Stretching those welded legs a little

Today was a nice morning for a quick 0.8 hour hop around the local area with Krista. I am plane-sitting for my friend Tom - he asked me to take his airplane up about once a week to give it some exercise.

I did an extra-long preflight since this was the first one I have performed on Tom's airplane (738KR - slideshow). There was nothing too unusual - this being a 172 I was quite familiar with the general design. Finding everything in excellent working order and the tank full of AvGas, we cranked it up (the engine started almost instantly) and taxied out to runway 31.

The plan was simple - head north to West Point, do a touch and go, then head back, flying over our neighborhood along the way.

I worked on making a more stable flare and did fairly well with that. The touchdowns were pretty soft too - it has an in-the-flare sight picture almost identical to the newer 172 I often fly. Below is a video from the last landing. Krista made this video with our still camera by holding the camera against the roof of the cabin.

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