Just when I thought I was getting the hang of flying the traffic pattern – I mean, traffic circuit – a new obstacle presented itself: A Beechcraft Bonanza. And when I say “presented itself” I mean “flew directly at us without even seeing or hearing us.”
Yes friends, right as we were climbing off the runway a Bonanza showed up directly in front of us, apparently practicing instrument landings. As this was my first experience with instrument flying, I put together a list of how an instrument landing must work:
- Travel at a high rate of speed. Preferably the speed of light or faster.
- Approach the runway in the opposite direction that little old student pilots are me are taking off. That way you’ll be sure to meet other airplanes head on.
- Don’t listen to the radio as you’re coming in. If you miss this step you might make the mistake of actually knowing planes are taking off directly at you. If this is difficult, I’d recommend playing loud music in the cabin to drown out the radio, such as “Reckless Life” by Guns ‘n Roses.
Other than the polite little flyby, I sucked in the traffic pattern yesterday. I flew decently the day before, namely because there wasn’t any wind. But yesterday…
How Wind Effects An Airplane
Wind treats airplanes like Ike Turner treated Tina. It tosses you around and beats you up for no reason at all. It makes regular flight bumpy and bouncy, and makes landings as difficult as threading a sewing needle with baseball bat after downing a six pack of Hornsby’s Hard Apple Cider.
It’s tough. Well probably not for experienced pilots, but for guys like me who have amassed a measly 5 or 6 hours it’s pretty difficult. Yesterday it threw me from one side of the approach to the other, without so much as buying me dinner before hand.
My First Plane Wreck
Don’t worry, it wasn’t a real wreck. But when I got into Kevin’s Warrior on Sunday my knee hit the dashboard and a chunk of sun-dried hard plastic fell off. I’m thinking I’ll mount it on my wall – it’s not everyday i break an airplane.
It even says “50 Due” and “Change Oil.”
If I ever get technologically savvy enough to post pictures up here, I’ll show you what it looks like. I probably shouldn’t brag about breaking apart an airplane, but for some reason I think it’s kind of cool. From here out, anytime someone asks how it happened I’ll say it was during an instrument approach to Caldwell.
