| Lesson 4 | |
| Flight time logged: | 1.2 hours |
| Total flight time logged: | 4.5 hours |
| Total takeoffs/landings: | 4 |
| Total cost to date: | $707 |
Today the skies were clear with a light wind from the WNW. There was some light turbulence, but not as bad as my first lesson. We departed the airport to the North West towards Sawnee Mountain. I had a constant speed climb up to 4,500 feet. My instructor asked me to perform a few moderate turns and steep turns. He wanted to give me some hood time today, so I put on the view-limiting device that only allowed me to see the instruments. This was my first time flying solely by instruments, but I was very relaxed in doing so. I felt like I was just flying a simulator. My instructor had me perform a few turns, climbs, and descents all with instruments only. I flew by instruments for a half-hour.
After the instrument flying, it was time to do some more slow flight. I slowed the Cessna down to the airspeed requested by the instructor. I then performed a few power-off stalls -- this time full power-off stalls. I was getting better at performing these. Practice seems to be working.
After the power-off stalls, the instructor had me do my first power-on stall. I had already heard about what happens during this maneuver, so I was filled with anticipation. If I did not keep the airplane coordinated, it would go into a spin. My first try I gave it a little too much right rudder and started to fall to the right. I recovered and setup the airplane to try again. This time I kept it straight and held the stall, but not long enough for it to break. I tried again, but this time I did not give enough right rudder. The left wing fell, and I entered the incipient stage of a spin. I pulled the throttle to idle and gave full right rudder to stop the spin. The C172 recovered with limited altitude loss. My heart was racing by this time though.
I had to do more power-on stalls until I had a full break. I finally pulled one off, but I felt like I was teetering on the edge. I was glad to hear that we were moving on and heading back to the airport. We were closing in on the end of my lesson.
On the way back in, I called the tower and requested a touch-and-go. This would be my first. I entered right base, came in on final, only to be kicked around by some turbulence near the ground. I touched down successfully, cleaned up the plane, and then took off again into the traffic pattern. On downwind, we called the tower and requested a full-stop. I came down on final again, this time crabbing into the wind. My landings were much better today than the last lesson.
My next lesson is scheduled for tomorrow. I'm doing more power-on stalls (oh joy) and ground reference maneuvers (rectangular pattern, turns around a point, and s-turns).
