A Close Call
11/17/12
At the beginning of today's lesson, I had no idea it would end the way it did. Once in the air, we practiced steep turns because we hadn't practiced them in a while. I was pretty rusty: I couldn't hold altitude for the life of me. We practiced the maneuver until I managed to complete one to my liking. Then, we went through the stall sequences. We completed the normal power-off and power-on stalls. Then, Craig demonstrated for me and immenent stall. Basically, an immenent stall is stall recognition and recovery. He also showed me a stall in turn. In turns, the aircraft stalls at a higher airspeed then in straight flight. I, then, attempted both of these maneuvers with success.
We also talked about engine failure procedures before our flight. In the air, we practiced these procedures. During different phases of flight, Craig will ask me where I would decide to put the airplane down if so necessary. During our crusie, he asked me to choose a spot to land for an emergency and I did. Craig showed me how to bring the plane down and I felt as if he was really about to land in the field that I had chosen. At the last moment, he went around. I got to try it! I didn't bring the plane as low as Craig, but still low enough.
We headed back to JXN and entered right traffic for runway 14. I don't like right traffic because it is difficult for me to see the runway. Through the difficulty, we landed and taxied back to the runway beginning. On our way to the runway Craig pointed out a deer to the left of the taxiway. We departed and made left traffic. The controller advised us to make a short approach so Craig took me to final. We touched down and on our landing roll, the deer sprinted across the runway right in front of me!. It was far enough ahead of me to where braking was enough to miss the deer but it was still a close call.
Even though the lesson could have ended much differently, I am glad I had the experience.
*Check out a clip from this lesson. This was the first landing without the deer*
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9YU22kPitc&feature=youtu.be
*Takeoff from 24*