Garrett & I took up the Sport Star today! Lots of fun. EXCEPT. Landing was a bit rough.

Yep, after I had kissably smooth ones in the 172 on turf, I had a pretty rough one today. So much so that the owner of the school suggested I take an instructor up to practice!

Good idea… I don’t want to be a safety risk! So I’m going up with the chief instructor sometime next week to polish that baby.

I reflected back on my landings in the SportStar, and the ones that I did the best on were on very long runways. My problem is that I am coming in a little too fast, and after seeing the wreckage of the other Sport Star, I lost my confidence and didn’t want to stall. With enough speed, I won’t stall, but I was freaking out for no reason. The stall speed with the plane in the configuration I had it in was 38 kts. I was going 60. That’s an easy 22kt margin.

So with a long runway, I can take my time floating away to bleed off speed. On the short runway at 52F, I don’t have that luxury. I was definitely a little embarrassed, but the only thing bruised is my pride. I would much rather have an experienced pilot tell me that I need to get some help with something, than have an NTSB examiner tell me that!

I’ll spend an hour with the instructor, which should allow me to get six good landings in. Then the next time I am going up, Matt & I are taking the Sport Star to Stephenville (BBD) for barbecue.

Garrett was a hit at the hangar and was telling everyone how he got to fly the airplane. I’m so glad that I get to share this with Garrett!

Oh, and something else…. After seeing the wreckage of the Sport Star, we’re taking a look at buying a plane. Nothing against rental facilities, but I’d almost rather get a plane that has had a thorough once-over by a good mechanic, and be the only one flying it. That way, I KNOW what happens to the plane. Plus, long term I’ll save a ton of cash.

Will check back in after my flight instruction to tell you how I did!