- Joined
- Oct 5, 2013
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 13
Just started flying my S1D, coming from flying decathlons. This is beyond exiting, a good flight is: I didn't break the plane or die! The first 15 landings I couldn't tell if I was learning anything, I'd start to think I'm starting to get this, only to embark on a new and embarrassing adventure. My third landing was so bad I had to let it go where it wanted to and luckily didn't hit the runway lights, pure luck on my part. And it didn't go unnoticed I had a plane behind me and one holding and my friends Eric and Paul sitting on the back of a pickup for moral support, when I taxied up to Eric's hanger he wouldn't let me get out of the plane gave me a pep talk and told me to go and shoot approaches which I did. I did notice him rub his hand under the left lower wing tip as he walked up to the plane checking for paint scratches. I couldn't have gotten the wing tips any closer to the runway.
Then I had 7 landings in a row where I stayed between the white lines, felt like I was making progress! Then the next day first time in, things started getting very interesting so I figured i'd do a go-around and powered up, involuntarily turned left and it looked like I took off perpendicular to the runway. Amazing how that little thing can get airborne, but demoralizing! Went around got it on the ground and decided to think on it for a day or so. This week went better had a good morning had 9 full stop landings none of them were good, but survivable. But on my last take off I thought I'd lift the tail off and put a-little pressure on the mains to see if I could stop the hopping takeoffs and it didn't hop it turned left under full power with no option but to hope I could fly over the runway lights and luck was on my side, again! I know I can't keep rolling those dice.
Well, yesterday I did a thorough preflight and found that my new ACS tailwheel had gotten loose, It took three flats to tighten the tailwheel to the leaf spring, could that have been why Im having such a hard time. Had three landings after tightening and was able to get a little hang time with the tailwheel down while bleeding the last bit of lift off the wings and was able to let it roll when it was going in the direction I wanted it to. Not sure if this is progression or the set up for the next lesson in humility.
SO does this plane get fun to land or is it just the price to pay for flying an S1.
I've been visiting the site for a while mostly just reading posts and searching through old posts
So does surviving accidental landings make me a Pitts pilot?
Then I had 7 landings in a row where I stayed between the white lines, felt like I was making progress! Then the next day first time in, things started getting very interesting so I figured i'd do a go-around and powered up, involuntarily turned left and it looked like I took off perpendicular to the runway. Amazing how that little thing can get airborne, but demoralizing! Went around got it on the ground and decided to think on it for a day or so. This week went better had a good morning had 9 full stop landings none of them were good, but survivable. But on my last take off I thought I'd lift the tail off and put a-little pressure on the mains to see if I could stop the hopping takeoffs and it didn't hop it turned left under full power with no option but to hope I could fly over the runway lights and luck was on my side, again! I know I can't keep rolling those dice.
Well, yesterday I did a thorough preflight and found that my new ACS tailwheel had gotten loose, It took three flats to tighten the tailwheel to the leaf spring, could that have been why Im having such a hard time. Had three landings after tightening and was able to get a little hang time with the tailwheel down while bleeding the last bit of lift off the wings and was able to let it roll when it was going in the direction I wanted it to. Not sure if this is progression or the set up for the next lesson in humility.
SO does this plane get fun to land or is it just the price to pay for flying an S1.
I've been visiting the site for a while mostly just reading posts and searching through old posts
So does surviving accidental landings make me a Pitts pilot?
