The day before.

After my last flight with Bob, I readily agreed that I needed some landing practice. Bob suggested that I head down after work on the Friday and bash out some circuits.

I was up for that, some nice relaxing flying at my home base sounded exactly what I needed. I’ll admit to being a little unsettled by the fact that Bob had no intention of being at the flight school that evening.

He booked me a plane, told me to do some circuits and call him when I was done. Okaaay.

No one at the flight school seemed unduly concerned either, handing over the keys; they merely asked how long I planned on being before returning to their YouTube watching.

I attracted their attention though when I returned back after 5 minutes. I wasn’t happy with the oil pressure reading on my run up. It was low; despite the fact that I knew I had enough oil in there. I’ve seen it low before but this actually dropped. I needed a second opinion.

Dispatch were quick and efficient and, more importantly, kind. It turned out to be a none issue but no one chastised me for over reacting. The overarching opinion being that I‘d done the right thing.

Eventually I got her airborne and bashed out some circuits. That descriptor being a little too accurate, my first one could only be described as a “bounce and go”.

Jeez, it’s been a while since I’ve done that. The gentle winds threw me a curveball, I couldn’t get the plane down. Two overshoots later I finally made a full stop.

Time to call it a day. I wasn’t confident about tomorrow’s flight. Landing was going to form an integral part of the flight, mandatory even. I couldn’t even manage it at my home airport.

Not an auspicious start.