Haven’t flown that thing for more then a year and was a little concerned if I would remember everything to bring the baby safely back to the ground. There is no doubt I would have made it back as gravity is a very reliable force, just that I prefered me and the plane to remain in one piece while reunifying with mother earth.
Since I planned to take a few more people on the same ride this week, the first thing was to practice the boring, but very important stuff: going through checklists, radio, taxiing, start and traffic pattern. Then the first landing.
It’s a very humble feeling to approach the runway, slowly descending towards the ground and asking yourself: ‘Did I forget anything?’. And you painfully try to remember all these flying lessons and what your instructor said about which lever to pull, button to press and at what speed to approach to not fall like a stone or smash like an egg on the kitchen floor.
I have to admit that the first landing wasn’t the smoothest I ever performed, but it was good enough to not kill me or the plane. After gaining confidence I decided to do another 11 landings to make sure it sticks.
After half of my landings I got company from a Transall pilot (just in case you’re wondering, a Transall is a big military plane). He was probably a bit rusty as well. How else to explain that now two planes were practicing the traffic pattern and ‘touch and go’.
Flying behind or I front – all a question of perspective – of such a big plane easily reminds you, how small and slow you are. Fortunately, they didn’t catch me in the three rounds the did. However, on the last takeoff the left a little present for me.
While I was climbing after my touch and go I must have passed the climbing path of the transall. Every pilot will tell you that this is never a good idea as these big planes leave quite some wake turbulences behind, which can turn a small plane like mine around easily.
As you can guess, I got right in the middle and earned a good push under the right wing, shaking me quite violently and teaching me some respect to get to close to a big, fat, fast plane.
Sorry for the lower quality, but making photos with an iPhone and flying a plane at the same time proved a little difficult due to the slippery iPhone case and my fear to drop it 2000 feet.
In the evening, I went with my family to a political cabaret. An old schoolmate opened his own bar with his brother and is now performing there several times a week. The show was really good, quite funny and with decent jokes.
Should you be in the area – given you speak German – give it a try and visit them. You can find them online under http://hengstmanns.de . It’s really worth it.