Recent content by Ed Haywood

In some aircraft the nose obstructs the view of the far end of the runway in 3 point attitude. In others, the person sitting in front of you does the obstructing. In either case, you have to use your peripheral vision to maintain alignment once the flare starts. Usually less of an issue for...

I think you can make some assumptions from wire colors. Black = ground, red = power, yellow = panel backlight. On the 5 pin connector, looks like the middle 2 wires are no connects. The comments on the 7 pin connector make no sense at all. If that is what you have, I would call them and...

My habit is to do two landings, one of each type, every time I arrive at my home drome. I've gone several mph past max demonstrated XW component in 3 point attitude without any problems. If I ever run out of control authority, I've got the wheel landing in my playbook. But you better be...

Ask 10 instructors and you'll get 10 different answers to that. I asked my old Decathlon partner, who learned to fly in a Champ in 1946 and had about 30K hours, much of it instructing TW. He was the FAA designated examiner for 709 check rides in taildraggers in South Florida. His answer was...

But they are also dirt cheap to replace. About 200 bucks for a Decathlon the last time I bought a set.

I have found wide variance in how Citabria family aircraft fly and land. Not surprising since they are individually rigged and each one has slightly different washout and CG. Some will do TW first, others won't. My current Decathlon used to land TW first before I restored it; now it won't.

That's a good thing.

https://www.speedcomfly.com/sito-ecommerce/file_info/1006082.pdf

Jekyll is a gem. Be sure to check out Cumberland Island, the next island to the south. I'm told the BBQ on SSI is excellent.

Everyone struggles with taildragger landings at first. That's why it requires a separate endorsement. Then the light bulb comes on. The good news is that it's like riding a bicycle; once the bulb comes on, it stays on. So don't stress, you'll get there. I don't understand teaching wheel...

I understand that meme is a point of sensitivity to type owners, but so far it seems like a fairly good match for the scenario.

And in that way, it is the owner's retirement plan.

Fast forward to 59:30 and there is video of an RV-14 flying Sportsman in the Nationals last fall.

That is everything I dreamed it would be.

Boxes and sequences are not hard. You just vary the timing of the pause between each maneuver to keep yourself centered on the judging area. Choose a linear feature like a prominent road to align with, and pick a prominent object about a half mile off one side. Start with a few seconds...