Flying Lessons 1-2
Here is a picture of the cockpit of a two-seater 1979 Cessna 152.
Flight 1 (8/24/00) - After preflighting the airplane on my own, we took off from Orlando Executive Airport (ORL) and headed northwest to the practice area which is just north of Lake Apopka. There, I learned how to do coordinated turns, climbs and descents. Trying to process all the information is very overwhelming at this stage. There's so much to remember. Ron did all the radio talk and landed us. I didn't really have time to appreciate the scenery from up there as I was too busy trying to fly the plane. After landing, I did a very poor job of taxiing the plane back to the parking area. The brakes are touchy and you steer with the rudder pedals (i.e. you steer with your feet) and not the control wheel. Ron says you can flip the plane if you use too much brake.
Flight 2 (8/27/00) - Off to Leesburg Regional Airport (LEE) today. I did a better job of taxiing this time. We taxied over to the runup area for runway 7 and after the engine runup, we were number 3 for takeoff. Ron let me practice some of the communications with ground control and the tower. Rolling on to the runway, I gave it full throttle and lifted off at about 50 knots indicated airspeed (KIAS). The plane has a tendency to veer left on a climb for various reasons so you have to add some right rudder when climbing. We passed through the Lake Apopka practice area on our way to Leesburg. Ron explained what the "pattern" is around an airport and how to enter and fly in the pattern. We did four touch and go's and I got to land it once (with help of course). I was too high and landed a bit further down the runway and set the left main gear down first. Wasn't exactly smooth but the plane didn't break either! When we were landing, the stall warning was going off which is a bit disconcerting at first. To land on the numbers, you pick a point short of the runway numbers and fly the plane like you're going to crash into that point. About two seconds before crashing into that point, you pull up and let ground effect (the tendency of an airplane to float above a runway) take over. From there, you let the main gear settle on the runway first and then the nose gear. Flying back to ORL, we saw a pretty good cloud dumping rain on south Orlando. It sure looks different from up in the sky. Ron was going to let me land it (which I don't feel I'm even close to being ready to do) but the tower reported a strong crosswind so he landed the plane. Not a bad flight today, I feel better than I did after that first flight.