Flight 89
12-12-99

C-172P

N07-CDW-N07

1.0 dual; 6 landings

"Rental check-out. Xwind, shrt-field ops"

I called the new flight school last week, fresh from my delightful aerobatics session, eager to rent a Cessna to practice my exercises, and of course, work on my landings.
The woman on the phone tells me that i need to do another checkout before I can rent from them again. why?
"Seems the tires had to be replaced after you... uh... smoked them the other day..."
"Smoked" the tires? Moi?! I am appalled. I had no idea it had been that bad, and I feel foolish for not having checked them afterwards. Sure, I skidded a bit after that hurried landing with Billy puking all over himself, but... smoked rubber? flat spots? It's almost amusing, but humbling. I apologize and agree to take some more dual, realizing that we will probably cover mostly what i need to work on anyway: landings.
I'm flying with another instructor today- J., who is cheerful, irreverent, and kind enough to sit me down and ask me before we start what I think went wrong, and how I think I can fix it.
He gets no small amount of amusement from my story, and I'm worried that he might think I made Billy sick by flying sloppily in general.
I'm nervous now, and a little uncomfortable in 143, a strange new plane to me, despite being a "P" model 172, just like good old 6FR.

But I do all right, in the end...
It's a fine but overcast day, The wind is light, and it's sunday, so Lincoln Park is abuzz with all sorts of pilots practicing landings and entering and leaving the pattern.
J. quickly takes over the radio and steers me to an entry point for the Caldwell Class D. It's pretty crowded there, too, and to maintain spacing in the pattern, J. coaches me a bit with setting up 143 for slow flight. I have plenty of practice doing this, but rarely in a controlled environment at pattern altitude.
I do a few touch-and-gos, then it's back to N07 for some full-stops. By the time we're done, I've re-learned the feel of a proper short-field approach. J. adds some advice an instructor once gave him: "I never want to see you make a normal takeoff or landing." Makes some sense- even when it's not necessary, doing power-off approaches, shorts or softs just for practice isn't a bad idea. I have been admonished in the past for making high-performance takeoffs with flaps out of Teterboro, with the reasoning that at a high power setting and low airspeed one is vulnerable... but one can always transition quickly to a normal climb, especially when there is plenty of room.

It's worth practicing all of these things, I think, simply because you must be ready when the real need for them arises.