The One Where an Off Day Reminds Me It’s Not Over Yet

Day Five of FMT started with a sense of optimism. The lesson plan didn’t look too dense, and I was confident after how smoothly things had been going. That said, it was a bit of a wake-up call to see how much my fundamentals slipped after just two days off. Right from the start, I struggled with my crosswind correction on takeoff, which threw off my V1 cuts later on. I managed to keep heading, but my overuse of the ailerons led to a couple of “bank angle” callouts—definitely not what you want to hear. My last takeoff was fine, yet it was hard not to feel rattled by earlier mistakes that had never happened before.

On the bright side, single-engine approaches and go-arounds went relatively smoothly. The aircraft was in the right configuration, and I nailed the callouts. We also tackled a couple of RNP AR approaches—those curved RNAV approaches—where the main challenge was keeping an eye on speed, which turned out fine. My instructor did note that when performing a go-around at lower altitudes, I should be more decisive with both thrust application and pitching up, but that’s not a huge issue in the grand scheme.

The session ended with a single-engine landing. My touchdown was technically within the landing zone, but I floated a bit and overall just didn’t love how it felt. Rejected takeoffs were otherwise uneventful, but walking away, I was left feeling less than great about the day’s performance.

I asked for an extra session tomorrow to reinforce some key maneuvers, especially V1 cuts, single-engine approaches, no-flaps landings, and even a few normal takeoffs to recenter my crosswind corrections. Since we won’t have any other big objectives, I’m optimistic I can really focus on improving those fundamentals. Sometimes an off day is exactly the kick in the pants you need to get back on track—and that’s how I’m looking at it.