Flight 90
12-19-99

C-172P

N07-N07

1.5 solo; 6 landings

"short & soft lndgs; pilotage; turn @ point; yaw exercises"

Hi scattered clouds, calm wind.


Feels great to be able to fly every weekend- especially in December! I head to N07 to practice landings and maneuvers, again in 143. The plane feels much more familiar now, and I start off pretty well. First I head to the usual practice area to do a turn around a point and practice the dutch roll, which I find easy to do properly in the Cessna. then I return to join the pattern and hammer my landing technique into shape. The first os typical: tentative but acceptable. The second landing is a bouncer, but at least I keep the nosewheel off and get settled down in time to stop normally.


Third landing is perfect. Just right. I even get off on the midfield taxiway, for a change. Cool.

  It's dawning on me that full- stop landings are possibly much more useful to practice than touch-and-gos. there's a lot to be said for spending more time in ground effect, as one does during a touch-and-go, but because the landing itself is rarely completed fully, touch-and-gos are probably better practice for aborted landings specifically. there's a lot of thinking and controlling that goes on after touchdown, especially if one is trying to land on a specific spot and exit exactly where one wants.

The next three are not as good, and I'm a little disappointed. But I'm proud that I resisted the temptation to neglect my landing practice. I stuck to my plan, and did some good work.