Rusty Pilot Confessions

[mbauer]

Have to confess; second time flying in 20 years, had a grin on my face for todays lesson.

Plan to fly down and acquire the RV-6 I bought, but no tailwheel endorsement. That changed today!

CFI flew down from Anchorage in a C-175 that has been converted. Hi lift wing mods, 180HP constant speed etc..Nobody locally to fly with this time of year. Most tailwheels are in getting maintenance for the up coming summer flying season.

Kenai (ENA) had 20+ MPH winds straight down the runway.

CFI John had me doing all kinds of wheel landings, fly down the runway touch and goes as well as stop-n-goes. Short transition flight to Soldotna (SXQ) and maximum deflection cross-winds. Had to keep approach speeds high to fly on the ground with aileron and rudder control.

To make it interesting center line had patches of ice, hard pack snow. Winds were variable gust 10 mph above 15 mph.

The grin left a few times-a work load for sure.

Flew for a couple hours before taking a lunch break. Then back at it. Afternoon the winds lost their gusting. All of a sudden it was pleasant to fly again.

When done was thinking need to reschedule for more, and the CFI said no need. Was impressed with how I dealt with the cross-winds, signed me off. Total time today was 4.5 hours. With previous flight time did the tailwheel in exactly 6-hours.

I feel like today was a good test, but know that lots to learn yet! Next phase will be a PIC checkout in the RV-6.

Oh, I was able to maintain straight and level today!

Feels great to be back in the air again!

[Robski]

[quote=mbauer;1155131]... as well as keeping up with the airplane./QUOTE]
Agreed!

I was 'current' when I bought my RV6 and had 7-8 hours differences training but after learning in and flying a Luscombe for 300 hours the RV was very often getting places before my head did.

To be out of flying currency when you leap into an RV for the first time doesn't really bear thinking about!

[DonFromTX]

For those who wondered how this all worked out, here is an update:
I managed to get in 17.5 hrs of dual with Jetguy, a fine instructor and we got along quite well. The problem is, he is an airline pilot and does this in his off time, between that, my schedule and weather, after four months of working at it, I had 17.5 hours of dual and no flight review - because he said I was not ready! That stung, heck I soloed in only 7 hours the first time! Then I noticed in an FAA publication that one needs one hour of dual for each year of not flying. It has been 24 years, so I felt better.
It was going to be difficult to get more dual with him for some months because of schedule conflicts. There is no RV12 training available down here period. I considered selling the plane, but with an AW and 40 hours to fly off in Phase 1, that probably would not fly (pun intended). Decided that parting it out would be the only solution and started that path, but just could not do it, decided I would rather just let it sit and rot away.
Then came an excellent thought: Buy an RV12 and get a local instructor to finish me out! I could sell it when i was done, and could fly it until I felt good about flying my build! Yesterdau I done just that, bought N756TS, a completed RV12 (less paint). As we speak, Bob Bogash is making plans to fly it down to me so I can resume training. What a maze to navigate just to fly my plane!

[Raymo]

Great news, Don. I too found it difficult to arrange for the 1 hour of dual required for insurance. At least one other owner in the area decided to just go fly and called them after finishing phase 1.

I took vacation last week and flew almost every day, putting over 20 hours on the Hobbs to finish my phase 1 testing. What fun!

[DHeal]

Quote: "Then I noticed in an FAA publication that one needs one hour of dual for each year of not flying."

Don --

I am curious as to which FAA publication made this statement?

-- David

[DonFromTX]

It is out at the hangar, will dig it out for you. In case I was not clear,
it is NOT a rule or law, it is just the FAA talking about it, actually an adivsory circular I think.

.

Originally Posted by DHeal

Quote: "Then I noticed in an FAA publication that one needs one hour of dual for each year of not flying."

Don --

I am curious as to which FAA publication made this statement?

-- David

[Mel]

Will dual time in an RV-12 count towards insuring an "Air Force 1"?

[DonFromTX]

Yes it seems to, the insurance only wanted one hour of dual in a 12 to cover Air Force One, really silly I think, one hour would have been a disaster.
I was training in a D180 equipped Rotax. I have a Skyview and my prop turns the opposite direction, so will take some adjustment. I really disliked the D180,
hard for my old eyes to read it and all the flipping to get where you want.
Glad I have Skyviews in both of mine.

Originally Posted by Mel

Will dual time in an RV-12 count towards insuring an "Air Force 1"?

[DonFromTX]

OK, I found it. FAA Publication called "Conducting an Effective Flight Review",
page 2, third line from the bottom and I quote:
"For pilots that have not flown at all for several years, a useful "rule of thumb" is to plan one hour of ground training and one hour of flight training for every year the pilot has been out of the cockpit". I had no idea and was surprised that the guidance is in fact seemingly pretty darned accurate.

Originally Posted by DHeal

Quote: "Then I noticed in an FAA publication that one needs one hour of dual for each year of not flying."

Don --

I am curious as to which FAA publication made this statement?

-- David

[DHeal]

Thanks for the reference Don. -- David