Step Turn,
Thanks for starting this thread. It is very interesting to see other pilot's stories of "being at one with the plane". My story comes from glider towing. I have nearly 1000 tows in my logbook - not a lot considering the number of years I've been doing it and of course, not a lot of hours, bearing in mind that the average tow from takeoff to touchdown is about 10 minutes. However, doing about six flights per hour sharpens up your skills very rapidly.
From the gliding club's point of view, they have sold a 2000' tow for a fixed price. If the tow pilot can minimize the time that the tow takes, then the club has less cost and therefore makes more profit. So the challenge for the tow pilot is to optimize the tow in terms of minimizing track miles and maximizing the rate of climb.
My ideal tow (in a Scout) goes like this - after takeoff, climb straight ahead to 300' and then turn cross-wind. At about 500', fly into a strong thermal. As soon as I've flown through the thermal, make a turn to the right, quite tight if I know the glider pilot and aim to fly into the thermal again at about 1000'. Continue turning in the thermal until the glider pulls off at 2000'.
I turn left, throttle back to 2200rpm, put down full flap and accelerate to 80 mph. Fly level for cooling for one minute or until the CHT had dropped to XXX degrees (I forget the number). During that time, I track towards the beginning of a very wide left downwind leg. Then throttle back to 1500rpm and begin a full-flap descent at 80 mph, watching for gliders flying below on the downwind leg.
Assuming no conflict and reaching 1000', start a continuous base-final turn, aiming to be wings level on final at about 200' and about 200 yards out. Close the throttle, cross the fence at 100', drop the rope, side-slip down into the flare and land.
An ideal flight like that could take as little as six minutes and on good soaring days, happened more often than you would think. It was very satisfying when it did happen and I definitely felt "at one with the plane". One day when things were going extremely well, I had a distinct feeling that I was watching myself fly the aircraft along a well-defined groove in the circuit.
Of course, I didn't tell my AME about my out-of-body experience and if he's reading this, it's just a story!
