43 days
6 weeks 0 days and 22 hours
My weight this morning was 13 stones 2 pounds, the target for the week is 13 stones. I've been a little lax the last week having not been to the gym at all.
Yesterday was a good day for me, I completed the annual flying checks, much later than everyone else who usually do them in February. The cable break was challenging, at 300 feet the power was cut, I stuffed the nose down hard, regained flying speed, decided to land ahead, popped the airbrakes open only to have control taken from me. Andy then turned the glider through 340 degrees and at 100 feet over the field beside the runway handed me back control. OK there was only just time to ensure the speed was right, get the wings level, get us over the field and to get the airbrakes out, but given the strength of the wind we had plenty of runway to go at. 2 landing setups for the price of 1, which incidentally was £0 as the cable HAD actually broken as part of the exercise and we don't get charged for broken cable launches.
Andy was going to do another cable break exercise with me, but instead opted to let me go on my own. I was half expecting the power to be cut, but instead it carried on and took me to 1700 feet. If I'd been a bit more with it I'd have been ok for 2000 feet, but I didn't want to stay with it and the speed was building so I ditched the cable at 1700. I totally failed to connect with any thermals worth having, lots of half a turn a 2 knots then nothing type thermals, so 6 minutes later I was back on the ground - ho hum.
Ater lunch I dragged the Puchacz 2 seater trainer out of the hanger, did the daily inspection (DI), put a battery and parachutes in it then was aerotowed to 3000 feet. I was holding a very stable position behind the tug, but it was to high - I must watch that as tug upsets aren't good ( euphamism for likely fatal). We then did a series of spin exercises, entering the full spin from a shallow banked turn, flying near the stall with excess rudder, and variations around this. One variant was a straight stall flying straight, holding the stick back then booting a load of rudder in - it didn't actually spin, but was right on the edge. I sometimes fly slow in thermals when I solo, just above 40 knots with a stall of 32 knots
Tomorrow I might go back and fly a single seater - now I'm cleared for solo flight again. Weather permitting... tomorrow is also significant as it's my last day with oestrogen for 8 weeks.
This morning I had my irregular torture session at the gym with a personal trainer - usually the day after this the results are obvious on the scales. I think it has been worth the cost.
My weight this morning was 13 stones 2 pounds, the target for the week is 13 stones. I've been a little lax the last week having not been to the gym at all.
Yesterday was a good day for me, I completed the annual flying checks, much later than everyone else who usually do them in February. The cable break was challenging, at 300 feet the power was cut, I stuffed the nose down hard, regained flying speed, decided to land ahead, popped the airbrakes open only to have control taken from me. Andy then turned the glider through 340 degrees and at 100 feet over the field beside the runway handed me back control. OK there was only just time to ensure the speed was right, get the wings level, get us over the field and to get the airbrakes out, but given the strength of the wind we had plenty of runway to go at. 2 landing setups for the price of 1, which incidentally was £0 as the cable HAD actually broken as part of the exercise and we don't get charged for broken cable launches.
Andy was going to do another cable break exercise with me, but instead opted to let me go on my own. I was half expecting the power to be cut, but instead it carried on and took me to 1700 feet. If I'd been a bit more with it I'd have been ok for 2000 feet, but I didn't want to stay with it and the speed was building so I ditched the cable at 1700. I totally failed to connect with any thermals worth having, lots of half a turn a 2 knots then nothing type thermals, so 6 minutes later I was back on the ground - ho hum.
Ater lunch I dragged the Puchacz 2 seater trainer out of the hanger, did the daily inspection (DI), put a battery and parachutes in it then was aerotowed to 3000 feet. I was holding a very stable position behind the tug, but it was to high - I must watch that as tug upsets aren't good ( euphamism for likely fatal). We then did a series of spin exercises, entering the full spin from a shallow banked turn, flying near the stall with excess rudder, and variations around this. One variant was a straight stall flying straight, holding the stick back then booting a load of rudder in - it didn't actually spin, but was right on the edge. I sometimes fly slow in thermals when I solo, just above 40 knots with a stall of 32 knots
Tomorrow I might go back and fly a single seater - now I'm cleared for solo flight again. Weather permitting... tomorrow is also significant as it's my last day with oestrogen for 8 weeks.
This morning I had my irregular torture session at the gym with a personal trainer - usually the day after this the results are obvious on the scales. I think it has been worth the cost.