PPL Lesson #10: More circuits
Definitely more of a challenging lesson this time, with 16kt gusty winds and reports of wind shear from other pilots. It was also the first time I’ve flown from RWY 07, which at Blackbushe meant my first experience of right hand circuits and some noise abatement to content with on climb out.
Managed to get 10 circuits in with 4 standard, 2 flapless, 1 go-around and 3 glide approach landings. I was annoyed at the go around as it was by far my best approach of the day, though my instructor’s “moose on the runway, go around” at least gave me a chuckle.
Overall the gusty conditions made for a tricky lesson, especially with the glide approaches where I found judging overall gliding distance from base to get the right time to idle the engine a real challenge. On debrief, I wasn’t properly accounting for the effect of wind on turning onto final, though the judgement on when to deploy flaps once on final was much better.
General landing technique wise we had a little balloon in a few of the landings - I need to smooth out my round out some more to combat - but nothing that prevented us from landing safely. I was happy to have handled the gusty winds reasonably well, albeit with some choice words and quick action required on a couple of notable occasions when we caught a major gust on late final or just after take off.
1h04m added to the clock, putting me at 9h11m. Next week: more of the same.