Got out to the aerodrome early to depart for a nearby airport and participate in a Young Eagles event. Decided to do my usual knocking off of the cobwebs by doing a couple takeoffs and landings before I headed out. Took off fine and remained in the pattern, but I could tell I was just a smidge behind the airplane, for whatever reason. Maybe I was concerned with the coming of the end of the world in a few hours.....who knows!
Came in on final and bounced so bad I cobbed the throttle and boltered out of there. Came around again, doing a horrible pattern, and landed this time, rather firmly.
Seeing how I was flying, and how my head was not in the game, I scrubbed doing the Young Eagles gig. Very disappointing for me, but I felt it was appropriate all things considered.
I guess the point of my post is that just as you would correct a mechanical problem with your aircraft prior to a flight, make sure that there are no performance issues with you, the pilot. Looking back, I think my problem was a restless night of sleep coupled with getting up early that degraded my performance this morning. Add to that I rushed out of the house without having anything to eat. Luckily I chose to sever the chain of events that could have lead to an incident, early on.
Food for thought.
