Sunday seems to be the day for first flights - for me it was a quick half hour in a YAK. Nothing too dramatic, lift off and parallel the runway, then a zoom climb to circuit height, with everyone on the diner's terrace going "oooooh look at that"!
Couldn't tell what I was looking at on the instrument panel, except the compass, as it was all in Russian.
We went out of the local area, up to 3000ft and did some simple stuff - no real aeros, because of the airspace limits and the owner is still building up experience. Steep turns, wing-overs (?) and pulled 4g a few times.
Tried opening the cockpit a notch but it threatened to blow my glasses with it - so I shut it again - but hey that's some wind at 120kts!
The approach was pretty steep - I was beginning to wonder when the flare was going to happen - but he put it down quite nicely, thank you.
Came out of the aeroplane with a huge silly grin on my face - that is one fun steed!
Strangely enough, Mrs GB, who is not a flier at all, was green with envy, and actually want's to go back so she can have a "go".
The owner is trying to get more people to fly it - but is having some trouble, presumably because of cost (the half hour used almost as much fuel as the 4 hours it took me to fly there and back in an Archer). If I lived locally, I'd be on his list for a conversion - that short flight showed me just how much fun flying can be - and I've now started to think of the Archer as a spam-can.
Great day - great fun, and a big thanks to Mike
