My farewell flight in GOFER....
Step Turn reminded me of my last bounce in a Supercub! After all those hours and all those landings, and with all those spectators at White Waltham, with the London Aeroclub Chief Flying Instructor in the back seat, it was alas, three arrivals for the price of one!
Nothing like a taildragger to teach humility.
Approaching senility, the sensible thing to do was to sell my darling GOFER, which had been the towplane at Shenington Gliding Club since 1988. Still young at heart, GOFER had been built in Pennsylvania in 1977, and been kept in Arizona, the very driest place to preserve an aircraft. But with only 200 hours on the clock in ten years, another decay set in, and when my baby was boxed and sent to Britain, it arrived with a magnetised airframe, AND metal in the oil filter. All the instruments had to be relocated. And the engine had to go through a major overhaul, cylinders rebored, pistons reringed, etc etc. A year went by before all these works were accomplished.
The good news was that this repair to the engine effectively turned a 150 cub into one with the performance of a 160. In short, a very effective glider tug. We tug pilots get a lot of practice doing takeoffs and landings.
Most of my landings were adequate.
So on that final farewell flight, myself and the White Waltham CFI flew to Shenington for a picnic lunch. I was so at home at Shenington, I was quite cocky about the tow pilot style circuit and approach and PERFECT touchdown.
We enjoyed our sandwiches in the sunshine, then took off to return to WW.
Where all the WW pilots were enjoying the sunshine, and commenting on the assortments of skill displayed....I wanted so badly to make that last landing as perfect as the penultimate....
The CFI in the back said nothing, he didn't have to. Three bounces before my baby settled down. One final reminder that perfection is hard to achieve every time, even after 3,000 hours.