Departure, and somehow I managed to remember everything I had to do. Spencer got a kick out of it too. As we were heading inbound for landing Approach gave us vectors to avoid two F-16s that were scrambing. That was cool.

Finally, this past week Spencer and I went back up to take pictures of his property, which is a mere 4NM NW of Madison, well inside their airspace. I worked with ATC who asked us how long we were planning on remaining in the area, and at what altitude. I asked for about 10 minutes, with two different altitudes. I got to practice my steep turns while Spencer took pictures. When we were done I asked for a touch-and-go, since we were so close. It ended up being a full-stop and hold short, so I got a good chance to remember all that stuff, and it went well.

It was such a beautiful day I decided to head up to Baraboo for a touch and go there, and then another at Sauk City (just to show off at this point, since Spencer hadn’t seen how tiny the runway was there). Finally, we came home, my well-needed flying fix in check.

I’ve been wanting to fly up to Wausau, WI since I noticed the downtown airport on the other side of Lake Wausau while driving down highway 39 a few years ago. I finally had the time, so I did it!

Walt, a student at Morey airport, wanted to come along for some cross-country planning experience, and I was glad to have him. He checked our progress on the sectional while I checked against the GPS.

The weather was stunning – cool, calm, mostly cloudless. A perfect late afternoon flight! We had a slight head-wind, so the flight up took almost exactly 1:30, with a distance of 108 NM. Not too shabby with a cruising speed of 90 KTS.

We pretty much headed due north the entire way, bypassing Central Wisconsin’s Class D airspace to the west. I didn’t want to try overflying it at 3800 ft, then diving down to 2200 on the other side into the unfamiliar Wausau area. Instead, we turned NW at the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir, turned N just west of the Central Wisconsin Class D, then NE again, crossing over the eastern end of Rib Mountain and down into the pattern for runway 30 into Wausau.

There were some gusts during landing, and I stalled out about a foot above the runway. Decent enough though, and shortly we were parked in front of the FBO there. The friendly staff directed us to a nearby sports bar where we grabbed some dinner and discussed flying and Entomology (Walt teachs it at the UW Madison).

At about 6:15pm we headed back, taking off on runway 30, swing around to the east and back again to the south. We had been listening to Central Wisconsin Tower on the radio and there was NOTHING going on, so I decided to climb up to 4000 and overfly their airspace. We called up the tower and told him this. I think he was grateful for something to do; it sure looked lonely down there. He did ask us to let him know when we had cleared the airspace to the south, which we did.

The flight back was smooth as butter, and we got to take in all the lovely scenery. There was very little traffic, which was surprising. It was fantastic flying weather.

When we got close to Madison we tuned in Madison Approach and listened in for awhile. It was VERY busy there; the controller was probably working 10 different planes, with continuous announcements. That Thursday evening was probably not the best time to practive some Madison ATC work.

The surface winds had calmed down by the time we reached Morey, and my landing was one of my best ever. I could barely feel the touch-down.

Total engine time: 2.8 hours
Total trip time: 4 hours

Mark gave me my endorsement to fly the Cessna 172 today. Yippee!

It was another hot, hazy day, with winds 190 @ 13K. We took off on 28 and headed north toward the Dells. Mark showed me how to use the dual NAV/COMs, the DME, and the audio panel. We tuned and listened to a couple of VORs, tested the duplex Green Bay FSS near Baraboo, and generally fiddled around a bit with the avionics.

Then we did some stalls, a simulated engine failure into Sauk (WOW that runway is tiny), some more stalls, and a steep 360. By now I was much more at ease in the 172.

We headed back to Morey where we practiced a couple of cross-wind landings on 28 AND 10, and Mark said he’d seen enough and gave me my endorsement.

Now I have to fly a 172 at least once in a 30 day period to stay current in it (for rental purposes), in addition to the usual 3 take-offs and landings in a 90 day period to take passengers. But now I can take a wopping 2 other people with me! Zappo!

Back in the 152 for my trip with Walt up to Wausau tomorrow.

Yesterday I got up for the first time in the left seat of a Cessna 172. It was very hot and humid, which really affected our pressure altitude. The cockpit was like on oven, made worse because we spent the entire time in the pattern. There was a lot of haze, with visibility of about 5 miles. Winds were 180 @ 12 knots, so we had a direct cross-wind. This gave me a good chance to practice some real soft-field work on our newly opened turf strip, runway 01-19.

We spent the entire time running through takeoffs and landings, on both our hard and soft runways. I was startled by how much more control forces were needed in the 172, especially on the elevator. I really had to strain to get it to rotate, and the landing flair required similar effort. Having flown a 152 for a year, this was a big surprise to me.

The forward view also took a bit to get used to, as you sit much higher than in the 152. That combined with the much larger view screen, provided much better visibility overall.

After a couple of normal cross-wind takeoffs and landings on 10-28, I started to get the feel for the plane. It felt like I really had to fight it in those long cross-wind descents. Mark, ever the taskmaster, later cut my engine and told me my electric had gone too, so no flaps! Naturally I landed much faster than usual, which seemed to take forever, but it was my best landing yet.

Landing on the grass for the first time was interesting. It went pretty well, and the next was better. Takeoffs felt just like they were supposed to. We finished with a simulated engine out while turning downwind for runway 10. Mark told me to pick a runway. With some skidding and slipping I could have put her down on runway 28, but then he pointed out we were set up for a short base to runway 19. After figuratively slapping my forehead, I put her down nicely on 19.

Today we’re scheduled to go up for some high work, steep turns, stalls, and radio work. Some thunderstorms are on the way, so I’m not sure if we’ll get to do it today.

Also, I’ve got my longest trip yet planned for tomorrow up to Wausau, WI.

Took the day Thursday with my cousin Spencer to visit EAA Airventure 2005 in Oshkosh, WI. This was a special treat, since I knew Glacier Girl was going to be there. The P-38 Lightning was the first warbird I fell in love with, and it is partially responsible for my interest in aviation in general.

Started out as usual with a stroll through Fightertown, with plenty of vintage airplanes. The wreckage of the Corsair that was recently recovered from a swamp in North Carolina was also on display.

Then I made my way to Aeroshell Square, where the Global Flyer, White Knight, and Space Ship One were looking magnificent with huge crowds. Here I was mere feet from Burt Ratan and Sir Richard Branson, who were probably discussing how much money they were going to spend in the next year. I was very tempted to yell out “hey Mr. Ratan, can I have a job?”, but I chickened out. I don’t really want to move to the desert anyway. But it should would be awesome to work for him.

Then I moved on to the main reason I was there – Glacier Girl. Hanging out with it were several other young “glacier girls”, dolled up in 40’s style. Of course I had to get my picture taken with Glacier Girl, and it seemed rude to ask them to move out of the way. Oh well. I spent some time talking to Richard Buchanan, a fellow from Georgia who had spent the past 14 years helping on the restoration of the plane. He had a lot of interesting stuff to say about the project.

Later I checked out some of the vendors. I bought an ICOM Tranceiver, stopped by the Garmin booth to sell a couple of iQue 3600a’s to people who were milling around looking at it with no salesperson in sight, and bought a Lost Squadron t-shirt. Afterwards, Spencer and I went to the Cessna and Piper booths in a “buying mood” to see what a Caravan and a Meridian would set us back. The Caravan was just under 2 mil, sat 9 passengers, and even had a coffee-maker! The Meridian, also about 2M, was much sexier, but only sat 6 total. And no coffee maker. Still a sexy machine – I highly recommend picking one up, if you have the means.

Anyway, another great day at Airventure. It’s interesting how much more I know about airplanes, a year later, and now a pilot, when I had just started my training this time last year. What a difference a year makes.

This weekend is the “official” open-house of Middleton Municiple Airport – Morey Field (C29). It started with a ribbon cutting yesterday, a Young Eagles event this morning, a hangar dance and dinner tonight, and our first EAA chapter fly-in Sunday morning.

I helped out at the Young Eagles event this morning, including checking several dozen kids in. I also got to fly my first Young Eagle this morning, in the Aerobat. The place was packed, and a good time was had by all.

I wrote way back at the beginning, almost a year ago, about how I got interested in aviation. It pretty much started with a fondness for the P38 Lightning, which led me to discover Flight Journal Magazine, and from there, development of my interest in WWII in general.

I’ve recently been reading Stephen Ambrose’ fascinating book on the D-Day invasion. I’ve been finding it difficult to put down. Ambrose was also a historical consultant on one of my favorite war movies, Saving Private Ryan, and he wrote the story about E Company of the 101st airborne, “Band of Brothers,” made into an awesome miniseries for HBO by Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg (who are working on a Pacific Theater version).

I’ve just bought several more of his books, including “Band of Brothers” and “Citizen Soldiers”. I also discovered the Osprey set of WWII Campaign books and ordered a bunch to supplement what I already have. Not sure why, entirely, other than I’m completely caught up in the strategy and drama of it at this point.

Also looking forward to seeing Glacier Girl, the P38 resurrected from the ice in Greenland, at the 2005 Airventure in a few weeks. I promise lots of pictures!

Matt and I had a very nice trip back to Prairie du Chien on Saturday, where we had brunch at Huckleberry’s, a half-mile walk from the FBO. It was a beautiful day, and Matt got a chance to take quite a few pictures.

This time I filed a flight plan for some practice with FSS. We headed west and stayed close to the Wisconsin River, taking in the scenery. I wanted to cruise at 4500 feet, but there was a layer of clouds at about 4000 feet, so we stayed at about 3500.

Along the way, we got to enjoy some drama while listening to Lone Rock’s CTAF. Apparently there was someone “lost” a few miles north of the Lone Rock airport. He found the VOR, but couldn’t find the airport. Some people were trying to help him, reminding him to use the GPS he had installed, but he just wasn’t getting it. I wondered why he apparently didn’t have a sectional. After about 15 minutes, and a lot of radio chatter, he found the aiport. Matt and I had a laugh over this.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and landing at PDC was good. As we descended, we got a chuckle over a farmer in a harvester about 50 feet from the end of the runway. Apparently he has farmland surrounding most of the area.

We parked and headed into town on foot. We ended up at Huckleberry’s where they were still serving breakfast. It was very good!

The return trip was uneventful, but with tons of wonderful scenery to look at. There was a good amount of traffic back in the pattern at Morey so I sequenced myself with numerous radio calls and landed with the stall horn going off. Nice!

This trip put another 2.6 hours on my log. I think my next will be even further away, to an airport I haven’t been before. I’m hoping to get up to Wausau, WI yet this summer.

Tuesday it was a clear day and I talked Spencer into going for a hop around Madison. This time we had N70739, my favorite 152 at Morey that has been plagued with microphone issues lately. But today the switch was working perfectly, which was good because I wanted to fly over Madison.

As we were taxiing one of the resident Medflight helicoptors took off right in front of us.

We took off on 10 and headed south. We got up to 2000 feet then headed back toward Morey. I called up ATIS, then Madison West Approach and requested eastbound to Blackhawk. I didn’t want to land there but it would put us on a nice vector over Madison. I was approaching Morey at 2000 and ATC asked me if I could climb to 2500. I had never heard this request before, but I was expecting it because I was nearing Morey’s traffic pattern. I said I would and started climbing. Shortly I was asked to turn to a heading of 090, which I did while still climbing. After a few minutes I was asked to tune to Madison East Approach.

By now we were flying just north of downtown, and Spencer snapped some great pictures. We continued east and Approach said there was nothing in our way and cut us back to VFR. I thought this interesting, because we were still at 2500 and well within the Class C shelf.

We overflew Blackhawk and turned south, then proceeded leasurely around the southern part of Madison outside their Class C at about 2000, then turned north past the SW towers and entered the pattern at Morey on a midfield crosswind.

N70739 flew wonderfully – I really like the feel of this plane compared to “Paris”. I did all my early training in it, and it definitely feels like it wants to fly.

Can’t wait to get back up again. Just have to avoid running out of money…

Saturday I went out for my first $100 hamburger. I chose the Steakfire restaurant in Watertown, WI. My friend Matt (who had just gotten engaged a few days before – congrats Matt!) came along, and “Paris” provided transport.

It was hazy but calm. I took off and headed west so I could climb up to 2500 feet outside of Madison’s Class C shelf. I wanted to go higher, possibly overflying Madison’s Class C at 5000, but visibility got worse the higher we went, so I called up Madison West Approach: “Madison Approach, Cessna 4777H 15 miles west at 2,500, with Quebec, eastbound Watertown”. They must not have been too busy, because I was given a transponder code and told to fly on course to Watertown. We ended up going right over Lake Mendota and had a great view of downtown Madison and Truax field.

Matt practiced some pilotage with the sectional, as I pointed out landmarks (“what lake do you think that is?”), while I gave the new GPS a try, following the line almost due east to Watertown. I handled ATC well, and a few miles after we cleared the east side of Madison’s airspace, I requested a frequency change. The controller cut us loose and I tuned in to Watertown’s ASOS, then their CTAF. There was some traffic in the pattern, and someone practicing an NDB straight-in approach to 23. They were about as close as I was, so I reported that I would circle once to the south before entering the pattern.

As we entered the pattern we were greeted personally by the UNICOM and given winds and altimeter. The winds were still calm and I had one of my best landings ever. It was a short roll and I turned onto the taxiway. We were parked by a linewoman and we shut down.

I was very impressed by the hospitality at Watertown Municiple (RYV). They offered us the courtesy car but the restaurant was only a block away, so we decided to walk. Lunch was very good, and the staff there was also very friendly.

As we taxied back to the runway UNICOM again gave us a personal farewell and thanked us for stopping by. The winds had picked up a bit but were down the runway. The takeoff was smooth and we headed west at 2000. I called up Madison East Approach and again went straight back over Madison, this time just near the south end of 18/36 at Truax, where we had front-row seats watching some jets landing and some C130 transports taxiing. It was very cool.

We ended up just north of Morey and there was an 8 knot south crosswind, so I entered downwind for 10 and did a very smooth crosswind landing. Matt wasn’t even freaked out (so he claims).

Overall, an excellent experience. I can’t wait to go out for my next $100 hamburger!

Here’s a crazy idea.

If you represent a company with some cash to spare, buy me an airplane (a used C172 would be fine) and I’ll have it painted however you want with your logo on it. It’ll be tied down at Morey field, in view of a major road, and I’ll fly it around several times a month. A neat (and cheap) way to get some atypical advertising.

Pass the word!

The weather finally got a little nicer so I decided to try flying into a new airport, and practice some ATC. I chose Blackhawk Airfield, a small field just SE of Madison and under Madison’s Class C shelf.

Winds were about 10-15 knots out of the NW, so I took off on runway 28 and headed south after my climbout. It had been some time since working with ATC, but I remembered to call up ATIS and note altimeter and information alpha. Then I called up Madison West Approach, reported my position, and that I was heading eastbound to Blackhawk. They promptly gave me a squawk code. I was in the Aerobat, which has a funky transponder switch, so it took my a bit of fiddling to get it to report altitude, but ATC was patient. They told me to just proceed on course to Blackhawk and report airfield in sight. Eventually they handed me off to East Approach, who eventually told me I was 4 miles from Blackhawk and cut me lose back to VFR.

By now I had the field in site. It looked downright TINY! Runway 27 was a right pattern so I approached a mile west of the field then turned downwind. It was a bit bumpy during landing and I had to keep careful control over my airspeed. I flared a bit high/slow but otherwise it was a good landing. The runway was quite rough, with weeds poking through, obviously not maintained too well. The taxiway back went up a hill, between some small hangars, up another hill, and then down the hill back to the runway. Quite weird, compared to what I am used to.

This field would make an excellent place for short-field practice, as 9-27 is only 2203×56. Still, larger than the original Morey runway that I learned on, before our 4000×100 was finished.

The winds were sufficient that I went for a normal take-off instead of a SFTO. After clearing the trees at the end of 27 I turned north and skirted the Madison Class C inner column around to the N and then W, at about 2000 ft MSL. A mid-field crosswind into the pattern back at Morey and a decent squeeker and I was back.

The Morey cafe is still closed on Sundays so I couldn’t get my usual “made it home alive” donut. I popped into a nearby Starbucks, where I ran into another pilot who had flown out of Blackhawk before moving to Kenosha. He filled me in on some Blackhawk history, then showed me a pretty nifty compass rose trick I hadn’t heard of before.

You can get the reciprocal of a heading by “adding 2 and subtracting 2”. You look at the two-digit heading, and if the number on the left is greater than or equal to 2, you subtract 2 and add 2 to the number on the right. Otherwise you add 2 and subtract 2 from the number on the right. This will give you the reciprocal heading every time. Clever!

Today I went up the first time (with passenger) as a Private Pilot. I took my cousin Spencer (well, wife’s cousin, but we spend a lot of time together going to the club and drinking) up for an hour flight up to Baraboo and back. Winds were very light, the air was very stable, and there was 10NM visibility but a lot of haze. It was a good flight, with one of my best take-offs and landings. It was quite relaxing! I just wish it wasn’t so hard to find someone interesting in going up with me!

I got a call yesterday morning from my checkride examiner, who was going to be in the area mid-afternoon. Fortunately I was ready, had my paperwork in order, and the time flexibility (from working at home) to be at Morey when he was.

The whole thing took less than half and hour. He went over my paperwork, we hopped in “Paris” (which I had already preflighted), I did a near-perfect soft field takeoff (in a 10 knot direct crosswind out of the south) (“Much better”, the examiner tells me), went around the pattern, and did a near-perfect soft field landing. As we rolled to a stop he said “Congratulations” and shook my hand.

I’m a Private Pilot!

All told I’m at about 55 hours, with 22 hours pilot-in-command and the rest dual instruction.

My training as a pilot has only really just begun.

To kick things off, I apologize for not posting sooner, and yes, I did my checkride on Monday, and no, alas, I didn’t pass.

My old nemesis, the crosswind helped botched things for me. The GOOD news is I learned a couple of important things that somehow I missed during my primary training. I’ll be a much safer pilot because of it.

So, what happened? The oral actually went pretty well, and most of the checkride as well. I made a couple of silly mistakes, mostly due to the pressure of having a guy with a clipboard sitting next to me. It’s really not as easy as they’d like it to be when they say “just relax”. Hah! My examiner was pretty thorough, and somewhat lenient in a couple of places I thought.

For example, when we diverted and I pulled up a nearby VOR, my brain went into “overthink” mode. I selected the 190 degree radial (I was SW of the VOR) and my brain said “oh, that’s 190 FROM the VOR” (remember, all radials emanate FROM the VOR), so I dialed up 190 FROM. STUPID! In the back of my head I KNEW I had done this wrong, and I was seeing reverse sensing, but I never corrected it, and by this time we were on to the next thing. Having done this countless times, with full understanding you ALWAYS dial up a TO indicator when heading to the VOR, somehow, THIS time, I did it wrong. Later, I pulled up another VOR and dialed in TO as I should have, so he passed me on this. He knew I knew what I did wrong, and why. But an example of how things can get mixed up when under pressure! Relax and slow down – HAH!

The maneuvers went pretty well, and we headed back to Morey to do some soft field takeoffs. That morning, the winds were 7 knots right down the runway. I thought I had it in bag.

By the time we got back, winds were 20 gusting to 30 from the south (so much for forecasts). A direct and gusty crosswind! And now it’s time for short field takeoffs. Well, these I’ve done plenty of, but not with this much crosswind. I dropped 10 degrees of flaps and rolled out onto the runway with plenty of left aileron, and pulled the nose up off the runway. This is where things started to go wrong, as I watched the airspeed indicator creep up.

Somehow, it never really connected with me that in a soft-field take off, the plane is gonna lift off when it needs to fly. My airspeed has nothing to do with that! Mentally, I expected something similar to a short field takeoff, and I’m looking for 50 knots. You can imagine my surprise, when at about 45 knots, a gust of wind lifts us off the runway. I’m startled by this, and I’m thinking I’m way too slow to be flying, so I put the nose down to go level and build up airspeed. But I’m not high up enough (since I corrected too soon), and we settle back down and squeak a bit on the runway. Finally I have enough airspeed to climb, and I raise my flaps.

The examiner gave me another chance. We went back around, did a soft field landing, and we did another soft field takeoff. I did it exactly the same as the first time. After that we did a normal landing (it was the last maneuver of the day), in a very heavy crosswind, and luckily I’ve had PLENTY of practice at that. Even with 25 knot gusts I pulled the landings off pretty well.

At this point I knew he wasn’t happy about the soft field takeoffs. But at this point I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong. I still wasn’t entirely sure about it when he gave me the “pink slip”.

Right after that, I went up with my instructor Mark, who had watched both of my soft field takeoffs and thought I was really close to the ground (though he couldn’t tell I had touched the runway). We did one and it was perfect (still a very strong crosswind but no gust this time). We did another and a gust kicked me up like before, and I overcorrected. At this point he noticed I was focusing on my airspeed, and then we both realized what I had been doing wrong.

Valuable lesson – when doing soft field takeoffs, don’t even LOOK at the airspeed indicator. With that nose-high attitude, the plane is going to fly when it wants to. Once this was reinforced, I just let the plane fly up well into ground effect before leveling off to build airspeed. No problem.

I look back on the 25th as my most expensive lesson. If the winds were even slightly more docile, I would have aced those takeoffs and never would have known I was doing them “wrong”. Fortunately, when he comes back on May 7th, all I have to do is show him I can do a proper soft field takeoff. One trip around the pattern and I should finally earn my license.

It’s confirmed – I’m taking my checkride Monday morning at 9am. As Lando Calrissian might say, “Here goes nothin’”.