1st Towered Airport!

May 4, 2011

Flying today was pretty exciting. I went with Eric because Matt had a last minute schedule change. I told Eric my goal today was to land the Cessna without any assistance. I also wanted to work on some instrument stuff, and I wanted us to simulate going into a controlled airport so that I was better prepared for this weekends cross country. When I mentioned it, he said instead of just simulating it, we could go do it for real. Of course I was all for that idea!

We departed Runway 18 and headed north. We practiced instrument stuff for about 20-25 minutes. He also showed me the compass errors before turning on course for the controlled airport we were going to. After taking off the foggles that I use for instrument training, we tuned into the the airport's ATIS (Automated Terminal Information System) frequency to get the weather and any pertinent pilot information. Once were were 10 miles out, I made my first radio call, "St. Louis Regional, Cessna 757SW (SierraWhiskey), 10 miles to the west inbound to land with Information Delta." Shortly following, the tower contacted me and gave me my set of instructions. I was to make a straight in landing for Runway 11, and I was clear to land. I repeated my instructions and continued on my course. The landing went well. The Runways there are much wider than what I'm used to, so it made it feel like we were lower than we really were. Once we came to a stop, we got instructions from the tower to taxi onto a specific taxiway, cross a specific runway, and continue taxiing to Runway 11 and hold short. I prepared the plane for takeoff, then contacted the tower, "Cessna 757SW, holding short of 11, ready for departure." At that point they gave me the clearance to takeoff and turn onto my desired course. Once were five miles out, ATC contacted us again to notify us of another airplane seven miles straight ahead and that we could now switch to our choice of radio frequency. That was our last contact with the tower.

We arrived back at our airport and made a landing on Runway 9. We had a little bit of time left so we went again. That landing wasn't near as nice. I misjudged the flair, and when I finally touched down I applied the brakes too soon. That caused it to land on one tire, instead of both, and I almost wheelbarrowed. I was a bit disappointed, but Eric said it was ok.

After turning the airplane off, Eric gave me some tips to help make my landings better. I told him that I was beginning to feel like I was behind. I keep comparing my performance to how I did when I got checked out in the Remos. He said that was like comparing apples and oranges. They are two completely different airplanes, and told me I was actually doing pretty good. He stated that if I were his student, he would've signed off today for me to solo the plane. That definitely made me feel better, but I still think I could be doing better. Nonetheless, today was fantastic and I learned a lot.