Flight 12, N2407N, 1.5 hours (17.1 total), slow flight, stalls, forward slips, steep turns, landings

The weather wasn't as beautiful as yesterday, but when I got up to check the ceiling was pretty high and visibility was good. I came in early and by the time Mark arrived I've already finished pre-flight. We were heading to the coast area to practice some maneuvers, then I'd get us to San Carlos Airport (SQL, funny name) and practice landing there. SQL is very close to PAO and will be my backup landing airport when I solo and PAO is to be closed for any reason.

Runway 13 was in use today so we did a left 270 departure towards the coast. Sometime during flight Mark noticed my strobe light was off. Oops, missed it during my run-up checklist. In the coast area the clouds were tiered: few at 3400 then scattered at 11000. We initially flew at 4500. For the slow flight I pulled back power real quick, and we were at 55 kts in no time. Marks comments were "that's the fastest I've seen it done". But of course there were more than a couple bones to pick: I lost 200 feet of altitude in the process (should have pulled back more and faster, and probably add power back in earlier), I didn't put in full flap until my speed was already down to 60 kts (could have done it much earlier). In my second try I did it slowly and maintained altitude better. I then tried two forward slips. The last time I did it (which was also my first time) was quite ugly: the plane didn't turn enough, I wasn't losing much altitude and got drifted off course quite a bit. This time we were doing it at altitude and that took away the stress factor. I did much better this time. Seemed like I tend to bank too much so I still drifted, but I remembered to push down. At altitude pushing down during a slip isn't scary at all. Next we did a power off and a power on stall. I got more comfortable with stalls, and again was reminded of how hard it actually is to get into a stall, especially a power on stall. Next I did a left 360 steep turn followed by a right 360. The left one went better. I maintained altitude and flew back into my wake to get that little bump. I lost 200 feet in the right one, though. It's a bit odd because people usually gain altitude in a right steep turn, as the plane appears to be going down even when it's in level flight. I should have started pulling back earlier, just as I got into the turn. I was late on it and the plane was already descending when I tried to correct it.

I found SQL on the GPS and set a direct course to it. On our way there we chose to go under the low clouds. It got a lot bumpier this way, but still not bad enough to make me feel sick. SQL tower required me to read back the runway number for each request, which is different than PAO tower. e.g., they: "Cessna 2407N, cleared for landing at runway 12", me: 'cleared for landing, runway 12, 07N". I forgot a couple of times and they reminded me to always repeat the runway number. I wonder why they are different. We crossed midfield at 1200 the descended to pattern altitude at 800 and turned downwind. On final there's an obvious crosswind, and I got a crash course on cross wind landing. I also came in high so my freshly practiced slipping skills got a chance on the center stage, which worked out relatively well: I lost enough altitude without increasing airspeed and didn't drift off the centerline. crosswind landing felt like a handful, though. I had trouble finding the correct crab angle, so I kept adjusting till the last moment. Then when I straightened the plan I had trouble finding the right banking. All this extra work threw off my flare timing and I landed a bit hard and bounced a bit. We taxied back to try again. Something funny happened this time: my headset got loose during the takeoff roll and fell off just as I was lifting off. I continued flying till Mark took over and I could adjust my headset. The 2nd landing got better. We came in with only 20 degrees of flap and that felt easier in the crosswind. We tried one more time then took off for a straight departure for PAO. The two airports are really close to each other. We just climbed to 1000 feet and stayed there. It felt like less than a minute before we were cleared for a straight in final. It turned out to be one of my best landings. I controlled speed pretty well during final, and held the flare long enough, then just pulled a bit more to ease the plane down. It was a gentle touch down and Mark was very happy with it. I just need to do it a dozen more times then I'd be quite confident in my landing :)