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Flying Lesson 3
Lesson 3 included about 30 minutes of ground school. We moved to the plane and the instructor explained each step of the pre-flight inspection. There are a variety of visuals that need to be verified. There are alot of minute details that need to be checked each time the plane leaves the ground. Rudders, flaps, tires, brakes, hinges, and the propeller are some of the parts that need attention. We also checked the oil for fill level. Fuel was checked for water using a glass container with a needle sticking up from the glass. The needle penetrates a rubber bung in the bottom of the tank to extract a sample of airplane fuel. You can then visually inspect it for moisture. The carb bowl can also be cleaned with a pull of a small spring-loaded lever near the oil dipstick. Once we completed the pre-flight, we boarded the Cessna and prepared for takeoff.
Today was extremely humid. We had experienced a thunderstorm a little while earlier. The sky was total overcast and I must admit, it was very warm inside the plane. I took off with a little help from my instructor and we began a climb to 5000 ft. Well, thats where it got a bit intersting. The visibility was 0... that's right... I could see nothing except grey air. We had no view of the ground or the horizon. This was new to me and it was a bit sobering. We performed some turns of varying degree. He had me practice 90 degree and 180 degree changes in heading. We also performed a few more stalls.
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When it was time to return to the airport, he asked how I would get back if I were on my own. I simply said, "I don't know". He showed me the GPS, we programmed our airport and began to follow the GPS guidance. We landed safely and I must admit I felt like I was motion sick when I left the plane all the way until I got home. I think the inability to make out a horizon had affected my equilibrium. Now I need to wait and see how I fare on the next lesson. Overall I enjoyed the ground school more than the flight today based on the poor visibility.
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