Well, that was one hell of a lesson... I certainly know that I'm alive and kicking
I saw the weather this morning and assumed it would be off. Got a text from the instructor saying it's OK but will be bumpy and we had circuits booked for 10.
Arrived at the airport and saw the windsock defying gravity and flapping about a fair bit at 50 degrees off the left of runway 27. A very interesting conundrum for a relatively new student given some of the topics on here. Certainly not sure of my own capabilities to fly safely in this but having to put faith in the instructor. How far do you go when learning a new skill with 'if there's doubt, there's no doubt?' Anyway, I cracked on and glad I did.
Bit of instruction on a bit of left aileron down, right rudder, crabbing approach, allowance for wind in the circuit and clarifying what went wrong last time but put it behind me. Then off we went.
Pre-flight is now starting to get more natural. I still like to use the checklists but I realised after I'd called the tower for clearance to taxi that I'd done it without really thinking about it. I must have called at just the point that they split the frequency for tower and approach because I had to do it again on the tower only frequency. Good practice though.
Taxi out all fairly uneventful, power and vital checks done and then off we go.
10kts to start with - not too bad but pretty gusty (for me anyway).
First couple of circuits were a bit rusty and had to be picked up on height but soon got back into the swing of things. Speed on the turn into final back on track again for the rest of the lesson. After the bollocking that I got after the last lesson for forgetting carb heat as we turned base, it was pretty clear I wasn't going to forget that ever again.
First couple of landings I had to fight it a bit and was over-correcting. Down and back up with all parts still attached though.
Third landing wind up to 12kts, I'm proud to say I absolutely aced. I barely felt it touch down, perfectly aligned.
Fourth landing was OK but the wind was increasing and gusting more and more.
For the final 4 landings, each time I was on final, tower reported another kt on the windspeed so the last one was with 16kts at 210 degrees. The last 3 I completed completely on my own.
I genuinely have no idea how you instructors can sit there fully off the controls while a novice of questionable standard makes wobbly landings in crosswinds like today. Fair play to you and a big thanks to those that do.
Strava record of circuit patterns shown for posterity - not the best, not the worst. Definitely works better on the dash - thank you for the tip @Paul_Sengupta
Key progress from today - I've really learned the benefit of looking down to the end of the runway once over the threshold on final. Whilst being told to do it before, I don't think I was really. I forced myself to do it today and I think it helped a lot, especially with kicking the rudder right to line us up. Previously, I was being told to kick right but in my head/visual picture, we were aligned. At one point today, I thought the same, then looked to the end it all became clear why the instructor was telling me more right rudder. The flare seemed a bit more natural and I didn't have to think about it too much.
Had to really force myself as the lesson progressed to just do small inputs on the controls on finals. I found this really hard to do when getting buffeted by gusts but once I managed it, it really did help.
Need to work on concentrating after we've landed - every time I got reprimanded for not keeping left aileron down as we rolled for the next take-off. It just would not stick in my head. I think it was probably a bit of relief each time that we'd landed OK that I switched off a bit. Always good to have something to improve on though.
Radio work is going OK.
It was a tough 55 mins today, but thoroughly rewarding.
So, that's lesson 11, 12h30m.
Was going to try an air law and ops proc exam today but realised that I'd not registered for the e-exam process. Next time maybe...