916Bob
Pre-Flight
- Joined
- May 23, 2017
- Messages
- 46
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916Bob
So, I flew the plane for the first time today, for 2.2 hours. Regrettably, no aerobatics were involved since there were no parachutes available. Parachutes are required for the majority of those type of maneuvers. Anyway, the flight was more about getting familiar with flying the plane and with landing and taking off a tail dragger.
Surprisingly, the dragging tail made it one of the easier planes to control on the ground I’ve experienced. We had an 8+ knot direct cross wind which was all but unnoticeable while taxiing. Taking off was similarly easy. On landing however, I saw how the tail would be perfectly happy leading the way. I’ll admit the first few touch and go’s included a bit more S-turn action than I liked but I still managed to keep it close to the centerline. I usually crab ’till just before touchdown but I discovered this plane is much happier slipping most of the final. My last landing was from the back seat and it was my best. I had been warned to expect some bouncing on touchdown but never experienced anything significant. I was happy for that.
I was truly impressed with the effectiveness of the controls, especially the rudder. I did some steep decent slips that were quite impressive. You can drop like a rock and while doing so, easily manage the airspeed. More than once on landing though, just before touch down, I had the stick as far back as I could get it. It happened both in the front and back seats. I’d like to find a fix for that.
I was surprised with how easy it was to see out of the front seat on the ground. I expected the nose high attitude would make it difficult to see for taxiing but that was not the case at all. When you raise the tail during take off, the view gets even more impressive. The view out the top window during step turns was equally impressive. Speaking of steep turns, I was surprised at how easy it was to maintain a precise altitude through several of them.
I had planned on videoing the flight but it was so cold when we got started, I decided not to bother with it. I know it ain’t much of an excuse but I’m getting’ a bit wussy in my old age. I’ll get one of the next flight.
Surprisingly, the dragging tail made it one of the easier planes to control on the ground I’ve experienced. We had an 8+ knot direct cross wind which was all but unnoticeable while taxiing. Taking off was similarly easy. On landing however, I saw how the tail would be perfectly happy leading the way. I’ll admit the first few touch and go’s included a bit more S-turn action than I liked but I still managed to keep it close to the centerline. I usually crab ’till just before touchdown but I discovered this plane is much happier slipping most of the final. My last landing was from the back seat and it was my best. I had been warned to expect some bouncing on touchdown but never experienced anything significant. I was happy for that.
I was truly impressed with the effectiveness of the controls, especially the rudder. I did some steep decent slips that were quite impressive. You can drop like a rock and while doing so, easily manage the airspeed. More than once on landing though, just before touch down, I had the stick as far back as I could get it. It happened both in the front and back seats. I’d like to find a fix for that.
I was surprised with how easy it was to see out of the front seat on the ground. I expected the nose high attitude would make it difficult to see for taxiing but that was not the case at all. When you raise the tail during take off, the view gets even more impressive. The view out the top window during step turns was equally impressive. Speaking of steep turns, I was surprised at how easy it was to maintain a precise altitude through several of them.
I had planned on videoing the flight but it was so cold when we got started, I decided not to bother with it. I know it ain’t much of an excuse but I’m getting’ a bit wussy in my old age. I’ll get one of the next flight.
