The forecast was for an occluded front to sweep through from the north early afternoon, with low cloud and rain. So it was with trepidation that I drew back the curtains in the bedroom, getting up for my 10:00 aerobatics lesson on Saturday. Sure enough, it was virtually overcast, but to me, the clouds looked quite high – hmmm maybe.
Anyway, Max had said if the weather was pants we would do the ‘formal sign-off checks’ for the Robin – you know, PFL’s, different landings and take-off etc. Max is nothing if not extremely thorough. So off I went to the airfield.
Max decides we should ‘have a look’ and do the check-ride with a few aeros thrown in. This could be a long lesson as Max was had a free slot after me anyway.
Off we went with Max asking me to do a short field take-off with best angle of climb so we would be at least 250’ by the end of runway 22. Applied full power, hold her on the toe brakes and allow the rpm to build, then let her go with a little back pressure so she would ‘unstick’ and get into ground effect ASAP. So far so good, speed to 65kts and steep angle of climb to maintain 65kts. Although not a fantastic climber, she was probably closer to 500’; by the end of the runway, partly a reflection of the 12 kts headwind.
Up we went and headed for higher cloud and better looking weather to the north-west (also me thinking – hmmm…. Berrow and Ledbury grass strips out that way, great for a ‘trick’ PFL – hmmmm….). Sure enough, around Berrow at 3000’, the engine cuts out on me (i.e. Max pulls the power and declares an ‘engine failure’). So into my own (not easily memorised!) mnemonic: GWPERS: Glide – Wind – Pick – Engine – Radio – Shutdown.
Best glide at 70kts, turn away from wind so you are ‘downwind’ (this gives me more groundspeed so more choices). Pick – oh look – a nicely mown grass strip off to the right, that’ll do! Above 2000’, try to restart the engine, Max calls no restart (what a surprise). Talk through the mayday call without keying the mike and set transponder to 7700. Turn base at 1200’. Coming onto final, looks high to me, so I pulled on two stages of flap. Shutdown checks. Height coming off. Maintain best glide. Damn that headwind, I think I am losing too much height. As we descend to within probably 200’, I think we probably will make the end of the strip – just. Max calls for a go-around and off we go.
That was the first PFL I have done for a good couple of years, and apart from being a bit touch-and-go on the height, I think we would have made it, so score one for the good guys!
The some steep turns. First 45 degrees then greater than 60 degrees. The 60 degrees was fun, but I held height and eventually found the ‘balance’. Max then showed me a ‘competition’ steep turn. The difference being that you don’t seem to bother with a balanced turn, just flick it into the turn as quickly as possible with an equally sudden roll out. Although with the pedestrian roll rate of the Robin, it was hardly an eyeball-popping experience!
Then around the Ledbury mast (hmmm….Ledbury grass strip nearby) and yes, another engine failure. Same again, but this time, I was much happier with the height and perhaps if the weather was better (strip could have been a bit boggy), Max would have asked me to actually land. We did a go-around then back upstairs for some aerobatics.
The rolls were better this time, with me getting more right than wrong. It is the angle of pull-up and checking forward properly (without residual back pressure) that count here with me.
The loops went pretty good I thought, apart from the first one which was a bit scruffy – pulled up too hard and still to one side a bit, so angled over in the inverted and a bit too much float.
Stall turns? Well, in my time honoured manner, the first one went pear shaped. I left it a bit late and wasn’t fast enough on the rudder reversal. We started to go around, then it sloooowwwed – will it make it… maybe… maybe… Yes? WHAP! NO! I think she flicked forward and went past the vertical as I recovered. If anything, I am getting good practice on recoveries! ‘Yeah – that was a hammerhead’ Max declares laconically. So I guess any time I want to do a hammerhead, all I have to do is screw up a stall turn – how tough can it be???
Next one I switch rudder a bit early and despite opposite aileron, there is adverse roll. We get around and do a stall turn, but even I knew it was ‘scruffy’. I do manage the next two though – not as well as Max and his demo’s, but I think I am starting to get the hang of the timing and the suddenness of the rudder reversal.
Back to the airfield for a variety of landings. The short field is flattering, but part of the credit must go to the 12-15 kts headwind! Though I say it myself, the glide landing went really well. Kept plenty of height, then when I was certain of getting in, brought it back to a nice soft touch past the numbers. My crosswinds aren’t too great, I find the stick control quite different from the yoke and Max seems to want quite a lot of aileron and rudder, far more than I would have thought the conditions warranted, but he is the boss! More practice required here methinks.
We land and debrief. Max sign’s me off for non-aerobatic flights in the mighty Robin. He hums-and-haws as to whether to send me up next time for solo aerobatics and then decides (and I am happy to agree) to do maybe one more dual session and see how I get on, then have me practice the moves solo for a bit, before coming back to him for any fine tuning that is bound to be necessary, then he would show me some new manoeuvres and we would practice those. Sounds OK to me.
Quite a good session and I clock up 1.8 hours – and yes, I do feel a bit tired after this one!
Afterwards, I meet up with Manuel and we have a very slow and careful walk-through of the pre-flight checks and start-up drills for the RV6 which I have just bought a share in. I have now booked my first lesson with a Cotswolds instructor who also part-owns an RV4 – so is a very experienced tailwheel instructor. Looks like I will be learning both tailwheel on the RV6 and aerobatics on the Robin at the same time – hope the finances and my brain can stand the strain!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Today was a good day!
All week, the weather was superb. From my office window, I looked out on clear, cold, crisp high pressure weather with clear skies and minimal wind. Of course the forecast for the weekend was for this to break, but not until Sunday – at least that was the forecast. I got up early for my 10:00 Saturday aerobatics lesson and looked out of the east facing window – not good, solid overcast hard to say what altitude, but looked about 3000’. Out of the west facing window, similar, but off to the far west was near open, blue skies. With luck, this would work its way over by the time I breakfasted and made it to the airfield. And so it transpired.
I checked out G-EWHT and it had obligingly been left with just under half-fuel (any more and we would be too heavy for aerobatics).
Max turned up and his pre-flight briefing was succinct and to the point ‘Same again - alright?’ he said in his distinctive Gloster brogue. I knew what he meant and had gone through all the moves and ‘what if’s’ in my head already, so that was all the briefing I needed.
We started up and moved off. Another foible of the Robin I discovered when doing the ‘after start’ checks is not to bother with mag drops and a really cold engine would die – leave them to the power checks when the engine is warmer.
Power checks were fine and off we went to the preferred playground to the south-west of the airfield, to the western banks of the River Severn by the very distinctive ‘bends in the river’ (….random thought….I MUST get down there one day to see the Severn Bore!). The Robin gamely clawed its way upwards to gain altitude at the usual 500fpm or less until (eventually) we got to 4000’ QNH.
HASELL checks complete and transponder set to 7004, we started off the usual ‘mixed bag’ of rolls, loops, stall turns and recoveries, working the area.
Rolls
I had issues with these last time and I wasn’t sure why. First one was similar and Max decided I wasn’t pulling up enough. So pulled up a further 10 degrees and this was better. Then on the last two rolls, instead of the usual (and frankly easy) ballistic rolls, I tried the ‘push forward while inverted’ thing to ‘flatten out’ the bottom of the sacred circle. First one went well, but I got the timing wrong on the second one. However, all in all, a good ‘roll’ session.
Loops
I thought a lot better this time. I am trying hard to make fluid and progressive movements with the stick, rather than my more ‘mechanical’ approach of earlier sessions. The float was better, but I need better power and pull out control as I am not pulling enough power off past the float (when the engine sounds like it is dying), so the engine picks up speed very quickly in the pull out and I have to pull back quickly so it doesn’t overspeed.
Stall Turns
First one went pear shaped as usual! Pulled up and started applying right rudder, but left wing was too high, so I held off on the rudder a bit, then when I started applying again, I had lost all energy and a sharp reversal to left rudder was punished by the world suddenly flopping around me with green ground and muddy brown river filling the forward view. I went into recovery mode, pulled the power off, pulled out and back to straight and level. Lousy stall turn, but good recovery!
Actually, all in all, good progress this time. After a couple that cocked-up, Max figured what I was doing wrong, which is that I was pulling up, but with a bit of a pull to the right at the same time. So I was seeing the left wing high because I had aileron input in. Knowing this, I can now set about fixing it and concentrating on getting more assertive on the timing of the rudder reversal, which I suspect will only come with practice. I am reluctant to ‘cheat’ and work it on counting the time from when I get to the vertical until the rudder reversal as this would then be specific to the aircraft, the weight of the two passengers and the fuel load – so if I tried the same when solo with low fuel, I could be way out.
On the way back, Max got me to string to moves one after the other to demonstrate the importance of getting back to ‘the 110kts attitude’. This I did. Particularly enjoyed the stall turn followed by the loop – yeehaaa!
Back to Gloucester for a direct join to right base for 22. Another reasonable landing I thought.
Max thinks I am not far from being sent off for some solo aerobatics. No, not a sign-off, just the next step I assume before further P U/T consolidation and moving onto to other manoeuvres. I have to say I look forward to this hugely. What with one thing and another, I haven’t flown an aircraft P1 since September and don’t look like doing so anytime soon (what with tailwheel difference training coming up on the RV6 and an overdue FAA BFR) – I think I have forgotten what it is like to have no one in the right seat!
Still, it’s exciting (if expensive) flying and I am having a ball!
I checked out G-EWHT and it had obligingly been left with just under half-fuel (any more and we would be too heavy for aerobatics).
Max turned up and his pre-flight briefing was succinct and to the point ‘Same again - alright?’ he said in his distinctive Gloster brogue. I knew what he meant and had gone through all the moves and ‘what if’s’ in my head already, so that was all the briefing I needed.
We started up and moved off. Another foible of the Robin I discovered when doing the ‘after start’ checks is not to bother with mag drops and a really cold engine would die – leave them to the power checks when the engine is warmer.
Power checks were fine and off we went to the preferred playground to the south-west of the airfield, to the western banks of the River Severn by the very distinctive ‘bends in the river’ (….random thought….I MUST get down there one day to see the Severn Bore!). The Robin gamely clawed its way upwards to gain altitude at the usual 500fpm or less until (eventually) we got to 4000’ QNH.
HASELL checks complete and transponder set to 7004, we started off the usual ‘mixed bag’ of rolls, loops, stall turns and recoveries, working the area.
Rolls
I had issues with these last time and I wasn’t sure why. First one was similar and Max decided I wasn’t pulling up enough. So pulled up a further 10 degrees and this was better. Then on the last two rolls, instead of the usual (and frankly easy) ballistic rolls, I tried the ‘push forward while inverted’ thing to ‘flatten out’ the bottom of the sacred circle. First one went well, but I got the timing wrong on the second one. However, all in all, a good ‘roll’ session.
Loops
I thought a lot better this time. I am trying hard to make fluid and progressive movements with the stick, rather than my more ‘mechanical’ approach of earlier sessions. The float was better, but I need better power and pull out control as I am not pulling enough power off past the float (when the engine sounds like it is dying), so the engine picks up speed very quickly in the pull out and I have to pull back quickly so it doesn’t overspeed.
Stall Turns
First one went pear shaped as usual! Pulled up and started applying right rudder, but left wing was too high, so I held off on the rudder a bit, then when I started applying again, I had lost all energy and a sharp reversal to left rudder was punished by the world suddenly flopping around me with green ground and muddy brown river filling the forward view. I went into recovery mode, pulled the power off, pulled out and back to straight and level. Lousy stall turn, but good recovery!
Actually, all in all, good progress this time. After a couple that cocked-up, Max figured what I was doing wrong, which is that I was pulling up, but with a bit of a pull to the right at the same time. So I was seeing the left wing high because I had aileron input in. Knowing this, I can now set about fixing it and concentrating on getting more assertive on the timing of the rudder reversal, which I suspect will only come with practice. I am reluctant to ‘cheat’ and work it on counting the time from when I get to the vertical until the rudder reversal as this would then be specific to the aircraft, the weight of the two passengers and the fuel load – so if I tried the same when solo with low fuel, I could be way out.
On the way back, Max got me to string to moves one after the other to demonstrate the importance of getting back to ‘the 110kts attitude’. This I did. Particularly enjoyed the stall turn followed by the loop – yeehaaa!
Back to Gloucester for a direct join to right base for 22. Another reasonable landing I thought.
Max thinks I am not far from being sent off for some solo aerobatics. No, not a sign-off, just the next step I assume before further P U/T consolidation and moving onto to other manoeuvres. I have to say I look forward to this hugely. What with one thing and another, I haven’t flown an aircraft P1 since September and don’t look like doing so anytime soon (what with tailwheel difference training coming up on the RV6 and an overdue FAA BFR) – I think I have forgotten what it is like to have no one in the right seat!
Still, it’s exciting (if expensive) flying and I am having a ball!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Late afternoon aerobatics
Some you win and some you lose! This particular lesson I lost – that is to say I didn’t have a great lesson! Having said that, you learn more from your mistakes, so on that basis, I learned a lot! But to be fair to myself (we can all be our own worst critics), it wasn’t all bad.
The weather was fine, if breezy around midday, but my lesson was for 15:00. By then, the very scattered and high cloud had been replaced by broken at 2300’ with tops at about 4000’ and still breezy, but with some holes.
Had a briefing about vertical recovery, so that was clearly the plan. Max commented that it was far more genuine if I cocked things up, then used the recovery techniques to sort myself out (thinks…. I’m sure I can oblige!).
Off we went and headed to the SW. We climbed past the low stuff into a hole around ‘bends in the river’ and headed up to 5000’. The Robin clawed its way skyward at about 3-400 fpm. I levelled off in what was a smallish hole – probably too small - but a bigger one beckoned to the east, so we headed over around Badminton, but clear of Lyneham into a much bigger hole.
Max wanted me to start with a stall-turn – hmmm…. So I think it through first (and the recovery technique), then down we go to ‘standard entry’ to get the 110 kts speed and attitude. Stabilise at 110 kts attitude, check wings level and……PULL….FULL POWER…..PULL to vertical, check forward to hold vertical, start to feed in right rudder…oh hell, I feel I am past vertical (probably didn’t check forward enough) and the port wing is way too high, so we are canted over…..oh heck here it comes……. WHACK – flick stall into a hammerhead. Get on with the recovery – stick back and steady, centralise, throttle closed at the same time, ground filling the windscreen so we are vertically down and pull back to recover. Well, the bad news is that I cocked the stall-turn up big time (in both pitch and yaw – tres bon!), but I knew what was coming and managed the recovery feeling pretty calm.
After a debrief (too slow at feeding in right rudder, too hesitant at whacking to left rudder, didn’t check the pull and pulled past vertical – apart from that fine :-). I try again. This time, much better and although Max gave me the word to switch rudder, I was about to do so, so my timing is coming on. Only mistake was that I centralised rudder and aileron just before the ‘knife’ position (the nose going back through the horizon), when I should be doing it at or just after.
Then onto just one loop IIRC. It went pretty well, certainly managed to get around and I am sure we went through our own wake as I felt that distinctive ‘speed bump’. However, Max commented (quite correctly) that I was a ‘mechanical’ on the stick easing back into the float and didn’t allow it to float long enough – it should be a smooth movement on the stick in pitch. Now that I can get it around and carry out all control and throttle movements by myself, Max is obviously now trying to ‘clean up’ points he hasn’t pulled me up on until now for fear of overloading me, so that must be progress right?
I climbed back up to 4500’ or at least tried to! I had full power on, a definitely climb attitude, then engine rpm was normal (no MP readout), but we were either not climbing at all or had a ‘negative-climb’ (i.e. descent!) going on! I pointed this out to Max and it seemed we were in a down-wave of airmass. Turned 30 degree and started a very modest 200 fpm climb.
We did a fair few rolls to the left and right. But despite my best efforts and definitely getting the plane to 30 degrees pitch, we kept coming out more nose down than we should. Max thought it was me pulling back a bit once I put the ailerons across. I wasn’t aware of doing this, but they weren’t a crisp as previous lessons. Max tried one and I have to say, he was pretty nose down on exit as well, but maybe not as much as me. I’ll take on board that I must have been sub-consciously pulling a bit, but I have to say, I think there were other factors at play today – heavier on the fuel load, down-draft, higher than usual etc. It sounds like excuses, but I don’t think it is – we’ll see next time.
The wind was picking up and as we headed in the Gloucester direction, the DME showed a groundspeed of 25 kts! We had a chat about those absurd situations where a pilot can be in such a strong headwind in such a modestly performing aircraft, that they can pull the power back a bit and have a zero groundspeed and ‘hover’ over the same patch of ground, or indeed be positively blown backwards!
Anyway, rather than get ‘caught out’ playing in this hole and getting blown further and further south east, we went VMC on-top at 5000’ heading back towards the airfield looking for another hole.
By now, the sun was starting to get very low and picked up some lovely reds and oranges in the clouds. We were VMC on-top and I was struck with how peaceful and picturesque it all was and how lucky I was to be there at precisely this moment – it really was one of those ‘wooOOOOwwwww’ moments! No camera of course – what a pity.
We chased what looked to be holes at the edge of the next ridge of clouds for several ridges – a bit like the numerous false crests you see while hill walking in the lake district! It dawned on us that with the light fading and with no holes materialising, this was the end of the lesson and we turned a hunt for holes nearer the airfield into a route back to the circuit.
One slight issue though - we were VMC on-top with no holes, so we had to either find a hole or do a let down through the clouds of some sort. The ATIS gave the cloudbase as 3000’ and with an MSA in the area of 2800’ Max asked if I was happy to do a let down on the current heading of due north (i.e. not shoot the NDB/DME approach for Gloucester). I was happy enough as I do have a current IMC rating, although I haven’t used it in anger for several months and even then, never with a ‘stick’ aircraft, so it should be fun. I checked the AI which was now stable and functioning correctly (after having toppled several times during aerobatics). Synchronised the DI with the compass, pitot heat on and down we went and into the clag.
I kept my eyes firmly on the AI with the usual ‘T-shaped’ instrument scan, but of course studiously avoiding the temptation to try to get visual clues from outside the canopy. OK – forgot to turn off the strobes which were going off like flashbulbs in the cloud, but it didn’t distract too much, although Max kindly flicked them off anyway. I held the heading and kept a sensible rate of descent. At about 3400’ I could ‘sense’ darker patches (i.e. breaks through the cloud to the now dark clear sky below the cloudbase) with peripheral vision. I managed to avoid the temptation to switch prematurely to visual and we finally broke out ‘properly’ at around 2800’.
It was getting pretty dark now as we radioed for a direct join if possible. Given left base join for 27. Headed for the ‘doughnut’ building and turned final. The runway lights are on and if it isn’t official night, then it is doing a pretty good impersonation of it!
Good approach and I thought a pretty fair landing – it may not have been ‘official night’ but it was for all intents and purposes. Taxy back and shut down.
All in all, a bit of a disappointment – but strangely, I feel OK about it. I know what I did wrong (except for the rolls that is!), I know what to do to get it right and I know what to do when it goes pear-shaped and get on and do it.
Booked another lesson for next weekend of course! Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those clear, crisp high-pressure, ‘good-to-be-alive’ days next Saturday!!
The weather was fine, if breezy around midday, but my lesson was for 15:00. By then, the very scattered and high cloud had been replaced by broken at 2300’ with tops at about 4000’ and still breezy, but with some holes.
Had a briefing about vertical recovery, so that was clearly the plan. Max commented that it was far more genuine if I cocked things up, then used the recovery techniques to sort myself out (thinks…. I’m sure I can oblige!).
Off we went and headed to the SW. We climbed past the low stuff into a hole around ‘bends in the river’ and headed up to 5000’. The Robin clawed its way skyward at about 3-400 fpm. I levelled off in what was a smallish hole – probably too small - but a bigger one beckoned to the east, so we headed over around Badminton, but clear of Lyneham into a much bigger hole.
Max wanted me to start with a stall-turn – hmmm…. So I think it through first (and the recovery technique), then down we go to ‘standard entry’ to get the 110 kts speed and attitude. Stabilise at 110 kts attitude, check wings level and……PULL….FULL POWER…..PULL to vertical, check forward to hold vertical, start to feed in right rudder…oh hell, I feel I am past vertical (probably didn’t check forward enough) and the port wing is way too high, so we are canted over…..oh heck here it comes……. WHACK – flick stall into a hammerhead. Get on with the recovery – stick back and steady, centralise, throttle closed at the same time, ground filling the windscreen so we are vertically down and pull back to recover. Well, the bad news is that I cocked the stall-turn up big time (in both pitch and yaw – tres bon!), but I knew what was coming and managed the recovery feeling pretty calm.
After a debrief (too slow at feeding in right rudder, too hesitant at whacking to left rudder, didn’t check the pull and pulled past vertical – apart from that fine :-). I try again. This time, much better and although Max gave me the word to switch rudder, I was about to do so, so my timing is coming on. Only mistake was that I centralised rudder and aileron just before the ‘knife’ position (the nose going back through the horizon), when I should be doing it at or just after.
Then onto just one loop IIRC. It went pretty well, certainly managed to get around and I am sure we went through our own wake as I felt that distinctive ‘speed bump’. However, Max commented (quite correctly) that I was a ‘mechanical’ on the stick easing back into the float and didn’t allow it to float long enough – it should be a smooth movement on the stick in pitch. Now that I can get it around and carry out all control and throttle movements by myself, Max is obviously now trying to ‘clean up’ points he hasn’t pulled me up on until now for fear of overloading me, so that must be progress right?
I climbed back up to 4500’ or at least tried to! I had full power on, a definitely climb attitude, then engine rpm was normal (no MP readout), but we were either not climbing at all or had a ‘negative-climb’ (i.e. descent!) going on! I pointed this out to Max and it seemed we were in a down-wave of airmass. Turned 30 degree and started a very modest 200 fpm climb.
We did a fair few rolls to the left and right. But despite my best efforts and definitely getting the plane to 30 degrees pitch, we kept coming out more nose down than we should. Max thought it was me pulling back a bit once I put the ailerons across. I wasn’t aware of doing this, but they weren’t a crisp as previous lessons. Max tried one and I have to say, he was pretty nose down on exit as well, but maybe not as much as me. I’ll take on board that I must have been sub-consciously pulling a bit, but I have to say, I think there were other factors at play today – heavier on the fuel load, down-draft, higher than usual etc. It sounds like excuses, but I don’t think it is – we’ll see next time.
The wind was picking up and as we headed in the Gloucester direction, the DME showed a groundspeed of 25 kts! We had a chat about those absurd situations where a pilot can be in such a strong headwind in such a modestly performing aircraft, that they can pull the power back a bit and have a zero groundspeed and ‘hover’ over the same patch of ground, or indeed be positively blown backwards!
Anyway, rather than get ‘caught out’ playing in this hole and getting blown further and further south east, we went VMC on-top at 5000’ heading back towards the airfield looking for another hole.
By now, the sun was starting to get very low and picked up some lovely reds and oranges in the clouds. We were VMC on-top and I was struck with how peaceful and picturesque it all was and how lucky I was to be there at precisely this moment – it really was one of those ‘wooOOOOwwwww’ moments! No camera of course – what a pity.
We chased what looked to be holes at the edge of the next ridge of clouds for several ridges – a bit like the numerous false crests you see while hill walking in the lake district! It dawned on us that with the light fading and with no holes materialising, this was the end of the lesson and we turned a hunt for holes nearer the airfield into a route back to the circuit.
One slight issue though - we were VMC on-top with no holes, so we had to either find a hole or do a let down through the clouds of some sort. The ATIS gave the cloudbase as 3000’ and with an MSA in the area of 2800’ Max asked if I was happy to do a let down on the current heading of due north (i.e. not shoot the NDB/DME approach for Gloucester). I was happy enough as I do have a current IMC rating, although I haven’t used it in anger for several months and even then, never with a ‘stick’ aircraft, so it should be fun. I checked the AI which was now stable and functioning correctly (after having toppled several times during aerobatics). Synchronised the DI with the compass, pitot heat on and down we went and into the clag.
I kept my eyes firmly on the AI with the usual ‘T-shaped’ instrument scan, but of course studiously avoiding the temptation to try to get visual clues from outside the canopy. OK – forgot to turn off the strobes which were going off like flashbulbs in the cloud, but it didn’t distract too much, although Max kindly flicked them off anyway. I held the heading and kept a sensible rate of descent. At about 3400’ I could ‘sense’ darker patches (i.e. breaks through the cloud to the now dark clear sky below the cloudbase) with peripheral vision. I managed to avoid the temptation to switch prematurely to visual and we finally broke out ‘properly’ at around 2800’.
It was getting pretty dark now as we radioed for a direct join if possible. Given left base join for 27. Headed for the ‘doughnut’ building and turned final. The runway lights are on and if it isn’t official night, then it is doing a pretty good impersonation of it!
Good approach and I thought a pretty fair landing – it may not have been ‘official night’ but it was for all intents and purposes. Taxy back and shut down.
All in all, a bit of a disappointment – but strangely, I feel OK about it. I know what I did wrong (except for the rolls that is!), I know what to do to get it right and I know what to do when it goes pear-shaped and get on and do it.
Booked another lesson for next weekend of course! Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those clear, crisp high-pressure, ‘good-to-be-alive’ days next Saturday!!
Monday, November 12, 2007
New share?
Having left the ‘start-up share’ in the Beech Bonanza (for a variety of reasons), I have been looking for alternatives.
Being without a share gives you the chance to assess where you are with your flying and what you might want to do. As a result, a few weeks ago, I started aerobatics training with a club aircraft.
As regards the share, well, I have done some touring and certainly done the ‘spamcan thing’. I think my flying and priorities now are:
• Try to reduce the cost (both monthlies and hourlies),
• Group of an absolute maximum of six (still not ready to go the whole hog and buy my own)
• I will still do touring mainly
• Ideally, the aircraft would also be aerobatic (e.g. Bulldog etc.)
• An ‘interesting’ aircraft or certainly something interesting about it (e.g. if it is a Cessna spamcan, maybe based at a farmstrip etc.)
• Ideally four seat, but wouldn’t rule out two seat.
• Would consider a PFA permit (should be cheaper to run) but would be sorry to lose use of IMC rating)
That’s a pretty long list, but really uppermost would be the need to reduce the cost and to fly something ‘interesting’.
Having had a look at a few locations, and options I kept coming back to Gloucester as being the ideal airfield. I did see a share in a very nice DR400 based at Bidford, but when I went to Bidford, there was no flying due to water-logging of the grass strip (kind of limiting) and they wanted a ‘mere’ £27,000 for the share – so a quick no on that!
I had heard that Manuel Quieroz was selling shares in his tidy RV6 based at Gloucester (he flew solo around the world in this plane in the ‘chasing the morning sun’ expedition). It is a group of six with five shares now sold. The monthlies and hourlies are reasonable and it certainly meets the ‘interesting aircraft’ requirement, although disappoints for aerobatics and IMC etc. (but I had long ago reconciled myself to not being able to have everything in one package unless I bought outright).
I have spoken to Manuel a few times and of course heard his talk on his epic flight at the Flyer Summer Bash this year. He is well known, well liked and respected and we seem to get on fine.
I talked to him about the share. The weight and balance is interesting, with a MAUW of 907kg for single occupancy (i.e. pilot only) but only 726kg for a pilot plus a passenger – apparently as legacy of his round the world trip, where he was surrounded by fuel tanks everywhere (and probably only had two pairs of underpants and a toothbrush for baggage!). The ‘dual occupancy’ MAUW was disappointing, but could be made to work for myself and the wife, or someone significantly lighter than my 210lbs MAUW!
An interesting aircraft in that it is very high performance (150kts) and a taildragger.
I have heard great things about RV’s and the near fanatical following and loyalty they engender. Claims of ‘fighter-like’ handling and ‘a joy to fly’ did more than pique my curiosity. Could these claims be true? If so, would that be enough to overcome the missing ticks in the requirements list?
The only thing for it was a trial flight. We tried for this last weekend but were defeated by a fog which never lifted around the airfield (although apparently it was glorious a mere five miles away). We were reduced to sitting in the aircraft in the hangar with the canopy down, making aircraft noises! The serious point was of course to see whether I ‘fitted’ with my 6’ 2” frame and headsets on. The answer was ‘probably, maybe, just’. The padded band on top of my DC13.4’s was touching the canopy if I moved my head too far towards the outside. But I was still concerned to see how it would feel in flight with maybe some buffet. So we agreed to call each other the next Saturday and take a call on the weather.
This we duly did and the weather seemed quite flyable, with a low overcast at 2000’ starting to break up nicely, but something of a wind, albeit straight down runway 27.
Manuel carefully went through the walk-round checklist (undoubtedly for my benefit as I am sure he can do it blindfolded by now). We pulled her out, climbed on board and started up. The view forward while taxying is very limited as you would expect in a taildragger, but actually not as bad as I had thought.
The digital engine monitoring system would take a bit of getting used to as we did the power checks.
Cleared for take off as Manuel applied full power. At about 45kts, he nudges forward on the stick to get the tail up, then holds her down until flying speed and eases her off. All of this happens very quickly and we are flying after very little runway (partly due to a light fuel load and partly a 15kt headwind). Nonetheless, we are definitely climbing at a sprightly 1000’ - 1300’ fpm.
We head out west and level off. The speed builds to 150 kts indicated as Manuel brings the power back to about 75% cruise. It is a bit bumpy up here, so it is a good test for headroom clearance. I can honestly say that at no time in the flight was I aware of the restricted headroom or of my headband touching the canopy.
Manuel demonstrates the sensitivity and feel of the controls by raking the RV over into a very steep turn either way. The roll rate is very brisk indeed – closer to the Extra 300 than the more sedate Robin! He demonstrates that it is very sensitive in pitch, with some positive G pull-ups and ‘bum off the seat’ push-over bunts.
He invites me to try the controls. He is right of course. The stick is best flown with thumb and forefinger and what I can best describe as ‘pressure’ in the direction you want to go. I needs little more than rudder pressure for a balanced turn and most passengers wouldn’t notice if you turned without rudder. I really do see what they mean by ‘fighter-like’ response and ‘a joy to fly’ – this is great fun.
However, for those long ‘touring legs’ he also has a ‘heading and height’ auto-pilot that can be slaved to the GPS.
Manuel takes over again as we near Bredon Hill. He spots an aircraft slightly below on an opposite heading and decides to turn around to catch him back up to demonstrate the turn of speed. We stay above and well to the right as we catch up to what turns out to be an RV8. A quick wing-rock in acknowledgement as we head away and back to Gloucester.
On the way back, Manuel shows me the slow flight and stall characteristics. It wouldn’t be easy to stall without realising it as we are virtually hanging from the prop before it stall with a very benign nose down and almost immediately she is flying again. There is a bit of wing-drop to the left with full flaps, but nothing scary. Flying at 100kts in slow flight feels like we are standing still.
Back to the airfield and we get a standard overhead join for 27. Back to 100 kts for the circuit. Conventional ‘three-point’ attitude for landing and control with the throttle. We touch and bounce, Manuel controls the bounce and we touch and hop again before finally settling. She really wanted to carry on flying.
Well what to do? It is a really interesting aircraft and will need me to get my taildragger rating (I already have 7 hours taildragging on the Cub and was close to sign-off before the clock change put paid to evening lessons after work). Manuel is happy for me to train in the RV6 – in fact it is so massively different from the cub, I would need difference training anyway! It is fast and would be a fine tourer for two people with careful luggage management.
I left it with Manuel that I would check with the wife, as the £10,000 share is significant ask on the finances. I am sure she will be OK about it. I have to say, I think I will do it – for aerobatics I can always rent to Robin and for the odd touring with two really heavy guys in the seats, I can always do a full rental of the Arrow or similar.
I think I’ll probably do this. The guys in the tower at Gloucester may be in for some serious entertainment as regards landings shortly!
Being without a share gives you the chance to assess where you are with your flying and what you might want to do. As a result, a few weeks ago, I started aerobatics training with a club aircraft.
As regards the share, well, I have done some touring and certainly done the ‘spamcan thing’. I think my flying and priorities now are:
• Try to reduce the cost (both monthlies and hourlies),
• Group of an absolute maximum of six (still not ready to go the whole hog and buy my own)
• I will still do touring mainly
• Ideally, the aircraft would also be aerobatic (e.g. Bulldog etc.)
• An ‘interesting’ aircraft or certainly something interesting about it (e.g. if it is a Cessna spamcan, maybe based at a farmstrip etc.)
• Ideally four seat, but wouldn’t rule out two seat.
• Would consider a PFA permit (should be cheaper to run) but would be sorry to lose use of IMC rating)
That’s a pretty long list, but really uppermost would be the need to reduce the cost and to fly something ‘interesting’.
Having had a look at a few locations, and options I kept coming back to Gloucester as being the ideal airfield. I did see a share in a very nice DR400 based at Bidford, but when I went to Bidford, there was no flying due to water-logging of the grass strip (kind of limiting) and they wanted a ‘mere’ £27,000 for the share – so a quick no on that!
I had heard that Manuel Quieroz was selling shares in his tidy RV6 based at Gloucester (he flew solo around the world in this plane in the ‘chasing the morning sun’ expedition). It is a group of six with five shares now sold. The monthlies and hourlies are reasonable and it certainly meets the ‘interesting aircraft’ requirement, although disappoints for aerobatics and IMC etc. (but I had long ago reconciled myself to not being able to have everything in one package unless I bought outright).
I have spoken to Manuel a few times and of course heard his talk on his epic flight at the Flyer Summer Bash this year. He is well known, well liked and respected and we seem to get on fine.
I talked to him about the share. The weight and balance is interesting, with a MAUW of 907kg for single occupancy (i.e. pilot only) but only 726kg for a pilot plus a passenger – apparently as legacy of his round the world trip, where he was surrounded by fuel tanks everywhere (and probably only had two pairs of underpants and a toothbrush for baggage!). The ‘dual occupancy’ MAUW was disappointing, but could be made to work for myself and the wife, or someone significantly lighter than my 210lbs MAUW!
An interesting aircraft in that it is very high performance (150kts) and a taildragger.
I have heard great things about RV’s and the near fanatical following and loyalty they engender. Claims of ‘fighter-like’ handling and ‘a joy to fly’ did more than pique my curiosity. Could these claims be true? If so, would that be enough to overcome the missing ticks in the requirements list?
The only thing for it was a trial flight. We tried for this last weekend but were defeated by a fog which never lifted around the airfield (although apparently it was glorious a mere five miles away). We were reduced to sitting in the aircraft in the hangar with the canopy down, making aircraft noises! The serious point was of course to see whether I ‘fitted’ with my 6’ 2” frame and headsets on. The answer was ‘probably, maybe, just’. The padded band on top of my DC13.4’s was touching the canopy if I moved my head too far towards the outside. But I was still concerned to see how it would feel in flight with maybe some buffet. So we agreed to call each other the next Saturday and take a call on the weather.
This we duly did and the weather seemed quite flyable, with a low overcast at 2000’ starting to break up nicely, but something of a wind, albeit straight down runway 27.
Manuel carefully went through the walk-round checklist (undoubtedly for my benefit as I am sure he can do it blindfolded by now). We pulled her out, climbed on board and started up. The view forward while taxying is very limited as you would expect in a taildragger, but actually not as bad as I had thought.
The digital engine monitoring system would take a bit of getting used to as we did the power checks.
Cleared for take off as Manuel applied full power. At about 45kts, he nudges forward on the stick to get the tail up, then holds her down until flying speed and eases her off. All of this happens very quickly and we are flying after very little runway (partly due to a light fuel load and partly a 15kt headwind). Nonetheless, we are definitely climbing at a sprightly 1000’ - 1300’ fpm.
We head out west and level off. The speed builds to 150 kts indicated as Manuel brings the power back to about 75% cruise. It is a bit bumpy up here, so it is a good test for headroom clearance. I can honestly say that at no time in the flight was I aware of the restricted headroom or of my headband touching the canopy.
Manuel demonstrates the sensitivity and feel of the controls by raking the RV over into a very steep turn either way. The roll rate is very brisk indeed – closer to the Extra 300 than the more sedate Robin! He demonstrates that it is very sensitive in pitch, with some positive G pull-ups and ‘bum off the seat’ push-over bunts.
He invites me to try the controls. He is right of course. The stick is best flown with thumb and forefinger and what I can best describe as ‘pressure’ in the direction you want to go. I needs little more than rudder pressure for a balanced turn and most passengers wouldn’t notice if you turned without rudder. I really do see what they mean by ‘fighter-like’ response and ‘a joy to fly’ – this is great fun.
However, for those long ‘touring legs’ he also has a ‘heading and height’ auto-pilot that can be slaved to the GPS.
Manuel takes over again as we near Bredon Hill. He spots an aircraft slightly below on an opposite heading and decides to turn around to catch him back up to demonstrate the turn of speed. We stay above and well to the right as we catch up to what turns out to be an RV8. A quick wing-rock in acknowledgement as we head away and back to Gloucester.
On the way back, Manuel shows me the slow flight and stall characteristics. It wouldn’t be easy to stall without realising it as we are virtually hanging from the prop before it stall with a very benign nose down and almost immediately she is flying again. There is a bit of wing-drop to the left with full flaps, but nothing scary. Flying at 100kts in slow flight feels like we are standing still.
Back to the airfield and we get a standard overhead join for 27. Back to 100 kts for the circuit. Conventional ‘three-point’ attitude for landing and control with the throttle. We touch and bounce, Manuel controls the bounce and we touch and hop again before finally settling. She really wanted to carry on flying.
Well what to do? It is a really interesting aircraft and will need me to get my taildragger rating (I already have 7 hours taildragging on the Cub and was close to sign-off before the clock change put paid to evening lessons after work). Manuel is happy for me to train in the RV6 – in fact it is so massively different from the cub, I would need difference training anyway! It is fast and would be a fine tourer for two people with careful luggage management.
I left it with Manuel that I would check with the wife, as the £10,000 share is significant ask on the finances. I am sure she will be OK about it. I have to say, I think I will do it – for aerobatics I can always rent to Robin and for the odd touring with two really heavy guys in the seats, I can always do a full rental of the Arrow or similar.
I think I’ll probably do this. The guys in the tower at Gloucester may be in for some serious entertainment as regards landings shortly!
Monday, November 05, 2007
More aerobatics
Well, so far I have ‘clocked up’ 6.5 hours in total on aerobatics in the mighty club Robins! To date, we have concentrated on:
• Ballistic rolls / barrel rolls (OK),
• Loops (fun),
• Stall turns / Immelman’s (lots of fun – when you can get them to work!),
• Spin entry and exit (yee haaa!),
• Vertical recoveries (ooeerrrr!).
I am now feeling confident on all of these except for stall turns, the last of which I tried resulted in the aircraft flicking over onto it’s back and heading rather rapidly vertically back towards mother earth with me wondering what the hell was happening! So more practice required there then.
The weather didn’t look great. High pressure and no wind, so a bit murky and overcast, but it didn’t look very thick. A quick conference with someone who had already been up established that the cloudbase was 3400’ with a scattered lower layer, with tops at FL40. The Robin is a bit asthmatic at the 6000’ we would need to play ‘on-top’, so Max decided we would work below.
Off we went, to the south west near the ‘bend in the river’ Severn. Switched to Filton and advised them of our intentions. We hit the overcast at 3400’, so went down to 3000’ to give enough room for loops without entering clouds at the top of the loop.
Rolls
Did a few of these, although I am pulling it up too much, probably 40 degrees rather than the preferred 30 degrees. I am sure I can get this right consistently next time.
Loops
First one a bit ragged as I didn’t ‘float’ over the top, but carried on pulling a bit. As a result, the wings started to rock and Max said we just about stayed in the loop. He other loops were better though I thought.
Stall Turns
First stall turn, Max asked if I wanted to do it all or wanted a refresher demo again. I opted to give it a go, but just in case, Max talked through the recovery techniques if it went wrong.
Off we went. Standard entry, then pull up to the vertical and full power. Look at the left wingtip relative to the horizon, feed in right rudder as airspeed decreases to keep her going up straight. Have I run out of right rudder? Let’s see….oh yes, I seem to have, now what was it? Oh yes, hard left rudder and right aileron……whaaa….. oh crap….. Before I can get much of the left rudder in the Robin decides I am a dithering prat and must be punished! So it decides to do a hammerhead stall instead – yep, next thing I know I get the ‘ground filling the windscreen’ thing as Max calmly suggests that I pull the power off – Now would be good! Power off, pull to level and recover.
OK, we talk that one through. He says I know what to do, but I am late and am hesitant when doing it. I had come to the same conclusion. Max explains that when you have missed it, hold the rudder firmly in the middle with both feet and pull the stick back to stall the plane, then carry out the vertical recovery. I want to try again and vow to be more decisive and get it this time.
I just start the standard entry (a shallow dive to get to an awe-inspiring 110 kts) when Max spots an aircraft close to us. He is obviously giving us a deliberate eyeball and turning around us. It is a Cap10 aerobatic aircraft – G-CZCZ and Max realises that he wants to play. Apparently, this is the aerobatics pilot equivalent of pulling up beside you in a car at the traffic lights and revving the engine to indicate they want to race. Max takes control and we have a play of tight turns to get on each other tail. Needless to say, we get creamed! Well that was fun and a mutual waggle of the wings indicates fun over as we get back to stall-turns 101.
The second attempt is much better, albeit with Max calling the time for full left rudder. We get around and I see it now. I have to say, I was about one second behind Max in what I would have done myself – so I think I can now see the timing. I am not thinking about it as much, instead I just run it though my mind before the entry and get on with it.
The next few stall turns all work as planned and I am feeling much better about it.
The ‘fuel low’ light starts to blink, so we decide to head back. On the way back, Max demonstrates the next phase of the control inputs he wants to see me use in a roll. This time, to ‘flatten’ the bottom of the ellipse described by the nose (the sacred circle) by putting a bit of forward stick from the knife position until the opposite knife. I follow him through with two fingers on the stick and see what he is doing. So probably next time, I’ll do this.
The circuit isn’t very busy, with only one other plane in. Maybe they don’t like the look of the lower layer, but it is really scattered as we have been working 2500’ – 3400’ quite happily.
Max decides we’ll have a bit more fun and tells me to go for a glide landing. Could be interesting as I don’t know what the Robin glides like, never having done so. The Bonanza was no glider and the TB10 – well, I suspect the Space Shuttle has better gliding characteristics! So I judge the power off point being just after turning a reasonably close base for 27 (certainly well inside ‘the doughnut’). I know we are high, but I also know I can lose height by a variety of means. Establish 75 kts best glide and yes, let’s get full flaps as I do a descending turn onto short final for 27. I start to side-slip to bring the landing point back towards the numbers but Max asks me to stop and let it land long. This I do as I ‘assume the position’ in the flare with a slight nose up and hold…and hold…. and hold…. The mains touch, pull back a bit progressively and I manage full pull back without the tailguard scraping. OK – pleased with that one – it’s been a good couple of years since I did my last glide landing – long overdue really.
Backtrack on 27 and head to the pumps.
A quick debrief. He is looking for more consistency now and picking me up on finer points, which I guess is progress and is fine by me. Probably same again next time, but with me judging the timing for the Immelman and putting elevator input into the inverted part of the rolls to make the ellipse a bit more circular.
After about the third lesson, I gave up on the idea that this would take ‘eight hours’ as described in the AOPA certificate (and as taken by Ultimate High in Kemble). However, I am only doing one lesson a week (sometimes less as the weather intervenes) and am enjoying the experience, so I am reconciled to it ‘taking what it takes’.
• Ballistic rolls / barrel rolls (OK),
• Loops (fun),
• Stall turns / Immelman’s (lots of fun – when you can get them to work!),
• Spin entry and exit (yee haaa!),
• Vertical recoveries (ooeerrrr!).
I am now feeling confident on all of these except for stall turns, the last of which I tried resulted in the aircraft flicking over onto it’s back and heading rather rapidly vertically back towards mother earth with me wondering what the hell was happening! So more practice required there then.
The weather didn’t look great. High pressure and no wind, so a bit murky and overcast, but it didn’t look very thick. A quick conference with someone who had already been up established that the cloudbase was 3400’ with a scattered lower layer, with tops at FL40. The Robin is a bit asthmatic at the 6000’ we would need to play ‘on-top’, so Max decided we would work below.
Off we went, to the south west near the ‘bend in the river’ Severn. Switched to Filton and advised them of our intentions. We hit the overcast at 3400’, so went down to 3000’ to give enough room for loops without entering clouds at the top of the loop.
Rolls
Did a few of these, although I am pulling it up too much, probably 40 degrees rather than the preferred 30 degrees. I am sure I can get this right consistently next time.
Loops
First one a bit ragged as I didn’t ‘float’ over the top, but carried on pulling a bit. As a result, the wings started to rock and Max said we just about stayed in the loop. He other loops were better though I thought.
Stall Turns
First stall turn, Max asked if I wanted to do it all or wanted a refresher demo again. I opted to give it a go, but just in case, Max talked through the recovery techniques if it went wrong.
Off we went. Standard entry, then pull up to the vertical and full power. Look at the left wingtip relative to the horizon, feed in right rudder as airspeed decreases to keep her going up straight. Have I run out of right rudder? Let’s see….oh yes, I seem to have, now what was it? Oh yes, hard left rudder and right aileron……whaaa….. oh crap….. Before I can get much of the left rudder in the Robin decides I am a dithering prat and must be punished! So it decides to do a hammerhead stall instead – yep, next thing I know I get the ‘ground filling the windscreen’ thing as Max calmly suggests that I pull the power off – Now would be good! Power off, pull to level and recover.
OK, we talk that one through. He says I know what to do, but I am late and am hesitant when doing it. I had come to the same conclusion. Max explains that when you have missed it, hold the rudder firmly in the middle with both feet and pull the stick back to stall the plane, then carry out the vertical recovery. I want to try again and vow to be more decisive and get it this time.
I just start the standard entry (a shallow dive to get to an awe-inspiring 110 kts) when Max spots an aircraft close to us. He is obviously giving us a deliberate eyeball and turning around us. It is a Cap10 aerobatic aircraft – G-CZCZ and Max realises that he wants to play. Apparently, this is the aerobatics pilot equivalent of pulling up beside you in a car at the traffic lights and revving the engine to indicate they want to race. Max takes control and we have a play of tight turns to get on each other tail. Needless to say, we get creamed! Well that was fun and a mutual waggle of the wings indicates fun over as we get back to stall-turns 101.
The second attempt is much better, albeit with Max calling the time for full left rudder. We get around and I see it now. I have to say, I was about one second behind Max in what I would have done myself – so I think I can now see the timing. I am not thinking about it as much, instead I just run it though my mind before the entry and get on with it.
The next few stall turns all work as planned and I am feeling much better about it.
The ‘fuel low’ light starts to blink, so we decide to head back. On the way back, Max demonstrates the next phase of the control inputs he wants to see me use in a roll. This time, to ‘flatten’ the bottom of the ellipse described by the nose (the sacred circle) by putting a bit of forward stick from the knife position until the opposite knife. I follow him through with two fingers on the stick and see what he is doing. So probably next time, I’ll do this.
The circuit isn’t very busy, with only one other plane in. Maybe they don’t like the look of the lower layer, but it is really scattered as we have been working 2500’ – 3400’ quite happily.
Max decides we’ll have a bit more fun and tells me to go for a glide landing. Could be interesting as I don’t know what the Robin glides like, never having done so. The Bonanza was no glider and the TB10 – well, I suspect the Space Shuttle has better gliding characteristics! So I judge the power off point being just after turning a reasonably close base for 27 (certainly well inside ‘the doughnut’). I know we are high, but I also know I can lose height by a variety of means. Establish 75 kts best glide and yes, let’s get full flaps as I do a descending turn onto short final for 27. I start to side-slip to bring the landing point back towards the numbers but Max asks me to stop and let it land long. This I do as I ‘assume the position’ in the flare with a slight nose up and hold…and hold…. and hold…. The mains touch, pull back a bit progressively and I manage full pull back without the tailguard scraping. OK – pleased with that one – it’s been a good couple of years since I did my last glide landing – long overdue really.
Backtrack on 27 and head to the pumps.
A quick debrief. He is looking for more consistency now and picking me up on finer points, which I guess is progress and is fine by me. Probably same again next time, but with me judging the timing for the Immelman and putting elevator input into the inverted part of the rolls to make the ellipse a bit more circular.
After about the third lesson, I gave up on the idea that this would take ‘eight hours’ as described in the AOPA certificate (and as taken by Ultimate High in Kemble). However, I am only doing one lesson a week (sometimes less as the weather intervenes) and am enjoying the experience, so I am reconciled to it ‘taking what it takes’.
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