My unexplainable Bumpy Ride

On a hot summer afternoon in 2010, my instructor called me and asked if I was interested in flying and I didn’t hesitate even though I wasn’t in the mood to fly.

We took a walk to where the aircraft was parked and did a quick pre-flight together, after which we signed the authorization sheet, got in the aircraft and buckled up.

After locking my door, my instructor told me the flight will be a recap of the previous exercises and I didn’t really like the sound of that because I heard it is one of the methods imployed by instructors to swindle their students. I asked him if we could do a brief recap on the previous exercise then jump to the next lesson and he didn’t object to it, thankfully.

I did my checks and proceeded to the run up bay of runway 26 which was the active runway, following the order of the air traffic controller. I was setting myself up for takeoff while waiting for the instruction to line up and wait on the runway from the controller. It was at this moment that the wind changed it’s direction and I had to taxi back to the runway that is opposite runway 26, which was runway 05.

We were cleared to take off after establishing on the right runway. I aligned the nose of the aircraft with the runways center-line, increased my throttle gently while accelerating, at 60 knots I pull back on the control column and the aircraft gently lifted off the ground.

I only wish that I had known how gusty and strong the wind was before I committed myself to do the flight. what i went through was unexplainable.

To be continued……..

Approaching Pitsburg with John

I can still remember vividly how this guy was making a radio broadcast on the frequency in use. He was broadcasting a wrong location but thankfully we spotted him from afar, and John did the right avoidance procedure. We were trying to position the aircraft back to the right heading when we started experiencing a violent turbulence. I had started to feel nervous but then I said to myself ‘pilots don’’t die’!

After five minutes of jumping and dancing in the sky, the aircraft settled down and we were back on track. I leaned back, relaxed and enjoyed my flight, until we got to a place called Pitsburg, it was a control area and John placed a call to the air traffic controller in the area for a touch and go ( landing and taking off immediately).

I really can’’t describe the approach to land because John had to cut a lot of shortcuts to get the aircraft set on the right approach to land. After a few minutes, the aircraft was on the final leg for the runway and after a short period, we were on the runway and accelerating for take off. John did the right procedures. I remember the air traffic controller wishing us a good day in a fatigued voice.

John set us up for the next destination after leveling up at 8000 feet. This was when we noticed that it was getting very cloudy outside and that it could rain. What gave us hope was the fact that our final destination where we planned to do a full stop landing and to refuel was close by.

It was getting windy and foggy outside so we were having problems locating our destination airport.

To be continued………….

image source: google image