Decided on a nice Saturday to head out and get some Tecnam circuit time in. Hadn't flown one for a couple of months so booked Andrew to go up with me. He asked me why I felt I needed him next to me, I said I hadn't flown one for a while and would like him to help me get back into the swing of things. He asked me if I could land a 172? With 150 hours in them I'd like to think I can by now. He said I would be able to land a Tecnam. It wasn't landing I was worried about. However, hindsight proved having him around was a good move on my part.
Taxiing. Awful. Need to apply full rudder once you are moving and the slipstream will take care of the rest. Only need a touch of brake to get the nosewheel swinging around, that's all. Standing on the brake will only wear the brake shoes (and the CFI's patience) out.
Checks, most of them were there most of the time (actually it was just a couple of minor things like remembering to turn off the Aux Generator during the runup and forgetting where the strobes switch is - I have to pay the going beer rate for that). They need to be all there all of the time.
Flying, for the most part was actually quite good, above my expectations. Never exceeded Vfe with flap deployed (yay), mentally was well ahead of the plane for the whole trip. Good speed control on final, Andrew complimented me on that. Got to the point I started experimenting a little with the airspeed to see what was possible.
Landing, still need to be more attentive for drift when flaring and counter it, but good energy management nonetheless. We didn't balloon. Did a couple of nice gentle touchdowns.
Two circuits later Andrew declares me safe enough to continue so off I go. I decided to do 3 circuits, and if circumstances permitted, at least 1 glide. I got my glide approach in, I forgot how much the Tecnam loves to glide. I was still about 600 feet AGL when I turned final, I dropped all the flap and almost regretted it but I made sure I had some airspeed up my sleeve for the flare and we touched down more or less on the numbers. The final landing I thought I came in a little faster than I needed to, there was a Katana waiting at the Echo hold point so I would have to roll down to Delta. Played keep the nosewheel in the air for as long as possible. Ended up running out of runway before elevator authority so had to let it down so I could brake.
The best part of the trip was the cost. Less than $200. Love that part. Can I have some more?
Taxiing. Awful. Need to apply full rudder once you are moving and the slipstream will take care of the rest. Only need a touch of brake to get the nosewheel swinging around, that's all. Standing on the brake will only wear the brake shoes (and the CFI's patience) out.
Checks, most of them were there most of the time (actually it was just a couple of minor things like remembering to turn off the Aux Generator during the runup and forgetting where the strobes switch is - I have to pay the going beer rate for that). They need to be all there all of the time.
Flying, for the most part was actually quite good, above my expectations. Never exceeded Vfe with flap deployed (yay), mentally was well ahead of the plane for the whole trip. Good speed control on final, Andrew complimented me on that. Got to the point I started experimenting a little with the airspeed to see what was possible.
Landing, still need to be more attentive for drift when flaring and counter it, but good energy management nonetheless. We didn't balloon. Did a couple of nice gentle touchdowns.
Two circuits later Andrew declares me safe enough to continue so off I go. I decided to do 3 circuits, and if circumstances permitted, at least 1 glide. I got my glide approach in, I forgot how much the Tecnam loves to glide. I was still about 600 feet AGL when I turned final, I dropped all the flap and almost regretted it but I made sure I had some airspeed up my sleeve for the flare and we touched down more or less on the numbers. The final landing I thought I came in a little faster than I needed to, there was a Katana waiting at the Echo hold point so I would have to roll down to Delta. Played keep the nosewheel in the air for as long as possible. Ended up running out of runway before elevator authority so had to let it down so I could brake.
The best part of the trip was the cost. Less than $200. Love that part. Can I have some more?
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