Saint Patrick’s Day

No lesson this weekend as the plane is down for maintenance. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Here’s an article with awesome photos of Irish aviation history. Scroll to the bottom and click through the gallery. Check out the lady hanging out her wash in front of a Boeing, Amelia Earhart, and an awesome flying circus photo.

Come fly with me: a history of Irish aviation in images

And how have I never heard of Lilian Bland? She was a photographer, martial artist and Ireland’s first female pilot and the world’s first female aviation engineer.

Lilian Bland: Ireland’s first female pilot, the world’s first female aviation engineer

Wikipedia article about Lilian Bland

 

The first person to fly and build his own powered airplane in Great Britain was an Irishman most known for his contributions to the development of the tractor, Harry Ferguson, in 1909.

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January & February 2017 —Weather

Most of January the weather was totally unsuitable for a lesson, so the year did not get off to a flying start. (I know, bad pun. I couldn’t resist.) I cancelled January 14th’s lesson for a family event,  the 21st’s for weather. I scheduled one on the 25th to make up for the missed lessons. I don’t usually have a lesson on Wednesdays, but I have a flexible work schedule so I made up the hours elsewhere.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017 — .7 hours

Then on the 25th of January, this was the weather:

Moontown doesn’t have automated weather, but Huntsville Executive Airport (MDQ) does, and is nearby. Mr. King said we’d stay nearby and do ground reference maneuvers until we would probably have to cut it short. He timed it just right, as the second picture is on the way back to the airport. After we landed and tied down, it started to storm.

We did S-Turns, Turns around a point, and constant airspeed maneuvers. He said I did well, especially considering the wind and the huge break in between lessons.  He also pointed out yet again that I’m too hard on myself.

And then, my regular Saturday lesson on January 28th.

I think by the time of my lesson it was gusting to 25 or 26 knots. So, no lesson for me AGAIN.

Saturday, February 4, 2017 —.5 hours

We did .2 of simulated instrument flight and some slow flight. Wouldn’t you know it, good weather and I felt like I was getting sick and like I wasn’t concentrating as well as normal, so we cut the lesson short. I’M SAFE, however.

 

   

Saturday, February 11 and February 18, 2017 — weather

The weather both days was MVFR, but really ugly with gray skies, low ceilings and intermittent rain.

Saturday, February 25, 2017 — 1 hour

Finally, good weather again!  I really HATE missing lessons. We did .2 of simulated instrument flight. Mr. King said I did really well on that.  Sometimes I have felt like I was overcorrecting one way, then the other the whole time I was in the foggles, but today I didn’t feel like that, so…progress!

Slow flight —I need to work on not speeding up by accident.

Steep turns — They were good to the left and need work to the right.

2 power off stalls —fine

Power On Stalls — I got too far off heading and need to work on keeping the ball centered.

Simulated Engine Out — remembered mostly, but need to remember confidently. I will be reviewing that this week.

S turns — were not as good as usual, I didn’t have as good a mental picture of wind direction as I should have. It probably didn’t help that the wind was N/NW at 10, with gusts to 15, but still, I should have been on it, so I’m not making an excuse for myself.

Emergency Descent — Needs review. Seriously. I need to get on that.