Wow I came back to earth fast, Last week had my first lesson and I thought it was a piece of cake. Today I had my second lesion and Mother Nature added a bit of fun with an 8 to 12 knot wind gusts. Today we practiced landings and I was feeling pretty proud of myself walking on the air field today, Little like Maverick out of Top Gun. It was about 5 minutes in when things turned to crap real fast, I was doing a nice banked turn and coming towards the runway and instead of leveling the wings I hit the aileron the wrong way and increased the bank on my turn and started to loose altitude fast, lucky for a buddy box and the instructor. After a few more passes I was getting the hang of it again so now it was time to try some landings as I start to come in the wind is knocking the plane around like a homemade paper plane, I’m concentrating so hard on aileron control and not flap control the plane falls quickly and the instructor takes over again…. But now MR Top Gun is feeling like Baby Gun, after another ½ hour I was back to reality and having fun. I have a new respect again for the plane and especially the wind. It is funny now when I look back because I was at the air field on Sunday with my wife and 2 kids, there is a nice bike track and park next door and we get to see Model planes fly to so everyone is happy. I was disappointed that there was only 2 planes flying on Sunday and thought the wind is not that bad what a bunch of girls, but after today I wonder If I would be putting my plane in that wind….

To all those fellow newbie out there don’t get to cocky until you have tried a bit of wind in your sails, flying on a dead calm day is not to bad.

here is something to remember... when the plane is headed toward you, the lowest wing "gets the stick" (move the stick in the direction of the lowest wing) to level it out. a friend of mine told me that and it kinda just stuck in my head... for me its more of a reflex than thinking now.

keep it up

Thats what the guy that taught me to fly finally got across and it has stuck with me for years,the low wing gets the stick.Works ever time.

Bill

Dogz said "To all those fellow newbie out there don’t get to cocky until you have tried a bit of wind in your sails, flying on a dead calm day is not to bad."

That is really good advice Dogz. I've seen many first year pilots refuse help on gusty days, or with a new "hot" plane, solo too soon, etc. Good entertainment when I'm not running for my life. (I don't want anyone's plane to crash, but if you do crash, I wanna see it!) We all have egos and are proud of what we can accomplish, but you need to respect your plane and fly within your skill level. Wanna push yourself a little? Great! But get a spotter, buddy box, ect.

first encounter with a wind gust my little underpowered POS trainer was almost blown into the park office building

but since my instructor was busy flying his own plane I only had myself to save it. after a bit of a struggle I finally figured it out and got it back to were I should be.

What I should have though about was this.

"when you are in trouble, get the wings level THEN correct for direction."

much easier to fly a level plane the direction you want it then to fly a plane in a dive to who knows were.

This is also a good read for those rookies who think that because they can fly a sim, that means they're ready to try the real thing without help. The real world is not only different, but they don't consider the "Pucker Factor" when they have several hundred dollars hanging in the balance.

Remember... In the real world, there's no reset button!

As far as flying in the wind.....a wise man once told me "If you wait for days when there is no wind to fly.......you won't be flying much" Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't prefer a dead calm day!!!!


Mike

Why are you training on plane with flaps????