The weather couldn't have been better on Saturday. Actually it could. It could have been less hot.
John was working to his usual timetable, and was airborne with a student on an IMC lesson from Coventry when he should have been meeting me at HusBos for tailwheel! Still, it gave me time to do some spotting at Air Atlantique's open day. A reminder of why I want to fly aeroplanes with the wheel at the right end.
When we met up at HusBos the first thing was to decide where to go. There was a big gliding competition on, so doing circuits there wasn't really an option. John phoned Bruntingthorpe, but they had some kind of open day and said they'd rather we didn't go there either. So John suggested we fly a farmstrip route instead. He's been flying round this area for years and knows everyone, so circled about 7 fields on my chart and said we'd worry about the rest once in the air.
He suggested I take off from the peri track this time. This involved taxiing up the track to where the gliders were queuing to launch, spinning round, and trying to get airborn before hitting the trailers. Oh, and watching out for cars/people/dogs etc etc coming the other way on the track. The take off wasn't too bad though - I managed to keep on the tarmac, and not hit anything.
Once we were up I discovered a small problem. Navigation. The compass is one of those big ones in the floor. The type that requires you undo the harness, fold in half, have a torch in your mouth to read the dial ... and whenever you change heading you have to adjust it again. And the compass on the canopy definitely needed swinging. Not only that, but there's not much room for a map. Still, John knew where he was going, and he made it clear it wasn't a navigation exercise. I kept half an eye on the map, and let him give me directions.
How do you spot a grass strip? You look for a long straight mowed area... right? Wrong. As I was about to find out.
Our first stop was Stoke Golding, which has recently been bought by two members of our flying group. Unfortunately the grass over the whole field is about the same length, the hangar is in the trees, and the lack of wind meant the windsock was nearly impossible to spot. John decided to make it easy for me to see by beating up the airfield and turning the aircraft on its side to improve our field of view.
Stoke Golding has an interesting approach. There are low voltage power lines first, then a hedge and ditch. John told me to aim for the hedge, then flare over it to give us plenty of room to stop. I almost managed it, but chickened out a bit and landed a bit far up. I kept it straight, but the hedge at the far end was getting quite large. John slowed us quickly with alternating rudder and lots of brake, then spun us round to show me short distance left.
He said that landing wasn't a problem, but taking off was, as you needed to leave yourself plenty of room to stop, should anything go wrong. We taxiied back to the far end, taking care not to drop the tailwheel in the ditch, then took off. As we got airborne I was glad we hadn't had to stop...
Next we flew over to Baxterly. Another unusual strip as it has a bend in it. Again John wasn't sure I was looking at the right place, but I think it was just an excuse to fly low and fast. The approach is much easier than Stoke Golding, but there are tall trees on either side of the first bit of the strip, and they are scarily close to the wingtips.
I felt surprisingly calm as we flew in. I think I knew deep down that John would say something if the foliage got too close, so just concentrated on keeping the aircraft straight. Even the bend in the runway wasn't a problem, as the chippie wants to turn right on the ground anyway, so I just let it.
We had a bit of a reception when we landed, as two of John's friends were working on their aircraft there and came over to say hello. Unfortunately, our 10 minute break turned into 35, and John's next student was waiting. We strapped back in, waited for the horse to clear the runway (I don't remember what the AirLaw book said about who has priority in that situation!) and taxiied round the corner. Again, the bend caused me no problems, but the trees just off each wingtip made me nervous.
There wasn't much time left, so we made a quick stop at Stoke Golding, this time with John refusing to say anything (one of the first indicators he's getting ready to leave me to it), and I made a great landing! I felt like I knew what I was doing, and even all the obstacles weren't a problem, having previously landed between two rows of trees.
We took off again, and climbed to 2000' for a PFL onto a strip called Claybrook, owned by another member of our flying group. Again he refused to say anything, only speaking up to remind me to warm the engine. The Chippie glides surprisingly well, which made it more difficult to judge the approach. However, it all came together fine, so maybe I'm getting the hang of this flying malarky!
As we got to about 100' and all was looking great, John asked me if I wanted to do a touch and go, or just leave it there. I said I'd rather leave it, rather than risk spoiling a great PFL with a bad landing. But then my brain seized up, and I couldn't remember what I needed to do to climb again. As we drifted down John asked me whether I'd changed my mind. I said "No, I just can't remember what to do". He said "Throttle!" which I applied just as the wheel gently touched down... I couldn't have timed it better had I tried!
We got back to HusBos as the gliders were starting to return, so flew a tug circuit to land, keeping to one side of the airfield. Once again, John kept quiet, and I made a good landing.
I think he might send me solo next time.
