So the other day I was in an hour of intense psychotherapy (known as touch-and-goes in the Champ) and decided that I'd work on wheel landings.

Wind was four miles an hour variabling in a way that would inspire Steven Hawkings to develop an entirely new set of ideas on chaos theory, the "puffy air with double gust" set of equations - and the results were as to be expected.

Ah, left and right crosswinds with head and tail winds all within three hundred feet....and some nice thermals to go with it; my inner child wasn't soothed so much as insisting that he be allowed to go back inside while Daddy dealt with the bad things.

Nothing bent and nary a bad word used; indeed, I invented the soon-to-be-trademarked tail-bounce (tm) wheel landing and was quite proud of myself.

Tired of innovation, I eventually just resigned myself to three pointers for the last two of the set and put the Champ to rest in the hangar. We both seemed to have a nice smile about ourselves.

Walking into the FBO I discovered why the winds and my own airmanship had conspired together for an interesting set of manuevers.....four pilots smirking at me over their coffee.

"That you in the Champ?"
"Yep."
"Sure is a nice looking plane, anyhow."



If I'd of been greasing the landings there wouldn't have been a soul around, as is usual for a Thursday morning.