Chicago Air & Water Show

And so the 2012 air show season is in the books...  I think I did pretty well this year, Rockford, Oshkosh and the Chicago Air & Water Show.  Initially I planned for about five or six shows, but a few other distractions popped up and these were my 'must-go's'.  Rockford is always a fun time because they really put on a great show there and I generally get to fly there!  That's really the way to do an air show right, show up in an airplane, you get some VIP access before and after the show and then avoid all of the traffic as you rocket out above it all.  Oshkosh, no comment necessary.  As to the Chicago Air & Water Show, my thoughts...

This used to be a no doubt incredible show.  Obviously headlined by the Blue Angles or Thunderbirds, the show would get a ton of military support from the standard tactical demonstrations to flyby's from many different varieties of military aircraft that you couldn't see elsewhere.  Think S-3 Viking rare... I remember in the mid-2000's seeing a two-ship do a series of flyby's.  I only wish I had my current camera to capture that.  Anyway, back to the point I was trying to make; the hard economic times that Chicago and the greater economy have faced over the last several years have stripped away much of that stellar performer list.  Couple the notoriously low communication from the organizers in advance as to the list of participating aircraft with my knowledge of economic conditions and I really had no idea what would be here save for the Blue Angels and the F-4 Phantom West (for the Heritage Flight) - which in truth was enough to draw me in.

Seizing the opportunity presented by perfect weather, a couple of us rolled down to Gary (KGYY) for the Friday practice show to get a glimpse of what the weekend would offer.  I think KGYY is a perfect vantage point - we sat just to the east of the main terminal building, which was about 20 yards away from where the F/A-18F Super Hornet demo team parked one of their jets. Enough said! That jet flew twice while we were there and in both cases, the pilot/EWO took a bunch of time after their displays to talk with the numerous kids lined up for all of the action.  Note, said flying badasses carefully avoided the area we (two dudes in the 30-33 age range) were sitting in - I can't blame them!!!  That we got to see the Super Hornet fire up, take off, land and shut down twice was great.  The real highlights, though, were the F-4 Phantom II departure/arrival, the four-ship of A-10's departure/arrival, and the Blues of course.  There was plenty of other activity (we arrived just as the Air Force T-38's / T-6 Texan II's were finishing a series of low approaches), but those were the best.  The Phantom (how many more opportunities will we have to see one of these historic aircraft fly???) phlew with Vlado Lenoch in his Mustang and they took advantage of a little extra gas after their practice routine to do a series of low approaches (Vlado requested right traffic so that they could pull right over the top of the crowd on crosswind - that is an example of a pilot getting it).  The A-10's did a lot of the same and would have offered more but they flew a training mission after their time in the aerobatic box and did not get back until a few minutes prior to the Blues getting back (you know who gets the nod in that situation).  Creative way by them to get some good PR time at an airshow while putting training dollars to work.  No pictures, but I did take a few videos uploaded to (@SparkReel) - here's one:

Hopefully I inferred above that going down to KGYY is a really great experience of getting right up to the action and hearing a lot of noise.  For a different KGYY experience that I can only marvel at in jealousy, check out my fellow LEFC club member / flying comrade's experience at MyFlightBlog - Todd just happens to have the official blog for the Chicago Air & Water Show and so if you navigate through you are likely to find some incredible entries - here's one shared on (@SparkReel):

For the Saturday show, I finally got to do something that I have been nearly dying to do since we moved to our place (approximately 1 mile from the shoreline).  That's right, Christina and I climbed up on our roof for the Blue Angels' show.  I knew it would be sweet, but we were really blown away with the proximity to the jets our vantage point offered.  I tried getting some good shots with the camera, but only ended up with one I felt good enough about to post (Fat Albert in a holding pattern just to the west of the box)...

Next year, the goal for the roof experience is better pictures - there are just so many opportunities with the skyline and lake in the background.  Overall, though, except for the fact that we had to sit directly on the roof (rendering a full day up there impossible), it was really fun to take advantage of our location and get a unique take of all of the action.

For Sunday (that's right, I made a full weekend out of it), we got up early and drove down with all of the chairs to a side street just off of Fullerton east of Clark (great spot) and strolled directly east until we hit water.  I wanted to try something a bit different - we've sat at North Avenue Beach for many, many years now and I was inspired to sit north of show center by a video posted by @ahirsen:

- awesome for many reasons.  It seemed from his spot, the aircraft were going right over their heads and promised for lots of noise (and maybe a good photo op or two)!

We couldn't have been happier as evidenced by this low pass from one of the Blue Angel solo pilots, which was about as close to a jet operating at full military power that you can get - I'd estimate 100 feet - max:

We also had a great view for some Super Hornet noise!!!!

From where we sat, the crowd wasn't too bad and logistically we were close to anything you would need at an air show - bathroom / food and exit access to bug out quickly at the conclusion of the show!  See you in the same spot next year!

As far as the show itself, the morning was a bit slow after the Air Force trainer parade (sadly, one pass only) as the aerobatic acts became a bit repetitive.  I respect the heck out of those guys and their amazing piloting skills (Rob Holland - beast, Sean Tucker - beast, Aeroshell - consummate professionals... etc.) as a novice aerobatic pilot myself, but from an entertainment perspective, it felt like the show had a hard time developing any rhythm without all of the noise / metal that people go to witness.  Things picked up quickly, though, after the KC-135 made a series of passes (I don't think they lowered the refueling boom, which was quite surprising given that is pretty much the highlight of the aircraft).

The Phantom and the Super Hornet came in and ripped it up with a ton of ear-bursting afterburner action.  I heard several small children crying loudly after one near-Mach 1 Super Hornet pass - come on parents, what do you expect?!?!  Then the four A-10's discussed above, rolled on scene for a mock close air support mission which was followed by a previously unpublicized appearance by four F-16's from the Iowa Air National Guard that added another burst of burner noise before the Blue Angels took over.  Stellar performance, as expected, by them, and we all left happy.  As you can see, that is quite an afternoon!

I think the key takeaway from it all is that the organizers continue to put on a great show despite a much smaller pool of resources as compared to the good ole' days, but the schedule could have used a scrubbing or two. The airboss and his team do a fantastic job of minimizing the empty space between acts, but getting the Super Hornet or Phantom in earlier in the day would have really injected some well-needed excitement (and increased the appreciation for the difficult maneuvers performed by the acro pilots).  Noticeably absent were bomber appearances...  I know times are tough for the USAF, but I've really gotten used to some heart-pounding flybys from B-1's or an intimidating series of passes by a venerable B-52 or stealthy B-2.  Let's get those guys back next year!

A little over a week ago, I had the opportunity to appear on an online radio show hosted by a couple of fellow pilots, friends, and great ambassadors to aviation - Al Waterloo (@Al_H2Oloo) and Marc Epner (@mepner). A bit of background on how I ended up in Marc's dining room talking into a microphone for a few hours...

Marc is the president of Leading Edge Flying Club, a collection of great people and great aircraft that I joined a few years ago.  Marc is really the driving force behind a lot of the great camaraderie that us members share - monthly breakfasts, flyouts, or just good ole hangar flying. Al is a relatively new member to the club and brings a vast array of aviation experiences coupled with a great passion for flying (check out his website at SimpleFlight.net for further detail and you will quickly understand what I'm talking about).  Both of these guys have recently taken to the airwaves of ethanolive.com from 8pm til 10pm on Sunday nights to talk flying and do what they can to make aviation better.

My journey to the radio show was through my experiences with SparkReel over the last several months.  For those who don't know, SparkReel is the brainchild of Matt Gibbs (my brother-in-law) and Adam Hirsen.  SparkReel is a developing social media forum that enables users to share videos from mobile devices to a targeted group through a very easy-to-use interface.  My use of SparkReel began when I started a group titled "Flying" and began uploading some of my aviation-related experiences.  Adam is a pilot as well and he jumped into the mix with his own great contributions quickly thereafter.

At one of our recent Leading Edge breakfast meetings, I noticed that Al was pretty versed in recording aviation-related experiences on his phone (he filmed and used iMovie to create a cool video from a recent $100 hamburger trip that he showed to the group).  I reached out to him afterwards and he jumped at the opportunity to add his own experiences.  Check out his contributions at www.SparkReel.com/g/flying - incredible.

Over the course of the past few months, Adam, Al and myself have been sharing / commenting on each others' videos and really kickstarting some great aviation dialogue that ultimately led to an appearance on the radio show.

We decided to congregate at the L'Edge - Leading Edge's room on the second floor of Hangar 5 at KPWK.  What a great place to see an aviation community in action; besides us, three other members stopped by (two who weren't even there to fly) and a lot of great flying talk was had by all.  Conversation naturally evolved over time into many of the areas Al and Marc wanted to address during the show, which put to rest any anxiety I had about what I would say.  After continuing our planning at Ram over some quality pilot food, we headed to Marc's house to set up our 'studio' for the big show.

A few technical difficulties prevented us from going live and interacting with listeners, but that was just a blip in an otherwise amazing experience - we recorded the show and it is available on SimpleFlight or as a podcast through iTunes.

Marc and Al come from different professional backgrounds and have built their flying experiences through different avenues, but I think this makes the quality of their product that much greater. United by a common passion for aviation, they both know what is going on in flying today and recognize a need to change it, to better it and to get more people involved.

I was a bit nervous when it finally came time to talking and had to be told a few times to hold the mic closer to my mouth (I was actively trying to avoid deafening any listeners), but felt like I really settled in over the course of the recording and that we all really engaged in a great dialogue. Adam did a fantastic job clearly spelling out the mission of SparkReel and then bridging the gap to its potential to aviation.  These SparkReel guys know what they want for their project and know how to communicate it.  I'm sold.

Overall, we touched on many possibilities for the Flying group at SparkReel; the ability to unite like-minded pilots in a community (see above for how it has brought Adam, Al and myself together); providing a means for non-pilots to get a glimpse of the world we pilots are lucky enough to see out the front of an aircraft; and opening doors to new forms of aviation instruction (including dispelling some of the many flying myths pilots carry around - see Marc's video of flying an SR-22 into KORD) and inspiration.

I came away from the whole experience feeling very excited about the future.  Marc and Al seem to really be connecting and actively thinking of ways to better aviation.  With their backgrounds and commitment, I'm confident that they will be able to put those ideas to action.

SparkReel has been my doorway to social media and I have very high expectations for the future given all that Matt and Adam have done to bring it to where it is now.  So, to link all of this together, here's to hoping the Flying group can really grow and become something where all types of pilots are motivated to share their experiences.

Debrief: Oshkosh - 2012

Well, another Oshkosh is in the books.  This year, my dad and I made the trek up on Friday, July 27th, and the experience was nothing shy of incredible.  Since it was just the two of us and he is usually up for anything, I set our departure time aggressively at around 5:15 AM.  After an essential stop at Starbucks, we jumped on I-294 North at around 5:40 (so yeah, we were running a bit behind, but I normally account for this when setting aggressive departure times) with nothing but blue skies to our north. 

We've been going to Oshkosh for many, many years now and like all good traditions, we've groomed a number of specific habits like our standard pre-airshow stopover at the Lomira, WI McDonalds.  It's a great place to get in one last pitstop and grab a healthy (cough, cough) bite to eat to load up on the essential nutrients only a McD's breakfast can offer.  As you proceed north from Lomira, you pass through Fond Du Lac, which serves as a reliever airport for Oshkosh during the week of AirVenture and in good years is packed with aircraft / tents - a great primer for the excitement to come. We use it as a barometer for how crowded (and great, of course) Oshkosh will be.  At this point in the trip, we normally start looking to the skies for aircraft departing from OSH (normally at least a steady stream).  However, the ceiling dropped quite a bit - I would estimate to the 800 - 1000 feet AGL range.  Not to worry, about 5 miles out of OSH, we emerged on the other end of the cloud cover and ceilings were instantly up to the VFR levels we sought.

We pulled into the lot about 8:45 - our earliest arrival to date - and were rewarded with a great parking spot. I have to commend the people behind the scenes at Oshkosh for continually upgrading and improving the entry procedures - we were inside the gates about five minutes after leaving the car!

My dad has his own little tradition of going directly to the Ford tent and picking up whatever free swag is available. This year, to his dismay it was a straw hat (in comparison to the P-51-inspired hat last year, I believe) - I don't think he was too bummed, though, as he rocked his new hat all day.  While he was passing through the different Ford stations, I noticed the open canopy of an F-4 Phantom out at the end of Phillips 66 Square (the main display area) and it suddenly dawned on me that we might have the opportunity of seeing startup and departure! Such a rare opportunity as the lives of these beasts as drones for the USAF are in the final chapter.

Well, I couldn't see my dad anywhere and all I could think of was missing one of the highlights of the day because of that free hat!  All ended well as I located him and double-timed it over to grab a front row seat to the preflight, startup, and taxi of the Phabulous Phantom!

After watching the F-4 light the burners and disappear into the clouds, we made our way down to the warbirds area to walk amongst the countless legendary aircraft (we've really developed a standard pattern to our tour of the grounds).  Before getting to the meat of the display, I noticed a tent with the Gauntlet Warbirds emblem (my tailwheel / acro flight school) and saw my instructor, Vess, inside.  We talked airplanes and Oshkosh with Vess for a while and then made our way down to the P-51 world.  It was great to finally run into someone I know at Oshkosh - I think that was a first in our 20 years going here!

Amongst so many others, there were tons of Mustangs on the grounds this year, as well as three P-40's and a Wildcat!   The jet representation was incredible as well, two A-4 Skyhawks!  After walking the warbird grounds, we took our standard break out by Rwy 9/27 to watch some departures.  It was actually pretty quiet - probably due to the low ceilings and the showers popping up around the local area (normally our 9/27 viewing gives an perspective on OSH ops like no other).

With the low frequency of traffic on 9/27, we decided to stake out a good spot along 18/36 for the afternoon show and evening departures.  Every year we've gone, we've chosen a spot near the north end of 18/36 in between the homebuilts and warbirds.  This year, I wanted to mix it up and we hiked all of the way past Phillips 66 square to the vintage aircraft area.  What a great idea!  It was much less crowded, we were seated among the throngs of legendary Piper Cubs, Staggerwings and other classics and there were still plenty of food options.    Based upon the quality of the experience for the rest of the day, I think we found a new permanent viewing spot (especially since 36 was the traffic flow with winds out of the north) and look forward to sharing the spot with all of you next year!

Normally the afternoon flying activities commence with a showcase of sorts (a new type of plane, a specific genre such as seaplanes...etc.) which is followed by a good amount of acro, concluded with the warbirds spectacular.  I would say that this year, we sort of lucked out.  We had four Navy (P-3C, E/A-18G, T-39 [pictured below], and E-2C) and two USAF (T-38's) aircraft drop in after a departure of a B-25 and B-29.  With the B-25 and B-29 orbiting the field at about 2,500 ft, things got a bit interesting.

The P-3C was cleared to land on 36 and was on short final when an RV-8 was cleared to depart.

My personal opinion was that the RV should have been held short of the runway as there just wasn't enough time to get rolling.  The Orion crew realized this and smartly pulled up for a go-around.  About 20 seconds later, the RV was in the air, with the P-3C over the RV, and the B-25 / B-29 formation on top.  Not much room since all entities needed to break to the east to avoid the 9/27 traffic (if only I had a lens .  Being in the middle of this aircraft sandwich, I thought the P-3 crew did a great job of keeping away from everyone (especially as the RV was seemingly unaware and did a normal climb out and turn almost inside of the Orion).  All was good and everyone got down safely.

That bit of action was followed by not one, but two F/A-18C Tac demo's.  Seriously, the first Hornet launched and did his demo, and the second launched promptly thereafter to repeat the same maneuvers.  For an avid enthusiast like myself, that was totally awesome!

We breezed through the acro displays - all of which I have a much higher appreciation for after my own foray into acro flying.  Hats off to John Mohr with his Stearman display - wow, he was good - highlights being the low-level spin recovery and square loop.

Team Aeroshell in their T-6 Texans also put on a really good display...

The warbird spectacular was just as advertised. Tora, Tora, Tora kicked it off with a very organized display, followed by the trainer fly-overs and B-25 strafing runs.  After that, the B-25's set up for an orbit to the south while we were treated with some great navy fighter and P-51 action.  Great to see so many aircraft kept in amazing shape. Our only complaint (and not much of one) was our seating position with respect to the location of the pyro and the winds.  While visually appealing, we were downwind of all of the smoke and missed out on a few of the viewing opportunities - not much, though.

The airboss did a great job of managing all of the different things going on at once, while keeping the crowd engaged with constant action - bring a scanner when you go to Oshkosh, by the way, and you will be treated to ATC artwork in progress.  After the fighters, the B-25 bombers were brought back in, accompanied by two C-47's and the B-29.

Surprisingly, no B-17 action (in past years, we've seen up to three airborne at once), but there was still plenty of other action of course.  A few quick runs accompanied by pyro (including the wall-of-fire for the B-29) and the bombers and cargo aircraft were recovered to 36 and 9/27.  At this point, the A-10 was brought in for three quick fly-bys - all of which were awesome - before joining up with Steve Hinton (legendary warbird pilot) for the Heritage Flight with the P-38 (Glacier Girl).

They did a fantastic job, but were pulled from the airspace before the standard Heritage Flight solo passes were completed.  No worries, as a really tight missing man formation of T-28's was brought in right thereafter to close out the show.

My dad and I stayed for about an hour and a half after close of the show watching some of the evening activity on Rwy 36.  There seemed to be a pent up demand to leave the airport following the weather from the morning, which was a great treat to us.  In a testament to the environment at Oshkosh, I was on my way back from the facilities when I spotted someone who had sat down right next to my dad (note that there was about 40 yards between us and the nearest people on both sides).  At any other place, this would be pretty awkward, but this guy was awesome.  He was in the process of building his own RV-10, an avid pilot, and had been at the airshow for a full week up to that point.  Awesome, awesome and awesome.  We watched planes for a bit and then he had to leave - because his buddy just landed in his RV-7 to pick him up to fly him back to Burlington, WI - for a flight the next day back home to Colorado from Milwaukee.  A few of the aircraft we saw...

Once he left, we packed it in as well and started the trek home - with a quick stop for dinner - where else then at the Lomira McD's!  Oshkosh, we will see you next year!

Landings, Rolls and Spins

For lesson #3, I was ready to get back in the air and conquer spins, but the low ceiling wasn't going to have it. Therefore, it was an easy audible for Vess and I to keep it local and just beat the pattern up for an hour or so.  This was certainly something I didn't complain about as it gave me an opportunity to start building some good technique / habits in tailwheel operations.

A quick background on tailwheel versus tricycle gear operations... When I tell people about tailwheel aircraft, I usually reference World War II airplanes to give a visual picture (think P-51 Mustang on the ground) - I'm not sure if it helps, but I guess at least I know what I'm talking about.  When you taxi, takeoff, or land a Piper Archer (or similar aircraft with tricycle gear), the plane wants to continue in the direction it is traveling - a good thing, right?  Seems obvious, but to expand, when you land an Archer, your feet are pretty active on the rudder pedals all of the way down to the point of touchdown.  Once all three wheels are on the ground, the frequency of rudder inputs vastly decreases.  The difference with tailwheel aircraft is that assertive rudder inputs are necessary essentially until you have the airplane parked to make sure the tail doesn't try to pass you (the dreaded "ground loop").  Both Vess and Ted did a great job of explaining the physics behind this (generally due to the position of the center of mass of the aircraft in relation to the two main wheels) and I was really uncertain as to how this would play out in real-time. 

My takeoffs and landings during the first two flights were in relatively calm conditions and I was almost spoiled with the ease of keeping the aircraft going straight down the runway.  The low ceilings gave us an opportunity to do work on crosswind skills.  I felt that the crosswind takeoffs and landings worked out really well with Vess just having me focus on keeping the nose straight.  Rather than being mechanical about it, my brain followed where my eyes told it to position the airplane and good ole' brain handled all of the rudder and aileron work.  Before this, I've likely gotten the wind speed/direction from the tower, calculated in my head where the winds were coming from, and 'forced' my crosswind corrections.  Just working on keeping the nose straight over the centerline of the runway makes it a much smoother and more reactive process.  Further, it really helps with what is required in a tailwheel airplane as soon as the wheels meet the pavement.  If you are pointed straight, you don't need big steering corrections as the plane is already heading where it should. 

You might be asking "why would anyone want to fly a tailwheel aircraft if you have to do all of that work all of the way to your parking spot?"  There are structural reasons that continue to support tailwheel aircraft production, but I think pilots would all point to the fun/challenge.  Taxiing, taking-off, and landing a tailwheel aircraft is like a constantly evolving puzzle that forces a pilot to think in all three dimensions, and it never gets boring. 


Lesson #4 had me paired up with Ted again and this time the weather allowed us to get up in the air and back to the aerobatic practice area to the SW of Aurora.  The flight plan called for some rolls and spins - in that order.  To master a roll in a Decathlon, the following are the procedures (after clearing the area):

- Pitch down, pull back the throttle to about 2200 RPM's;

- Once the airplane accelerates to 130 MPH, pull back briskly on the stick until the nose is about 30 degrees above the horizon (full throttle as the nose crosses the horizon);

- Once the 30 degrees pitch is set, stick neutral and then full left (provide rudder as necessary to keep the nose straight - adverse yaw is always lurking!); and

- Once the roll is complete, bring the throttle back and apply back pressure on the stick to bring the nose back up to the horizon.

The aspects of rolling in a Decathlon that I most did not anticipate before starting training were the effects of adverse yaw (full-left stick action resulting in the nose dragging a bit to the right) and the magnitude of pitch-up and pitch-down at the beginning and end of the maneuver, respectively.  The adverse yaw is actively managed throughout the roll by thinking of a bulls-eye way off in the distance and using rudder inputs to keep the prop spinner aimed at that bulls-eye.  On the other hand, the pitch-down tendency of the nose is managed at the beginning and end of the maneuver only - setting up with an initial pitch up attitude and pulling back on the stick to pull the nose up at the end.  It is important to keep the pitch-up recovery held off until wings are level at the end of the roll so as to 1) end the roll pointing at that theoretical bulls-eye I just mentioned and 2) avoid unnecessary/unequal "G" loading on the wings. 

Speaking of "G's", performing this maneuver was my first real exposure to adding some "G's" to our flight profile.  It was awesome!  The first time we went through a roll, the "G's" sort of creeped-up unexpectedly.  I was a bit hesitant initially to add the necessary level of back pressure as briskly as I should have to pitch-up because my brain was reacting to the feeling of getting pushed down into my seat for the first time. After that, everything seemed to settle in and become much more natural.  There is nothing like that feeling when you are inverted and looking down at the sky!

Overall, the rolls went really well and after demonstrating proficiency all of the way through a handful of maneuvers, I was ready to shift that confidence back into conquering spins before calling it a day.  Spin recovery #1 had a lot of the same characteristics I mentioned in my previous post (although I was somewhat better).  To help convert my mechanical recovery inputs to fluid inputs, Ted had me recover from a normal power-off stall with a particular focus on using as little stick-forward / stick-back movement as necessary.  It was like something finally clicked at this point and I just settled down. After this, I did a one-turn spin recovery before heading back and 1) it felt slower because I knew what to expect at each point in the rotation and 2) my control inputs were not as jerky and the airplane responded with a smooth exit.   Victory!  Great way to end the day - check in later for loops!


 

Acro Flight #2!

Vess was my designated IP for this flight and I showed up to the airport the day after flight #1 full of confidence (which translates to a substantial amount of pilot ego).  Hint: the previous sentence is loaded with foreshadow…

My second sortie in the Decathlon was to introduce me to spins – such a dreaded word in the flying community.  From a technical standpoint, a spin is an aggravated stall where one wing is in a deeper stall than the other.  The imbalance in stalls across wings results in rotation of the aircraft about an axis as it descends.  I can draw you a neat graph if you are curious.  In the course of basic training, pilots learn a recovery method (known by the acronym “PARE” – Google this for the full definition if interested), but demonstrating proficiency is not required to get your license.  While familiar with the recovery method, before this flight I had never entered a spin (or come close for that matter) and so I really did not know what sensations I would feel.

Prior to walking out to the aircraft, Vess and I did a complete briefing of what would happen in a spin (including talking through that cool graph I referenced above) and I tried my hardest to picture what I would see, how it would feel and most importantly how I would recover.  Off to the airplane… Flight suit…check! Preflight…check! Parachute…check! Helmet – visor down – HELL YEAH!!!  Let’s get this going! 

I digress for a moment (this is key for setting the stage to what I’m about to write).  I’ve felt comfortable flying since I first started lessons generally anytime the nose of the aircraft has been pointed anywhere but towards the ground.  Turbulence – tighten the belts. Navigating by maps – love it. Crosswinds –always an exciting challenge.  Stalls –… Stalls? Hello, stalls?? They have always been something that I don’t look forward to whether in training or the dreaded biennial flight review (oh no, have I gotten rusty since the last time we did this???).  There’s just something about a stall that when the nose drops (even just a bit – ref: Piper Archer) my stomach demonstrates the principles of inertia and stays put while the rest of my body loses altitude with the airplane. So, yeah, I’ve always had a fear of spins…

At altitude (8,000 feet – new record for me!), we did some clearing turns and just as importantly checked the area below us and it was time… Vess demonstrated the first spin and while I tried my hardest to pay attention to every detail; it was a freakin’ blur! Power to idle, decrease airspeed while maintaining altitude (cue back-pressure on the stick) and just as the airplane begins to buffet, full left rudder coupled with full back-pressure on the stick. Commence blur.

My turn to give it a shot...  I figured/hoped things would slow down a bit when I was at the controls. FALSE!  I did recover from the spin, but it was not in the count-out-the-turns, initiate smooth recovery sequence we had briefed.  Here is what my brain noticed… “OK, the ground is spinning, push opposite rudder. Oh wait, stick forward.  Oh wait, I pushed the stick too far forward and all I see is the, pull back quickly before we get too much speed! Oh, foot still on rudder.  What do I do next???? Wait, you need to fly!”  

I clearly could not master spin recovery during my first go around.  I initiated seven spins in this flight and could not once recover in a manner that met / exceeded all of the criteria which Gauntlet / Vess require of students to demonstrate proficiency.  During one recovery, I heard Vess’ gasp a bit over the mic in response to the negative G’s caused by me pushing forward on the stick too quickly…oops!

Hey Airsickness, I don’t think we’ve met before.  Yep, all of the sudden, that guy showed up to the party (uninvited of course).  Luckily, I recognized his presence and asked him to leave before he really made himself known (which would have otherwise occurred via a strategically placed airsick bag in my flight suit) and declared that for me, it was time to call it a day and head home.  The approach / landing was a blur, and most definitely not something to celebrate, I just needed to land and walk it off.  

Back to that whole pilot ego thing… I think I left it in a cabinet at Gauntlet that night on my way out.  I felt like I had just lost a crucial ballgame at the last second during the entire loooooooong drive back to the city from KARR.  I could not believe that I didn’t nail those spin recoveries.  How could I not? I’m a licensed pilot for God’s sake; I should be able to conquer anything! 

Quick sidebar – the experience discussed above was hands-down the most valuable flying learning experience I’ve had.  Spins are taught to be scary.  Very scary, and appropriately so.  However, when properly initiated in an appropriately-rated aircraft, I can’t think of a better teaching tool for saving lives should one accidentally find him or herself in a spin.   Check in later to read about when I was finally able to conquer my anxiety and master some spins (hint – lesson #4)!

Basic Aerobatics! Part 1

Here I am at 30 with about five and a half years of pilot-in-command (PIC) experience in the C-152, C-172, DA-40 and PA-28.   All of these are really great aircraft with their own unique characteristics that make each of them incredible machines – the tiny C-152, for instance, is the essence of flying – with one of the most basic cockpits and a tiny engine, you fly it by feel and most importantly sight (no PFD’s or MFD’s to fixate on).  At the other end of the spectrum is the DA-40, a sharp looking four-seater with a canopy and a stick that flies incredibly nimble, quick and provides an abundance of information to the aviator through two large LCD displays.   While I could go on flying the above four aircraft for the rest of my piloting days and remain completely satisfied, when unique opportunities pop up, you need to strike.

That is what happened when I was notified of a Living Social deal for a 40 minute ride in one of Gauntlet Warbirds’ T-6 Texans (SNJ to be technically correct) out of KARR.  I snapped it up and then soon got to thinking about some of the other opportunities Gauntlet offers to pilots.  After a few e-mails, I was lined up for a course in basics of aerobatics (and some other goodies I’ll describe below) in a Bellanca Decathlon.

After a very thorough ground school session coupled with a lot of studying, I rolled out to the airport after work a couple of Wednesdays ago and got geared up in a flight suit, parachute and helmet, ready to conquer gravity.  Talk about feeling like a badass!  The preflight procedures for a Decathlon are fairly straightforward, except for the fact that the aircraft is covered predominantly in fabric (versus the metals / composites that I’m used to)!!!   It didn’t hit me until our walk around that the plane is not covered with a material that I can knock on and hear an echo – no, this one compresses when you push it.  I thought it over for a second and looked over at Gauntlet’s Stearman and was comforted by the sight of an 80 year old fabric-covered aircraft still standing strong.  

We fired up the engine – odd start procedure by the way trying to hold the stick back while engaging the starter and simultaneously enriching the mixture – three tasks, two hands, and you also have to keep those toes on the brakes!  When we eventually taxied into position on the runway, I kept repeating the instructor pilot’s (Ted) guidance in my head – “throttle smoothly to full with simultaneous forward pressure on the stick, wait a few seconds and stick further forward, wait for the tail to come up and hold that attitude”.   Another portion of my brain was screaming “holy sh$%, you are about to takeoff in a tailwheel aircraft, keep it the hell on the runway – no ground loops!”  What seemed like a blink later, we were climbing out at fairly a steep angle (seriously, I was wondering where there horizon was when looking straight forward) maintaining our Vx of 65 mph and setting course to the practice area to the SW.   Ted broke me in well to the aircraft on our outbound leg by having me do some turns to show the importance of coordinated flight (aileron plus rudder usage).  It was quickly obvious that my historical usage of the rudder pedals could be summarized as conservative or even timid.  After getting the basic turns down, we also did some uncoordinated flight – full left rudder plus right full right aileron.  This is something I would have never dreamed of doing in another aircraft, but knowing the capabilities of the Decathlon helped me through initial uncertainty.  

Once reaching the practice area and our planned altitude, we did some clearing turns and commenced with steep turns, stalls and prolonged stalls.  Given that all pilots have accomplished steep turns and stalls during initial and recurring training, I’ll skip to the prolonged stalls.  Basically, the objective is to keep the aircraft in a stall without causing the break (nose pitch down) or allowing the aircraft to roll to one side or another.  Such seemingly impossible task is accomplished through a lot of rudder action!  It almost feels like surfing – just anticipating what the aircraft wants to do and responding with determined and controlled inputs.  It. Is. Awesome.   Seriously, I felt like I mastered flying once my rudder inputs, brain and the aircraft began to act as one and we settled into a nice equilibrium of forward, descending flight in a stall.

That was about the end of our allotted time with the sun well into its own descent and accordingly we turned back to the east to return to base. With the airport already in sight and us a minor 5,000 feet above the traffic pattern altitude of 1,700 feet MSL, the throttle had to come way back to maintain a designated descent speed of 120 mph while keeping the Y vector of our descent substantial enough to avoid diving into the middle of the pattern.  That experience alone was quite a rush.  

For a rookie, I was happy that the winds were directly out of the east and we got to set up on a straight in for Rwy 9 (the big one) at KARR.  What a different feel it is in an aircraft with no flaps – I felt like we far too high in comparison to the normal glideslope, but the Decathlon at a descent speed of 75 mph settled into a controlled approach and after a few hundred feet it was apparent that we were going right for the numbers.  The objective on the first flight was to land and keep it on the ground going straight.  Seems obvious, but with physics and the design of a tailwheel aircraft, managing the aircraft to the ground and to a stop is an active process the entire way.  Compared to my previous experiences, the flare comes in a little later, but like all other landings, the key is to hold it a few feet above the ground while the airspeed bleeds off and the aircraft settles through ground effect and onto the pavement in a controlled manner.  We actually touched down with the tailwheel first which was an objective for the first flight as it substantially decreases the chances of the aircraft inadvertently flying again (think declining angle of attack as the nose settles down after initial contact of the tailwheel – sweet physics!).   More to come!