tonycondon
Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Had a blast today. Still Smiling.
My CFI student owns a 220 HP Stearman, beautiful restoration. This is his second stearman, he grew up in a crop dusting family, etc. etc. Since its winter time we had arranged an enclosed aircraft to do his spin endorsement. However, it got up into the high 40's today, so we changed the plan
It was good fun in many ways. Student got some good practice instructing, since I didnt know anything about flying a Stearman. He did a nice job of talking me through the startup. I did a lousy takeoff but once I got the thing into the air i had no problem flying. Student talked me through a few power off and on stalls. Very nice stall characteristics. Plenty of warning and very docile as far as I could tell.
Time to Spin. Student demod 1 turn to the left, power off entry. Seemed easy enough. Instructor does, Student does. So I repeat after him. What a nice spinning airplane! Of course 1 turn still keeps us in the incipient stage so the recovery is quick. I lost a little more altitude than him but my pull out was more like 2.5 gs than his 3. Next we did a power on entry and 2 turn spin to the right. Getting a bit more into the developed stage and the recovery took a bit longer. Its always fun when after applying anti-spin controls, it takes just a bit longer than you think it should. Questions race through your mind like "Am I doing this right???" and "What in the hell is going on!?!?!" A second later rotation stops and you're flying again. Next we did a power on 3 turn spin to the left. Well into the developed stage now, I remember about 3/4 to 1 turn to recover. Student has lots of spin experience in the Stearman and did a nice job teaching me.
To celebrate, he talked me through a truly lousy landing (my fault not his).
So spin training is complete. Like he told me, I should've been paying him instead of the other way around!!
My CFI student owns a 220 HP Stearman, beautiful restoration. This is his second stearman, he grew up in a crop dusting family, etc. etc. Since its winter time we had arranged an enclosed aircraft to do his spin endorsement. However, it got up into the high 40's today, so we changed the plan
It was good fun in many ways. Student got some good practice instructing, since I didnt know anything about flying a Stearman. He did a nice job of talking me through the startup. I did a lousy takeoff but once I got the thing into the air i had no problem flying. Student talked me through a few power off and on stalls. Very nice stall characteristics. Plenty of warning and very docile as far as I could tell.
Time to Spin. Student demod 1 turn to the left, power off entry. Seemed easy enough. Instructor does, Student does. So I repeat after him. What a nice spinning airplane! Of course 1 turn still keeps us in the incipient stage so the recovery is quick. I lost a little more altitude than him but my pull out was more like 2.5 gs than his 3. Next we did a power on entry and 2 turn spin to the right. Getting a bit more into the developed stage and the recovery took a bit longer. Its always fun when after applying anti-spin controls, it takes just a bit longer than you think it should. Questions race through your mind like "Am I doing this right???" and "What in the hell is going on!?!?!" A second later rotation stops and you're flying again. Next we did a power on 3 turn spin to the left. Well into the developed stage now, I remember about 3/4 to 1 turn to recover. Student has lots of spin experience in the Stearman and did a nice job teaching me.
To celebrate, he talked me through a truly lousy landing (my fault not his).
So spin training is complete. Like he told me, I should've been paying him instead of the other way around!!
