Can you land in the grass alongside the paved runway? That's what I do whenever possible at my home field and others where I know the grass is in good condition. Some airports frown on it, though.
Can you land in the grass alongside the paved runway? That's what I do whenever possible at my home field and others where I know the grass is in good condition. Some airports frown on it, though.
The grass at my airfield is horrible. Absolutely horrible. I'd drive my F-150 across it, so long as everything inside was well secured.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
In my 30+ years on the Internet, this has got to be the greatest straight line of all time.Originally Posted by Frank Giger
Ron "Up in Smoke" Wanttaja
Weather was perfect today - zero gusting to one, CAVU, 65 degrees temperature - so I flew around for about an hour.
I'd of flown more but I noticed my alternator wasn't charging the battery, so I beat a hasty retreat to the airfield. I dunno, maybe when I replaced the rudder pedal hinges I knocked the positive wire to the battery or something. Either that or I let the magic smoke out of the voltage regulator when it wasn't grounded well enough and was over-charging. Since it's Halloween and we have legions of trick-or-treaters, I put her back in the hangar and drove home.
But other than that, what a little sweetie to fly in the air. She just does everything well without fuss. And with the arrival of Fall and the cold, less thermals so I wasn't getting tossed around.
Something really unusual happened, too. On my first flight's landing, I did the short Champ pattern I'd been working on, rounded it out well, hit my intended landing spot and did a pretty darned good wheel landing, slowing well short of the first turn off. Making a good landing isn't that surprising, but when I taxied up to my hangar I saw four guys standing at the maintenance hangar. They had witnessed a good landing. Normally it's like in the Bible - "whenever two or more of you shall gather, Frank will splatter the landing."
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
I've really chopped down my pattern to where I'm about 3 or 400 yards to the side of the runway on downwind.
On my first flight after the rebuild, there was fog just past the other end of our 5,000 foot runway, so I used about a third of it before turning left and getting into the downwind.
I had to shrink it, as I was flying these huge fast patterns with a too shallow final; not every field is 100 feet wide and 5,000 feet long and I didn't want to get overly used to that. Plus it's way more efficient and effective to fly a shorter one.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
I've really chopped down my pattern to where I'm about 3 or 400 yards to the side of the runway on downwind.
On my first flight after the rebuild, there was fog just past the other end of our 5,000 foot runway, so I used about a third of it before turning left and getting into the downwind.
I had to shrink it, as I was flying these huge fast patterns with a too shallow final; not every field is 100 feet wide and 5,000 feet long and I didn't want to get overly used to that. Plus it's way more efficient and effective to fly a shorter one.
That is the best approach to use with a hi drag airplane also the easiest and most predictable. Actually it works great with about any airplane. When I learned to fly that was the normal pattern not the B-52 go on a cross country that seems to be the norm these days. If you ever fly an airplane with no visibility out the front it's the only way to go. Plus they are fun. Don
I haven't mentioned it, but a lot of my confidence in the aircraft is that she is benign in the stall; power off and it's straight ahead with no break, and on power just a little to the right, and easy to adjust for.
When Robert Baslee says he designed them to be docile with a huge fat airfoil, he wasn't kidding. True, it's a short coupled tail dragger and can bite one easily on the ground during landing, but that's the nature of the beast of the original Nieuport design.
I commented early on that the aircraft and I are learning how to talk to each other in the same language with each flight, and that's been validated in my mind. While it's still just a simple, basic aircraft with only one or two minor quirks (stick slightly rearward on takeoff, wheel landings only), to fly it really well is a conversation.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Frank,
I think you stated that a lot of your tail wheel time was in a Champ ( sorry if I got that incorrect) how does the 11 compare?
thanks
Rick
Apart from the takeoff, pretty darned close.
The conventional wisdom is that the Champ is about as close to the handling of the Airdrome Aeroplanes as one can get, with a few caveats. In the air, I couldn't agree more (less aerobatics), as it has the same feel. On leads with the rudder in turns, and she rolls about the same. The controls feel about the same, too.
Just don't push the stick forward to bring the tail up on takeoff, and stay with wheel landings only.
This is actually kind of funny, as I almost always three pointed the Champ, only wheel landing in higher winds. In the Nieuport, though, wheel landings seem natural and almost intuitive.
The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
For winter flying in Alabama
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