A trip reports of sorts ... "transition training" (part 1)

Let me start with a little background for context. I only have about 250 hours and half of that is tail wheel in things like Champs, Cubs, Stearmans, Citrabias and a little bit in a Maule. Most of my tail wheel time has been on grass and "under improved" strips. My flight hours have grown progressively more sparse and zero in the past year leading up to my transition training. Every pilot is different so YMMV.

I chose to do my transition training with Kent Gorton about an hour south of Atlanta. The two factors were proximity and availability within my schedule. Kent trains in an RV-6 with a 160hp and fixed pitch (wood) propeller.

So, with the disclaimer out of the way, here was the trip ...

I drove the 10 hours down on Sunday and only encountered one delay near Dunn, NC caused by the tornadoes that had passed thru a day earlier. Mother Nature sure can make a mess and with seaming randomness. There was one stretch with three swimming pool companies within a half miles stretch of highway. The middle one lost almost everything and the other two were untouched.

Monday morning, we started training with two sessions planned - a 10AM flight and a 2pm flight. Kent and I sat down for about an hour going over the training syllabus, common challenges, etc then out to preflight. The first flight starts in a practice area at about 2500 AGL. We covered basic handling, slow flight, and stalls. Then it was over to a nice 5000ft class D airport for pattern and 3-point landing practice.

"Ready to go? Power in. Easy the stick forward. Rudder. RUDDER. RUDDER! MORE RUDDER! Stick more forward. OK, rotate. Climb out between 80-100kts. RUDDER." ... (Kent's training aircraft as the smaller RV-6 rudder. It shows.)

"Slow to 1500rpm, 82kts before abeam the numbers, then full flaps. 75 on base. 70-75 on final. Round out in ground effect, slowing to 60-65. Continue to increase back stick (without climbing). Let it land (with just a little tail-first touch down)."

Sounds easy and for some it might be. For me, I was WAY TOO TWITCHY. The stick really wants the tiniest of inputs until you are well into the flare and getting that stick all the way back. Trust me, if the stick is not all the way back, you hear it ... from Kent Others have noted he believes in letting you get well outside your comfort zone and only comes on the controls if things are really bad and damage is imminent. He will definitely let you make an ugly landing.

"OK, let's go. Power in. FORWARD stick. RUDDER! RUDDER! MORE RUDDER! Your'e already at flying speed so rotate. Positive rate of climb, flaps up."

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

By an hour and 20 minutes, I was done. I definitely was no where near finish. Just done for this flight. Kent saw I had reached the point of diminished returns. We headed back to the base field whish is grass, uphill, and right traffic. I was a bit surprised how blind the RV-6 is with a passenger in a right traffic pattern. I had to dip the wing to have any chance of establishing situational awareness to the field. Once down, Kent and I did some debriefing and then headed out for lunch.

The after noon was "somewhat" better than the morning. I was better all-around but still very inconsistent.

Lessons learned in Day One, flights #1 & #2 ? Well, for starters, the RV-6 and most likely all RV's are very lights on the controls and fast to respond. A 1/2 inch change in the control stich is often more than enough. Move it like a Citrabria and you will pitch from 80kts to 120kts before you know it and the recovery has you squished into your seat. More critical is that it is very easy to be at 80kts one instant and at 60kts the next. In the patters this is bad. The airplane is a sinker when its down to 60kts - I had more than one hard landing to remind me of that! The same "light controls" and "slippery wings" means trim is and art form and you don't fly "hands off" even for a moment.

I went back to the hotel after a long first day and not feeing well with my results. It was pretty demoralizing to be honest. It took a while to wind down and sleep did not come easy but it eventually won out.

Just before nodding off, I was trying to find some technique that might help. I finally recalled what my PPL instructor did to me when I was having problems landing back in the beginning. We were flying the pattern and he said, "OK, I have the controls. I'm the student, tell me what to do. Walk me through the landing." So that is what I did. So my plan for the next flight was to "talk through the procedures".

A trip reports of sorts ... "transition training" (part 2)

Day Two and my third flight lesson - We had a short brief. I did the preflight and we took off for the hard surface airport. For the duration of my trip report you can randomly insert "RUDDER. RUDDER!" randomly and in gradually decreasing frequency and you'll save me a lot of typing

Once in the pattern, I started talking - A LOT. Kent was cool with my new plan. The results showed. They were definitely getting better. I declared a couple go-arounds when I either was too slow while still 5 ft high or came back on the stick with a 5kts too many.

Lessons learned in Day Two, flight #1 ? My biggest problem out of the third flight was the throttle. In a J-3 or a Stearman, it is drilled to gradually bring in the throttle and gradually pull it back. If you put it all in at one or take it all out at once, you get a big surprise, an unwelcome surprise, and its hard on the engine. The RV-6 Lycoming needs rather quick action, especially to keep take-offs short, arrest that "sinking feeling", resolve the "high and fast". Other than some speed related issues, the landings were vastly improved. Whether Kent minded all my talking or not, he never complained. He had some comments after each landing and was quick to point out what I was doing right.

Kent discussed the "turn back to runway" topic with an interesting take. He said there are two situations you need to consider. The "high angle of attack, slow climb out and your engine quits at 400, 500, 600 ft, etc" then there is the "high speed, low pass where the engine quits with the pull up at 50 or 100 ft". We simulated these up at 2500ft AGL. It was very interesting. With the standard climb out of 80kts, you definitely need to have you plan already committed to memory because the first reaction must be to get the nose down to maintain speed. Even then, it takes at least a 235 degree turn back and then a 45 degree correction. Turning into the wind makes a big difference and if there is a taxiway, it gives you one more option. The more interesting experience was the simulated high speed pass. At 120kts, Kent pulled the throttle back and had me do a pull up for a chandelle and let the speed drop below stall as we floated over the top. By the time I was turned back, I was above my original altitude. WARNING: that does not mean I would have made the runway. What was not evident was that while I was not headed back to the runway, I was not *AT* the runway. When Kent demonstrated at the airport, it became evident we made the turn but would have landed short of the runway. It was all "food for thought" and the biggest message was not "yes your can" or "no you shouldn't", rather that you need to train and have your decisions mapped out before you encounter the situation and the decision needs to be immediate. One thing was certain, my decision height is above that of a well trained aerobatic pilot like Kent.

The afternoon lesson of the second day was dedicated to wheel-landings.

"Slow to 1500rpm, 82kts before abeam the numbers, then full flaps. Maintain 80kts on base. No less than 75 all the way down final. Leave a little power in. Level off in ground effect, and let is come down. As soon as the mains touch, add forward stick. Bring the power all the way back. Hold the tail off. Once it is down, full back stick."

Well, I can easily say the first few were awful. "FORWARD STICK!" ... Wash. Rinse. Repeat. ..."FORWARD STICK! You've got to get that stick forward." I was so deathly afraid of a prop strike I could not push the stick forward as much as Kent instructed. It just wouldn't happen. Finally Kent solved the problem. He said, "It's my plane. It's my prop. And I'm telling you to push the stick forward." Well, on the next round, I figured, I'd take Kent at his word. It worked ! Kent could not fix my landing until he fixed me fear of "doing the right thing". So that is exactly what he did.

I still fear pushing the stick forward enough and I'm sure when I finally and flying my own plane I'll have a few go-arounds early on due to bouncing a wheel landing. But, there is a lot more clearance under that propeller than I visualize.

Kent wanted me to demonstrate I could switch back and forth between the landing options so he suggested one last short flight the next morning.

Wednesday morning rolled in and with it a severe weather watch with a line of nastiness to the west stretching from well north of Atlanta right down last our area. By 9am, the weather was moving fast (along with the wind). Kent suggested we stay at the grass strip and below the clouds. That way, we were always less than 2 minutes to being on the ground.

This made for a very fast race-track. The local field has right traffic. The clouds lowered our pattern by 300ft, the runway is shorter and has a notable 50ft uphill slope. Everything needed to happen much faster. Thankfully, Kent's training was coming together. He had me mix the 3-point and wheel landings and we did 7 landings in 30 minutes !

At the end of the transition training, Ken and I had logged 7 hours and 59 landings ! I'm sure a lot of pilots will be over the learning curve faster than me. Most insurance only requires 5 hours. In reality, it takes what it takes. Kent's expectation was not to make me a perfect pilot. Rather, as I was told when I earned my PPL, I was now considered safe and ready to continue my training on my own.

The drive back took 9 hours and was mostly uneventful. However I did notice my right leg was a bit stiff during the long trip home

Forward Stick

This was a big issue with me when I started flying me old Stinson-------

What got me over it was having the instructor pick up the tail while I was sitting in the plane, with the prop set in a vertical position, and the tail raised till the prop was 6-8" clear of the ground--------the sight picture was truly scarry , but at least I learned how far I could go, and still not be too far.

There really is more clearance than meets the eye in most aircraft.

the creativity of the CFI

I really take my hat of the the CFIs that work so hard to teach us. There are so many different types of people which means there are so many different types of pilots. CFIs often must get creative !

Mike S said:

What got me over it was having the instructor pick up the tail while I was sitting in the plane, with the prop set in a vertical position, and the tail raised till the prop was 6-8" clear of the ground--------the sight picture was truly scarry , but at least I learned how far I could go, and still not be too far.

There really is more clearance than meets the eye in most aircraft.

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My father demonstrated this to me in the family Cessna 170 when I was about 16, I guess, by pushing the yoke all the way over on rollout shortly after a good smooth wheel landing. Boy, was there a lot of asphalt visible in the window!

- John

It's not stick movement. It's PRESSURE. The stick will move but you need to think pressure.
TO & LND
Roy

phobos_49 said:

It's not stick movement. It's PRESSURE.

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You are right Roy. My problem was not physical but rather mental. I did not have a problem with how hard to push but my brain kept saying "don't get the nose down too far". I didn't have an accurate mental picture.

Glen,

Excellent trip report, much thanks for sharing.

When learning to do wheelies I too never felt comfortable pushing the stick forward.

What I do is dial in trim so that some back pressure is required on final. When time comes for the wheelie, the pressure is released (and the stick moves forward). Note, this works for me when flying a PA-11 and Citabria, YMMV. Hope to try it out soon on my -8.