Back in the Saddle Again

After a three-week hiatus I found some time to get back in the cockpit of the trusty Cessna 152. This is the longest break I have had between flights so I decided I would spend the day in the pattern re-familiarizing myself with the plane and work on my landings.

As I expected, my first few landings were sloppy. In each case I found that I was too fast on my final approach, causing the plane to bounce a little on the first landing and float longer than planned on the second landing. Realizing the problem was my speed in the pattern, I made a conscious effort to fly a slower pattern the next time around and made a much better landing. I continued to improve on the next three and was completely satisfied with my final landing of the day.

It was great to get back in the air and I hope I will be able to fly again this week. With this flight I completed the fourth page in my logbook. I thought now would be a good time to summarize some of the statistics:

• Total hours flown: 63.3 hrs
• Dual hours flown: 37.1 hrs
• Solo hours flown: 26.2 hrs
• Cross-country hours flown: 13.5 hrs
• Night flight hours flown: 5.6 hrs
• IFR Hood flight time: 3.2 hrs
• Landings: 206
• Airports flown to: 15