Another lesson today, converted more cash into lift.
I preflighted, then we took off and flew up to Malibu again. On the way, he had me transition in and out of slow flight. I get nervous down at 60 knots, as flying the sims has taught me that 'e is life'. My instructor briefed me, then had me do some more power off stalls to review. I've gotten a lot better at recovering, I really need to stomp on that rudder and avoid trying to use my ailerons.
Then we did something new, we did power ON stalls. Basically, I'd throttle back to descent, pull back the yoke until the stall horn started buzzing, then I'd throttle up to 2100 RPM, which is right around cruise. Then I extend the nose even higher until buffeting started, and when it stalled, I'd recover. I did this like 5 times because I had a real bad habit of trying to use ailerons, but my instructor rapped my knuckles on it long enough that I got it down finally.
Next, he simulated an engine failure for me. We were out by Malibu again, so he set the best glide speed (in this plane, 73 knots), identified the field at Pepperdine University as his landing spot, and then walked through the troubleshooting checklist. After going through the troubleshooting, he simulated calling radio w/ Mayday (121.5mhz, if I recall) and then set up an approach to the field. As we came in over the shoreline, he applied power and we pulled away. If I was on the ground, I would have been paying real close attention, because I'm sure we looked like we were in trouble!
We flew back to Santa Monica and he let me do all the planning, checklists, and radio calls to the tower. I landed it on my own, then pulled off to the side of the runway and prepared to call to taxi back to parking, but he told me to request taxi for another take off. So I did, and we took off again with a closed left hand pattern. This time, he had me call the tower to request 'The option', which sounded mysterious. Dutifully, I called 'Santa Monica Tower, Cherokee 8258 Sierra requesting the option'. Tower responded clearing me for it, then the instructor filled me in on how 'The Option' means that I can either land, touch and go, or just do a low pass. When I lined up and was about to touch down, he had me initiate a go-around and throttle up.
I dog-legged over the golf course like usual (I wonder if the people below appreciate all the effort the pilots go through to be quiet for them) and turned left at Lincoln again, then did another Left hand pattern approach, this time with clearance to land.
Most of my other landings, my instructor has been helping with the controls a bit and sort of overriding me. This time, I asserted myself and told him I had it, then brought the plane in for a really smooth landing. As we touched down, he seemed real pleased, so I'm looking forward to doing more on my own.
One area I've got to pound into my head is how big the runway is. I tend to flare a little early because I'm used to narrow runways in my simulators & Aces High.
It was a good lesson, I parked the plane and did a little ground school. I bought my first map, the LAX area one, and I'll be studying it tonight.
Tomorrow morning, another lesson!