Flying another 172

My friend Maciek and I went up today in 7320F, a 160HP C-172 rented by Rick Aviation. The plan had been to take up their 180HP C-172, but it was down for maintenance when we arrived.

Maciek hopes to start flight training soon, so while I preflighted he went looking for the chief CFI to chat about getting started.

The flight went fairly well. I did a couple of stalls so that Maciek could see what those were like and a few steep turns as well. Toward the end of the flight I did a simulated engine out, which didn't go as well as I would have liked but would have turned out ok. I had us too high on the approach to the field I picked out. This was mainly because I was concerned that the 13kt winds would keep us from making the field, but I was too aggressive in getting lined up and had us too high.

Had some major annoyances with the push-to-talk switch on the pilot's side. It had my radio transmissions sounding like a bunch of clicks. I didn't handle it as well as I should have either. I should have started using the handheld mic instead to bypass the issue. I also kind of goofed up with not understanding what the lineman was telling me when it came time to park. I eventually realized he was telling me to park on the north ramp, but it took me a while to understand (every other time they have parked me up front).

So except for those useful "learning experiences" at the end of the flight, it went pretty well. :)

Here's the Google Earth file from today's flight, in all its glory. You can see the steep turns and the 360 I had to do for spacing when coming back to land.

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