Man, this year is just flying by. Wish I could say the same for my project. I have been overtaken by events over the past several months, and the result is that not much has been done on the build. It started with the decision to get my tailwheel endorsement, followed by attending the Sport Air Electrical workshop earlier this month, and then I got the hankering to do a bit more flying for a while. SO I also checked out in the club C-182 and C-172s. Then work got in the way - you know, that pesky thing that allows you to embark in this crazy activity known as "flying." Unfortunately in my line of work October means huge deadlines for software releases that have been worked on for months, so one has to do what one has to do to get to the finish line.
Then I had a couple more revelations that have served to get in the way of actively working on the project. The first was an opportunity through the company I work for to take part in a weight loss program called Slim-genics. For far too long I had let my weight get the better of me, adn now it is slowly taking its toll on my ever-aging body. So I took a huge plunge and dove in head first and I am now about 4 weeks into this program and have lost almost 30 pounds. The ability to continue holding a medical certificate and continue to have the privilege of flying where ever I want to is a very strong motivator for me to get and stay healthy from now until the end of my days. Unfortunately this also required a time commitment to do all the things that are necessary to change bad habits and get back to a healthy life style. SO other things must suffer a bit while I take care of the truly important stuff. ONly other thing I will say about the program is that IT WORKS! I had to go buy a new smaller belt today and new clothes are not too far behind. Looking forward to "getting smaller" in the window. (reference the movie Apollo 13 for the pun!)
Then I decided to take the opportunity to fly my very first EAA young eagle this weekend. His name was Logan and his Dad's name was Mike. IT turned out to be a bit if challenge to make this happen, since we had two snow packed systems roll through the Denver area last week, and unfortunately this set the stage for a heavy Frost on Saturday morning. I was out at KAPA at 0600 in 17 degree temps to provide enough time to preheat and preflight the airplane and reposition up to KFTG where the YE rally was taking place. The sun finally warmed things up enough for me to depart in a C-172 at about 1000, and I was able to catch one of the last flights with Logan and his Dad before it eas time to turn around and head back to home base. That ride was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoy introducing aviation to the young peopel in hopes of lighting a spark in some of them that may someday result in them pursuing the same dream as I.
Then, as if that was not enough, I also decided that it was time to dust off an old project I had started a few years ago when I had a hankering to put together a miniature christmas village, complete with christamas trains and and little holiday scenes being played out by miniature people in a different place and time. I first caught this bug after discovering a system provided by the Woodland Scenics company, which specializes in products to create such displays. They have everything from specialized plaster products to fake trees and rocks, etc., and they have a series of how to videos that take you through the process step by step.
I became acquainted with all this when I helped my oldest son with a High School class project that involved creating a midieval scene from the Roman empire that involved a castle dn draw brige and such. That is when I got the idea for the christmas village. I made it as far as getting the train track laid out adn a basic idea for the village that I wanted. I stopped working on it after a lot of detail work on the tunnel was completed, with a bit more left to do. It has sat in a corner of my basement gathering dust ever since, so I figured it was high time to try to get this project moved along for this upcoming holiday season, so I am now neck deep in that effort.
Needless to say, this does not leave much room for working on the plane. I will say that the Sport Air Electrical class was just awesome. Fellow RV-8 builder Scott Larsen also attended. In that class we learned how to attach a variety of different crimp connectors, including a BNC connector to some RG58 antenna coax. Then we also got to wire up and solder an actual Phone and Mike jack for a PPG intercomm system, and the acid test was whether you could plug in a headset to the actual intercom unit and hear yourself speak over the microphone. Mine worked just fine. The final project was one that emulated an on/off nav light circuit and an adjustable interior cockpit light circuit. Again, mine worked as expected. I cannot say enough how valuable all of these Sport Air classes are for learning basic skills tht can be applied to the airplane project. The class was taught by Dick Keohler, whos is also one of the folks that presents a variety of electrical how to hints in the EAA Hints for Homebuilders series of instructional videos. Dick is a great guy and a great instructor.
Then there is all the current events that have unfolded within the EAA organization over the past several weeks. Recently appointed leader Rod Hightower resigned and President and CEO of EAA, sighting family relocation concerns as the reason. There are a lot of long-time EAA members that are not happy at all with this transition, adn it seems the root concerns are centered on EAA losing its focal point on Homebuilding, Experiementation, and Innovation, to a much more all-inclusive aviation audience adn community.
Dick Koehler also told us some stories about the massive re-org that took place at EAA after Hightower took office, adn some of shady things that occured behind the scenes that seems to have negatively impacted a lot of really good people. I was very saddened to hear some of these things, as my experience with all things EAA up to this point has been largely positive. The most disturbing thing that Dick told us was that the traveling Sport Air classes that I was attending may very well be the last ones to be offered at satellite locations forever more. EAA is sighting financial issues as the reason and apparently was moving toward a philosophy to conduct the classes at Oshkosh about once per quarter, instead of traveling to a variety of different locations throughout the country. This was truly disheartening to hear.
These are truly trying times for EAA as it struggles to determine it's niche in the rest of the aviation world in this present day environment. Now that a new leader is being sought, I hope that the integrity of the namesake for the Experimental Association will be preserved as we move forward in the vast world of all things aviation.
So, enough for now. Hopefully the remainder of the year will be a bit more serene, and a little less hectic. And then, true to my past experience thus far, I will probably find the time to start working on the plane again just about the time there are sub-zero temperatures in the garage. That just seems to the be the way of things for me and this project. The wings will get done - - eventually.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Back to Building = Thinking it Through....
Hopefully if you are a fellow builder you will not have to endure the lengthy pauses I seem to experience at just about every turn in between building efforts. I am doing a horrible job of sticking to my original goal of 3-5 years for completion, but life gets in the way sometimes, and so you just keep doing what you can do I guess.
One of the problems of having lengthy delays is that it is easy to forget just exactly what you doing or what your were thinking about at the time that you stopped working on the plane. You forget where certain tools are located, and you forget the small details about certain activities.
So I spent a short time tonight just reassissing where everything was at. I know that I still have a crap load of deburring wing ribs to do, but I also realized that I still had my horizontal stab sitting on my work table - constantly getting in the way. Only problem is that I knew that I had left it there after taking it down off the wall of the garage some time back because there were still several small things that I needed to do before I hung it back up again.
- final torque the 4 mounting bolts for the center bearing/hinge.
- smooth out the cut lines where I had trimmed the edges of the HS to allow proper clearance for the elevator counter balance arms
- re-prime a couple of areas around the center joint of the HS forward spar and support angles, and also around the tips
- smooth and re-prime the area of the rear HS spar flange that had to be trimmed to allow clearance for the control horns during full down travel of the elevators.
After reviewing those items, I also realized that I still needed to drill and mount a couple of K1000-4 nut plates to accept an AN4 bolt along the web of each elevator. Here is a shot of a 3/16 inch cleco that I inserted through the large hole of the nut plate first, and then inserted the clec through the large tooling hole in the forward part of the rib web of the counterbalance support and the tip rib of each elevator.
This additional nut plate allows me to secure additional lead weight to the elevator in the event that more is needed to balance the controls when the time comes for that. You simply take a piece of lead, drill the necessary hole, and mount it to the web using an AN4 bolt and the nut plate. The subject of some controversy among builders is where to place the nut plate - on the inboard or the outboard portion of the elevator. I have chosen to mount the nut plate on the inboard side of each arm, so that any additional lead and the bolt head will be located on the outboard side of the arm (where the fiberglass tip fairing will be installed).
The reason is simple. if the bolt ever becomes loose for any reason, bot the bolt and the additional lead weight would be retained in side the fiberglass tip fairing. If either of these items are located on the inboard side of the elevator, then they could become lodged between the elevator and the horizontal stab, effectively jamming your controls and causing some very serious problems. Some builders sluff this off and decide to put the bolt and the weight on the inboard side because it is more accessible since it is not covered by the tip fairing, and this is true. I guess I view this as being safe rather than sorry. So it is a builders choice.....
I will need to enlarge the hole for the AN4 bolt (1/4 inch hole I believe). SO I will drill it out a bit, then drill the holes for the rivets, and check that little assembly off the list of to-dos.
Last item for tonight is something that I spent considerable time researching, adn I am still not 100% sure I am going with this solution, bit I think it will work. Here is a series of pics that shows a pipe support bracket that I intend to use for securing my wiring conduit to each wing rib. I found them at HD. Unfortunately, they are just wide enough to allow the conduit to slip very easily through each hole. I figured I could place a zip tie on each side of the bracket around the conduit to hold it in place.
Using these is a bit easier than drilling large holes in certain areas of each rib and running the conduit through the holes. The only thing I still need to check is if the aileron pushrod will clear the conduit in the last lightening hole of each rib. There are some other nylon brackets that are designed to do the same job as these, but they are more expensive and come from specific aviation suppliers. It tool me forever to find the information about them on VAF. Anyway, these brackets from HD are readily available, and aside from being a bit bulky should do the job. All you do is mark the rivet hole locations for each hole, drill them, and mount. Most use pop rivets for this which is perfectly fine. I also like the fact that they are non-conductive and therefore are perfectly suited for supporting electrical wires and such.
One of the problems of having lengthy delays is that it is easy to forget just exactly what you doing or what your were thinking about at the time that you stopped working on the plane. You forget where certain tools are located, and you forget the small details about certain activities.
So I spent a short time tonight just reassissing where everything was at. I know that I still have a crap load of deburring wing ribs to do, but I also realized that I still had my horizontal stab sitting on my work table - constantly getting in the way. Only problem is that I knew that I had left it there after taking it down off the wall of the garage some time back because there were still several small things that I needed to do before I hung it back up again.
- final torque the 4 mounting bolts for the center bearing/hinge.
- smooth out the cut lines where I had trimmed the edges of the HS to allow proper clearance for the elevator counter balance arms
- re-prime a couple of areas around the center joint of the HS forward spar and support angles, and also around the tips
- smooth and re-prime the area of the rear HS spar flange that had to be trimmed to allow clearance for the control horns during full down travel of the elevators.
After reviewing those items, I also realized that I still needed to drill and mount a couple of K1000-4 nut plates to accept an AN4 bolt along the web of each elevator. Here is a shot of a 3/16 inch cleco that I inserted through the large hole of the nut plate first, and then inserted the clec through the large tooling hole in the forward part of the rib web of the counterbalance support and the tip rib of each elevator.
This additional nut plate allows me to secure additional lead weight to the elevator in the event that more is needed to balance the controls when the time comes for that. You simply take a piece of lead, drill the necessary hole, and mount it to the web using an AN4 bolt and the nut plate. The subject of some controversy among builders is where to place the nut plate - on the inboard or the outboard portion of the elevator. I have chosen to mount the nut plate on the inboard side of each arm, so that any additional lead and the bolt head will be located on the outboard side of the arm (where the fiberglass tip fairing will be installed).
The reason is simple. if the bolt ever becomes loose for any reason, bot the bolt and the additional lead weight would be retained in side the fiberglass tip fairing. If either of these items are located on the inboard side of the elevator, then they could become lodged between the elevator and the horizontal stab, effectively jamming your controls and causing some very serious problems. Some builders sluff this off and decide to put the bolt and the weight on the inboard side because it is more accessible since it is not covered by the tip fairing, and this is true. I guess I view this as being safe rather than sorry. So it is a builders choice.....
I will need to enlarge the hole for the AN4 bolt (1/4 inch hole I believe). SO I will drill it out a bit, then drill the holes for the rivets, and check that little assembly off the list of to-dos.
Last item for tonight is something that I spent considerable time researching, adn I am still not 100% sure I am going with this solution, bit I think it will work. Here is a series of pics that shows a pipe support bracket that I intend to use for securing my wiring conduit to each wing rib. I found them at HD. Unfortunately, they are just wide enough to allow the conduit to slip very easily through each hole. I figured I could place a zip tie on each side of the bracket around the conduit to hold it in place.
Using these is a bit easier than drilling large holes in certain areas of each rib and running the conduit through the holes. The only thing I still need to check is if the aileron pushrod will clear the conduit in the last lightening hole of each rib. There are some other nylon brackets that are designed to do the same job as these, but they are more expensive and come from specific aviation suppliers. It tool me forever to find the information about them on VAF. Anyway, these brackets from HD are readily available, and aside from being a bit bulky should do the job. All you do is mark the rivet hole locations for each hole, drill them, and mount. Most use pop rivets for this which is perfectly fine. I also like the fact that they are non-conductive and therefore are perfectly suited for supporting electrical wires and such.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
I am now a tail dragger pilot!
After last Monday's performance I was a little bewildered about this endeavor, and was even wondering if I would be able to get comfortable enough to be able to call my self a tail dragger pilot. John had tentatively scheduled us for this past Wednesday, but the entire State was engulfed by heavy rains pretty much all day Wednesday, and the bird needed a new tailwheel as well, so we opted for an early morning flight on Saturday.
Today was one of those days that reminds you why I live where I do. I awoke to a gorgeous sunrise full of pinks, blues, purples and reds filling the cirrus-laden clouds above. THe winds were forecast to remain below 10 knots out of the south - just what the doctor ordered.
We preflighed the plane (the new tailwheel looks great John!) and we were off and running by about 7:00am. WInds were favoring runway 17 L. John had me do two 3 point landings to start with, and these were not super good, but good enough. Then we did the wheel landings - The first one was spot on - just enough power added to allow me to fly the plane all the way down. Then before I knew it, we kissed the runway with that ever familiar "chirp" of the main wheels, without feeling any side load or even vertical load in the seat of my pants. Then it was power off and stick forward to plant the wheels firmly on the surface - could not have been a better landing IMHO. Then I tried one more - probably leveled out a bit too high and did not add enough power to compensate, but the landing was still do-able, so I stuck it on the runway after a bounce or two and finished the landing on two wheels without any problems.
We finished up with a full stop 3 point landing on runway 10 - a rare occurance for Centennial airport, but traffic was light so ATC had no problem clearing us for 10. The last time I saw an approach by an aircraft to runway 10, was the first of two Presedential visits by O-butthead to the Denver area, when the secret service brought their jet in low and fast as I watched in amazement from my office window. Never seen a jet approach and land on that runway before.
Anyway, after .7 hours, John gave me a pat on the back and a well done. Feels pretty good to beat the demons and regain the feeling that you are in total contol of the airplane. John asked if I wanted to take her around solo a couple of times, and told hime I would wait till later. I just wanted to bask in my success for a while I guess.
Here is my endorsement that allows me privilege of operating aircrqft with conventional landing gear (planes with tailwheels for the none-aviation minded folks). I got 'er done in 10.8 hours over about a 3 week period of pretty consisten flying. Your mileage may vary on several factors.
As a closing note, all I can say is that I feel very nostalgic right now, knowing that I am now in the company of many other pilots that came before me - from the days of the Wright brothers and the infancy of powered flight, through WWI and WWII, and up to present day conventional aircraft. From Sopwiths to P-51s, to DC-3s, Citabrias, Cessnas, and so on. As John put it to me a while back - you are doing something that not a lot of other pilots know how to do today. I am sure I will continue to reflect on American aviation history as the rest of this day passes, and lazily comes to rest with another beautiful Colorado sunset on a beautiful Fall day.
Now I guess it is time to get back to building an airplane - an RV-8 (that's not an 8A)! Taildraggers here I come!
Today was one of those days that reminds you why I live where I do. I awoke to a gorgeous sunrise full of pinks, blues, purples and reds filling the cirrus-laden clouds above. THe winds were forecast to remain below 10 knots out of the south - just what the doctor ordered.
We preflighed the plane (the new tailwheel looks great John!) and we were off and running by about 7:00am. WInds were favoring runway 17 L. John had me do two 3 point landings to start with, and these were not super good, but good enough. Then we did the wheel landings - The first one was spot on - just enough power added to allow me to fly the plane all the way down. Then before I knew it, we kissed the runway with that ever familiar "chirp" of the main wheels, without feeling any side load or even vertical load in the seat of my pants. Then it was power off and stick forward to plant the wheels firmly on the surface - could not have been a better landing IMHO. Then I tried one more - probably leveled out a bit too high and did not add enough power to compensate, but the landing was still do-able, so I stuck it on the runway after a bounce or two and finished the landing on two wheels without any problems.
We finished up with a full stop 3 point landing on runway 10 - a rare occurance for Centennial airport, but traffic was light so ATC had no problem clearing us for 10. The last time I saw an approach by an aircraft to runway 10, was the first of two Presedential visits by O-butthead to the Denver area, when the secret service brought their jet in low and fast as I watched in amazement from my office window. Never seen a jet approach and land on that runway before.
Anyway, after .7 hours, John gave me a pat on the back and a well done. Feels pretty good to beat the demons and regain the feeling that you are in total contol of the airplane. John asked if I wanted to take her around solo a couple of times, and told hime I would wait till later. I just wanted to bask in my success for a while I guess.
Here is my endorsement that allows me privilege of operating aircrqft with conventional landing gear (planes with tailwheels for the none-aviation minded folks). I got 'er done in 10.8 hours over about a 3 week period of pretty consisten flying. Your mileage may vary on several factors.
Now I guess it is time to get back to building an airplane - an RV-8 (that's not an 8A)! Taildraggers here I come!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Will teach you how to fly this airplane for cheap....
Would YOU want to learn how to fly fromTHIS flight instructor? Actually, I would. This is John in a stellar "real life" pose, just prior to our Saturday departure last weekend to terrorize the skies over Erie/TriCounty (EIK) and Longmont Airports (LMO). At that point I had about 3.3 hours remaining to be "eligible" for my tailwheel endorsement. This was a rare late morning/afternoon flight for us, with the majority of the flights thus far being very early morning flights to accomodate work schedules and availability and such.
Then there is even the more rediculous looking student (aka me). Bet you are wondering how a big guy like me can fit in a tiny airplane like that. Well, lets just suffice it to say that John gets a good chuckly watching me maneuver my way into the cockpit. Definitely a tight squeeze, but I manage. So ignore the ugly guy in the below photo - nice plane though, eh?
We burned about 2.4 hours on the Saturday flight, and another hour today. The original plan was to travel to Platte Valley as well. Unfortunately I was (and still am) in a bit of a plateau in my ability to confidently handle this airplane in a variety of different conditions, and so I had some difficulties at Tri-county and again at Longmont that I later attributed to mishandling the rollout and flare attitude by raising the nose just a bit too much before allowing the airspeed to bleed off just a bit before executing my 3 point landings. When John told me that the runway at Platte Valley was even less wide than the taxiway at Tri County, there was just no way I was even going to attempt that landing. I managed to salvage the last landing back at Centennial, but I was just not happy with the landings at all.
So with .9 hours of "eligible" time remaining, John was gracious enough to schedule an afternoon flight with me this evening. Well, the forecast winds for this evening were supposed to be light and variable, and don't ya know that ya just can't trust a forecast very much. The winds turned out to be direct crosswinds of 9-12 knots, and they pretty much beat me to a pulp tonight.
So what have a learned? I learned why you don't let the tailwheel stay up forever during a wheel landing in heavy crosswinds. I learned that I need to remember to take the power out during my wheel landings (something I seem to keep forgetting to do), and I learned the hard way what happens when you forget to allow the speed of the airplane to build up fast enough to depart the runway smartly on a crosswind takeoff. All very stupid mistakes on my part - and ones that I know better than to commit. The airplane is pretty much kicking my butt during landings at this point. Not very fun lessons to learn, to say the least, but lessons that must be learned to conquer this type of flying.
Personally, I don't think that a private pilot has as hard a time as I am having while trying to nail this down. Once you possess the type of flying experience that I have accumulated over the years, you have a certain degree of very high expectations of yourself. While John is always quick to remind me not to beat my self up too much, the fact of the matter is that I always have hight expectations of myself at this stage of my flying career - both as a pilot and a flight instructor. And when I don't live up to those expectations, it weighs quite heavily on me.
So am I giving up at this point? Nope. Just need to keep getting back on the saddle until I finally get it figured out. My measuring stick of success is quite simple. I just need to prove to myself that I can spend just one lesson performing landings of different types where the outcome of the directional control during each takeoff or landing is never in doubt. I ain't ashamed to say it, but right now I am a little afraid of this airplane and what it can do to me if I screw up too much. I just have to get over that somehow.....
Anyway, here are some more fun photos of our journey to front range a while back.
and finally John calling for fuel.....
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Tailwheel Lesson 6 - Shorts and Softs and Sim Engine Failures
First off, I gotta tell all of yas that are checking out my daily survival posts during the adventurous undertaking I have committed myself to, that Ron Duren has pretty much taken the words right out of my mouth in his posts from a year ago during his tailwheel baptism. His descriptions are alos a bit more eloquent than mine, so feel free to travel to his blog and search under tailwheel training if you need more info about this.
As the title implies, today's mission was more pattern work to cover short and soft field takeoff and landing procedures, and to perform a simulated engine failure while in the pattern. We were about the only plane in the sky except for countless numbers of departing jets on the parallel runway this morning. So no traffic to worry about, just wake turbulence from all those heavy jets, which did not turn out to be much a factor.
What was a bit of a factor for me today was the wind situation. Tower reported winds calm, ATIS reported winds out of the southeast at 4, and my weather briefing from flight service indicated that winds were out of the southwest at about 9 knots. SO what is poor tailwheel pilot to do under such circumstances. Answer - feel the airplane's response and respond to what it tells you during each phase of flight.
I also received an intersection clearance on runway 17L that I had NEVER received before after some 27 years of flying out of this airport. Lots of strange things happening in todays airport environments. Anyway, First takeoff was pretty good, and around the pattern we go. First landing was a 3 point and slightly tail low but a gentle touchdown. SO far so good.
Then John wanted me to experiment with the approach speed a bit and hold my altitude a bit longer before descending to the runway. I ahve normally been using 70 MPH on final and this speed works pretty well for me. The specialty landings always call for a slightly slower airspeed. IN this case the Citabria manual calls for short field landing speed on final of 60 MPH. The second approach required a slip which was giving me a bit a problem because of the changing wind directions all over the pattern. On downwind the wind was out of the southwest requiring about a 20 degree crab to hold my line, then on final the wind shifted to the southeast just a bit - very strange. Then on the roll out it would seem to drop to almost nothing or shift to straight down the runway.
Anyway, the slip and wind and the different airspeed assignment all kind of piled up on me to the point that the airplane touched down the second time and rapidly departed for the runway edge. John let me dig my way out of it, which thankfully I did, but I was fairly disgusted and a bit rattled afterward. To this moment I still do not fully understand why the airplane did that, but most likely it means that the airplane was probably not aligned totoally down the runway to begin with, or it became that way during my roll out. Either way when the tailwheel contacted the runway off I went. The lesson to learn here was to pay attention to the direction of the airplane immediately adn take corrective action IMEDIATELY to keep it where you want it. RUDDERS RUDDERS RUDDERS!
We did most of these as rolling touch and goes. Next pass I was told to fly at 60 MPH per the manual and aim for the numbers as my touchdown point (a spot or precision landing). On about a quarter mile final we both decided that 60 MPH was way too slow and the controls were way too mushy, so we opted for 65 instead, which was better.
The simulated engine failure was started on downwind. Always love that when the instructor says "you just lost your engine, and I have the throttle!" A quick turn to base and slip and no problem getting down to the runway to land, but the landing went to crap once again. My last landing was interesting in that I executed another 3 point landing but started my roll out a tad too high. The airplane stopped flying and came down on all three wheels without a single bounce. Would ahve been perfect as a carrier landing in a Corsair or something similar. A little to harsh for a Citabria.
So I was not very satisfied with my performance today, nd right now I am still a bit concerned about the occasional problem I keep havng with rapid departures to the side lines. Afterward we discussed this problem a bit, and John reminded me to use my peripheral vision off to the sides of the nose instead of focusing down the runway over the nose of the airplane.
6.7 hours logged so far, on the way to 10 to satisfy the club checkout requirements, but I may need more if I cannot satisfy myself that I can maintain positive directional control enough to keep from rapidly departing to the edge of the runway every so often.
Anyway, I have a couple of days to mentally prepare, and I expect to overcome my deficiencies on the next flight. All for now.
As the title implies, today's mission was more pattern work to cover short and soft field takeoff and landing procedures, and to perform a simulated engine failure while in the pattern. We were about the only plane in the sky except for countless numbers of departing jets on the parallel runway this morning. So no traffic to worry about, just wake turbulence from all those heavy jets, which did not turn out to be much a factor.
What was a bit of a factor for me today was the wind situation. Tower reported winds calm, ATIS reported winds out of the southeast at 4, and my weather briefing from flight service indicated that winds were out of the southwest at about 9 knots. SO what is poor tailwheel pilot to do under such circumstances. Answer - feel the airplane's response and respond to what it tells you during each phase of flight.
I also received an intersection clearance on runway 17L that I had NEVER received before after some 27 years of flying out of this airport. Lots of strange things happening in todays airport environments. Anyway, First takeoff was pretty good, and around the pattern we go. First landing was a 3 point and slightly tail low but a gentle touchdown. SO far so good.
Then John wanted me to experiment with the approach speed a bit and hold my altitude a bit longer before descending to the runway. I ahve normally been using 70 MPH on final and this speed works pretty well for me. The specialty landings always call for a slightly slower airspeed. IN this case the Citabria manual calls for short field landing speed on final of 60 MPH. The second approach required a slip which was giving me a bit a problem because of the changing wind directions all over the pattern. On downwind the wind was out of the southwest requiring about a 20 degree crab to hold my line, then on final the wind shifted to the southeast just a bit - very strange. Then on the roll out it would seem to drop to almost nothing or shift to straight down the runway.
Anyway, the slip and wind and the different airspeed assignment all kind of piled up on me to the point that the airplane touched down the second time and rapidly departed for the runway edge. John let me dig my way out of it, which thankfully I did, but I was fairly disgusted and a bit rattled afterward. To this moment I still do not fully understand why the airplane did that, but most likely it means that the airplane was probably not aligned totoally down the runway to begin with, or it became that way during my roll out. Either way when the tailwheel contacted the runway off I went. The lesson to learn here was to pay attention to the direction of the airplane immediately adn take corrective action IMEDIATELY to keep it where you want it. RUDDERS RUDDERS RUDDERS!
We did most of these as rolling touch and goes. Next pass I was told to fly at 60 MPH per the manual and aim for the numbers as my touchdown point (a spot or precision landing). On about a quarter mile final we both decided that 60 MPH was way too slow and the controls were way too mushy, so we opted for 65 instead, which was better.
The simulated engine failure was started on downwind. Always love that when the instructor says "you just lost your engine, and I have the throttle!" A quick turn to base and slip and no problem getting down to the runway to land, but the landing went to crap once again. My last landing was interesting in that I executed another 3 point landing but started my roll out a tad too high. The airplane stopped flying and came down on all three wheels without a single bounce. Would ahve been perfect as a carrier landing in a Corsair or something similar. A little to harsh for a Citabria.
So I was not very satisfied with my performance today, nd right now I am still a bit concerned about the occasional problem I keep havng with rapid departures to the side lines. Afterward we discussed this problem a bit, and John reminded me to use my peripheral vision off to the sides of the nose instead of focusing down the runway over the nose of the airplane.
6.7 hours logged so far, on the way to 10 to satisfy the club checkout requirements, but I may need more if I cannot satisfy myself that I can maintain positive directional control enough to keep from rapidly departing to the edge of the runway every so often.
Anyway, I have a couple of days to mentally prepare, and I expect to overcome my deficiencies on the next flight. All for now.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tailwheel lesson number 5 - Starting to get the Wheel Landings down
Had a nice break for the holiday and embarked on the annual Dove hunt once again. The weather out there turned out to be much nicer than the weather in Denver, and we had a great time. Saturday was opening day, and almost everyone limited out within a couple of hours. This hunt has taken place across 3 generations of family over the past 40 years, and has become somewhat of a tradition over the years. I even let junior drive the car on the county roads, and he did great. Top that off with feasts on both Saturday and Sunday night that consisted beef brisket, Dove cabobs marianated in 3 different sauces, potatoe salad, carrot cake, Sweet corn from Olathe Kansas (The absolute best there is in my opinion), and so on.....
I have always had dreams of being able to fly my airplane to and from the hunting grounds, with all my gear safely packed inside. Several builders with similar interests have also outfitted their airplanes to be able to carry hunting, fishing, and camping gear. Mine will have to do all that AND also haul my guitar and the ocassional Radio Control airplane or two, which I plan to enter in various RC competions and fly-ins all over the country when I retire. Hmm. I may need that RV-10 after all.
Anyway - today it was back to flying the Citabria to see if I could get those pesky wheel landings figured out. It was a beautiful cool and still morning, and the airplane just wanted to blast off and fly to the stars it seemed. I initially had a little problem with dancing a bit too much on the rudder pedals after the main wheels touched down, but after a couple more I started to get the hang of it. We mixed in a couple of 3 point landings and called it a day. I am getting more and more comfortable with the plane during each flight.
It was already busy at the airport by the time I was ready to takeoff at about 0630 this morning. A stinson was already up performing close quarter short final slips to landings on runway 35L, and we were instructed to switch over to the alternate tower frequency - yet another sign that aviation may be starting an upswing in activity. I certainly hope so. Centennial Airport used to be a consistent contender for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in the number of total operations, and the ranking as the busiest general aviation airport in the nation.
There is nothing like watching the sun rise against a lazy, red adn pink colored Colorado sky, while you crank up the engine and slip the sirly bonds of the earth. Fall is defnitely great time to be in Colorado. I am scheduled to fly tomorrow and again on Sunday - still trying to knock out the 10 hours I will need for the check out. Just need to polish some things up now, and I would like to try to find some gusty or variable crosswind conditions to really test my skill. My instructor John told me today that "your really are a pilot." That made me feel pretty darn good. We'll see if I earn the same praise after tomorrow....
I have always had dreams of being able to fly my airplane to and from the hunting grounds, with all my gear safely packed inside. Several builders with similar interests have also outfitted their airplanes to be able to carry hunting, fishing, and camping gear. Mine will have to do all that AND also haul my guitar and the ocassional Radio Control airplane or two, which I plan to enter in various RC competions and fly-ins all over the country when I retire. Hmm. I may need that RV-10 after all.
Anyway - today it was back to flying the Citabria to see if I could get those pesky wheel landings figured out. It was a beautiful cool and still morning, and the airplane just wanted to blast off and fly to the stars it seemed. I initially had a little problem with dancing a bit too much on the rudder pedals after the main wheels touched down, but after a couple more I started to get the hang of it. We mixed in a couple of 3 point landings and called it a day. I am getting more and more comfortable with the plane during each flight.
It was already busy at the airport by the time I was ready to takeoff at about 0630 this morning. A stinson was already up performing close quarter short final slips to landings on runway 35L, and we were instructed to switch over to the alternate tower frequency - yet another sign that aviation may be starting an upswing in activity. I certainly hope so. Centennial Airport used to be a consistent contender for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in the number of total operations, and the ranking as the busiest general aviation airport in the nation.
There is nothing like watching the sun rise against a lazy, red adn pink colored Colorado sky, while you crank up the engine and slip the sirly bonds of the earth. Fall is defnitely great time to be in Colorado. I am scheduled to fly tomorrow and again on Sunday - still trying to knock out the 10 hours I will need for the check out. Just need to polish some things up now, and I would like to try to find some gusty or variable crosswind conditions to really test my skill. My instructor John told me today that "your really are a pilot." That made me feel pretty darn good. We'll see if I earn the same praise after tomorrow....
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tailwheel lesson 4 - A bit of a struggle today
So the plan was to introduce me to wheel landings today. I was a little more tired than usual this morning, and I had a rough night after eating something that obviously did not agree with me yesterday. That said, I felt well enough to try to tackle another flight in the Citabria, which I enjoy flying more and more each day.
It started out with what I think was a trainee ground controller on the radio. We had clearance to taxit to the C1 taxiway next to runway 10 to do our engine runup, and then I called back to ground to let them know that the runup was complete and we were ready to takeoff runway 10. He trying to tell me that I cleared to taxi back to the reamp, and then both me and my instructor got into another confusing discussion with him about because he kept clearing us to taxi to park, when I expected him to tell us to monitor toweer frquency. After we finally got that cleared up we were cleared to take off runway 10 and the plan was to remain in the traffic pattern for runway 17R. I was also aware via notams I received during my briefing from flight service that the other primary runway at KAPA (17L and 35R) was supposed to closed, but apparently learned that this was not going to happen until 7:30, so we had time to get a few landings in.
The plan was to do one or two 3 point landings to get warmed up, and then we would start working on the heel landings. Winds were slightly out of the southeast at a bout 4 knots, so not too bad of a crosswind. My first landing pretty much sucked - landing was OK, but directional control afterward really sucked. THe second one turned out much better, so off we went around the pattern to start working on the wheel landings. The first step was to simply fly the plane level a couple of feet off the runway for a period of time to get used to the sight picture and speeds, etc. Once this was done we proceeded around the pattern for my first wheel landing attempt.
I approached the landing point, leveled out, added a little bit of power to arrest the descent, adn then got the first bounce of the landing gear, followed by power off, adn then came the fun part of pushing forward on the stick to adhere the wheels to the runway and not allow them to come back up. THis is where it all started going not so good. I could not get the muscle motor function down to reduce the power with one hand AND push forward _and I mean WAY forward on the stick to plan the wheels on the surface. I was a bit confused as to how to handle the slight bounce of the wheels - go around? let it settle again nad then apply the forward stick? So I ended up not getting the stick pushed forward quite enough and pretty much did not do that landing very well.
Then we tried another one and I still had the same problem. Then, just before the other runway was about to close, I was on one last takeoff run. the tail was up and I was about 5 MPH from lieft off speed when I saw a hawk from my right peripheral vision flying directly across the runway about 1 foot high off the ground - just high enough to impact the bottom part of the prop - or so I thought. I had already had a conversation about this with my instructor when we first got started flying several days ago, adn I assured him that I would definitely go ahead and hit the animal and not try to serve to miss it. SO what did I end up doing? Exactly what I said I wouldn't/ I tried to swerve left jsut a bit to buy some time, and the next thing I know I am headed in a controlled manner off to the left side of the runway.. Thanks to John He got the power reduced and kept telling me to lower the tail since we still had enough room to abort the takeoff.
Man what an experience. There were other birds all over the place today - a very hazardous situation to say the least. I was totally unprepared for what happened. I guess it goes to show you that a bird of prey will stop at nothing to get to the morning breakfast poking it's head out of some hole in the ground at some distant location. Anyway, turns out we never did hit the hawk - but it was real close. At that point John asked if I wanted to try one more before we had to come in due to the runway closure, and I said I had had enough for one day. So we taxied her back to the barn. Then, as if to add insult to injury, I went outside to my car in the parking lot, where I was parked right next to a small patch of grass and a tree, UNfortunately the sprinklers was on full blast nad were completely engulfing my car with water. I only have a key to unlock the car - both remotes are toast, and there is only one door lock on the drivers side - you know - the one completely emersed with water.
Well, since I was in my work clothes for the day I was not about to dive in to the fray to get the door unlocked, so I just stood there and waited for the water to stop - 5 minutes, 10, 25, 20 minutes later they finally stopped and I was on my way to work. No that I am horribly supersticious or anything, but I ddid notice that there was a full moon out tonight as I was walking the dog - - just another tale tale sign of days that are sometimes better left to the birds.......
Anyway, I am not discouraged and will press on. Just a little disappointed in my performance, or lack thereof. John kind of gave me a boost when he said that with less than 5 hours of flight time I was already at about a 90% completion status for the rating. That made me feel pretty good. He also reminded me that I am embarking on something that not too many people do - becoming a taildragger pilot. When I ahve this under my belt I will be in the company of some relatively exclusive pilots out there. I have to keep reminding myself that I am currently in the process of fullfilling one of my lifelong dreams, and sometimes that is not an easy thing to do. We are both taking a break for the holiday and will hit it hard again next week.
Happy Labor Day everyone. Stay safe and stay sober if you are behind the wheel - or a joystick, or whatever. My training theme to work on for next week is:
Wheels touch tail up
power off
stick forward
Sounds simple, huh?
It started out with what I think was a trainee ground controller on the radio. We had clearance to taxit to the C1 taxiway next to runway 10 to do our engine runup, and then I called back to ground to let them know that the runup was complete and we were ready to takeoff runway 10. He trying to tell me that I cleared to taxi back to the reamp, and then both me and my instructor got into another confusing discussion with him about because he kept clearing us to taxi to park, when I expected him to tell us to monitor toweer frquency. After we finally got that cleared up we were cleared to take off runway 10 and the plan was to remain in the traffic pattern for runway 17R. I was also aware via notams I received during my briefing from flight service that the other primary runway at KAPA (17L and 35R) was supposed to closed, but apparently learned that this was not going to happen until 7:30, so we had time to get a few landings in.
The plan was to do one or two 3 point landings to get warmed up, and then we would start working on the heel landings. Winds were slightly out of the southeast at a bout 4 knots, so not too bad of a crosswind. My first landing pretty much sucked - landing was OK, but directional control afterward really sucked. THe second one turned out much better, so off we went around the pattern to start working on the wheel landings. The first step was to simply fly the plane level a couple of feet off the runway for a period of time to get used to the sight picture and speeds, etc. Once this was done we proceeded around the pattern for my first wheel landing attempt.
I approached the landing point, leveled out, added a little bit of power to arrest the descent, adn then got the first bounce of the landing gear, followed by power off, adn then came the fun part of pushing forward on the stick to adhere the wheels to the runway and not allow them to come back up. THis is where it all started going not so good. I could not get the muscle motor function down to reduce the power with one hand AND push forward _and I mean WAY forward on the stick to plan the wheels on the surface. I was a bit confused as to how to handle the slight bounce of the wheels - go around? let it settle again nad then apply the forward stick? So I ended up not getting the stick pushed forward quite enough and pretty much did not do that landing very well.
Then we tried another one and I still had the same problem. Then, just before the other runway was about to close, I was on one last takeoff run. the tail was up and I was about 5 MPH from lieft off speed when I saw a hawk from my right peripheral vision flying directly across the runway about 1 foot high off the ground - just high enough to impact the bottom part of the prop - or so I thought. I had already had a conversation about this with my instructor when we first got started flying several days ago, adn I assured him that I would definitely go ahead and hit the animal and not try to serve to miss it. SO what did I end up doing? Exactly what I said I wouldn't/ I tried to swerve left jsut a bit to buy some time, and the next thing I know I am headed in a controlled manner off to the left side of the runway.. Thanks to John He got the power reduced and kept telling me to lower the tail since we still had enough room to abort the takeoff.
Man what an experience. There were other birds all over the place today - a very hazardous situation to say the least. I was totally unprepared for what happened. I guess it goes to show you that a bird of prey will stop at nothing to get to the morning breakfast poking it's head out of some hole in the ground at some distant location. Anyway, turns out we never did hit the hawk - but it was real close. At that point John asked if I wanted to try one more before we had to come in due to the runway closure, and I said I had had enough for one day. So we taxied her back to the barn. Then, as if to add insult to injury, I went outside to my car in the parking lot, where I was parked right next to a small patch of grass and a tree, UNfortunately the sprinklers was on full blast nad were completely engulfing my car with water. I only have a key to unlock the car - both remotes are toast, and there is only one door lock on the drivers side - you know - the one completely emersed with water.
Well, since I was in my work clothes for the day I was not about to dive in to the fray to get the door unlocked, so I just stood there and waited for the water to stop - 5 minutes, 10, 25, 20 minutes later they finally stopped and I was on my way to work. No that I am horribly supersticious or anything, but I ddid notice that there was a full moon out tonight as I was walking the dog - - just another tale tale sign of days that are sometimes better left to the birds.......
Anyway, I am not discouraged and will press on. Just a little disappointed in my performance, or lack thereof. John kind of gave me a boost when he said that with less than 5 hours of flight time I was already at about a 90% completion status for the rating. That made me feel pretty good. He also reminded me that I am embarking on something that not too many people do - becoming a taildragger pilot. When I ahve this under my belt I will be in the company of some relatively exclusive pilots out there. I have to keep reminding myself that I am currently in the process of fullfilling one of my lifelong dreams, and sometimes that is not an easy thing to do. We are both taking a break for the holiday and will hit it hard again next week.
Happy Labor Day everyone. Stay safe and stay sober if you are behind the wheel - or a joystick, or whatever. My training theme to work on for next week is:
Wheels touch tail up
power off
stick forward
Sounds simple, huh?
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