Yesterday’s lesson went well. I was more prepared with the forced landings. Armchair flying really does help!
Today we are going to be doing precautionary landings. Right now (at 9am) the visibility is already at 9SM. The TAF is forecasting 5SM by the time I’m supposed to fly. If my flight is canceled, this will be the first time due to visibility.
There was a pretty strong cross wind yesterday (290° 10KT gusting 15KT). Quick calculation for runway 33 (which was the active) puts the x-wind component at 11.5KTs. My FI wanted me to do a soft field landing with obstacle. My approach in regards to remaining on the center line was excellent (I almost had full right rudder in). My height, however, was not so. My FI called out 50′ (the height of the obstacle) just before the point were the “imaginary trees” are. A few seconds later she said “We just went through the top of the trees”. The touchdown was alright except that I was a little too nose low and I forgot to let go of the rudder so we started veering right as soon as the nose wheel hit.
I was impressed with my first x-wind soft field landing.
