Pilot's logbook

4/4 C-152 LOU LOU Taxiing, Preflight, Straight& Level, Turns (30 degree), T/O & landing, XW
I had my first lesson today. AirCenterOne is located at Bowman Field (KLOU). My instructor is Michael Bingham, CFI.

At first we were going to cancel because the weather was "marginal"-- clouds and gusty winds. I suggested we spend the hour doing Q&A and informational stuff. After I got there, we decided to go up anyway.

Mike walked me thru the pre-flight inspection. Then we got in and I was introduced to the rest of the procedures. Most of it made sense, but there was an awful lot of it. Sensory overload. The Cessna C152 is going to be fun, but actually I didn't feel too much fun today. There's a huge difference between riding and trying to be in a position of understanding and responsibility for what goes on. Also, by the end I was feeling a little green around the gills.

So far, I suck at taxiing. Were we ever on the yellow line? I guess I crossed it several times.

All the moves are things I am not at all used to. To taxi, you drive with your feet (for direction) and one hand on the throttle for speed. Brakes are at the top of the rudder pedals. At first you basically run the machine with one hand on the throttle. That's seemed to be the operative issue from ground to some kind of cruising state, and it gets adjusted a lot during that time. The other hand is on the wheel in charge of ailerons and elevators. I never got any feel for that, either. I'll blame it on the winds. Mike was basically flying and I was messing him up, I think.

I'm learning a lot from Mike, and not just the aviation stuff. He's a real go-getter about the flight instructor business, and that's useful in itself. I should apply his example to my music lessons. I'll have to if I'm going to pay for all this. $176 today.

Some things he does:
* talk it through, talk it through, and keep on talking. What we're doing, why, how it works. I don't know how many times I'll have to hear it all before it clicks, so I'm glad he doesn't just leave it at short explanations.
* he's assertive about getting my business.

Takeoff was about like I expected, but landing surprised me. First of all, how you can ever get in line for that runway (but everyone learns how, right?) Interesting was how slow it felt when we were coming in for final approach. It's like the plane stops and hovers and hangs and then sinks. (I doubt it will seem slow when I have to do it, but that's how it felt today).

We're going up again on Friday.

The owner of Air Center One is Tony, and I met about 8 other pilots and instructors. Do I remember any names? No.

I talked to the people at Bardstown Airfield (Honaker Aviation), also, but I think I'll wait 'til down the road to get in any contact with them. Eventually I'll want to, for proximity and networking, at least.

I also sent an email to (and heard back from) a local person who is willing to be a mentor. His name is Barry, and he looks to be interested and interesting. He flies his plane out of the Clark County Airport, but I think he actually lives in Shepherdsville.

So I'll have local advice to add to Amy's friends Alex and Julie.