Since Saturday's cross-country didn't happen for me, I'm going to try again on either Thursday or Friday. And then, assuming I'm able to fly to Las Cruces on one of those two days, I'll try to get another X-C in on Saturday morning. It'll probably be Silver City, NM - Safford - Willcox. It's not really necessary for me to start doubling up like that, yet. I'm just trying to stay a little bit ahead of the game. Besides, cross-countries are fun.

This morning Jen and I got to sleep in a bit, since I didn't have to fly at 6:45. Erin called last night to tell me she was on her way to Tucson for dental surgery and that I should get dispatched for a local solo by Jorge (another flight instructor here). I wasn't sure if Jorge had a first-thing-in-the-morning student today, so I went in for the 8:15 flight period instead. The solo was fine. I worked on some commercial maneuvers (chandelles, 8's on pylons, and 8's around pylons), then I flew back to the college and did 4 landings. I'm pretty much over the fear of flaring, but my landings are still a little rusty. And yesterday I got introduced to the power-off precision landing. Doing them successfully requires some skill with short-field landings. Doing short-fields successfully requires soem skill with normal landings. Hence, I did 4 landings before shutting down this morning. One was pretty rough. One was really nice. The other two were passable.

I got my radio nav test back in class yesterday. I missed two, which earned me an A. This test was much easier than the first one, mostly because I took the time to sit down and go through the relevent questions in the study guide. Turns out it pays to never underestimate the power of the study guide. It's a lesson I won't soon forget.