Out of group currency

Our group rules state that if you haven’t flown the aircraft (an RV6) for thirty days, you need to have a checkride before flying solo or with passengers. I guess the reasoning for this is that the RV6 is a fairly twitchy, performance taildragger and landing and take-off skills (particularly crosswind) may deteriorate rapidly the longer you leave it.

No matter what the rationale, I signed up to the group rules like everyone else, so of course I must abide by them. The last flight in the RV I took was 7th August. Since then I did a one week business trip to India, followed quickly by a one week flying tour of Canada and the USA in a rented Cessna 172. I got back at the start of September and quickly booked two slots before the 30 days ran out on the RV so I could stay current according to group rules.

Well of course the ‘great British summer’ intervened and I had to let the first booking go because the weather was so bad, you couldn’t even do circuits. I had to scrub the second booking even after turning up at the airfield due to very gusty winds and low cloud at or below the 1000’ circuit height.

So that’s that! For the first time since I got my taildragger sign-off, I am out of currency.

The problem I then had was finding an instructor spare at the time I wanted (as I didn’t want to take a half day holiday as I only now have half a day holiday left until the new year). Two evening bookings came and went due to the weather, then I managed an early morning booking with Phil at Cotswolds towards the end of September.

The day dawned almost perfect for flying. Scattered and high cloud and nil wind. So I trekked over to the airfield and checked the plane out. It was low on fuel so I would have to refuel. I made contact with Phil who agreed that circuits would be the best use of our time. He would man the office while I refuelled and meet me at the pumps.

Of course the ATIS advised me that the self-serve at the pumps was out of order, so I radioed a request for the fire crew to help. Phil wandered over as I was finishing and we strapped in.

Runway 27 was in use as I taxied over to A2 and carried out the power checks. All was fine and quiet and we were probably the first departure of the day , it was just after nine o’clock.

I thought my take-off actions through before calling for departure, then with clearance, lined up and gave it full throttle. All went according to plan and the plane started hopping excitedly as I held it down to gain airspeed, then flew it off. Right 10 degree noise abatement turn, then climb for right hand circuits on 27. I cleaned up the flaps and before I knew it on the crosswind leg, I was at 1000’ circuit height – the RV really climbs – even with full fuel and two large guys on board.

So far so good. Phil reminded me not to start the noise abatement turn until the end of the runway as I could infringe the helicopter circuit – ooops! First mistake!

Then the approach and landing. Looked very good. Good angle, good airspeed, good approach. Nice flare, power off and hold off, and off. Stall warner chirps and we touch. Good one - but then it all went a bit pea shaped as I didn’t seem to control the roll out. We skittered left, then right as I got to grips with it with rudder peddles. OK, under control now, lots of runway left, clean up flaps, power up and take off again. Much to his credit, Phil did not intervene (but I know he would have if he felt he needed to).

Once safely airborne and climbing normally, I apologised to Phil for the sloppy performance. He calmly asked me what I though went wrong. I thought about if and replayed the landing in my head, then I realised, What an idiot – I didn’t bring the stick fully back on landing so ‘anchor’ the tailwheel to the ground – a legacy of the recent 12 hours or so I had in August in the Cessna 172 nosewheel aircraft no doubt! So basically, the tailwheel was either ‘light’ on barely on the ground as I skittered around in effect on the two mainwheels only – what a schoolboy error! But that is what I like about Phil – he doesn’t over-control and he doesn’t lecture. He will ask you to analyse your own scenarios and tell him what happened. Of course he will tell you if you either don’t know or don’t understand what happened.

Well, cut a short story even shorter, the next few circuits went pretty well. One of the landings I flared a bit too high and dropped probably two foot instead of squeaking it on, but hardly a shocker. On the downwind of one of them, I gained about 200’ I didn’t want as I was distracted by a whistling sound. We never found the cause of it, but think it is airflow and airspeed related as it disappeared on approach speeds.

In the end, Phil was happy and so was I, so we came in for a final landing. This was again reasonable and I even managed to make the first intersection past the numbers on a nil wind day.

As we carried out the shut down checks, I noticed the right mag was giving excessive mag drop. Probably just a bit of fouling as I had been doing circuits on fully rich with lots of low power and low airspeed on the approach. It will probably burn off with a bit of leaning in the power checks next time. Nevertheless, I noted both the whistling and the mag drop in the tech log for the next pilot to fly so they can make their own decision and assessment.

A good lesson and I guess I can now see why 30 days was set, especially after my initial schoolboy error. But the rest went well and feel pretty confident again – and even more determined not to let myself get out of the 30 day currency period again – too much hassle!

We’ll see what the forecast is for the coming weekend. I have an early morning ‘bimble slot’ booked, but if the weather forecast is fair and the plane remains clear, I might book the Sunday for a bimble over to Duxford with my daughters boyfriend, Rob. I think he would like wandering around the various exhibits there and I know he hasn’t been there yet.

Well unless there is a really lucky break in the weather on a weekend, that is probably my ‘international touring’ over until next spring. Maybe some UK day trips and keeping my hand in over the winter.