Flying the Eagle again

I had planned to fly the Eagle this past Tuesday but the weather forecast was not conducive to me learning much. The winds at Renton are usually mild and one has to fly wide and far to find significant crosswinds sometimes. But not on Tuesday - clouds and ceilings were OK, but the winds were not. Renton is aligned pretty much North-South and the runs are 15-33 (variation is about 20 degrees in Pacific Northwest so 16-34 magnetic is the true north-south line). The winds were 070 at 11 kts, gusting to 16 kts! Pretty much a direct crosswind. Of course we called the flight off. Dave said with his characteristic understatement," You won't learn much (in these conditions)!"

So we rescheduled for Sunday. Both Rochelle and John were flying 16EE that day, because they are preparing to take the aircraft for aerobatic training camp to Ephrata. Another reason to squeeze a flight in, because if I didn't do it today I wouldn't be able to fly till May 5th.

I arrived to see Dave and John already there. I took a photograph with my phone camera. No, I didn't forget my Canon SureShot this time but Amy had the memory card out to transfer pictures!

That shows Dave and John making sure the Eagle is in fine fettle!

I was "behind the aircraft" this time. I made small mistakes like not taking the key before buckling in, and before that in the pre-flight I missed the altimeter and the g-meter. I also didn't check the fuel first, instead doing it just during the pre-flight. We already had fuel so there wasn't much of delay, but if we didn't we could have stood around waiting for the fuel truck to arrive.

I had some difficulty starting too, having to do two tries. Dave was letting me make mistakes and was not prompting me very much.

Taxiing wasn't bad - I was getting the feel for the "flat spot" at around 1000-1100 rpm that all IO-360s have due to a throttle linkage issue (according to Dave). If you blip the throttle too fast it will sputter at that RPM. It so happens that to get around turns or move from a stationary position you need exactly that RPM. Slow throttle movement around that point cures it but it takes some getting used to.

The first takeoff wasn't bad directionally, but I must have misread the speed because I thumped the tailwheel on the rotate. I also didn't keep situational awareness and turned towards the preceding traffic without sighting it. Dave wasn't too happy about that. We went towards Lake Sammamish, and I was asking Dave how high I should go. His reply was," How high do you think you should go?". We went to 3000 ft and were soon heading to the traffic pattern. The first landing was a straight in - and I didn't slow the aircraft down enough. I was behind the airplane again, and landed "hot". I usually know I did that because the mains touch down before I have had the stick fully back. We did a couple of bounces but I was able to pull the stick back fully and smooth them out. Directional control wasn't too bad though I could feel Dave's input through the rudder pedals. We taxiied back to the runaway and went again.

At takeoff this time I got caught by the crosswind and the airplane veered to the left just as we rotated, but I was able to bring it back and then bank to keep runway direction. Dave commented - "Looks like the crosswind got you, but you corrected it". Of course as soon as he said that I shot through the traffic pattern altitude. Dave, being from the old Air Force school of thought, is very strict about sticking altitudes. I had to guesstimate the attitude to fly, because the aircraft doesn't have a rate of climb indicator to show when it wasn't climbing or descending. I was also guessing at the power setting. This time we had to follow a Bonanza on a long final. I turned in behind the Bonanza and made a straight in approach. My speed control was not the greatest but I made it over the fence at the right speed - this landing was also with some bounce but not as bad as before.

I decided to ask Dave to do the entire next traffic pattern to see how he handled the aircraft. I kept an eye on the speeds and the power settings he used. He was much more close in and used steeper banks around the pattern. He bounced the next landing too! The thing one I saw him do was not put the stick back fully immediately but wait for the aircraft to slow before he brought it back. He mentioned that he had landed hot and waited to bring the stick back so that it didn't balloon the aircraft. More about this later!

The next pattern was undisturbed, and I kept it close in. I was more a less on speed and this was the best landing I did so far. I did bounce a little, but put the stick right back at the right rate. I managed to avoid the swerves. Dave later told me I had done the landing all by myself without any help from him!

We decided to do one more. This time we were told to do a short approach by the tower. Dave said he could feel me get stiff on the rudder, because I was concerned about the other aircraft on final. The speed control was awry, I flared a little too fast and ballooned. I did the correct action for the balloon and let it settle again. When it did, we bounced and we were still fast. I pulled back on the stick bringing it to the back stop but did it too fast. Because of the excess energy, the aircraft got airborne again. After a couple of bounces it settled down. There was also some swerving involved.

We decided to call it quits after that landing!

The lessons I learned from this session were

1. Get your head in the game, this aircraft requires one's full attention since the workload goes sky high immediately. I now intend to arrive 10-15 minutes early, and just think about the flight. I will also be better prepared with speeds, power settings and check lists. I got 16EE's check list to copy and study today.

2. The aircraft is a pretty forgiving aircraft, it isn't the squirrelly beast of legend. I did some basic mistakes while landing and the aircraft didn't turn around and bite.

3. Basic airmanship wins. Keep your speeds and heights, don't get sloppy and the results are very good. I need to keep my focus on doing that.

4. I was getting better at the pressures required on the rudder. Practice does help.

5. Relax and have fun - when I get stiff on the controls, it doesn't turn out well!