There’s loads of different funny expressions to describe aviation’s two most critical phases of flying, “takeoff” and “landing”
- The difference between takeoff and landing is: Takeoff is optional. Landing is compulsory!
- Flying is the 2nd best thrill known to man. Landing is the 1st!
- Try to keep your number of landings equal to your number of takeoffs!
- Any landing you can walk away from is a good one! (Die Hard 2)
Yesterday I did them all! I took off, we flew out north to Hartebeespoort Dam, did some fairly low level flying over the dam and tried to do a stall and incipient spin but the C172SP is just way to stable. It truly is an amazing aircraft. We also played around with the auto pilot that will come in handy when the Mile High Club opens! Most importantly I landed in one piece. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t at all nervous after all it has been a while. I will even go one step further to say I was absolutely shitting myself! I did however manage to pull off an incredible landing and even though that’s pretty standard and more so, expected, I was so chuffed that I still have it in me! So yes, it was a landing that we could walk away from!
It felt so good to be up in the clouds again. That of course is simply an expression since I am not instrument rated, so even if there were clouds in Johannesburg in winter, I would not be able to fly in them! But being airborne again was simply incredible.
I am going flying again this afternoon and this time I will be a little calmer and enjoy it even more! I need to do some work on my radio communications as I am a little rusty but that’s all part of the learning.
See you on the threshold…
