Like with every other endeavor, the student pilot has to master many new skills. As training continued, I learned to make radio announcements “Cessna 2346Juliet is 5 miles out entering on the 45 for a left downwind for 33” steadily becoming comfortable with a new language. I became adept at making 90 180 and 360 degree turns while maintaining altitude, recognizing when the airplane needed power or pitch changes thus moving well through a third dimension.
A note on finding airports. You would think that a large flat place typically covering several acres of open space, including a wide road (runway) right in the middle edged by low flat white buildings (hangars) would be easy to find. Unfortunately, you realize that from the air everything looks different. Spotting roads you drive on every day, shopping malls, freeways, even your own home, is surprisingly difficult. I think airports actually hide from student pilots. (More on that later)
Lessons include review of the basics but introduce new skills as well. I soon add new kinds of landings and take offs – Short field, soft field. Airports with towers, night flying, turns around a point, slow flight, holding a heading, just to list a few. There are specific and prescribed skills that a pilot must learn, and eventually demonstrate to the satisfaction of a Check Ride Examiner in order to earn a Pilots License. One of these is..The Solo Cross Country. Tomorrow I’ll tell that tale.
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