Saturday, June 29, 2013

Checked out in the T-Craft

Plane: Taylorcraft
Instructor: Jamie
Route: 40I-2OH9-40I
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 240 degrees at 5 knots

After last week's first flight filled with flying (how's that for some alliteration?) maneuvers it was time for my second flight that would permit me to add a new airplane to my rental stable. Jamie and I took the T-Craft up in between this afternoon's lines of storms. Seems like the darn things have been ever-present for weeks at this point! There were heavy thunderstorms north near Dayton and a line was visible to the south but we had more than enough room in between. Heck, the sun was shining for the whole flight!

S-Turns and a bunch of landings - just the good ol' basics

We went around the pattern at Stewart a couple times and then hopped over the gliderport for a couple more landings. The goal was a power-off 180 but I was having some trouble losing enough altitude and speed and landed long pretty much every time. Unlike the Cub, the T-Craft does not adopt the aerodynamics of a brick when you put her into a full slip - at least not at slower airspeeds. Jamie showed me that by pushing forward on the yoke and picking up another 20 mph the plane manages to drop quite impressively.

I put that trick to the test on my final approach to Stewart. Although I didn't manage to hit my spot perfectly I did touch down just a little further down the turf. It's just going to take a bit longer to get a feel for the controls. I'm sure I'll be able to plant the T-Craft wherever I want some day, when I have 50+ hours in it too!

Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File 
Today's Flight: 1.0 hours
Total Time: 274.2 hours

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