Today's Right Seat Practice (24 Feb 08)

We had a fairly nice day forecast, though in the afternoon some high clouds crept in to obscure the bright blue sky.

Today we flew the A36 from VVS to MGW for some touch and go practice.

After takeoff from VVS I flew west a bit and climbed to 3000' where I practiced some 180 and 360 turns left and right. After a bit of altitude variance I was able to figure out the amount of back pressure to maintain altitude while in a 30 degree bank.

Then we headed to MGW where I stayed in the pattern and flew some stop and go practice. I did 6 takeoffs/landings and left the gear down to save some cycles.

The landings at MGW weren't the best -- I had a slight crab to the right on each touchdown until I figured out the sight picture and straighted it up. Then I was flaring a bit high. I need to practice on a big runway more often.

We flew back to VVS and I practiced turns around a point, S turns across a road, and some more 360 turns right and left.

I did an upwind pattern at VVS to practice pattern work, then landed very nicely on runway 5 right on the centerline.

Overall it was a good practice session. 2-3 more hours and I should have all the maneuvers down in the A36.

The wingtip for the 172 is on order so that should be fixed this week. If the weather permits I'll fly out to OH for the Tailwheel endorsement next week. I'll do the spin stuff with Larry next week as well, if the weather allows.

I'll need to go over the A36 and make sure all the logs are up to date so the FAA doesn't sneeze.