Another flight lesson well done

I just got back from two flying lessons. The first one was a flight at 7:30pm which lasted until 9:15ish. Second one was a sim ride at 10pm, so I was one the flight simulator for another hour or so. Both lessons went really well. I am executing all instrument procedures at or above Commercial standards. I am having so much fun in my instrument training!

The flight today consisted of VOR course interceptions, GPS waypoint user-defined interceptions and a little bit of review on instrument scanning procedures. All of this was done under the hood (for people who don't know what the "hood" is - it's a plastic hood you wear over your head which prevents you from looking outside and makes you rely on your instruments to simulate flying in the clouds). The last part of the flight constisted of a soft-field, short-field, and power-off-180 accuracy landings. My first landing back into Grand Forks was an ILS approach with a soft-field landing, which I think was the best soft-field I have ever done in my life. I don't know how I did it, but I did it perfectly. I flared at just the right time and airspeed, walked the power out slowly and just bumped up the power a split second before touch down to ease the wheels to the ground as smooth as possible. The rest of the landings were great, other than me needing to review proper short-field take-off techniques (I cannot let the airspeed go lower than the computed 50-foot obstacle speed, which would mean a failed stage check).

Learning to fly has helped me so much in my life. It's given me a boost in confidence and allows me to set higher goals and standards for myself; it has helped me learn to believe in myself. I just can't wait until the day I get my Commercial SMEL certificate and my CFI, CFII, and MEI certificates!