My Endorsement - Kind Of!
- Details
- Category: Quickheads BLOG
- Published: Friday, 13 June 2008 11:48
- Written by Dan Yager
- Hits: 3084
I called Skyhaven airport to schedule another lesson in the Cub on Wednesday evening, and they informed me that Lloyd was going on vacation, and therefore I would need to switch instructors.
I normally don't like to change instructors, since I always assume that I'll have to start over from scratch. However, since it had been over a month since my last flight, I thought I'd pretty much have to start over again anyway!
At any rate, I got out to the field, met "Charlie" my new instructor and pre-flighted the Cub. I hopped in, yelled "Contact," and in short order Charlie hand propped us to a successful start. Pretty soon after that I taxied us down to the end of the runway, did our run-up, and turned into the wind.
We started our first take-off roll on the grass, and the Cub handled. . . well. . . "like a Cub." I gave it full throttle. . .1. . .2. . .3. . .push the stick forward a bit to raise the tail, built up speed to a blistering 40 mph, pulled back and we were off.
When we got in the air, we began our first circuit of the field and Charlie indicated that he wanted me to perfom a 3-point landing on the grass. I set up nicely, and when we touched down and rolled to a stop, Charlie simply said, "Someone must have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night!" Awesome!
(By the way, I don't need money fame or fortune, I'm the type of guy that simply needs a compliment!)
For our next trick, we took off from the pavement. A little more squirelly, but a little "dance on the pedals" was all that was needed to keep the Cub straight. However, this time, while we were in the pattern Charlie asked that I do a wheel landing on the pavement. I simply replied, "easy for you to say!"
Now mind you, I have never done a wheel landing, on pavement or on any other surface, so my first attempt was a little (read VERY) bumpy! My instincts kept telling me to pull back further into the flare, but my instructor kept telling me to put the nose back down! Hmmm?
It took me a few attempts to get one that was kinda - sorta- what a wheel landing should look like, but a little more coaxing from Charlie at least had me understanding the concept a little better. (Eeven if my attempts seemed less than perfect.)
At any rate, after about 8 full stop landings with Charlie, he asked me to drop him off over by the fence!? What?! Did I hear you correctly? You're actually gonna let me fly solo on my second time up in the Cub? Really? That's very cool!
He told me to make sure I set the trim to "SOLO" instead of "DUAL" but I soon found myself all alone! Of course, I decided to try a wheel landing, on the pavement, as my first solo landing. That of course resulted in a go-around! (Maybe I'll practice those another time.) 
The rest of my landings I did 3-point, and I had a few small bumps, but for the most part they were fun and relaxed "greasers." I stayed up for about a half-hour by myself, and soon other traffic started entering the pattern. It looked like students learning to land, and flying the pattern with me, but I thought it would be nice to let them play without me (with no radio) to worry about.
I landed and taxiied back between all of the other airplanes. It was a little scarey taxiing without being able to see over the nose, but a little bit of S-turning, and I came to a successful stop without breaking anything.
Charlie came back over to see how I was doing, I turned the key off, disconnected my headset and climbed out of the cockpit. To make a long story short, I received my taildragger endorsement last night. Funny how things are harder to achieve in your head than they are to achieve in reality sometimes! Often, it's making the effort to start a project that takes the most time and courage, don't you think?
At any rate, when I got home and took a closer look at my log book (admiring the new endorsement) I noticed that the Pilot Certificate he entered wasn't the one listed on my license. I assume he entered his own by mistake, but I'll get that cleared up when I get back out to the airport. I have the endorsement in my head, even if the paperwork isn't quite right yet! Yay!
On a side note, you'll notice in the above picture that I'm wearing the Quickie Aircraft Corporation T-shirt that I made. I happen to be the only one in the world who owns one of these currently, but you can buy one here if you'd like to help support this site and my flying habit!