After my trip to Florida where I got a chance to fly WW Sport 2, my confidence level increased and I wanted to fly other sites. The problem was, most of them required H3 rating. I certainly didn't want to break any rules, so the priority for me for the season was to advance my rating. I had enough flying hours, all I needed was to pass a written test and a spot landing test. Spot landing is basically three consecutive landings within 50' of a spot after flights requiring turns on approach. Launching from 450 at Morningside was a perfect place to do the practice and the test. I still had a problem estimating how long my glide was going to be. I needed a lot of practice and some help.
So, again just like last year, I got to Morningside as soon as they opened for the season. I got 8 flights the very first day. I was getting better and better with DBF (downwind-base-final) approach and got a much better feel for where I was going to touch down. I went to Morningside every chance I got, but the weather didn't cooperate sometimes. I used one of rainy weekends to complete my written test. And other times, I squeezed in a few towing flights - at Morningside and Tanner-Hiller. My landings were still not perfect as I got almost no feel for flare, but I was consistently landing where I wanted... or at least close enough.
On a couple of other weekends, I asked David Baxter to observe me and give me some feedback. He gladly agreed. He gave me plenty of information on what I could improve and even flown my Falcon to show me how it was done. Good times. Thank you, David!
And finally, on Memorial Day weekend, I gathered enough confidence to go through with a spot landing test. I started early in the morning, practicing. Then later same day, Josh observed me landing near bullseye. I got one landing ~25' away from the target and another two closer to 50', but all in the required range. 8 flights off 450 total that day. Eric Meibos got me the paperwork for USHPA rating - I was all set to start exploring new sites.
- Josh and I after I completed H3 spot landing test
The same day Dana Harris was doing spot landing for his H4. He passed as well. Congratulations, Dana!
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And of course, socializing with other pilots is always fun. On Saturday night, Ilya Rivkin and David Park were doing bbq and feeding hungry pilots - ribs and something tasty wrapped in bacon was on the menu. Life is good. Thank you guys! Here are a few photos -> Memorial Day Weekend At Morningside.
And here is a video from Memorial Day weekend - different pilots practicing spot landings: