Today was a little windy at the surface and there was a line of thunderstorms approaching from the SW. I didn't think the weather would hold out for us but it did. The thunderstorms actually didn't get into the area until 9pm. There was almost a direct crosswind at 10kts, but I didn't have trouble controlling the plane. I took off and as I climbed past 2000 feet, it became VERY calm. It was hazy so we switched on the NAV and Strobe lights as we continued up to 3750.

My instructor had me slow the plane down to 55kts and execute 10, 20 and 30 degree banks with 0, 10, 20 and 30 degrees of flaps. He had warned me that at such a slow speed with the plane in this configuration, we could stall and spin and that I was to give him the controls if this happened, but I kept the ball in the center and performed the maneuvers without sweating.

Then, we kept focusing on a highway to use as a guide for performing forward and side slips. In a forward slip, I was to use rudder and then aileron to keep the airplane inline with the road while descending. In a side slip, I was the use the aileron to begin moving toward the side while using rudder to keep the nose straight. No problems with these maneuvers. Each time we had to climb and go back to a starting point, I'd get to that point and do a 45 degree turn. Lots of fun!

Back in the pattern, we made our turns and for the landing, my instructor demonstrated a forward slip to lose some altitude. Then he recovered and we both put the plane on the runway. Back at the farm, my instructor said I've accomplished a lot very quickly and said I was probably his best student so far. Yippee!!!

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