I've fallen for a beautiful woman.

[kookabat]

I’ve fallen for a beautiful woman. She has class, she has style. She moves in a timeless graceful and almost stately manner. But she is a frustrating creature and she doesn’t give her affections away lightly. She has expensive tastes, and she’s very high-maintenance.

It’s a tempestuous love affair. From our very first meeting, she did not make it easy to even catch her eye - hiding away in the darkest corner of the room with everyone else in the way. Once I succeeded in getting her into the open so I could have a good look at her, she just sat there, eyeing me contemptuously. Finding the right switches to flick to get her to warm to me is an art, and has not become easier even as we have become better acquainted. If I get it right, she purrs.

But she can be a moody bitch sometimes. When I get it wrong, she turns on me very quickly. She rewards my full attention, but if my thoughts wander, even for a second, she will remind me who is really in charge. She will play with my head – letting me think that I have almost worked her quirks out. But then the next time she will put me firmly back into my place. When I left her this morning, she was laughing at me.

So why do I keep coming back to her?

Because I know there is a soft side to the old girl. The way the wind makes her sing. The way she lets her tail down when she wants to. And the way she takes me with her. I know there is no real malice to the laughter when we part. I know she likes to play mean sometimes, to keep me humble. I know that the gentle side is there, somewhere – she has shown me once or twice. But for the moment she is keeping it firmly hidden.

--------------------------

I wrote the above following a particularly traumatic session of circuits in a Tiger Moth. I had thought that I was 'getting it', but the old girl showed me otherwise this morning. I drove home from the airfield feeling very humbled. I swear I could hear her laughing at me as I walked past to my car!

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee27/kookabat/Tiger%20Moth/Tiger002.jpg

[aviate1138]

The next time you fly her, without doing anything other than think about your previous flight, you will probably have a flight where you feel more in control. Something happens in one's brain that aids progression in a particular skill [thank goodness it does!].

I found that avoiding coffee before a flight made life a lot easier!

Good luck. Remember you have control, make her respond to your every move!

[usedtofly]

Hmm......... Maybe Jet Blast would have been a better place for this :}

You have a thing about being dominated by older women

You keep returning for more

And..................you think the Tiger Moth is a women!!!!

:E:E:E:E:E

[Pace]

Before I would want to take her for a ride i would insist on a face lift in the form of a full recover and tightening.

The last thing that will give you the urge to get her up is to be greeted by a load of wrinkles and bits heading south as you look at her over the breakfast table.

Is she really a challenge or a bad performer? As it is often the case that you want what you cannot have.

Maybe a much younger model would perform a lot better and be less taxing on the emotions but remember the younger model will be much faster so make sure you are physically fit enough to take the extra G forces.

The younger model will expect to be put through a lot of manouvres that your old bird wouldnt be capable of! are you up to it? The younger model wont be impressed if you go limp on her and end up in a spiral dive. :ugh:

If the younger model is also open top like a Pitts you will get a far better blow job from her so plenty of hairspray if you still have hair from this previous emotionally taxing relationship :sad:

Finally if you are going to play around with a number of younger types while on your quest for one to settle with remember they all bite some more than others. they will remove vast sums of money and as Eddie Ervine once said rent dont buy.

Also some of the modern composites can bring you out in a nasty rash so use protection.

Remember your present mistress will soon find out that you have been playing around with other types behind her back if you dont.

Then she will throw you into an unrecoverable flat spin. She might even kill you.

She is knackered mate! even with all the cosmetic stuff you have still got yourself a slow old Bird under the facade. A draggy one with lines which are hardly described as smooth.

The Medical bills keeping her going will be huge and she will probably spend more time being fixed than flying.
You will spend all your time in and out of the hospital talking to engineers (sorry doctors) about custom made bits. The cosmetics will be an ongoing problem getting her to look half reasonable.

seriously she obviously has loads of colour and character to enjoy and thats hard to find in the younger ones :E

But as they say "whatever turns you on" ??? performing five times a day in extreme manouvres isnt for everybody or isnt everything and taking the old bird up for a nice slow lazy eight once a month might be bliss to many ?

Pace

[kookabat]

seriously she obviously has loads of colour and character to enjoy and thats hard to find in the younger ones

...and that's the point! :ok:

[SkyCamMK]

Do you know what anthropomorphism refers to?

I will be kind and just say, perseverance may pay off. Why were circuits traumatic? Let the machine do the work, do not interfere too much.

[treadigraph]

you think the Tiger Moth is a women

Several? Oh yes... Older women? Perfect....

Kookabat, you sound like a real pilot! Good for you!

[orionsbelt]

Ahhhhh romantic bollocks, cold smelly creatures that leak form every aperture.
Minde you they can do very nice wheel landings and great slow rolls if Bill Ison teaches you.

A p...ed ***

[betterfromabove]

.....because every time you get out of the cockpit, you have a tired but beaming smile on your face.

I was a hundred times more excited about getting my sign-off on this beautiful, tempestuous lady than I ever was about my first solo.

This is why we take up this whole activity if you ask me. For that feeling.

BFA

[Binks]

The Tiger Moth really does sort the men out from the boys (or the girls!). The trick is to pick your day, she doesnt like crosswinds very much, and touch down with a few knots still of flying speed and she will let you know in no uncertain terms.
You really have to work the stick in the flare, and aim to stall the aeroplane approximately 1.5 inches above the grass.
Keep at it and you will improve.
I have over 500 hours in Tiger Moths and am still sometimes gently reminded of some of her shall we say less endearing qualities!