I am now around seven hours into my training, and the latest lessons have moved on to take offs and landings and an introduction to circuits. It felt like a culmination of everything I have learned so far, as the exercises finally started to link together into something that looked and felt like real flying.
From the second lesson I had already been taking control of both the take off and the landing, so in some ways this was familiar ground. Take offs generally felt straightforward. As long as I set full power, kept straight with the rudder, rotated at the right speed and held the correct climb attitude, things went well. Landings, on the other hand, have been a different story. They are very hit and miss. Some of them I manage to get just right, touching down smoothly and on the centreline, while others have felt untidy. I have not yet worked out a sure method of making every landing consistent, and I came away from the lesson knowing that this is something that will take more practice and patience.
This was my first proper introduction to the circuit, flying on runway 24, although I’d flow base legs coming back into the circuit from other lessons. Greg made sure I had visual reference points in my head for where each turn should happen. These gave me something solid to work with rather than trying to guess the positions in the air. The focus at this stage was not on perfection but on getting used to the rhythm of the circuit, flying the rectangular pattern and fitting in as many take offs and landings as possible.
To manage the workload, Greg handled the downwind checks and the radios for me. That gave me the space to focus on flying accurately without being overloaded. He explained that this stage is all about slowly building capacity, and I could see what he meant. Circuits are busy, and everything happens much faster than it feels in the early lessons.
Overall, this introduction to circuits felt like a big step forward. For the first time I was flying a structured pattern with multiple take offs and landings in one lesson. Although my landings are inconsistent, I know that with more practice they will improve. Circuits are a challenge, but they also feel like a gateway to real progress, and I am looking forward to spending more time on them in the weeks ahead.
Modular Pilot Kiran 