The Doctor's Lair

Now that I got to pull the airplane out of the hangar on my own, I naturally schedule a solo flight. Guess what happens? Ah, you got it, the weather god showed his wrath again and I had to cancel. Thinking back, I guess this one was a nice cancellation. The solo is followed in the Cessna Private Pilot syllabus with a progress check. It is there for a reason. To get the rust off. What happened with me was that after hours and hours in the pattern practicing crosswind landings and preparing for the solo, my skills in the other maneuvers got rusty. So when we went out on the progress check, I was again in the thinking mode where I had to do everything by thinking about them. The natural movements were gone. Off-course I knew what to do, I just had to think harder. Practice, practice and more practice: thats what it comes down to.