Same here! I got all the way back to the airport, lined up, but was too high and didn't know how to safely lose it. I knew better than to lower the nose, but was afraid to withdraw power and stall 50 feet AGL so I gave him the controls. The experience (of flying - out to Catalina and back) left me speechless. My brain was so overloaded from tasks, instruments and sensory input (there's a LOT of stuff in the sky in SoCal, not all of which is man-made or talking to ATC) I had nothing to say when we touched down. It was incredible and I wish I could do it again. But it's kinda unethical to keep paying for "introductory lessons".
Funny. Yea. Also came into Santa Monica way too high, even though I was lined up perfectly. I was in a war with myself between what my brain said I needed to do and what my gut didn't want to do. I gave the instructor controls and he opted to turn us into a side slip that felt like 30 degrees yaw, and we dropped like a stone sideways. At about 300 ft he turned rudder and landed straight like he was parking in his driveway. Scared the absolute crap out of me.
And yeah, LA sky is dangerous. In that flight I had a dot the size of a mosquito loom into a small jet in about 5 seconds...
if I do another $60 intro lesson, it'll be up here in Oregon.
A few minutes after takeoff from Gillespie, I noticed a bird turn from a dot, then a black blob, rapidly passing above us. I turned to look at the instructor and said "did you see that?" ? We were at maybe 6,000MSL and there were birds above us. I wasn't scared but just astonished at how much was going on.
