Before I begin I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife for her support and belief in me. After I crashed the airplane back in April I would have given up flying if it were not for her belief in me and her push to get back in the saddle. She is a rare and wondrous woman and I am a lucky man.
As I previously wrote, I wrecked a Piper 180 on my first solo. I have been taking care of a lot of fall out from that occurrence and had not sat in a cockpit since that fateful day. Today that all changed. I met my instructor at 7:00 AM at RNO to try it again. This time instead of a Cherokee 180 I flew a Cessna 172 and man what a difference. The airplane is much more docile than a 180 and extremely easy to land.
We started with a thorough preflight and airplane familiarization. We taxied out and took off flying north of Reno. We got to the practice area and did some shallow and step turns (flying over my wake!) and it felt great. We then practiced some power on and power off stalls so I could get the feel of the airplane and that went well also. We then flew back to RNO and did about half a dozen touch and go landings, and I am still grinning. These were the best landings I have ever made. The 172 is such a forgiving plane to land and I was extremely aware (and wired) during all of the landings making sure that the yoke was held back well through roll out.
I know this story is not nearly as exciting as my previous one, thank god, but I did want to let everyone know that I did go back and it was amazing. I had really missed flying and am so very excited to be back. My throat is sore from all the whoops and hollering I did on my way back from the airport to work. I am stoked!
Thanks to all of you who emailed me on my first post and to all I wish blue skies, smooth air, and boring landings.
Joseph Wright
Wright@iGo.com
Director, IT Development
