Steep Turns & Stalling

Another week goes by in sunny Arizona, and we have had plenty of flying this week at least. Last weekend was Independence Day so we went out to celebrate that at the local ball park in Goodyear, which  included an F-16 fly over and lots of fireworks. We also then had the Monday off as it is a national holiday. Other than that, I have been up in the air every day, either flying or backseating, and have completed 6 lessons now.

We have made a few more trips out to other airfields. We went out to Wickenburg on Thursday, which is to the north west of Phoenix; there was some great scenery out that way. Also, the runway is on quite a big slope, so there was a kind of valley one side, but some daunting hills in front of us as we were climbing out, it took some skill from our instructor to navigate ourselves over them! We also headed out to Buckeye on Friday, which is on the western side of Phoenix. Like Gila Bend, there is pretty much nothing there, although there was a fridge full of snacks in the pilot’s lounge, which we could help ourselves to for a small donation. Best of all though, I was able to backseat one of our instructor’s other students on Wednesday. He is on the course ahead of us, and was performing one of his first navigation flights. We flew out to an airport called Phoenix Mesa Gateway which is on the eastern side of Phoenix. It is a large airport, with three parallel runways, and taxiways the size of an international airport. I flew back, and we actually took off behind a departing MD-80, which was very exciting! This week looks to be another week of general handling, followed by circuits and hopefully our first solo the week after!

Other than that, life is very gentle, and consists of a lot of swimming, tennis, pool, table tennis and even some TV! After those long, hard months of ground school I think we have earned the right to be lazy! There is still a lot of ground work to be done, in terms of reading up about our coming lessons and the aircraft. Also, we have an essay due in soon for our Bucks New Uni Foundation Degree, so I have been working on that this weekend. Best of all though are the local restaurants, of which there are many. It has been great trying them all out, and tonight we are off to TGI Fridays.