Flying in turbulent weather.....

Last weekend, I went flying and had my second fright. I posted awhile back that during my second lesson, when making a 15 degree bank turn, my door became ajar at 2000+ feet. I heard this has happened before and since then I've made sure I am buckled properly and that the door is latched tightly.

It appeared to be a nice warm day until I listened to ATIS and it reported moderate turbulence at 1000+ ft. We took off and immediately I felt a pressure drag. It was hard trying to gain altitute and at the same keep the plane from rolling. At 4000 ft, we experienced less turbulence. My CFI wanted to practice level flight and power off stalls. So we practiced level flight and it went smoothly.

Next was the power off stall. So, here I was -- steady at slow flight, I slowly pulled back the throttle to idle. I applied right rudder and also back pressure to the yoke to reduce airspeed but maintain altitude. I was holding it in place waiting for the nose to drop amidst the cacophony of engine, wind and stall horn noise. When the nose dropped, I pushed in the carb heat, applied full power and lower the nose to regain airspeed, and also retract the flaps to twenty degrees. But because of the turbulence, there was a loss of lift.

On our way back as we started to descend, the turbulence was very intense. I had to turn the control over to my CFI. He was doing a decent job until we hit a bumpy area that knocked him out his seat. His seat belt unbuckled! WHOA! I had to take the wheel while he buckled up. It reminded me of a roller coaster ride - the thrashing back and forth and the sudden drop.