Today I went back flying for the first time since my break. Man oh man did it feel good. This must be how guys in the Army feel when they come back from tour and see their wives/gf. Except in this case my wife was in the plane with me, and I was coming back to the plane....
Nevertheless it was a breezy day. Winds variable from 270-310 8kts gusting to 14kts. Not a terrible day, but a nice fun crosswind to challenge me. I flew to the practice area and did a few turns, then flew to Indy Executive and did a touch and go. It was really bumpy and I had trouble getting my side slip the way I wanted. I came in fast and floated what felt like half of the runway, touched my wheels and firewalled the throttle.
My next go around I came in over the numbers at 55-60kts and kissed the runway perfectly. The left main rolled gracefully, followed by the right main firmly, and the confirming nod of the nose wheel. Text book. My excitement was short lived as I had a plane on final behind me. Once again, I gave her full throttle and departed to head back to Eagle Creek.
It must have been a pretty busy day today at EYE. About 6 miles out I heard the Comm Frequency full of chatter. One plane was departing, another departing the pattern west, and another inbound. I quickly made a mental picture of what was going on around me and tried to identify where everyone was. I had the departing traffic in sight, but I needed to find the traffic heading westbound. I called out "Eagle Creek, Departing Traffic what's your location". No response. "Eagle Creek Traffic Departing Traffic what's your altitude?". "Cessna XXX, I am 1800 and just west of EYE." By this time I was at the North end of the lake at 1800ft! "Eagle Creek 70PF will circle until west bound traffic has departed the pattern".
By this time the departing traffic was now airborne. "I caught him at my 12 o'clock as I finished making my circle. In ground school you are taught that if you see an aircraft and it's not moving and only getting bigger, then you are on a collision path. Well this plane wasn't moving and getting bigger. I let him depart the pattern, I entered my downwind and made my third and final crosswind landing of the day.
I love aviation so much. It challenges me in every way possible. I will probably get back up a few more times before October as I will be due for my first Bi-Annual Flight Review. I want to make sure my skills are sharp and I'm ready to go.
