Short Cross Country

11/15/2005

Today we went to Rockdale. This was in fact a return visit. I had been there before on the lesson after my first solo. On that lesson I had been full of confidence having recently soloed, but the the lesson had turned into a nightmare. This time, things were different. The ride over to Rockdale was good. Radio procedures were good, along with all the multi-tasking, I had definitely moved along leaps and bounds since the first visit. No over-shooting was to be seen on any of the several touch and goes I did. And not once did I radio call 'Taylor traffic' instead of 'Rockdale traffic' :0)

The ride back to Taylor was uneventful, except for the sun glaring from the West - now I can see how mid-air collisions can happen. If someone had been climbing in our opposite direction we would have never have seen them. To alleviate the glare and to help with visibility, I kept alternating turning to the right for a minute, then to the left. This would I think play havoc with navigation if I was dead reckoning, but I was only using a highway as reference. On downwind at Taylor, Bruce declared a simulated engine out. The landing went well - not surprising since all my landings have been taught with cutting the engine to idle just before turning to base anyways...