Tonights flight was good. During this time of day the same controller works both ground and tower, so when you’re on either frequency you only get half of the conversation sometimes. Someone on the radio jokingly asked him “so do you get paid double to work both tower and ground?”
The first flight I did was a normal take off and landing. Just to get a feel for the winds (which were variable 170°-210° at around 5KTs) and the plane. When I landed I was able to backtrack on the runway back into position. Another normal take-off and landing.
When I got back I had to wait about 5-7 minutes before I could take off again. A citation was backtracking on the runway into position. I was ready to go before him but the controller said no dice because the Citation was ready to go and (more importantly) he was a Medevac… so priority goes to him. After he takes off, the controller asks me if I am good to go now (with the “caution wake turbulence” caveat) or if I want to hold tight for a few minutes.
I decide to hold tight to let the wake turbulence dissipate.
I “backtrack with short delay” onto the runway and take off. The whole idea is to stay in ground effect until you have your 78KIAS. Well, I “popped” up a little too aggressively and missed the whole ground effect portion of the take-off.
The second time was much better.
A different jet (I think it was another citation) was inbound for landing, so the controller asked me to keep the circuit tight so that I could land before he did. I was able to, but couldn’t get the plane down fast enough to land, so I had to overshoot. I haven’t done one of those in a while, so it was good practice. In hindsight, I guess I could have used 40° of flaps to get me down quicker.. The winds were pretty light and almost head on at that point, so slipping didn’t really help either.
The CTV helicopter took off at the runway intersection while I was holding into position. “Caution, possible wake turbulence from the rotor craft” warned the controller. I went ahead because I knew that I would be climbing out above the path of the helicopter.
Just another day at Buttonville…
