2nd Lesson

I received my Gleim ground school kit yesterday, and I also had my second lesson. I was too busy to get any pics, but it was a very productive lesson. I had a short time to review some of the ground school books before my lesson, and I brought the material with me to the airport. We were together almost 4 hours, and I was beat by the end. We reviewed the ground school package, and talked about how I should approach studying it, including which sections of the FAR I should concentrate on. Then, we moved on to the computer provided by MNDOT, and reviewed how to use the software to check for weather conditions, METARs, TAFs, NOTAMs, and TFRs. Then, I spent the next 45-60 minutes learning how to do the pre flight process. Once I provide my birth certificate and photo ID at the next meeting, sounds like I'll be doing all the pre flights myself going forward. After the preflight was finished, we moved the plane outside, hopped in, and I started going through the checklists to prepare, start, and test the various systems in the airplane. Since we had a northerly wind around 10KT, we had to taxi up to the far end of the airport for takeoff on runway 31. This was my first experience taxiing, and it was very awkward. You have to steer completely with your feet (rudder), which is counter-intuitive for someone used to driving a car. I kept trying to steer with the yoke, and had to remind myself to steer with my feet constantly. That's going to take some getting used to. Once we completed pre takeoff checklist items, I did most of the takeoff procedure. It's a turf field, and it's mushy because of the warmer weather we've had, so the goal is to get the nose wheel off the ground as quickly as possible to prevent it from digging into the slush, and most of the acceleration to takeoff speed is done with the plane doing a "wheely". After we took off, we flew up to around 3500ft, and leveled off. We spent the next hour practicing climbs, descents, 30 degree turns, and a few turning climbs and descents. Then we headed back, and like the previous flight, I guided the plane in for most of the landing procedure, at the direction of Jim. Also learned how to refuel the plane, and I almost fell on my butt slipping on the ice trying to get the plane back into the hanger. Great stuff though - my next lesson is on Friday, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Mathias