"New" Wings

This is "new" plane I'm flying - a Cessna 172P. (Uh - the date on the photo is just a little off. I hadn't reset the camera after it had been out of commission for awhile for repairs.)

More Landings...What else is there these days?

Today's lesson went very well. I'm much encouraged. I saw just another inkling of progress on my landings. I think I'm getting the level off a little better. I concentrated on controlling airspeed (but probably still need more work on that.) I haven't checked my logbook to see how many landings Justin gave me credit for, but yesterday was the first time I didn't have to do a single go-around. Yeah! That's progress. I'm hoping on Friday I'll finally get the flare totally by myself. Then I'll put the polish on the landing and then I'll solo...maybe, just maybe on my birthday.

A Few Lessons Later

I hate to admit it, but my lessons have become a little boring lately. All we work on are landings - but for good reason. I'm just not getting that last 30 seconds with the level off and flare. My progress is so slow. I only see teeny tiny increments of progress with each lesson. I've actually had 4 lessons since my last post. One of them was with Nora - a different flight instructor. Justin thought it might be helpful for me to fly with her and see if instruction from a different perspective/person would be helpful. I would say it was marginally helpful but it also served to confuse me. Not that I'm confused about what to do where, when, how, etc. It's just that my brain was programmed for Justin's way so it took most of the lesson for my brain to reprogram. Then I flew the next two lessons after that with Justin. Yesterday's lesson went better than the previous one. After my lesson on August 7th I was so frustrated with myself I wasn't sure I wanted to go back. But this is too much fun and I've come too far to quit. So... my lesson yesterday (8/10) was better thanks to some electronic coaching. (Thanks, Jay ;)
I think changing airplanes has had advantages and disadvantages. This is so silly, but the thing I like most about the "new" plane is the flap switch. The "old" plane just had a toggle switch that had to be turned on and off and you had to count three seconds to get 10 degrees of flaps, etc. It was easy to overshoot or undershoot the flap setting. Not a good thing on go arounds - of which I've done many. The new plane has the lever that moves straight down in increments for different flap settings. Much easier for me...except that I keep forgetting that second notch of flaps on base. I can't figure out why I'm forgetting such a routine thing. I think I've now had enough lessons in the new plane to have a better feel for how it handles. I'm hoping to see some significant progress during my next lesson. All I can do is hope....