Tailwheel checkout: part 2
Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:34 pmWell, today was as much fun as least week's 1.5, but I worked a little harder to fly the Champ with more precision... which of course turned out to be not such a good idea. 
At one point on the way back from doing several landings at Gillespie, Bob said "Why dontcha take your hands and feet off and see what she does..?" I did, and she immediately yawed right a hair and pitched up slightly, but as we both sat there she settled down and flew level with the ball well-centered. I said "Huh" and Bob as usual said little except that he admitted that he still had to remind himself to stop trying so hard. He is my favorite kind of teacher: willing to reveal his own faults, very patient and quiet, but keenly aware of exactly what you're doing. Experienced: he's done cat launches in twin props while at anchor, etc... he's forgotten more than I'll ever know. But he is still ready to learn, and that is one reason he's still around.
Anyway, today had kind winds again, calm at Gillespie, but quite hot with predictable but attention-getting turbulence. The Champ will wander a bit when disturbed, and with a fair downdraft on a hot day (say climbing out on the leeward side of some hills) it will give you a very interesting tour of the local chimney-tops. :o
My landings were about the same: one "you're making me look bad- wish mine were all like that", one "Yeah... some guys go wrong hunting for the ground on the landing... ", one "well, that's good that you see exactly what you did wrong", etc.
But at three hours now, I can taxi it better, although stopping then trying to roll again while turning is giving me problems.
I need to do more slow-flight over the runway to get a better feel for where exactly I am when I flare... my technique has always been intuitive, mostly looking at the far end of the runway and nothing else, which is fine, but has to be re-learned when flying something new. I LOVE the view out of the Champ, but in cruise I still feel like I'm diving when it's trimmed for cruise, and in the flare everything looks... weird.
Going up again tomorrow morning- we'll see how that works out.
At one point on the way back from doing several landings at Gillespie, Bob said "Why dontcha take your hands and feet off and see what she does..?" I did, and she immediately yawed right a hair and pitched up slightly, but as we both sat there she settled down and flew level with the ball well-centered. I said "Huh" and Bob as usual said little except that he admitted that he still had to remind himself to stop trying so hard. He is my favorite kind of teacher: willing to reveal his own faults, very patient and quiet, but keenly aware of exactly what you're doing. Experienced: he's done cat launches in twin props while at anchor, etc... he's forgotten more than I'll ever know. But he is still ready to learn, and that is one reason he's still around.
Anyway, today had kind winds again, calm at Gillespie, but quite hot with predictable but attention-getting turbulence. The Champ will wander a bit when disturbed, and with a fair downdraft on a hot day (say climbing out on the leeward side of some hills) it will give you a very interesting tour of the local chimney-tops. :o
My landings were about the same: one "you're making me look bad- wish mine were all like that", one "Yeah... some guys go wrong hunting for the ground on the landing... ", one "well, that's good that you see exactly what you did wrong", etc.
But at three hours now, I can taxi it better, although stopping then trying to roll again while turning is giving me problems.
I need to do more slow-flight over the runway to get a better feel for where exactly I am when I flare... my technique has always been intuitive, mostly looking at the far end of the runway and nothing else, which is fine, but has to be re-learned when flying something new. I LOVE the view out of the Champ, but in cruise I still feel like I'm diving when it's trimmed for cruise, and in the flare everything looks... weird.
Going up again tomorrow morning- we'll see how that works out.