FLYER Club Member
Mon Apr 06, 2015 10:55 pm
#1365025
Well, where do I start on this one?
First off, I'm still 'half pregnant'. One of the forms I had submitted to the CAA was wrong and, after a fortnight they told me. That's now been corrected, and I hope that they will not tell me something else is missing in a fortnight...
In the meantime, it's Easter and we've booked a stay just South of Salisbury. Of course, I was looking forward to the gorgeous countryside, good ales and food, the chocolate box villages - and of course the chocolate itself
But having not yet fully consummated my flying honeymoon, I was also looking for something aeronautical to do whilst we were there.
Both Compton Abbas and Old Sarum offer 'flight experiences' in Tiger Moths, so starting a tailwheel conversion whilst having a bit of fun seemed like a plan. Compton Abbas had a minimum hour requirement for instruction (as opposed to just a flight experience) which I could not meet. Speaking to them, they seemed happy to waive it, but they did at least want to see my license... which I couldn't guarantee - which settled it for Old Sarum and G-ACDI.
On the day, the weather was grey but with high cloud level and light winds almost straight down the 06 runway it was definitely a goer, even though the combination of low OAT and open cockpit called for thermal underwear to be on the safe side
David the instructor took me through a thorough briefing on what would be different in the Moth compared to the Pipers and Cessnas I had flown until now. I had read 'Stick and Rudder', so it made sense, but theory and practice are two different things, so it was with some trepidation I absorbed the fact that on the ground, there were no brakes, no steering apart from the rudder and no visibility straight ahead.
Taking off would include more rudder work but also the rather unusual (for me) nose down manoeuvre early in the takeoff roll. Once in the air, things would return to normal - although rudder would be rather more important than earlier, and as for the landing, it sounded quite straightforward, really, as long as everything went perfectly according to plan. Simples?
Checking out the aircraft was fun. No electrics apart from a battery radio. No flaps. Priming (for that matter, the entire fuel system) purely based on gravity. Very simple. Wonderfully simple and reminiscent of a time when things were simpler all around.
On a related note, the downwind/pre-landing checks are hilarious. Brakes? No. Undercarriage – still there.... Mixture? No. Fuel pump? No. Carb heat? No. Flaps? No. Lights? Don’t be silly…
Hand propping was of course also new, and external mag switches make sense when you really do want to be able to check that they are off when you are turning the engine through a couple of turns.
David leant me the traditional sheepskin coat and a helmet, and we were ready to roll.
This was before I started grinning
The taxiing turned out to be OK. Weaving from side to side, using dabs of power to energise the rudder, we made our way to the threshold as my grin slowly grew wider and wider. Traditional power checks are difficult since the Moth has no brakes. With good judgement you can do them on the takeoff roll...
David demonstrated the take-off and handed me the controls once we were airborne. And my grin got wider. The Cheshire cat was an amateur, a mere acolyte in grinning compared to my face. The feeling of direct connection between the controls (and me) and the aircraft is amazing. The sensitivity especially of the rudder and elevator is so very different from training aircraft... and their active use is a lot more required. Which is of course the whole attraction and what makes it so great fun flying it.
David demonstrated a landing and the next circuit was mine...
Straight and level was probably neither nor - I blame the ... errr ...
The battery operated intercom worked fine, but my mike had a hard job staying anywhere near the front of my lips. Probably caused by the fact that my taller than average Norwegian frame caused my head to protrude rather further into the airflow. Whatever, I could still hear David and I hope he didn't take my lack of response too badly. Most of his comments included the words 'rudder' and 'more'. To begin with, this flustered me a bit, especially since the slip indicator was, from my eye height, hidden under the padded top of the instrument panel. My height again! But after a while, I did start to feel the balance (or lack of...) and the circuits became better. I also started to be able to predict that e.g. when you reduce the throttle, you need right rudder, making the whole experience smoother as time went by.
And those landings? Well... David did say he hardly touched the controls towards the end - but to say that I pulled off any greasers would be grossly untrue.
Working on that attitude...
Taxiing back to stand and back to reality was a bit of a shock. I had been concentrating on the flying and had not really thought about the Biggles-like aspects before. I had not made 'dakka dakka' noises at an imaginary Hun - nor had I waxed the tips of my handlebar moustache. (And of course, the usual 'clear prop' is useless when you're hand propping.) Still, I had been in the zone and transported back to a time when flying was real flying - and pilots were those magnificent men (sadly mostly men) - even wanna-be pilots like me...
All those other things will have to be saved for next time. And there will be a next time
Flying a beautiful aeroplane from gorgeous grass up and above rolling green countryside full of symbols linked back to ancient man. In a machine which was built in 1933. Absolutely amazing and a true privilege.
My warmest thanks to David and the team at GoFly at Old Sarum for an unforgettable experience.
I always knew that there was more to flying than the club and school aircraft and there clearly is. I could do a lot worse than finding a share in a DH82 somewhere closer to home than a 3 hour drive. I am in danger of being seriously hooked...
Morten
First off, I'm still 'half pregnant'. One of the forms I had submitted to the CAA was wrong and, after a fortnight they told me. That's now been corrected, and I hope that they will not tell me something else is missing in a fortnight...
In the meantime, it's Easter and we've booked a stay just South of Salisbury. Of course, I was looking forward to the gorgeous countryside, good ales and food, the chocolate box villages - and of course the chocolate itself
But having not yet fully consummated my flying honeymoon, I was also looking for something aeronautical to do whilst we were there.
Both Compton Abbas and Old Sarum offer 'flight experiences' in Tiger Moths, so starting a tailwheel conversion whilst having a bit of fun seemed like a plan. Compton Abbas had a minimum hour requirement for instruction (as opposed to just a flight experience) which I could not meet. Speaking to them, they seemed happy to waive it, but they did at least want to see my license... which I couldn't guarantee - which settled it for Old Sarum and G-ACDI.
On the day, the weather was grey but with high cloud level and light winds almost straight down the 06 runway it was definitely a goer, even though the combination of low OAT and open cockpit called for thermal underwear to be on the safe side
David the instructor took me through a thorough briefing on what would be different in the Moth compared to the Pipers and Cessnas I had flown until now. I had read 'Stick and Rudder', so it made sense, but theory and practice are two different things, so it was with some trepidation I absorbed the fact that on the ground, there were no brakes, no steering apart from the rudder and no visibility straight ahead.
Taking off would include more rudder work but also the rather unusual (for me) nose down manoeuvre early in the takeoff roll. Once in the air, things would return to normal - although rudder would be rather more important than earlier, and as for the landing, it sounded quite straightforward, really, as long as everything went perfectly according to plan. Simples?
Checking out the aircraft was fun. No electrics apart from a battery radio. No flaps. Priming (for that matter, the entire fuel system) purely based on gravity. Very simple. Wonderfully simple and reminiscent of a time when things were simpler all around.
On a related note, the downwind/pre-landing checks are hilarious. Brakes? No. Undercarriage – still there.... Mixture? No. Fuel pump? No. Carb heat? No. Flaps? No. Lights? Don’t be silly…
Hand propping was of course also new, and external mag switches make sense when you really do want to be able to check that they are off when you are turning the engine through a couple of turns.
David leant me the traditional sheepskin coat and a helmet, and we were ready to roll.
This was before I started grinning
The taxiing turned out to be OK. Weaving from side to side, using dabs of power to energise the rudder, we made our way to the threshold as my grin slowly grew wider and wider. Traditional power checks are difficult since the Moth has no brakes. With good judgement you can do them on the takeoff roll...
David demonstrated the take-off and handed me the controls once we were airborne. And my grin got wider. The Cheshire cat was an amateur, a mere acolyte in grinning compared to my face. The feeling of direct connection between the controls (and me) and the aircraft is amazing. The sensitivity especially of the rudder and elevator is so very different from training aircraft... and their active use is a lot more required. Which is of course the whole attraction and what makes it so great fun flying it.
David demonstrated a landing and the next circuit was mine...
Straight and level was probably neither nor - I blame the ... errr ...
The battery operated intercom worked fine, but my mike had a hard job staying anywhere near the front of my lips. Probably caused by the fact that my taller than average Norwegian frame caused my head to protrude rather further into the airflow. Whatever, I could still hear David and I hope he didn't take my lack of response too badly. Most of his comments included the words 'rudder' and 'more'. To begin with, this flustered me a bit, especially since the slip indicator was, from my eye height, hidden under the padded top of the instrument panel. My height again! But after a while, I did start to feel the balance (or lack of...) and the circuits became better. I also started to be able to predict that e.g. when you reduce the throttle, you need right rudder, making the whole experience smoother as time went by.
And those landings? Well... David did say he hardly touched the controls towards the end - but to say that I pulled off any greasers would be grossly untrue.
Working on that attitude...
Taxiing back to stand and back to reality was a bit of a shock. I had been concentrating on the flying and had not really thought about the Biggles-like aspects before. I had not made 'dakka dakka' noises at an imaginary Hun - nor had I waxed the tips of my handlebar moustache. (And of course, the usual 'clear prop' is useless when you're hand propping.) Still, I had been in the zone and transported back to a time when flying was real flying - and pilots were those magnificent men (sadly mostly men) - even wanna-be pilots like me...
All those other things will have to be saved for next time. And there will be a next time
Flying a beautiful aeroplane from gorgeous grass up and above rolling green countryside full of symbols linked back to ancient man. In a machine which was built in 1933. Absolutely amazing and a true privilege.
My warmest thanks to David and the team at GoFly at Old Sarum for an unforgettable experience.
I always knew that there was more to flying than the club and school aircraft and there clearly is. I could do a lot worse than finding a share in a DH82 somewhere closer to home than a 3 hour drive. I am in danger of being seriously hooked...
Morten
Last edited by Morten on Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ClearOfCloud liked this
We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.
I see they have a Chipmunk at the WLAC - which is close...
)
(A good excuse to update the photos now that dropbox no longer allows external links ...)
