Fort Worth Toot
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2009
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
UNBELIEVABLE!!! I had so much FUN! What a terrific airplane. After all those years of looking across the hangar row, I finally got to fly Tommy's masterpiece. I am so grateful to Tommy for the privilege, and to Charlie Yates for the outstanding instruction. When I was strapping in, there were no jitters, just a very matter of fact attitude that this is what I need to do, these are the speeds I need to use. You can see some post flight grins if you go tohttp://www.littletootbiplane.com/ and press on the "News" icon.
I took off in a little bit of a 3-point attitude. The field was rough, and I didn't want to push the prop into the ground. I also didn't want to yank the plane into the air. Visibility over the nose was great, maybe even better than in a C140. Once we were flying, everything was perfection. I had complete confidence in the plane and fell in love with how great it felt.
I did the first stall with my head in the cockpit, noting airspeeds and the VSI. On the second stall, I told myself to "Get your head OUT of the cockpit." I looked over the nose, and waited for it drop. Charlie finally came on the radio,"Uh, Liz. You're stalled." Me, "No I'm not. The nose didin't fall." Charlie, "Yes, you are. You're coming down." Me - looking at the 700 FPM descent on the VSI - "Oh, so I am." Release the stick, add power, go fly.
By then, clouds at 2200 feet were moving in, so I wasn't comfortable doing more airwork below them. Besides, the real goal was the landing. I'm glad I flew in a Citabria with Charlie to get the feel for faster approach speeds than the C140. I used 100 MPH on approach, kept a fairly flat attitude at that speed, and just reduced the power and landed. Sweet.
Due to the rough field and the clouds, we decided to turn the plane back over to Charlie and headed back to Northwest Regional, grinning all the way!
I took off in a little bit of a 3-point attitude. The field was rough, and I didn't want to push the prop into the ground. I also didn't want to yank the plane into the air. Visibility over the nose was great, maybe even better than in a C140. Once we were flying, everything was perfection. I had complete confidence in the plane and fell in love with how great it felt.
I did the first stall with my head in the cockpit, noting airspeeds and the VSI. On the second stall, I told myself to "Get your head OUT of the cockpit." I looked over the nose, and waited for it drop. Charlie finally came on the radio,"Uh, Liz. You're stalled." Me, "No I'm not. The nose didin't fall." Charlie, "Yes, you are. You're coming down." Me - looking at the 700 FPM descent on the VSI - "Oh, so I am." Release the stick, add power, go fly.
By then, clouds at 2200 feet were moving in, so I wasn't comfortable doing more airwork below them. Besides, the real goal was the landing. I'm glad I flew in a Citabria with Charlie to get the feel for faster approach speeds than the C140. I used 100 MPH on approach, kept a fairly flat attitude at that speed, and just reduced the power and landed. Sweet.
Due to the rough field and the clouds, we decided to turn the plane back over to Charlie and headed back to Northwest Regional, grinning all the way!
