First Flying Lesson

Finally! Seven-three-niner-golf-yankee got off the ground. My first few scheduled days of flight lessons were cancelled due to weather. I’m not sure why, since this California, but we seem to be getting rain, wind, and fog out here.

First lesson is designed to cover the basics. Last week I did get a bit of the lesson early, so I’ve had instruction on preflighting. Today, I got to do it nearly solo. The checklist was missing from the binder, so I broke out the POS, er, POH. Turns out, the checklist in the POH is pretty different, and certainly suboptimal. I went ahead and checked out the plane, and when the intructor came back with the checklist, went over whatever was missing. Note to self: there are 3 chains holding the plane down..

Other basic instruction involves getting around and off the ground; and simple things like going up and down (intentionally), turning, and for bonus points, turning without intentionally loosing altitude.

Much of the point of today was look/feel during those operations, such that there is not a high dependence on the instruments and more looking out the window.

Our practice area was over the Sacramento Delta. We left south Sacramento, and travelled southwest, and stayed in the region bounded by I-5, 680, 80, and roughly Walnut Grove. The view from up there is definately something. After a fresh rain in the middle of the night last night, visibility was excellent - we could clearly see downtown Sacramento from 20 miles away.

The air was pretty smooth - mostly. When we got near the hills by 680, it was impressive at how far away they were yet how much we were impacted by the winds. I will definately want mountain training before going up into the hills flying. This probably means Auburn is out for my first solo cross country..

Tomorrow, it will be a reitteration of today, plus rudder control. The instructor had the rudder to day, to minimize how many things I had to manage and get aquainted with.