Cowra - Went out for a hot one late this morning. 31 OAT, Flew out of busy circuit down to Young, 20 kts at 3000' tail, 15 kts on the ground at Young.
Significant bumps in circuit in the hills . No fun at all. But not difficult. airplane upset 30 deg roll late final and including application of full power late final to counter a vicious sink.
Lesson learned : Might come in a bit higher and a bit steeper on that one next time. Would provide a little more room for such phenomena... Yeah it's been since last summer since I have flown in hot and gusty weather and I am rusty !!!
Climb out from the T&G was 1500 fpm initially. got a great thermal climbing out.
Other notes- I did not hold off the 20 kts of NE blowing across my runway heading departure track when I departed Cowra . It's clear I drifted significantly.
Tut Tut ! . (as reviewed on my flight data) .
This is something to think about, since you can't see ahead , and cues are otherwise difficult. Need to consider before departure and add to heading . Only a little wind at ground level, but the GWPT data which I DID review before flight - it did say 19 kts @ 2000'- (so why didnt I use it ?!) I have not thought enough about it in recent times. I will need to do this with precision when departing Canberra.
what else - Flew in a 1959 Cessna 180 (tailwheel) yesterday. Now that was different !!! wow landings are different......
Other thoughts - the 1500 fpm I got (about 750 fpm boost ) could have easily been -750 fp sink, and that would have been tough. good reason not to T&G but land, and backtrack to the start of the runway to give myself some more climb room on the high DA departure.