Lesson #21: Polish in preparation for my checkride

The time's a-comin'. Stephen decided that, rather than do another night cross-country (since I didn't need any more), we should polish my landings. We would instead stay in the pattern at Oakland and practice short- and soft-field landings, then when night fell, practiced landings without landing lights.

I preflighted 12R, the Death Trap -- which, by the way, is even scarier to fly at night. The thing has no interior lights to speak of, so to fly at night Stephen had to hold a flashlight on the instrument panel so I could see the dials. That would put any passenger in a state of unrest.

I got my takeoff clearance and performed a normal takeoff and entry into the 27R pattern. It was immediately obvious how sloppy I'd become -- I didn't bother climbing to pattern altitude, my turns were too steep, my flap usage was awful, and my first attempt at a short-field landing was atrocious. Admittedly, I didn't understand that he wanted my first landing to be short-field, but still...

My short-field takeoff was equally as wretched. I was confused and out of practice. So as I brought the plane around for a second try, Stephen went over the steps with me. Landing #2 was much better, as was takeoff #2. And by landing #3, my short-field work was checkride quality.

So, we did some soft fields. They went OK at first, and a few landings later Stephen had all the bugs ironed out. Landing at night was tricky because Stephen's flashlight illuminated only a handful of dials. When he turned off the landing light, I was forced to use the runway lights as a ground reference, keeping them in my peripheral vision to judge my height above the ground. For the second landing at night, the landing and taxi lights were off, meaning I had no ground references except the runway lights. Fortunately, I landed just fine.

We brought the plane directly back to the Old T's, taxiing down 27R and 33, where I waited for Liz to pick me up in the car we had rented for the day. Stephen offered to have her come along as we went up for another "training session" (really a tour of the Peninsula), and Liz was more than happy, so I reserved 9UL and preflighted the plane.

After all, no self-respecting friend would let a friend fly in 12R for her first flight.

The plane was loaded up, everyone was strapped in, and Stephen gave me a few pointers here and there while I flew the plane out of Oakland and down to the Peninsula. We followed the Bay Bridge to downtown San Francisco, its toll plaza amazing at night. We marveled at breathtaking skyscrapers such as the Transamerica Tower, continued along the Embarcardero over the piers to the Golden Gate, turned northward over Sausalito, and turned back towards the East Bay.

Liz didn't get a good look at Alcatraz so I turned back and hovered over it for a bit before continuing to Emeryville and getting a landing clearance. I brought the plane back to Oakland for a smooth landing. It was 11 PM so Stephen took off immediately (the flying time being his treat) while Liz helped me secure the plane.

I should schedule some more lessons; I'll do that now. It was great fun to bring Liz along on her first flight with me, and of course she can accompany me on any lesson I do, as Stephen is the pilot-in-command for these flights. She just might do that, too.

Cost so far: $6,980.99
Time so far: 119 days
Hours so far: 38.5

Projected certification date: July 25 to August 25, 2007
Projected total cost: $7,300 to $9,000