ET's Info-Stew

My last blog entry mentioned that I switched over to the Cessna 172 from the 152 for the remainder of my training. I thought it was be a time consuming processes to get used to the 172, but I took to it right away. In fact, Nick endorsed my certificate to allow me to fly the 172 after my very first dual flight in one! It helped that I had put in some study time reading the POH.

Yesterday, when I made the precautionary landing, was my first attempt to solo (in the pattern) in a 172. But I had to land early. So this morning I wanted to finish what I started. I flew at 10:00 AM with the wind essentially calm. I did nine landings in all (2 soft, 3 short, 2 power-off, 2 forward slip). I was most worried about the short fields, but I actually did those the best, landing right on the 500 foot markers on the last two attempts. The forward slip landings need the most work because I had too much speed and just floated there. On the softs, I kept ballooning.

Today's flight finished off my solo requirements and put me at 33.6 hours. From now one everything will be dual with Nick and we are mostly going to practice checkride preparation, though I still have 1.5 hours of instrument training left to do. Nick wants to see if we can finish in the next few weeks, which is perfect for me because it means I might just make my goal to be a private pilot by the Colorado trip.