Today was a very cold morning for flying. The aircraft was covered in ice, despite having been taken round the circuit onec before I got to it. I made sure to check all moving parts, flaps, ailerons etc. were clear of ice during the walkaround, and quickly sat in the warm cockpit.
It was very smooth up there today, the cold air providing favourable conditions for the engine made it noticeably more powerful than I remember from last time. So much so that I had to use a lower power setting on downwind to stop it trying to climb.
After 3 circuits with the instructor, we landed and he got out. The airfield was busier today than it was last time; by now people had probably realised how nice it was up there, especially since there hasn’t been a nice flying day for a while now. I taxiied out to the runway and did the power checks as normal. Despite this being my second time solo, it still felt very strange being in here on my own. The worst part is once lined up on the runway pushing the throttle in for take off. Once I was airborne I didn’t have much time to think about what I was doing until I was downwind, when it sinks in that I have to land this thing on my own! I made a nice approach and fairly good landing, just after the numbers. Flaps to first stage, full power and up I go again for a second circuit.
The second circuit was again uneventful. The low winter sun straight ahead on downwind didn’t help much, so I was glad to turn onto base and then onto final to land. This landing wasn’t so good, I was a little low during the final stages of the approach, I tried to correct it and ended up landing a little bit longer than I would have liked. This meant I had to taxi the long way round, going up to vacate onto runway 22. I turned left again to runway 10 and took the grass turnoff onto the tarmac parking. There were a few people watching from the viewing area as I stepped out and tidied the aircraft, good feeling!
Hopefully will be able to get another flight in before Christmas.
Total Flying Time
Dual: 12:30
P1: 0:40
Total: 13:10