Day 10: Landings

     I was scheduled for two two-hour blocks today, but we cancelled one because Matt says it's not worth going out to practice things I already can do well enough to pass the stage check. On the drive to the airport, I listened to the weather broadcast which reported an overcast layer of clouds at 1,900 feet. That is too low to fly out to the practice area, but still high enough to stay in the traffic pattern at the airport and practice landings. So that is what we did for a little over an hour.
     The wind was straight down the runway at 10 knots, at times gusting to 14 knots, so it was a challenge to bring the plane down smoothly. Out of 10 landings, only 2 were what I would call a smooth landing. One of the approaches was going well considering the windiness, until we descended below the tree tops. Then the wind suddenly almost stopped, and we sank like a rock toward the runway.
     "Add power!" Matt said.
     I pushed the throttle in part way, then decided not to salvage the landing, so I jammed the throttle all the way in and climbed out.
     On another approach we encountered some wind shear as we passed through an area where the winds were blowing different directions. The approach was proceeding normally, when suddenly we appeared to be lower than necessary. I added power to compensate; however we began sinking even faster. I kept adding more and more power until we reached a normal descent rate. It was a bit disconcerting to sink that fast, and now I was using way more power than normal. After a few seconds of flying like this, we must have left that area of sinking air because we began climbing. I pulled the throttle back out, and ended up leaving it on idle for the rest of the landing.
     It was a very challenging day to fly, but it was good to get experience in those conditions. If flying in challenging conditions has taught me one thing, it is that sticking my hand out the window will dry the sweat off my palm.
     Today's flying added 1.3 hours and 10 landings to the logbook, which brings the totals to 22.3 hours and 72 landings.