Small for a car, true, but not that small for an airplane. The seats are the same size as two first class seats on an Airbus A320, at least in the Northwest Airlines incarnation. As long as you can reach the rudder pedals, and your knees don't hit the panel, it should be fine - and it's more comfortable for long flights than you might think at first.
Yup. Remember what I said about pushing on the controls instead of moving them? It's all about how hard you push. Don't push hard and it won't change attitude as much.
There are a few things you can do to improve this. The biggest is to put a couple of pieces of foam on the canopy itself right at the corner where it meets up with the panel. You can also stick a couple of pieces of foam in the canopy frame tubes (the square ones) right at the front, to keep air from blowing in there and back out right by your shoulders. You're right about the heat, unfortunately, but most light aircraft heaters don't work all that well.
This is due to the required low wing loading to get the stall speed down to the LSA maximum. LSAs as a class are like this. I find myself climbing as much as I can to get above the turbulence.
Exactly. Your eyes should be outside the cockpit.
This is what trim is for. The pitch trim in the Zodiac is quite sensitive. I find myself adjusting it by just pecking at it. A little goes a long, long way.
Yup. The same goes for the pitch attitude and keeping the wings level, too.
Sounds like you got a good start. Keep it up!So, 1.2 hours in a Zodiac, my logbook now has 1.7hrs total. Woo-hoo! You gotta start somewhere. I have Monday off for MLK day, so up I go again.
It makes more sense now. You really just push slightly against the resistance more than make any actual deflection, as you say. I found this particularly true of the rudder pedals; I never actually felt them deflect, but the rudder was definitely working!
Thanks for those tips, they make save me a trip to the ER for frostbite!
You'll be thankful for that effective rudder when it comes time to learn how to do crosswind landings. I've landed in 25-knot crosswinds before with little trouble. The factory test pilot told me he's landed in a 38-knot direct crosswind; I wouldn't push it that far, but I can believe the airplane would handle it.
Your instructor will likely get after you about that in another few hours...that's not quite the best way to find the proper trim. Fortunately, the flip side of the Zodiac's trim being sensitive is that it's pretty easy to find the proper setting with just a little poking.
I thought we were going over on our back the first time I rode through one.
Ahhh, I was curious 'bout the nose drop in the stall. I've flown a couple LSA and they seemed pretty docile. The Gobosh just sort of mushed along - not even a falling leaf. I'll swear that it won't drop a wing. The Remos had a break, as I recall, but it wasn't much of an attention "getter." I was about half a ball off on an approach stall and all it took was a little rudder to control it. (The check pilot did flinch a bit until he realized I could recover it.)
Anyway, stalls are no big deal, just keep it coordinated and enjoy the ride. If ya want a little fun ask your instructor to demonstrate a trim stall...
I fly the pattern by slowing to 80 knots on downwind, then putting in half flaps abeam the numbers and slowing to 65 knots, and the remaining flaps on base and holding 65 knots. I find it takes about half-scale nose up trim with half flaps at 65 knots, and full nose up trim with full flaps. The Zodiac does indeed have a strong nose down pitching moment with flaps, but if you know it's coming, it's easy to deal with.
I fly off the runway at 60, accelerate to 70 pretty much immediately (delaying only for obstacle clearance), and then accelerate to 80 when I'm past the immediate rush of getting things done and getting clear of the pattern. I then climb the rest of the way to cruise altitude at 80 or maybe a little lower. The airplane definitely likes to climb out faster than 70, especially when it's heavily loaded. If I'm staying in the pattern, I'll turn crosswind at about 600 AGL and past the end of the runway, and be at the 800 AGL pattern altitude very shortly thereafter; I'll power back to 2000 RPM and maintain 80 knots until it's time to descend again unless there's a good reason not to.
