My Aviators - My Journey as a Woman Pilot

Location: KDVN Pattern
Weather: Winds Variable @ 5-7 kts
Runway in Use: 03

I have been trying to fit in a quick flight to practice some pattern work and go arounds lately and I finally got a chance on Friday. I had recently read an article about how more deaths and injuries occur during go arounds than during any other phase of flight. The theory the article went from was that people don't really practice go arounds and when one is needed they may make a crucial mistake that costs them their life. I talked to a few people at the airport about it and they agreed vehemently that go arounds are extremely dangerous when not performed correctly. One instructor stated that recently a student removed all his flaps at once when he applied full power for the go around. Given that removing those flaps also suddenly removes lift the instructor rightfully feared for his life. So after reading the article and hearing the story I have go arounds on my list of things to practice occasionally to make sure I am proficient in the instance that I need to use one.

My go arounds went well during practice. Full power, back pressure, climb, clean-up (slowly), do it again. No problem. The thing that didn't go well were my landings. I just couldn't get comfortable with my approach on Friday (guess it was a good thing I was practicing go arounds). All my approaches and landings were safe but not the pretty little chirps that I strive for. I have been over and over my practice session in my head and I think I can pinpoint it to my trim work. I wasn't getting it trimmed well so I was fighting the plane the whole way up and the whole way down. Which meant I was extremely unstable on approach which always leads to bad landings. Since this was a short practice session I might try to get up on a day in the next week or so and see if I can get a couple of good landings in.


Duration of Flight: .5hrs
Total Flight Hours:91.2 hrs