100 in type

wby0nder

wby0nder

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
1,060
Location
Iowa
Display Name
Display name:
Matt Michael
With my 2.5 hour tour of Iowa today I surpassed 100 hours in my Fly Baby. I also surpassed 200 landings and 50 airports. I feel really good about flying the plane and finally getting the hang of it.

One leg today was downwind between Greenfield (home of the Iowa Aviation Museum) and Guthrie Co. I was getting 117 mph ground speed. At 1000agl the landscape slides right on by at a decent clip!

I took advantage of a nice mowed pasture next to my friend Diane's farm house to drop in for a visit. It's fun to go "visiting" with a little airplane. I was light on fuel for the departure and almost couldn't believe how quickly I was in the air. Had about 8 knots on the nose and I bet I was off the ground in 120 feet. That is some serious fun.

Had an upwind leg coming home along the Squaw Creek valley where I slowed to about 55mph indicated at 500 ft. Ground speed must have been around 45. GREAT sightseeing and at 20 over stall nice and safe.

Todays hours included 6 airports, 8 landings and about 150sm cross country. Cost, $33 in gas and half quart of oil.
 
Man that sounds great! Too bad I don't have my tailwheel endorsement.... and I won't fit... ;)
 
It really feels good to get well-acquainted with an aircraft over time. I'm that way with the 140. I've gone through several sets of tires in the hundreds of landings I've put on it.

On that note, someone once told me that the secret to good landings in a taildragger was tires: Wear through about 10 sets of them and your landings will improve markedly.

I put a lot of time on rental airplanes this year getting my instrument rating, but I never felt as at-home in them as in the 140. It's amazing how dialed-in you get to the handling, performance capabilities, the health of the engine, etc., when you have a lot of time in the same airplane.

M
 
foka4 said:
I put a lot of time on rental airplanes this year getting my instrument rating, but I never felt as at-home in them as in the 140. It's amazing how dialed-in you get to the handling, performance capabilities, the health of the engine, etc., when you have a lot of time in the same airplane.
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Absolutely. It always feels like coming back to a trusted friend. It's nice to just know what the thing is going to do and be comfortable with it.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Absolutely. It always feels like coming back to a trusted friend. It's nice to just know what the thing is going to do and be comfortable with it.
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Lets not get TOO comfortable guys. Always assume the engine is going to QUIT, especially when it's a bad time for quitting.

It may feel like a trusted friend, and I know that feeling too, but it's just as content to kill you swiftly and unexpectedly.
 
wby0nder said:
Lets not get TOO comfortable guys. Always assume the engine is going to QUIT, especially when it's a bad time for quitting.

It may feel like a trusted friend, and I know that feeling too, but it's just as content to kill you swiftly and unexpectedly.
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Ain't it the truth!

:eek:
 
wby0nder said:
Lets not get TOO comfortable guys. Always assume the engine is going to QUIT, especially when it's a bad time for quitting.

It may feel like a trusted friend, and I know that feeling too, but it's just as content to kill you swiftly and unexpectedly.
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The engine can quit when you have 0 hours, 100 hours, or 1000 hours in type. At least when you're comfortable with it and know how it acts it's more natural.

Comfort does not equal complacency.
 
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