Adler Tag :)
 

Yesterday I had my second flight in a friend’s Christen Eagle II. I’m getting slightly better at flying it - the trick is to hardly move the stick. I channeled my brief Bell 47G experience to help me.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8e23ee26e6.png

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e1290e3fd9.jpg

I’ve flown 22 types solo and have stick time in another 30. In terms of handling, I describe them as ranging from trucks, through family cars to sports cars. The Eagle is in a league of its own though - in automotive terms, it would be an F1 racing car!

I tried steep turns, slow rolls, inverted flight, a Cuban Eight and stall turns to the left. I only got half-way through the Cuban Eight.The down-line roll didn’t go so well. My instructor friend described it as “an outside barrel roll entry into an incipient spin”! At least I recognized what had happened and recovered appropriately!

My main problem was "Chipmunk muscle-memory" from flying T10s all those years ago. As my friend pointed out, Chipmunk techniques are not appropriate for an aircraft half the size of a Chippie, that has 50% more horsepower. This was the first time I've actually seen the effect of propellor gyroscopic forces.

I had planned to try some spins but we knocked it off, because I detected the early symptoms of air sickness. In spite of my ham-fistedness, my friend has invited me to go flying again. I can't wait.:cool:

An added bonus for an exciting day was having a look at what was hiding in the hangar, behind the Eagle and the Pitts S1. Another homebuilt - a Lancair LIV-PT with a 600 HP Walter turboprop!


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7b22467bcb.png

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6f655cf083.png

Thanks for sharing the story - and that Walter turboprop does look amazing. But what is the "Adler" bit about? Not something from the movies, I dare hope?

"Eagle day"

Great photos there IFT, they piqued my curiosity enough to search for Pitts vs Eagle and found this cracker link.

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.avia.../c/9VHEdsCsAjA

`Better to fly with the Eagles,than scratch with the chickens`.....

... or work with turkeys :}

Cheese us! If even the Canadians go Teutonic, where's the end of it all?

Jan,

Would you prefer Adelaarsdag? ;)


I had my third Eagle flight a week ago. I’m getting more comfortable with the very twitchy handling, I’m making fewer mistakes and my G-tolerance is improving. I didn’t feel queasy at all, in spite of the G meter recording +5 G and -2 G. I commented to my instructor that I didn’t think we pulled that much G and he said “Adrenaline will do that to you!”

I did steep turns, rolls, stall turns, loops and a spin. I was very impressed with both the spin entry and recovery.

At the end of the lesson, I took a video of a spin performed by my instructor. I have always remembered a UAS QFI telling me he made himself sick in a Hunter by looking at the wingtip through a movie camera viewfinder, while doing a max-rate roll. I oriented my phone looking to the left, while I looked straight ahead!


For the benefit of people who know the area, we were making all of our noise west of Calgary, in a relatively uninhabited area about 8 miles northeast of Moose Mountain.