Three hops today in the mighty Varga Kachina. Twelve hundred pounds of bent steel and sex appeal. A pair of visitors from the Great White Up, come for to experience the Sandy Eggo sunshine. In consequence of which they were sporting bright pink complexions. A co-worker who brought her beloved husband around the barn after much cajoling. Who had his face planted in the bag for the better part of 20 minutes over a 30 minute flight, and don’t for a minute believe I’ve heard the end of that. And an eager young firefighter from Torrance who spent his weekends racing sports cars and dirt bikes, who thought that maybe a bit of the old basic fighter maneuvering might be just the ticket for a change of pace.
Of the three, it was the Canadian couple who left a tip. Make of that what you will.
Anyways, I will only point out that I’ve never landed the Varga more softly, nor more attentively, than I did today. You could scarcely distinguish the airborne bit from the high speed taxi part. It was that smooth.
Maybe there’s something in this taildragging gas after all. So long as the spinner keeps turning.
That’s not so much to ask.
I’ve always wondered how to get a passenger to explain level of discomfort before they are past the point of no return. . If someone feels “90%” do you then expect they should be OK for the rest of the flight or RTB? Obviously you can tell if someone is in dire straights, leading to the eminent canopy soup, but it’s not unusual to have less expressive folks go from OK to Not OK before you can execute a countermeasure.
Lex,
The little wheel at the back end does make you a better stick, at least it did for me, low time dude that I am. The transition from trike usually is about 6-7 hours . I’d be bored in a trike now.
Best,
geo6
I wondered if that was you, east of Rancho Santa Fe around noonish. I spotted two Kachini when I was over RB at pretty much my altitude, but it was obvious in that kind of roundy-round that plenty of altitude would be lost by the time I got there. Looking down as I went by, someone had angles on the other. Wonder who *that* was.
So…how was your lookout doctrine?
I saw someone passing overhead from Lake Hodges southbound towards Black Mountain. At least 500 feet above us. I considered him a “non-factor”. He wouldn’t have wanted to come down to our altitude. We couldn’t have made it up to his.
Nope, I was westbound and passed to the north of the fight.
In that area, you’re not 1 v 1, you’re 1 v many.
Lex-
One of the requests I’ve made of CINCHOME is for a weekend flight with you – possibly even for a graduation present this summer. ‘Course, that might make for an interesting write-up, should my tummy not play fair and I end up losing it.
However, for the record I would like to say that the last (and only?) time I lost my cookies in a moving vehicle was in an LCAC. Back in 1998. During sea state 4-5. In the middle of El Niño.
And no – that’s not a challenge, Lex.
“And no – that’s not a challenge, Lex.”
I think it’s a bit too late for that …
Cheers
Hey, Horatio Nelson suffered from seasickness all his life, and he did OK. Mind over tummy.
I heard Scott Crossfield speak once discussing the many challenges faced, when acting as chief instructor/coach, he had to shepherd a number of pilots in learning to fly the replica of the original Wright Flyer built by Ken Hyde to commerate the centennial of flight in 2003.
All the pilots were seasoned veterans with thousands of hours in high preformance aircraft of a wide variety. All said it was the hardest thing they ever did.
The Champ, or an taildragger isn’t hard, just like riding a bicyle isn’t hard either, once you get the hang of it .
And, once you pass that moment when it all comes together, you will wonder why it took so long. And yes, I do believe it will make you ever more appreciative of airplanes with a training wheel on the front. They will probably appreciate the ever so slightly more gentle caress of the controls you apply from then on just as well.
Your next aeronautical challenge is to hover a helicopter, preferably one (e.g. the Bell Model 47) with the rotor rpm governed manually by throttle on the collective (N.B. the rotation for power is opposite to that of a motorcycle). You might want to build up to that with docking a single-engine float plane single-handed with an opposing and moderate current and wind…Or keeping a glider (floats like a bumble bee, stings like a butterfly, not one of those sleek sailplanes) aloft on a day with thermals few and far between.
Keeps you humble and the synapses/motor skills from deteriorating.
A helicopter?!? People might SEE!
TT,
Interesting. Finding the hover button is a challenge. My son the Blackhawk pilot told me that learning to hover with using Microsoft FS X Bell 206 helped him at FT Rucker in flight school. They do their primary in the TH67 (Bell 206 variant) . He told me he was able to hover on the second flight, way ahead of his classmates). I have offered him my T-Cart to transition to fixed wing as they come out of Rucker with a Commercial Rotary Multi-engine Instrument ticket if they take the FAA written test. Son said until he gets back from Iraq he doesn’t want to mess with his “helo mojo” by trying to learn fixed wing tail dragger to hir repetoir. Probably makes sense I guess. I found going from fixed to rotary pretty simple when I tried it but have heard that some of the guys had a tough time with the transition, specifically on final approaches.
While working my way through the Army (pay, $90 per month plus room and board; car payment $108 per month), I transitioned Army helicopter pilots to fixed wing tickets at the nearby civil airfield. They had even more trouble on approaches than an average fixed wing guy did in a helicopter. The approach in an airplane is constant airspeed/angle of attack; the approach in a helicopter is constant apparent ground speed, i.e. steadily slowing down. Of course, that process would intersect with stall speed about half-way down the glide path…
In all my years instructing (T-28, C-123, C-130), the biggest challenge was qualifying a helicopter type (good friend who recently passed away) in the Whisper Herc, otherwise known as the C-130. Landing approaches were high, steep, power off with decreasing airspeed….kinda like an autorotation. After calling “power” several times with increasing urgency, he responded with a quizzical “more, or less?”
It’s OK, I couldn’t fly the H-3 either.
I will admit to actually have my hands on the controls of one once, but at least it never got in my service record.
Won’t let me edit my own stuff, eh?
The examiner that gave me my Instrument rating was an interesting guy in that he was trying to obtain all the ratings the FAA has to offer (not all type ratings obviously although he had paid to get a DC-3 rating just for the fun that was in it).
The only one that was stumping him was the airship rating. The Blimp operators would give him access to one to get trained and/or checkpout without being an employee. He was (is) retired Eastern Captain….
I’d probably pay to see Lex in a helicopter just so I could take pictures and extort beer if not money from him to keep them under wraps.
OT6P: With a hel(l)o rating lex could amuse us all opening Guinness with these skills: http://www.snotr.com/video/351
A helicopter?!? People might SEE!
Exactly.
oooohhh, good one, HF6