Training
5/7/2006
I started my tailwheel training about a week ago in a 1946 Piper J-3 Cub. Jerry Benmore is my instructor out at Betz airport, near Adrian Michigan. It's quite a drive for me to go there, but it's great flying, and worth it! Jerry is 82 I think, and still going strong. If I'm as youthful as he is at that age, I'll be a happy man!
The first time I went, we spent an hour flying around getting a general feel for the aeroplane. We did some stalls, climbing and decending turns, steep turns and three takes offs and landings. I haven't done a take off and landing on my own yet, but the general flying stuff was no problem for me. It's quite a squeeze in there in the rear seat, and the heel brakes are a bit awkward for me and my size 10's.
The second lesson was basically all in the pattern, doing take offs and three point (full stall) landings. Jerry let me do a take off with him guiding. It was a bit bouncy at first. I got the hang of it though, and managed to get some compliments! For landing though, it was a bit gusty (down the runway which was nice), so I took it nearly all the way to mother earth, then I followed Jerry's lead. The last landing though, I did myself with Jerry covering me in case it all went wrong. It turned out OK. I bounced it a bit, but not really too badly. Hopefully next time it won't be quite as gusty. After all, it's all about having fun, not balling an aeroplane up into a mass of scrap metal and fabric.
5/30/2006
The third hour was spent practicing the takeoffs and landings we'd done before, and then I was introduced to wheel landings. I bounced the first one, and had to go around, but I soon got the hang of it. I kinda like these a little better, as you can at least see something!
6/9/2006
My fourth hour of tailwheel training saw me flying in some pretty stiff crosswinds. The windsock wasn't horizontal, but it was sticking out pretty good. It was wheel landings all the way. Nine of them. Man, I had to work hard to keep everything pointing in the right direction! After all that, Jerry was ready to sign me off, but he wanted to take me on some hard surface so I could appreciate the difference.
6/13/2006
My fifth hour was my hard surface stuff. We went down to Adrian, and did some touch and goes there. Hard surface is definitely a lot less forgiving than grass! It was a nice morning too. Calm almost zero wind. I got up earlier and headed out to fly before going in to work. It was great!
I got my sign off as a competent tailwheel pilot too! Sweet! I'm going to fly the cub every couple of weeks or so to maintain my skills.
The next step then is to get some RV training. This is going to be a lot more involved, because there isn't anybody around here that does it. I called Mike Seager and figured out a good time to go flying with him. Basically, it'll be the second week in August. I'll fly out to Oregon, and stay there for three days, during which I'll fly twice a day in the RV-7. I'm really looking forward to it, it should be a blast!
I phoned NationAir too to find out about insurance. They said I needed 25 hours of tailwheel time to meet the requirements. Well, by the time the plane is ready to fly, I should have that, so we should be good to go.
7/24/2006
I should probably write some about booking my transition training with Mike Seager in here.... I'll be out in Oregon on 8th-11th August, flying around with Mike Seager for three days. I'm looking forward to it, as it should be a lot of fun. Flights out to Oregon these days from Detroit sure are expensive.
I got back from Oregon this morning on the 'red eye', which was 2 hours late. Typical for Northwest I guess. I had a fantastic time flying with Mike, and he really put me through my paces. By day three, we were doing some pretty challenging landings. It was FUN!
I arrived on Tuesday night about 10pm, ready for some sleep. Most people flying with Mike stay at the Scappoose Creek Inn. It's a really neat farmhouse converted into a Bed & Breakfast. It's literally a stone's throw from the airport too. Check it out here.
I woke up on Wednesday morning to find what you see in the image below for visibilty. It was raining and misty. Great. Just what I travelled 2000 miles for. I called to see if we would still be on for ground stuff, but Mike's wife said that we'd be flying! Further East, the weather was OK.
The B&B had some Llama's too.... Or are they Alpacas?
The first day, Mike went through a typical pattern on paper, showing the speeds for each leg, and the differences between the RV and other aircraft I've flown. Then we went out, and got familiar with the way the aircraft handled. We did a bunch of turns, climbs, descents, climbing and descending turns. He showed me some of the nuances of the RV. This is a pretty cool little aeroplane!
By the afternoon, we were doing slow flight and some stalls. Then we did some laps in the pattern to get some practice doing take offs and landings. I did some terrible ones, and I did some OK ones. This plane is A LOT different than your average spam can. If you're thinking of flying yours for the first time without any RV time, you better think again and schedule some time with Mike.
This was the plane I did my training in. Van's built this for Mike after his plane was written off one year at Oshkosh when he was hit from above and behind by a Lancair. Mike has a rear view mirror installed now to check his six! The plane is a 160hp with a fixed pitch prop. A little different to mine, but the traits will be the same. Mike said mine will be like, "Lighting a fuse" as far as performance goes. I thought this plane we were flying was fast. It was off the ground in no time!
Usually, Mike's daily schedule includes another potential RVator getting some time. This time was no different with me alternating with Ted Chang an RV-9A builder from Ohio. It works out pretty well, because you need a bit of a rest from flying, and you get to meet some interesting new friends. Ted was flying the early sessions 8am and 1pm, and I flew the late sessions 10am and 3pm. Our lunches overlapped just enough to eat some and chat, and in the evening we went out for dinner to Mark's Landing. It was pretty cool.
Ted took this photo of Mike and me. Mike must be one of the most famous people in RV circles, and he's a really great instructor.
Day two saw a whole bunch of pattern work. The morning wasn't too bad with calm winds. The afternoon was a whole other story! We had crosswinds of 11 knots, gusting to 19 knots. It made for some pretty interesting landings! I had some pretty bouncy ones as I had a tendancy to flare a little early. The gusty winds threw me a bit, but we could walk away from all the landings, and re-use the plane! Quite a workout! By the end of day two, I was shattered!
Here are a couple of stills from some video that Ted shot of me taxiing. I'd post the video, but it's in HD and it's HUGE!
Me flying!
Some stills from video I shot of Ted taxiing and flying...
Ted flying! Hmmm... This plane has '666' in the registration... The number of the beast. I hope Ted isn't too superstitious!
On the morning of day three, we went out and did some power on stalls, turning power on stalls and then on to some grass field landings. This was interesting. It was Mike's home airport, and the final approach is basically a 45 degree to the runway, following a 12:1 mountain between the 100ft Douglas Fir trees! Just as you get to the threshhold, you crank the plane left and land. Unbelievable! I felt like a real bush pilot! I wish I'd gotten a photo of this approach, as it's quite interesting!
In the afternoon, we mixed in some sight seeing with some pretty challenging airfields down the coast. We landed at Astoria...
...which was an easy one with big long and wide runways. Then we went down the coast to Seaside (56S)....
...which has a 2360ft x 50 ft runway. Not too bad, apart from the water on the approach.
We continued down to Manzanita (3S7)...
...where somebody video taped me coming in and bouncing down the runway in the crosswind. Great. Another water front approach, to a runway of similar length to Seaside.
Finally, we landed at Pacific City Airport...
...which Mike said would be the hardest of them all. It's pretty narrow at 30ft, with a length of 1875ft. It didn't look very big! It looks big in the AVWeb picture above, but it was like landing in someone's back yard!
Between the landings, Mike let me get some great shots of the Oregon coastline. It's a beautiful place. It would be nice to get a job out here and live!
I managed to get a total of 9.6 hours with Mike over the three days I was there. Not too bad really. I learned a whole lot, had a bunch of fun, and got to see a beautiful part of the US. The weather treated us well, it was in the low 80's with virtually no humidity (by Michigan standards). I had fun chatting and hangar flying with Ted, Mike was great to fly with and Duane and Renee at the Scappoose Creek Inn were really nice. I just had a great time! Now I need to get this darned plane finished!