--- layout: post title: "Floating over imaginary sod" tags: - aviation - flying - vfrstudentpilot --- Wiping the crud from my sleepy 6am eyes, I shut off my alarm and grab my tablet off the nightstand. As is becoming increasingly common, my days are starting with weather before I even leave the bed. I open up the forecast for Hayward: clear skies, winds at 0 knots. "*Shit*, I have to wake up now" My desire to fly, and desire to sleep are at odds with one another during these critical early morning minutes. Grumpy for no good reason, I throw my junk into the car to drive down to Hayward. --- On the menu for today in [738VU](http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/9169914387/) is a lesson full of nothing but short-field take-offs/landings, and soft-field take-offs/landings. Staying in the pattern makes for a very productive lesson thanks to Haywards unique low pattern altitudes. Pre-flight complete, and into the cockpit we go. Turning the appropriate knobs, flipping some switches and the engine start checklist is complete, I enter Hayward's frequencies into the Garmin and make my initial full call up from parking to Hayward Tower. I realize my mistake before Tower even responds. "Hayward Tower, Seven Three Eight VIctor Uniform contact ground point four" Damnit. My instructor smirks, his silence has paid dividends, he saw the mistake coming from a mile away. Every time I get a little too yeah-i'm-a-pilot-neener-neener confident, some minor mistake brings me back down to earth where I'm still just an error-prone student pilot. "Hayward *Ground*, Cessna Seven Three Eight Victor Uniform at the green ramp with information xray, request taxi to Two Eight Right" Clearance from ground received we putter off towards the run-up area for 28R. --- My first soft-field take-off I act too timidly with the rudder pedals, resulting in us gaining our speed left of centerline, before climbing out. Coming around in the circuit, as was the case the day before, my circuit is sloppy as is my approach. A go-around ensued as a result, I seem to have a habit of needing at least one crappy circuit in order to relax enough to tune everything in for the next time around.