3 Point Landings and Wheel Landings! Less of a Science, more of An Art.

I have noticed something about me, and about other people.

We like being comfortable, but that is not always what will profit us. In the long run, a life spent being uncomfortable means what? That you are always forced to change, learn, adapt, and overcome.

(did you really, REALLY think I'd pass up a chance to use this prime meme?)

I also learned I don't like ending flight lessons on a lame note of "man, I wish I could have gotten/grasped that concept better."

It's super disappointing, who wants that??? You want to step out of that plane after that lesson of 1-2 hours feeling like an absolute smasher, killed your goals. Not feeling like "oh, well, it was good enough."

So while I did tell Steve (my flight instructor) that I had to be home earlier today and didn't "have time" for a long flight lesson like we did last Saturday, I got hooked and once we were in the air AND I was "warmed up" after about an hour of flying, I didn't want to lose any progress OR end on a sour note.

Steve calls it "learning", but I call it "failure".

(I do know that my vocabulary is a bit intense sometimes). 😂

HOWEVER.

I'm glad Steve and I continued flying, and I didn't chose to leave home early to get chores done (sorry mum) and get ready for deadweek/finals week (sorry dad) OR even go home earlier to prepare next week's YouTube video (sorry all 25 of my subscribers)(jk)(love you all!) .

I stayed in the air and I stuck it out and the sun was shiny and everything was golden. It was a perfect flying day, seriously. Last Saturday the crosswinds were so heavy they felt like they were bullying me, but today was OUR time. I was gonna bully back because the sky wasn't getting rid of me yet, I was just warming up! We were gonna fly and own that sky, no winds in the way today! So after my bathroom break, Steve said to just do one more Wheel landing (where you land on the front 2 wheels of the plane ONLY as compared to the regular landing on the back tailwheel!) I joked with Steve as I drifted into my Base turn:

"Yeah, Aviation is like "oh I understand this now, I get it! ...and then everything changes"

Steve joked back: "Ah yes I'm good at this landing now, then my instructor says let's change it up!" "wow I fully grasp this concept now, now let's do the opposite of what you've been telling me." "Oh I understood what I was doing, for two seconds, now we changed it again."

Steve and I were joking about the ever-changing nature of Aviation for a few seconds, but I said "Well, that is what I do love about Aviation. That is why I stay!"

And it's true.

(I've added this interchanging nature of it to my list of 20+ reasons I Love Aviation, I've made a list that I will share one day soon in a future video! :)

Aviation CONSTANTLY pushes you out of your comfort zone. The whole learning nature of it, "a good pilot is always learning" reminds me of the exact way a baby bird is shoved out of the nest. You know, that's exactly how I felt when I first soloed. I felt unsure and scared, but also pretty confident at the same time. I also KNEW that as scary as it was, going solo, it would be a good thing for me. How would I ever spread my wings and fly (in every sense of the word), without Steve showing me and then shoving? Well, shoving himself out of the plane but yes! You gotta shove after showing someone how to do it, if not they will always depend on you. I would still be a scared little student pilot if he had never done that! Ok, maybe not, but I would definitely have gotten my license later than July 20th 2018.

And I know it'll happen again with my Tailwheel solo, that same scared but excited and having so much to prove to yourself and the world and of COURSE make you CFI glow with pride feeling you get before solo. Nothing will ever beat my first solo, but every solo in a different aircraft will feel a little like the first time humans flew.

You never get over your feet leaving the ground, I'm now a Private Pilot and flying for almost 2 years and so far it hasn't faded, I hear it never does.

Anyway, enough gooshy talk.

Here's some tips that solved my *ahem coughhgjhdjf* landing problems.

The "aha!" moment!

You don't HAVE to land with full power off on a Wheel landing. In fact, having power on is what helped me make some buttery smooth landings! FINALLY!!! Yanking the throttle to full off on final is what you should theoretically be able to do, but I kept coming in like a box of rocks without some power to cushion my landing.
The more (and longer) you fly, the more you get that sight picture Steve is always chiding me about.
GET YOUR EYES OFF THE INSTRUMENTS ABBIE. YOU WEREN'T EVEN LOOKING OUT FOR HIM. Now I know IFR is going to be full Instruments and your eyes must be GLUED to them, but in Tailwheel flying by your pants bush pilot life, the sight picture and "feel" REALLY matter. You gotta feel it. And really I was looking and focusing on the instruments way too much on landings, not looking outside enough. What about that cow you were so worried about Abbie? You gotta feel it, anticipate it, less of a science, more of an art. Oh, lemme change the title of this post real quick.
Abbie you think pulling and keeping the stick all the way back will cause you to bounce on landing, but what it does is it almost "tames the beast". It causes the plane to stabilize and like a lion turning into a kitten, it gently sinks to the runway. When Steve did it anyway. 😂 But it sort of did once I FINALLY did it too! Once I finally got the stick-all-the-way-into-my-stomach like Steve only told me to do 14+ times. I am for sure not an auditory learner. 😅
More Throttle on final and landing, more stick back, more right rudder, more outside eyes, less eyes inside.
and go to full throttle power Also worth mentioning, you need to rudder dance (see previous blog post!) BEFORE tipping the nose down for take off. I've developed a bad habit where I push the power in gradually while tipping the nose down and it makes directional control so much more difficult! 😬 I'm in the process of unlearning that habit and I feel like my take offs are great now!

That's all I got for now! I have to complete my homework, since I keep using my Saturdays to fly. Well worth it:) The weather won't stay nice forever anyways, so gotta fly while I can before the rains come!

(trust me, the rains will come. We don't have hot summer weather until well into June,

even middle of July sometimes! It's been a rainy Winter, most likely Spring as well)

*Oregon Spring Laughing at us pilots like*: