Cessna 172SP Pattern OWD 6-21-10.mov
October 1, 2010
In June of 2010, the Cirrus SR20 I had been routinely flying at Norwood Flight Academy had to go off line for some maintenance. Since the plane would be unavailable for a number of weeks, I decided to get re-checked or “current” in one of NFA’s many Cessna 172SPs. This is a great plane with full glass avionics (Garmin G1000) and I had quite a few hours in them during and just after my training. I even did my check ride in the 172SP so I had been quite comfortable in the plane. But I hadn’t flown one for eight months, so a currency flight was necessary. This video was shot during solo pattern practice I did just after being approved to solo the plane again. The first thing I should point out about the video is that I connected my coms audio recorder to a patch location that didn’t have the audio turned up. So I ended up with no usable tower audio from this flight. Normally I do have an audio track with tower and ATC communication so that was frustrating. But once I started editing, it felt like this video was still quite interesting and useful even without it. What you’ll see here is my first complete pattern from take off to landing, followed by several of the final approaches from the remainder of the morning. These aren’t perfect, but it is a good example of the kind of practice work that every new pilot and student pilot does. I was also excited to get back in the Cessna and work on camera placements. The last time I flew the 172SP, I wasn’t routinely working with …
