Humility

It seemed simple enough. I had been flying a low wing airplane for awhile now, and still liked the round out, transition, and flare that is unique with the wing in ground effect. The weather wasn’t real good, with lots of ‘bumpers’ in the area, so we decided to stay in the pattern and bounce. First one was OK, but the picture wasn’t quite right. Next was left of centerline and fast. It went down hill from there. It just seemed that the airplane was fighting me. I would have a “happy airplane” on base, but turning final things would fall apart. Finally, after numerous attempts, my instructor had pity on the airplane and called it off. Time to try it another day.

Time = 1.2

What happened? A long night flying in my easy chair in front of a silent TV gave me time to replay the flight. First, the pitch was all wrong, because the Tiger is faster and flatter then a Warrior. Second, I was off speed by always coming in too fast. Third, I spotted the deck. I was landing left of CL and in concentrating on that I failed to scan the entire runway prior to the flare.

The first thing I needed to do was go out to the practice area and see a stall. That would help to visualize the correct pitch attitude. Next, I needed to get the basics right. If the approach speed is 74 kts, then don’t fly it at 80 kts. Finally, don’t fixate or ‘spot the deck’. Keep eyes moving all the down the runway.

I got checked out on the next flight without problems…which included a couple of ‘squeakers’.

Time = 1.3