Lesson Sixteen, More Maneuvers

Bob called me Wednesday afternoon to let me know that his 6PM lesson had been cancelled, and would I like to fly then instead of at 8PM?  Sure!

Melodie and I ate a quick dinner, and I hit the road, arriving at the airport just as Bob finished up with his 4-6 lesson.  I pre-flighted the plane, which had just had its Annual Inspection, and we decided to head to the west practice area.

After getting taxi clearance, we headed to the end of 19 Left, performed the run-up checklist, then took off to the south, turning west once we climbed 500 feet above the ground.  Bob told me to climb straight out west to 3,500 feet, and handed me the IFR Practice glasses, which are just black plastic glasses that block your view out of the windows, but still allow you to see the instrument panel.  I continued the climb, when we got up to 3,500 Bob told me to make a right turn to the north, then left back to west, so I did.

With the IFR Training complete for the day, we did some slow flight practice, making right and left turns with the plane at 40 knots, just above a stall, then lowered the flaps, and did it again at 35 knots.  We got back to normal flying setup, then did some practice stalls.

When we finished the stall practice, we headed back to Riverside airport for a little pattern work before calling it a day.  The wind was straight out of the east at around 10 knots, so it made for good crosswind practice.

After getting the plane tied down we went back inside to talk about Cross Country trips, I need to start thinking about where I want to go, but Bob suggested Stillwater, as we can take the airport's courtesy car to Eskimo Joes, a popular local restaurant, or some other airports that had Italian or Mexican restaurants close by.  The other option is to head up north to Independence Kansas, where we might be able to get a look at the Cessna Manufacturing plant, which would be really neat.

We did decide that we would take the larger Cessna 172 on the cross country trips, as it has better range, better top speed, and Melodie can come along for the trip in the back seat!

Bob also let me know, that as I am taking to flying so well, I might be finished with my training as soon as Thanksgiving!

That would be really cool, Can I have an airplane for Christmas? :D

-Gareth