Tag: landings

  • Practicing Crosswind Landings: Gainesville

    Flight time building is a fantastic period, especially the cross-country segment: you simply enjoy flying and have fun. Of course, it involves a significant amount of planning, preparation, and studying, but it provides a wonderful opportunity to explore new places while gaining more experience. Summer in Florida is challenging. It’s not just sun and clear…

  • IR Part 141, Stage III Check: One More Cross-Country Flight

    Stage III of the Instrument Rating course mainly focuses on cross-country flights and everything related to them, such as weather briefing, flight planning, reading and interpreting NOTAMs, fuel, weight and balance computation, and more. Therefore, this stage check is a one more cross-country flight with full preparation. Unfortunately, the weather today is far from perfect,…

  • Improving My Pilot Skills with Holiday Flying

    I don’t work on holidays, which means I can fly more, or at least, work less if the weather doesn’t permit flying. Today, the weather is great, so I can practice my landings. Practicing more landings helps gaining skills, and different aerodromes aid in that too. Currently, crosswind landings are the most challenging for me,…

  • Exploring New Runways: A Day of Challenging Landings

    Today, I finally had the opportunity to fly again. I know that landing and approaches are still my weak points, so I decided to practice them extensively. I flew to six different airports to increase the challenge. I started at my home aerodrome, which has a wide, long runway that I am familiar with. Then…

  • Completing Flight Training: Overcoming Weather Challenges

    Summer is approaching, which means thunderstorms will be on the horizon. I need two more hours to complete my flight training, and today those hours are going to fly by. As I arrived at the aerodrome, I noticed a dark cloud accompanied by thunder. I have to be back in Moscow soon, and extending my…

  • Exploring the Czech Mountains on a Cross-Country Flight

    I’m continuing with my cross-country flights, and today I explored the incredible mountains near the Czech border with Poland. I climbed to 5,500 feet, so I’m getting closer to the airliners! I really enjoy cross-country flights. I get to see beautiful forests, castles, fields, mountains, houses, cars, and people below my plane, with the incredible…

  • From Above: Land in Sight!

    We have been flying a lot of aerodrome patterns lately, trying them out in different aerodromes to get a richer experience. While I am improving, my instructor is not completely confident in my flying, and so he doesn’t want to let me fly solo just yet. Perhaps if I had only one instructor from the…

  • Exploring New Aerodromes: A Pilot’s Perspective on Grass Runways

    I enjoy exploring new aerodromes as they may appear similar, but each one has its unique characteristics. While I acknowledge that my experience as a pilot was still limited when I wrote this post, I believe this holds true for much more experienced pilots as well. I’ve already shared my thoughts about grass and concrete…

  • Grass or Concrete: Which is Better for Landing and Why It Matters

    Grass or Concrete: Which is Better for Landing and Why It Matters

    Which surface is better for landing? For some reason, I prefer concrete. While grass is softer and results in an easier and gentler touchdown, concrete is flatter and smoother. Moreover, taking off from a concrete runway is definitely better. However, I understand the importance of gaining experience on grass strips, particularly for bush pilot jobs.…

  • Leveling Up: Improving My Landings on a Grass Strip

    I had a lot of landings on the grass. In fact, I had REALLY a lot of landings on the grass. Today, I flew patterns on the aerodrome with a grass strip. During my flight today, I made many landings. The main takeaway is that I finally feel like I am in control of the…