Class Charlie, here I come

Still waiting for the medical, Richard and I continued to work through the syllabus as if I had already soloed. Plenty to do, really – I just want to go up alone because I know I can. Patience.

Weather was perfect today – clear, no wind, visibility 10 miles. During my preflight I found something strange – the rudder was deflected left – as though someone had their left foot half way to the floor. I checked cables, pedals, etc – all looked fine. Turns out it was the nosewheel (which is driven by the rudder pedals) was cocked to the left. Since the plane sits in little holes at the tie down, it couldn’t move. Good to stay on top of these things anyway.

After a couple of trips around the pattern and some decent landings, Richard suggested we head over to the Class C airport next door – Burbank. Big planes here – very exciting. We left the pattern and headed straight over. Burbank tower cleared us in to runway 15, which required an entry by flying over the intersecting runway. Nice thing about controlled airports (especially busy ones) is that they can ask you to do some very out-of-the-ordinary things. Great practice. We made it a full stop and taxied back for takeoff with lots of other planes – 737’s, 757’s, etc. We stayed in the pattern, and were repeatedly asked to change runways, extend downwinds, do short approaches, and expedite. Great experience. I can imagine that LAX is next – that should be great fun.

1.6 hours/21.7 total