April 7 & 8 in CAP C172N

Yesterday I was Safety Pilot as Ryan flew 3 approaches to stay current. I need to do the same but want to concentrate on the CFI right seat maneuvers.

Winds were 21 from 120, but seemed to be from 090 as we landed on 18. I had a hard time keeping it all straight and had two ugly x-wind landings in the C172.

So i decided to do some solo practice this morning and get my C172 wings back -- it's been a while and I needed to work out the kinks alone.

I flew 1.4 in the pattern and logged 12 T/O & Landings. There was some time spent extending downwinds and doing 360s to fit into the flew of transient and low approach traffic, so the total count was lower than it could have been for that much hobbs time.

The first 4 landings were downright awful. On the fifth downwind I realized why -- I was coming in way too fast. 65-70 is the recommended normal approach speed, but anything over 65 solo in this bird with full flaps is simply too fast.

So on the fifth landing I nailed the approach to 65 on final and it worked out much better. I did several more and never let it creep above 65. I did a short field at 60 and was stopped by the Bravo taxiway -- 2400', but I didn't touch down until my aim point 1000' feet down the runway.

1.3 Vso in the C172N is 40, so I should have been using 55 as my short field approach number. I'll use that Thursday (assuming we fly then). The landings are far less work at these slower speeds.

Now I feel prepared in both airplanes. It's a bit of a trick to be at peak form in two very different airplanes on the same day, but too late to worry about that now.