For the Beauty of the Earth...

Lesson 24
9-27-12
1.0 hours logged
25.8 hours total recorded in logbook

The distant landmark of Holy Hill rises above miles of woods and rolling hills

 It was a beautiful day for flying, not so much weather-wise as it was overcast, but the scenery...! The fall colors in the trees were just breathtaking today! There were patches of bright orange, yellow, and red rendered all the more vivid by the many surrounding trees still green and the brown of harvested fields below. I gave a happy sigh of delight as we climbed up and away on our first takeoff. It felt so good to be in the air again! Perhaps the fact that there wasn't much wind at all this time compared to last had something to do with it but the gorgeous beauty of the colors only made the sensation of the joy of flight all the more keen. The pictures I've included simply don't quite do the sight full justice.

On approach for a wheel landing

Our work for today was normal takeoffs and landings on concrete followed by wheel landings. Instead of landing in a three-point, nose-high attitude, the plane is flown all the way to the runway at higher speed and with the throttle still open. The main wheels touch first and once this happens, the throttle is pulled to idle and the stick pushed forward (rather than gradually eased back as in a three point landing) to hold the plane on the runway. Once the plane has slowed below flying speed, the stick is brought back to lower the tailwheel to the runway.

 My first landing  was just beautiful but it was followed by a number of not-quite-so-smooth ones. I don't know how that happens but landing on concrete certainly does have a whole different feel to it calling for cleaner, more precise stick and rudder movements. After I finally made another good one, Joe showed me how to do a wheel landing, demonstrating one himself first before handing  the controls back to me. I got to try several and found these to be no problem at all. It did feel a little strange at first to come in so fast and then hold the stick forward on landing after all of my work on getting the stick back, but after only a couple times I felt I had it.

Before the lesson, Steve K. asked me if I'd ever done any wheel landings before. "Not on purpose," I told him as there have been times when I failed to get the stick back far enough soon enough with the result that the two main wheels touched down first and I found myself doing a wheel landing quite by accident. This reply to Steve's query sent both him and Joe into a fit of good-natured laughter in which I joined. They knew exactly what I was talking about. When we taxied back to the hangar an hour later, Joe was happy to report to Steve that I'm now an expert at doing wheel landings--on purpose!