flying (+ 0.8 hours)

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day at the airport and it seemed like everyone wanted to fly. Usually I have the Hammond airport all to myself, but today there were three, four aircraft in the traffic pattern and the usually quiet common traffic radio frequency was alive with pilots coordinating with each other. Must sound hilarious to someone flying out of a busy airport, but for Hammond/Northshore (KHDC) this was a busy day! Adding to the day's novelty, the wind was blowing opposite its usual direction, so we took off (er, departed) on Runway 13 instead of 31. Which of course is the same runway, just used in the opposite direction. Waiting for departure, a bright yellow Steerman bi-plane (looked just like this one) landed right in front of us. Next week we're going to practice emergency procedures, including landing on a grass field somewhere north of the airport(!).

Up to 6.9 hrs dual instruction.