Wind gusts of 15 to 20 mph shoved that plane all over the place. I would be making a 30° turn to the right and suddenly the plane would be lifted and pushed into a 10° turn to the left. That kind of thing is interesting when you are at 3,000 feet but when you are trying to land, that kind of thing makes it tough as hell to get the plane on the runway.
Understand, I don't consider myself a pilot by any means but I am kind of pleased with how much I remember from the four lessons I took back in the late 1970s. I can pre-flight the plane, start it, taxi it, line it up on the runway and take it off. I am relearning the radio language of pilots and can make rudimentary announcements of my intentions to other traffic in the area.
And I can even land a plane - on a nice calm day.
Today was not a nice calm day. It was a nice windy day and as we were making our final turn towards the runway, I told my instructor, "It would probably be wise of you to put your hand on the yoke and your feet on the rudder pedals because this thing is dancing all over the place."
He did and when a wind gust hit us from the left just as I was about to cross the numbers, he stomped hard on the rudder and got us lined back up with the runway before I stuck us into the grass.
I am really, really enjoying this.
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As for that other thing, yes, I'm looking for a job.
Anyone know of one?
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Here are today's links:
- Key phrase in this story: "...he tried to buy a BMW with a credit card and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card..."
- Only in New York City.
- Only in Florida.
- Key entry from our favorite police log: "2:54 p.m. Two dogs were seen traveling eastbound down Highway 2 East."
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