AFTER ALL, I have been flying for 38 years now, so how hard can it be to fly tail draggers?
That first flight was utter brain-numbing chaos. I simply did not have enough brain, feet, legs or arms to even remotely follow the unfolding event of a take-off and landing.
My brain freeze had begun just taxiing with a fresh cross wind from the left. Andy Kasperson somehow managed to get the little Cheetah to dance along the runway with a running commentary, “left wheel, right wheel, both wheels, tail wheel, stick forward and into wind, rudder..rudder..speed, speed, let her fly”. Well, my brain was still somewhere inside the hangar and way behind the curve.
They say that flying tailwheels is within reach, even for student pilots. Maybe because students have not got polluted by fixed ideas about how to fly and students have not yet gained “muscle memory” to instinctively do things in a set way? (Let’s face it, there was a time when everyone’s first aeroplane had a tailwheel.)
Like most aviators, I took the easy way out. I learned on nosewheels initially, and then moved to rotorcraft, only now getting the courage to pursue the coveted tailwheel endorsement. Let me tell you, flying helicopters is easy-peasy, but your feet become insanely lazy.
I have a long way to go….
Tailwheel aeroplanes require purposeful, accurate inputs and there’s less margin for error. Tailwheels are also more sensitive to crosswinds. You might get away
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Esta historia es de la edición July 2023 de SA Flyer Magazine.
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SACRIFICE
John continues his anecdotes about the sacrifices he has had to make in the course of his helicopter bush flying career.
KENYA - SAA PARTNERSHIP DELAY
KENYA AIRWAYS AND South African Airways announced the establishment of a highly anticipated Pan-African Airline Group three years ago.
TO PARIS FOR LUNCH
One morning I arrived back at Lanseria from a two day charter to a dreary Northern Cape iron mine. Entering the terminal, I removed my wings and epaulets, thrust them into my flight bag, and headed for the restaurant.
ASCA'S MPUMI MPOFU: READY FOR TAKE-OFF
Ms Mpumi Mpofu has occupied the hot seat as Chief Executive of ACSA, the Airports Company of South Africa for a tumultuous past four years.
HYDROGEN POWERED PLANE TESTED
WORLD’S LARGEST liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft, using a 1 MW fuel cell engine, has been tested.
CAMEROON - BLAMES BOEING
BOEING JUST CANNOT STAY out of trouble. It has become the whipping boy for endless absurd claims.
IRIS GOES TO SOMALIA
Having spent the last couple of years flying to a rota, I was thoroughly enjoying the freedom and randomness of flying charters at Sunbird Aviation.
TELEPORTATION
One of the best clients for whom I ever flew was BP, the British oil giant. I was with them in Algeria for about seven years, from the very start of their large gas projects, right in the heart of the Sahara Desert, near the small towns of In Amenas and In Salah.
FEBRUARY 2023
February has shown steady growth in the number of aircraft registered. Four fixed wing and one helicopter were added while the non-type certified (NTCA) register grew by seven.
RIGHT SEAT RULES NO. 16 FUEL SYSTEMS WHY SO COMPLICATED?
You know those aggranoying people who say, “Oh I wouldn't fly in one of those little things - you can't just pull over and fix it if something goes wrong\"? What makes this particularly irritating is that the bastards are right.