It’s Saturday today, and I finally have time to practice to my heart’s content. So, I chose the airport near my home, RJTA. I disregarded ATC, took off, and immediately flew the rectangular traffic pattern, followed by touch and go. One lap after another—I probably did about 15 circuits—before finally doing a full stop.

Today’s takeaway is the importance of observing ground markings: when to enter the crosswind leg, when to enter the downwind leg, and when to enter the base leg. At first, I was using the runway as my reference point, which forced me to constantly switch views, making it extremely cumbersome. Later, I started spotting distinct landmarks on the ground—such as tall buildings, highways, or large patches of greenery like parks. Using these as references meant I could focus on maneuvering the aircraft during the Turn without constantly checking the Runway’s position.

After the flight, checking the local map, it was clear that using ground landmarks made the aircraft’s Track significantly different from before. Previous attempts were crooked and irregular quadrilaterals, but the later ones basically approximated a four-sided shape. Although the four corners aren’t quite 90 degrees, there has been considerable improvement.

It looks like I’ll need to keep practicing from now on.