Lesson 12 - Refresher

Today I thought I would have a relaxing reintroduction to the Cessna 152 and just get used to the fell of flying again. Not quite the case. We went though everything I've been practicing to get back up to speed: straight-and-level, steep turns, slow flight, power-on stalls, power-off stalls, slipping and touch-and-goes at Pitt Meadows. Seiji also thought I had twice the hours I I actually do, so he expected a lot out of me. It's great that I'm getting such rigorous training, and expected to meet such high standards, but by the end of the flight my brain is fried and frazzled.

Apparently, I'm doing alright though. Especially considering that I've been away for a year and haven't been studying. But I want to get better soon. I want to get to the point where I don't need to be told that I'm descending a little or drifting to the left every fin minutes. I think the best thing I can do to help this is working on my instrument scanning. When I started flying, my head was completely, inside the cockpit. My instructor told me that looking outside is more important and that 90% of my attention should be holding the "picture". Why use the artificial horizon when you have a real one? The problem I'm having now is that I'm not checking my instruments at all as well as I don't have the experience to notice a change in attitude or drifting from just looking out the window.

Another issue I have is that I don't trust the trim. Once I set it, I should just let it do it's job, but I have a habit of fighting it, thinking that I must always be controlling the attitude by pulling up slightly or pushing down slightly. Not only is this making me unnecessary causing me to climb or decent, but fighting the airplane makes me tense, and I have to keep reminding myself not to hold the yoke so tightly.