More T6 Time

Having gone solo the natural thing would be to continue to go solo however I am a big believer in getting as much coaching as possible and as the machine is a 2 seater and designed for that purpose I continued with Glen in the back as a nice comfort blanket!

3 weeks passed since my last solo so I decided to go up with Brian a super competent T6 instructor... We cracked 3 hours of training and also another 1 hour of aerobatics...My landings were ok but they needed polish... I had a habit of pushing to far forward on the stick on take off and also again on landing in the wheeler attitude... After lots of practice in the circuit my progression went up with every take off and landing...

I realised that the quicker you raise the tail the quicker the aircraft is prone to a left hand swing due to the gyroscopic precession... So a slower more controlled lift of the tail was needed especially at full power... 36 inches MP and 2250 RPM.... In the level attitude on take off there is still prop clearance however im flying the Harvard in preparation for a Spitfire and if I was to do that in a Spitfire I would shorten the propeller blades by about 12 inches and have a short career as a Spit pilot! Especially at about 10K per blade......

So raising the tail and maintaining a shallow climb attitude was the lessons learnt here.... On landing in a tail low wheeler again the lessons learnt were to check the stick forward just enough to stop the tail being taken down due to gravity, and to slow its descent to a stop just above the ground, then gently lower it below flying speed on to the ground...

The next day with Glen I was like a new pilot!! Over night all this information had stuck to the sponge and I was well confident with my landings... I was now realising that you had to fly this aeroplane and understand where the tail was at all times, where the wings were... The spacial awareness was growing and I was starting to feel what the aeroplane was doing.... Feeling the aeroplane is an easy thing to talk about but hard to do in practice... When you start to feel the aeroplane you will know about it....!

We did some circuits and departed Duxford on a heading of 320 degrees off to Langar Parachute centre in Nottingham...This was a former WW2 Lancaster base with large runways... I landed dead in to wind on runway 25.... Lovely wheel landing and stopped short.... We popped in for a coffee and allowed people to look around G-BUKY

Pleasant flight back and un eventful landing in a cross wind.... I could have gone solo.... But why? Lets end on a good one and look forward to July when I will be doing it all over again :o)

LANGAR