Sridhar Rajagopal
July 23rd 03, 11:41 PM
Oh man, it was awesome! Had a 2 hour ground session from 10-12 on
Saturday. My actual flight was at 6 in the evening(last in the line! :-)
). I flew a Super Decathlon, which is a high-wing, symmetric airfoil,
fuel injected (so we could do inverted flight), constant prop (had to
fiddle around with rpm and manifold pressure controls, along with
mixture), tailwheel plane.
We started off with some steep turns (he said "make it as steep as you
want it"), and of course, we started losing altitude like crazy, because
I was not pulling up enough. It takes some getting used to the stick,
and it being in your right hand, and the throttle being in your left hand.
We also did some rolls (aileron rolls, snap rolls, and barrel rolls),
loops, spins, inverted flying, and an Immelmahn.
I actually got to do the flying enroute and back, and also try out the
maneuveurs myself (vs. last time, where it was more of an intro flight,
and I was more of a spectator). We pulled +4.5G, and -2G (vs. +3.5 and
-2 last time).
All in all, it was a great experience, and my adrenaline was pumping,
long afterward! :-)
-Sridhar
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Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/sridhar007/flying.html
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Saturday. My actual flight was at 6 in the evening(last in the line! :-)
). I flew a Super Decathlon, which is a high-wing, symmetric airfoil,
fuel injected (so we could do inverted flight), constant prop (had to
fiddle around with rpm and manifold pressure controls, along with
mixture), tailwheel plane.
We started off with some steep turns (he said "make it as steep as you
want it"), and of course, we started losing altitude like crazy, because
I was not pulling up enough. It takes some getting used to the stick,
and it being in your right hand, and the throttle being in your left hand.
We also did some rolls (aileron rolls, snap rolls, and barrel rolls),
loops, spins, inverted flying, and an Immelmahn.
I actually got to do the flying enroute and back, and also try out the
maneuveurs myself (vs. last time, where it was more of an intro flight,
and I was more of a spectator). We pulled +4.5G, and -2G (vs. +3.5 and
-2 last time).
All in all, it was a great experience, and my adrenaline was pumping,
long afterward! :-)
-Sridhar
-------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/sridhar007/flying.html
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