Climbing the Next Peak

So I'm finally insured to fly Pilot-In-Command of the Twin Comanche. And now that I've been flying it a bit as the only person onboard, its got me thinking again how it seems I've begun a second cycle of learning to master an airplane.

My landings, although well within the realms of safety, leave a lot to be desired in comparison to when I flew the Cessna 150. In the C-150 it got so that I could consistently put the airplane smoothly down on the runway well within 20 ft of my target touchdown point, even in a strong crosswind. In fact it got to the point where I could do that so consistently it was hardly any fun anymore. I remember back in Sarnia I was doing circuits just for kicks, and my instructor, Jason, was in another airplane holding short of the runway I was on final for. Over the radio he said, "Hey Chad, see if you can touch down right at Alpha [taxiway]." I managed to put the airplane down about 20 ft before alpha, and then have it stopped in time to smoothly turn off the runway onto that same taxiway. I could see Jason laughing incredulously at the fact that I pulled it off as I taxied by them.

This wasn't the case when the ink was still fresh on my license. It was a process to get to that point. At the beginning my landings weren't always silky smooth, and the touchdown point was always exactly where I was aiming. It seems now that I'm flying the Twin Comanche I'm back to the start - where I was with the C-150 a couple hundred and some-odd hours ago. Of course I already knew this, but I'm just reflecting. I'm going to have to work hard again to impress my passengers.

Last night I went flying, and out of my 4 landings that I did (Kitchener, Peterborough, Cornwall, London) I only rolled the wheels on once. We won't even consider whether or not I hit my exact target touchdown zone. Although sometimes after touchdown I cringe and look around to see if any other airplane saw that, its nice to have another mountain to climb. Its a breath of fresh air and I look forward to the challenge.