New Instructor

December 26, 2010

Today was my first day flying with my new instructor, Matt. He spent about an hour on the ground introducing me to the procedures for short and soft field takeoffs and landings. Soft field means that you are landing or departing from either grass or another soft surface. Short field prepares you to takeoff and land with either a short runway or with obstacles nearby (such as hills, power lines, etc.)

For each type of takeoff and landing, he did the first one to show me how it’s done, and then he let me do it. They are definitely different than normal takeoffs and landings, but kind-of fun!

After we practiced that for a while, we headed out to the practice area. From there we reviewed slow flight and power-off stalls. I’m glad we did this because it’s been a while. Then as we headed back to the airport, he pulled the power back and we simulated an engine failure. This was my first time being asked to land in a specific place with a simulated malfunction. With previous practice, we would just pick a field and not actually land, this time he picked a specific runway and I had to make a landing without adjusting power at any point.

All-in-all I had a pretty good day. It was a lot of new information, and with the new instructor, I received some good tips. Matt definitely holds his students to a high standard, which I greatly appreciate. My next lesson will be a one hour, 100% solo practice, staying in the traffic pattern to practice takeoffs and landings. I’m really looking forward to it! Matt also told me that from now on when we are flying together, none of my landings will be normal. We will either be simulating an engine failure, landing on a runway with a crosswind, or doing a short/soft field landing. Should be interesting :)

Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 15.7