10th November 2010 - All is not lost...

Just a quick update - after some discussion with Adam, it would appear that I'll be flying G-AVKI for a little while longer. I'm currently sorting out a few issues that cropped up on the Permit renewal but expect to be flying her again in early 2011. Should get a few hours on her before she leaves for good this time and I'm very much looking forward to it!

My last aerobatic flight (for a while at least...)

Well, I've enjoyed dipping my toe into the field of aerobatics but for now I've come to the end of the line. As with many things it comes down to cost v enjoyment. Aerobatics doesn't come cheap, although I think I managed to do it for as little as possible! However, since I started on this journey last september, I've also done two flying tours in my Shadow. The first in June was Fly UK which took me to the north of Scotland and back, the second in September took me to france for 5 days. Limited funds dictate that I can afford to do either aerobatics or touring and I've chosen to go with touring for now as I've found that although aerobatics is great for the duration of the flight, touring is fun throughout the whole experience.

My last flight in Nipper G-AVKI comprised loops, rolls, chandelles and most fun of all - spinning! I landed (as ever) with a big grin on my face and as I shut down I can't help but think how lucky I've been. It's been a blast...

10th July - rusty!

I've had a busy few weeks since I last flew the Nipper, not least of which was taking part in FlyUK 2010 in my Shadow which was great fun.

This Saturday, I flew the Shadow to Marham, strapped Adam in so he could try it out and then took KI up to blow away the aerobatic cobwebs! I didn't do anything particularly taxing or impressive and unfortunately wasn't able to fly over the runway which was frustrating. It's very difficult to assess yourself without a line feature below. However, I did the usual loops, rolls, chandelles and a spin, all of which went well. As before, the thing I need is continuity, but I suspect that I will only manage a few flights between now and mid-August due to family commitments.

For the record, Adam really enjoyed flying the Shadow; I think he wants one!

04 June Finally - stall turns and some bloody fast spins!

I've flown KI 7 times since my last post on 25th May (including twice today) but haven't updated the blog as to be honest, I haven't really done anything notable. That changed today as I headed up through a grotty inversion layer into beautiful clear skies above 4000'. Finally conditions were ideal for a decent attempt at mastering the stall turn, so continuing up to 6000' (just to be extra safe) I did the HASELL checks and gritted my teeth...

Not sure whether it's just familiarity (and currency) with the aircraft, improved handling on my part or a combination of the two, but stall turning seemed to go very well today - unlike my previous abortions. I can't promise that a hypothetical observer would have given me top marks for appearance, but I managed to get the Nipper vertical, throttle back, apply full right rudder with a reasonable amount of opposite aileron and round she went. I did this quite a few times in a row and all went pretty much the same. I was literally whooping for joy during each one and felt genuine satisfaction.

I think the stall turn has been more challenging than the other manoeuvres I've flown because it isn't as natural feeling - I can't explain it any better than that (sorry!). I can honestly say that I can loop and aileron roll all day now, with a Chandelle at each end of the runway for good measure. My 1/2 cubans and reverse 1/2 cubans are ragged and inconsistent but I'm having lots of fun trying to get them right!

As for spinning, I have discovered that the Nipper is awkward to spin consistently, particularly to the left. In a spin to the right (with the engine), you have to be dogged in holding pro spin rudder; initially, it turns in gently and even with full back stick shows a tendency to come out, but if you persevere, it suddenly tightens up and you get one hell of a rate of rotation which is much, much faster than the Citabria. I still don't know why, but spinning is my favourite manoeuvre, maybe because it is just so instantly gratifying and quite dramatic!

Suffice to say, I'm still loving aerobatics. My goals for the future will require another lesson as I'd like to try flat and inverted spinning and also barrel rolls. I'm REALLY looking forward to that!

Oh, and I really MUST sort out a camera mount and get some video to post!!!

25 May learning, improving and my first unintentional spin!

Had 35 mins of good aero's today overhead Honington (also had 30 mins yesterday too, but nothing remarkable to report!).

Anyway, I've finally realised why I go all skew-wiff on the half cuban. I haven't been centralising the rudder before pulling through into a the loop - simple really. Also managed to get it into a spin without trying. Felt it flick to the right from the reverse half cuban. Too much rudder input I think. Opposite rudder stopped it and I dived away, although I pulled on quite a bit of speed - although not quite to VNE.

Still haven't tried stall turns again though as I want a min height of 5000' and the cloudbase has been around 4000' these last 2 days. We shall see what the rest of the week brings...

Lots of fun today!!!

23 May a good ferry flight from Marham to Honington

Had a good ferry trip today; climbed to 5000' over Marham with gliders below and span, rolled, looped etc so that majority owner Adam could watch. Mind you, having watched him earlier, I realise I'm just a speck at those heights really!

I then headed north to Penteney Lakes and rendezvous'd with Flatty in his Rans S6, G-MZKE. Off we headed to Honington and Flatty got some cracking shots of me in flight - see below. Did lots & lots of turn back circles as it's quite difficult trying to fly the Nipper in formation because of the disparity in speed between our two types. Over Thetford, Flatty called Lakenheath to tell them he was descending and so I called climbing as I wasn't ready to land just yet... I quickly reached 5000' and did some more basic aero's before descending deadside to land on 27. A great little flight in perfect weather. Hopefully this week will let me explore and improve - should be fun!

Here's a very short video of me closing on Flatty's Rans and zooming away.

21st May - First spins in the Nipper and a really nice flight

Had a really good flight today, although KI was a pig to start! I took off on 01, just after Cessna 150 G-JAGS and climbed into the overhead. Following all my spin practice last week, I thought today was an ideal opportunity to spin the Nipper - I can't imagine I'll ever be more spin-current than I am now. After climbing to 6000', (allowing an extra 1000' for the unknown), I applied carb heat, slowly closed the throttle and did some practice stalls. Well, I just couldn't stall the Nipper! With the stall warner blaring away and about 30mph IAS, all that happened was a gentle nod and mush. The slightest check forward of the stick had me flying instantly, so with that in mind, I felt ready to try a spin. Throttle back, enter the stall (well, sort of!) full right rudder and she tucked in nicely. unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), KI would only do 1/2 a spin before pulling out, even before application of opposite rudder - how begnign is that! Back up to 6000' and I tried a spin to the left with the same result. Not as thrilling as I'd expected and not a patch on the Citabria, but fun nevertheless. After that I had a great chuck about with the usual loops, rolls, chandelles etc etc. Total flight time was 50 minutes, partly because I had to follow G-JAGS in and JAGS was flying massive 'GA-type' circuits. A little surprising really as it was being flown by a couple of Tornado pilots. Mind you, I expect they get all the excitement they need from the day job! Next week KI will be over at Honington, I have the week off and my mission will be to nail the stall turn, something that has eluded me on my few attempts so far...

Tornado's grounded - time to play :-)

A quick 35 minutes in the overhead at Marham, the only movement there all day - Tornado's grounded due to volcanic ash! Loops, rolls, chandelles, 1/2 cubans & reverse 1/2 cubans. I was very conscious that it was just after most people finish on a weekday and that there were 4 Sqn's worth of Tornado pilot's down there probably tutting away at how poor my flying is! Still, luckily for me I'm not in a competition or trying to impress anyone - its all about having fun and improving, and I think I'm managing both. One day I'll try and get someone to video me; its very frustrating, I've never even seen KI do so much as a loop...

10 - 14 May - Spinning in the Citabria and ASK 13 Glider

Wow,

what a brilliant week I've had! I've only just returned from gliding at Halton near Aylesbury where I was taught to solo standard in the ASK 21 glider, I then moved on to the older but rather nicer flying ASK 13. Unlike the K21, the K13 will spin...

Flying the K13 glider with instructor Padge was great fun, although his spin entry technique surprised me at first, it put a huge grin on my face too!

Basically we would enter a gentle bank then ease back on the stick to the stall. Once stalled he applied full pro-spin rudder, full into turn aileron and full up elevator. With this input the k13 flicks on its back and enters a spin, easily recovered with the standard spin recovery technique. Massive fun!

The following day in very lumpy conditions I was signed off solo following a flight with instructor and friend Colin McInnes (there's not much that he isn't qualified to do!) and span to my hearts content on two consecutive flights. Here's a short video.

I also had 2 flights in the Citabria on Tuesday evening when gliding was finished; first with Col , just to get back in the tailwheel groove and check my spin recovery was still on the ball. Then, after a great hour with Col, I put good friend flatty in the back and we headed off for him to have a bit of hands on and for me to take him on his first ever spinning flight. Beautiful conditions with few clouds and great visibilty meant that climbing to 5000' was no problem at all. I'll let the video below show you how we got on :-)

All-in-all, a great weeks flying, in good company - my PFL's should be rather better too!

Here I am ready for solo in the K21 glider

and flying the Grob 109 motor glider

- didn't aero or spin these (the K21 doesn't spin and the Grob 109 is apparently lethal if spun!!)

1st May 10 - Excellent fun trying some new manoeuvres

Well, I had planned to fly to the Popham microlight trade fair in my Shadow last night, check out the show this morning and head back this afternoon. Unfortunately the forecast didn't look promising and I wasn't willing to take the chance of getting stuck a long way from home on a Bank Holiday weekend so I decided to give it a miss.

Anyway, as luck would have it, the weather at Marham was pretty damned good today. My partner in G-AVKI, Adam, said he was taking her up, so I thought I'd join him. We met up early in the afternoon at the fuel bowser and I'd arrived just in time to take her straight off his hands - perfect!

I taxied down 19, pulled off to the hold and completed my pre take-off checks, and then watched the gliding club chipmunk make a bouncy landing which he wisely decided to go-around from. Finally lining up on 01, I opened the taps and headed skywards. Well, it was certainly thermic, I got bounced all over the sky up to about 3000', although things smoothed out from there.

Thermalling gliders meant I couldn't practice aero's in the overhead so I headed for a blue patch of sky 2 miles to the west. After the obligatory HASELL check, I did a quick loop to get my eye in, and then had my first attempt at a reverse half cuban, which is a roll, from which you pull a loop once you're upside down. It didn't go badly at all, but I could have done with a line feature to check as I kept coming out all 'skew wiff'. It was exactly the same story with the standard half cuban (pull a loop and then roll off the top). Outstanding fun though!.

I did this for a while and then thought I'd have another go at a stall turn... Oh dear! I don't know what I did wrong, but it all got horribly out of shape, so I did the 'unusual positions' recovery; chop the throttle, lock the stick and rudder and let things sort themselves out.

I landed after 45 mins with a huge grin on my face! Time was on my side, so after a sit down and drink I had another go. This time though there was more cloud about, so my manoeuvres were done in any gap I could find! This was a great 'chuck-about' flight; loops, rolls, chandelles, half cubans and reverse half cubans, as well as yanking and banking through the cloud valleys. Just brilliant! I did my usual side-slipping power on descent to land. Amazingly this flight was just 30 minutes, but it felt like longer, what a blast!

It looks like AVKI's engine problems have been well and truly put to bed and I now have real confidence in the machine. That, combined with warmer weather and longer days means that I really feel I'm making progress.

I've no doubt that to the trained eye my manoeuvres look ragged and poorly co-ordinated, but what the hell - I don't think I've ever had so much fun in an aeroplane! Roll on the next time (groan...).

I'll try to sort out my camera mount SOON(!) so I can take some footage; in the meantime, here's a picture of AVKI all wrapped up after 4 flights today.

The organisation that had been in our hangar has moved out, so for the moment, we're all on our own with loads of space - very nice it feels too.

Here are some diagrams of the half cuban 8 and reverse half cuban 8 taken from RD Campbell and B Tempest's excellent book - Basic Aerobatics.

28 April - A short, sharp flight, making progress of sorts...

I managed to get up after work tonight and once 2 Tornadoes doing circuit after circuit finally landed, I had the airfield to myself.

I took off on 19, climbed straight to 5000', did a quick HASELL check then went straight into a couple of loops and a roll. Back up to 5000', more loops and another roll, starting to string them together. Last thing, back to 5000' again and I thought I'd do a little sequence, so I did a loop followed by a roll to the right, another loop, a roll to the left, then a triple loop down to 3500' followed by a fast sideslipping descent to land on 19. My GPS logged 22 mins flight time, 30 mins overall. Not a bad little session if I do say so myself, and AVKI behaved perfectly; looks like the carburettor gremlins are gone for good - thank goodness!

What I really need to do is have a warm up flight like this one, come down for a cuppa and then have a go at something else, so on the next day that I have more time to spare, I think I'll have a go at stall turns. Not the easiest manoeuvre to get right though so wish me luck!

By the way, I'm still loving it :-)

27 April - no aerobatics but a long held desire is fulfilled...

Well, I've just got back from a brilliant hour flying 69 year old DeHavilland Tiger Moth G-ANFL out of Felthorpe near Norwich. The weather was perfect with a few clouds in a lovely blue sky and excellent visibility. My host was Ian Robins, an ex-RAF pilot, instructor and airline pilot who I'd met at Marham before Xmas and asked the obvious question when he mentioned his share in the Tiger (if you don't ask, you don't get!).

Meeting late this morning, I was quickly enlisted to help drag FL out of the hangar, Ian steering from the rear with a special dolly under the tail skid. He then sorted me out with a bonedome and showed me round the cockpit. So, wearing too many clothes for comfort in strong sunshine, I was very soon strapped into the front cockpit, gently perspiring and ready for the off. My good friend Geoff Ellis had come along to watch and take some pictures for me, and he very kindly volunteered to swing the prop. As luck would have it FL fired up on the first blade - I wish the Tipsy Nipper was as well behaved!

Ian had briefed me on taxiing, take off and circuit procedure, so once he had us under way, I was soon waggling the nose from side to side for all I was worth to make sure we didn't inadvertently run into anything. At the 24 threshold, Ian spun us round to face the correct way for take off and then handed control over to me.

Gulp! Well, here goes!

I opened the throttle smoothly, the Cirrus engine responding swiftly, then compensated for swing with a dollop of rudder before pushing the stick forward to get the tail up. I checked back and waited for flying speed; at about 55 mph she lifted off all by herself and we climbed gently skywards.

Underneath my mask I was sporting a grin from ear-to-ear. What a lovely flying machine!

With a gentle right turn, I aimed us north, settling at about 1300' and we flew off towards Weybourne and Cromer with an IAS of 70 - 80 mph. I tried a few gentle turns, remembering to lead with the rudder (luckily the Nipper and Shadow both need a bit of rudder in the turn so this wasn't new ground for me) and she was delightful. After a short transit, we arrived at the Muckleburgh Collection near Weybourne and I turned us East, tracking the coast to Cromer. Ian stood FL on her wingtips and I had a go too, very nice! So far, I'd found the Tiger Moth to be a delightfully simple machine to fly - I wish I could afford to have one for those warm sunny days...

Continuing inland now, we routed north of Northrepps airfield (although I'd love to have dropped in if I could) and then I turned us south towards Felthorpe.

We'd agreed to do some circuits and so Ian demonstrated the technique for me, before handing over control on the climbout. I must say, I found circuits fairly straightforward despite power cables and trees which had to be avoided (!) although if I'm being honest, I didn't allow the speed to decay enough before rounding out, which meant we ballooned a little on my first 2 attempts. Number 3 was the charm though and I was very pleased with myself I must say - Ian complimented me on the landing too so it couldn't have been too bad! One more go around and then Ian flew a great short circuit, sideslipping us in for a touchdown right at the threshold. With that, we taxied in, shut down and jumped out. What a great way to spend an hour - I absolutely loved flying the Tiger Moth and it was every bit as much fun as I'd hoped.

Many thanks to Ian Robins and also Geoff for hanging around to take pictures and video. I think it'll be a little while before my feet touch the ground properly though!

The throttle body returns; alls well that ends well - after a false start!

Well, I got the throttle body back on 14th April - here's what I wrote in my e-logbook afterwards...

"Nightmare of a flight. Spent 2 - 3 hours refitting the throttle body, did several ground runs with no problem, then taxied to VAP for fuel and back, again with no problems. Had to taxi for 06, then took off from the Hockey Stick entrance. Slight hesitation initially which I thought might be carb ice as I'd forgotten to apply Carb Heat (idiot!). However, the engine quickly started 'hunting' and I was very worried that it might stop. Marham were excellent and let me land straight back on. Quite a pain in the arse, compounded by being 'worked' by Mil ATC. Engine fine on taxi back and shut down ok."

Anyway, that was then and this is now! I spoke to Adam after my flight and explained that I thought it may have been a carb ice related non-fault, asked him to check my installation and then do some egr's, followed by a check flight if he felt all was well. I'm pleased to report that he flew twice today for just over 2 hours, with not a hint of erratic performance. Phew!

Anyway, as I write this, I should be in Portugal on holiday, but following the Icelandic eruption, my flight was cancelled. Naturally, I had to get airborne one way or another so following Adam's text I decided to have a quick flight in the Nipper late this afternoon.

With nary a cloud (or contrail!) in the sky, I climbed to 5000' over Marham, and with gliders launching below me did my first aero's in what seems like forever. After such a long lay-off I took it easy, but it went very well indeed. I started with a loop, then introduced left and right rolls followed by multiple loops. Absolutely brilliant fun and the Nipper didn't miss a beat. I was in bit of a hurry so did a powered side slip to get down to circuit height ASAP.

When I landed I was definitely sporting the famous 'Nipper Grin'. I taxied in to be met by Adam, who'd been watching me from his garden! All-in-all, a very satisfying 30 minute flight.

Let's hope the weather holds :-)

Waiting for the throttle body...

Nothing exciting to report - KI's throttle body has been received by Ellison in Washington State and we should get it back early - mid April or so.

The clocks went forward last night and now evening flying is definitely on the cards; by the time we have the plane back in the air sunset will be around 8pm! Can't wait. In the meantime I've been flying the Shadow a fair bit and would have got up in the Foxbat except for a bloody frustrating puncture on the ORP at Honington last weekend. Grrr!

I've arranged a flight in a Tiger Moth for the end of April and am really looking forward to it - don't know if we'll manage some simple aero's but I'll certainly ask the question!

Hope to have something more to post about learning aerobatics soon :-)

6th March 2010 - Nice flight before a 3 - 4 week lay-up

Had a nice 35 minute flight today; nothing too adventurous, just loops and rolls at the western end of Marham airfield. Managed to cock my entry up on one, too slow and not committed so locked the controls, chopped the throttles and let things sort themselves out! I found the aircraft in company with a Harrier which had diverted in after a birdstrike - remembered to take some pictures this time though.

Spent the best part of 3 hours getting the Ellison carbuerettor off; it will be winging its way to America on monday for a refurbishment as there have always been issues with the engine 'bogging down'. Enough's enough so I hope to be flying the Nipper again in April. In the meantime I should be getting a couple of flights in the CAP soon and will of course keep flying my Shadow.

Clocks go forward soon; I can't wait!

Loops & Rolls in cloudy, hazy and freezing conditions - I really wish that spring would begin!

I managed 30 minutes today, but suspecting that conditions might not be ideal, I had decided to fly to Marham in my Shadow microlight. On landing I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by co-owner Adam which was nice as he was supposed to be otherwise occupied today.
I wish I'd thought to bring a camera because a visiting Tornado GR4 from 617 Sqn was parked in the same rubb hangar as G-AVKI - talk about little and large!

After a quick look around and B/F I strapped in and was away, or so I thought... The engine quit at the hold, so out I jumped and spent a few minutes getting the engine running. Grrr, very frustrating!
Second time lucky and I lined up on 24 at the intersection with 01/19 before climbing away to the NW. There was quite a lot of medium level cloud but I managed to find a reasonable space. Conditions were hazy and I was a little bit twitchy about the engine so only did a few loops and rolls this time. I'd forgotten to wear my lined Craghopper trousers and it was bloody freezing up at 5000', so with my knees shaking from the cold I followed Marham Aero Club's C150 G-JAGS in for a landing after half an hour total. Not thrilling, but at least it was something and the manoeuvres went well. Roll on spring, summer and those long, long evenings! One thing that I found out today, Adam isn't taking the plane away until August, so I'll get an extra 2 months of hopefully decent weather to get myself to a reasonable standard at Basic Aero's. Fantastic!
After Adam did a few circuits, the engine cut yet again as he was backtracking 24! I'll tweak the idle next time I have some time free and we'll see if that sorts it out.
I had a lovely flight back in the Shadow and gave it a good (non-aerobatic) thrashing in Honington's empty skies before landing just before sunset. Not a great afternoon, but not too shabby either.

05 Feb 2010 - An impromptu lesson; spins and loops in a Citabria

Well, the weather in East Anglia today was rubbish, which meant that unfortunately I had to drive to a meeting at RAF Halton near Aylesbury instead of flying (as I usually do). On the drive down though, I couldn't help but notice the skies becoming clearer and the cloudbase lifting significantly. Hmm (think I), perhaps I could squeeze in a lesson after my meeting? A quick phone call to friend and instructor Colin McInnes and would you believe it, he's free and the aircraft is available - result!
I decided to use this opportunity to polish up my spin recovery technique...

Taxiing out to Halton's 'Chipmunk runway' I felt quite rusty (it being 4 months since my last Citabria flight), but Col's excellent tuition saw me lifting off cleanly and then heading for clear skies near Aylesbury. Climbing to 5000' I did HASELL checks and then asked Col to demo spin entry and recovery. I then span twice and did a couple of loops just for the fun of it!
I've said it before, but I really like the Citabria, its roomy and solid feeling and spins (and recovers) very nicely. I had a big grin on my face now, which I promptly wiped off by failing to get the Citabria to spin at all on my next attempt! Full left rudder but without pulling the stick fully back resulted in a mushy descending turn... Yuk! Best I have another go then! Success - I do like to spin it's great fun!
The landing was a little 'touch and go' though as the only available runway was directly into a very low sun. I must say that I was very grateful to have Colin in the back, his excellent advice resulted in a nice landing. I had a great flight of 50 minutes and achieved everything that I wanted from it. Not bad on a day that I hadn't expected to fly!

31st Jan 2010 - Cocking up the stall turn...

I had a smashing little flight today in clear blue skies over Marham. I thought that I'd have a go at stall turns but couldn't quite get things right! Diving to 110mph, I pulled up to the vertical, fed in a bootful of rudder and round she went, but instead of a neat 'inverted U shape', it seemed to mush over backwards a bit, despite my checking forwards at the vertical. Mind you, it proved the value of having done U.P.'s on Thursday! I basically braced all controls, let things sort themselves out and when it was settled, had another go. Loops, rolls and chandelles all went well, I just need more practice on stall turns. I guess, like all things aerobatic, practice makes perfect! Hopefully I will get up again next weekend if the weather's ok. Can't wait for the clocks to go forward - roll on spring!

28 Jan 2010 - Unusual positions and half Cuban 8's

Well, what a great day today was! With good weather forecast for much of East Anglia I decided to fly my friend's Aeroprakt Foxbat over to RAF Wyton, where I'd been invited for another lesson in the Grob Tutor with 5 AEF. I arrived bang on time having taxied past the lines of Grobs, parked up outside the flying club and made my way to the teabar, there I got reacquainted with Stu Rawnsley and watched the mandatory safety video again. After a quick cuppa I was fitted out for RAF flying togs and was introduced to my instructor Neal Adams, a very experienced ex-F4 Phantom pilot. We discussed the sortie and then walked for our aircraft. Neal isn't a QFI so I wasn't allowed to do the take-off this time, but he very quickly relinquished control once airborne (rather to my relief!).
We climbed to 6000' in-between Sutton Meadows and Chatteris and Neal demonstarted some 'unusual positions' and their recovery. It makes 'normal' unusual attitudes look rather tame I must say! My favourite 'U.P.'was pulling up well past the vertical and then recovering from various power settings. Lots of fun and I think I made a reasonable job of it all things considered (not perfect but safe).
Next on the agenda I pulled us into a standard loop just to get my eye in, and then Neal demonstrated a half Cuban 8 which was great fun. I don't think I'll be able to do this in the Nipper as there's quite a bit of negative G during the roll element. I shall ask my fellow Nipper fliers on the forum!
Sadly, UP's plus 1/2 Cuban 8's had made me a bit queasy so I only attempted 2, but it really was very satisfying and great fun. I flew us down to short final and then Neal landed. All-in-all, a very good lesson. Thanks again 5 AEF - you're absolute stars.
After a good de-brief with Neal over a cuppa, I jumped back in the Foxbat and flew back to Honington with a big grin on my face. Wyton even offered me runway 33 which was damned decent of them! On the way home, I got vectored out of the way of a KC 135 tanker near Mildenhall which is quite unusual. I never get tired of buzzing round the MATZ though, you never know what you'll see; I watched a pair of F-15's landing at Lakenheath on my way out!
With time in hand, I put the Foxbat to bed and pre-flighted my Shadow. 3 types in one day; why not! I had a nice half hour flight and chucked the Shadow round quite a bit to see how my new micro camera performed. It looks pretty good so I've put together a short video (below).
Well, that was the end of a great days flying; hopefully I can get up in the Nipper this weekend. Fingers crossed...

Sunday Jan 17th - a bit frustrating but got up in the end!

I managed one flight today but the weather had deteriorated by late afternoon with quite a bit of cloud at around 2000' along with haze and a low sun. Had to climb away from the field to the NW and ended up doing some unco-ordinated loops, rools and wingovers. Still, every little helps and maybe next time I'll get clear blue skies so I can try and tie the manoeuvres together.
Of considerable frustration was the engine which twice cut out on the ground. Not a drama you might think, however it's no fun when you have to jump out away from any chocks and try to handswing the prop! I tried the 'behind the prop' technique for the first time today and this worked fine (and felt pretty safe) so another deposit in the experience bank...
I should hopefully get tomorrow to tinker with the engine and then check-fly it along with more aero's; ah, the joys of operating on a PTF! I could never afford a C of A machine and it would break my heart to pay someone to do what I'm perfectly competent to do!
Mind you, the airfield's open tomorrow so I'll have a bit more to worry about than a C152, Chipmunk and glider... Tornado's in the circuit focus the mind wonderfully I find!

New Years Day 2010 - 3 flights and an alarming incident...

Happy New Year! Well, I got a free pass from 'SWMBO' today so headed over to Marham to fly KI. Despite snow flurries and some fairly heavy snowfall on the journey there, the skies above Marham were a clear blue - perfect! Mind you, a bloody pheasant took my passenger-side wing mirror off by flying straight at the car. Grrrrrrrrrr!! I got a new toy for xmas, a tiny video camera, so thought I'd try that out by strapping it to my forehead... As the footage shows, that wasn't the best idea I've ever had, but will do better next time from a fixed position! I pre-flighted KI and was soon heading skywards, and before I knew it I was in the overhead at 5000' - time for some fun. The total flight time today spread over 3 flights was 1 hour 35 minutes and as ever, I did loads and loads of loops; On my first flight I was particularly pleased by doing a double loop; on flight number 2 and 3 I did 4 in a row which was fun, and proved that you can loop the Nipper all the way to the floor (typically I seem to lose 250' per loop). Next up were rolls, both left and right this time. I'm pleased to say that my rolls are getting a lot better; KI seems to roll much better to the right, and I don't think it's just down to poor technique on my part! Next I tried rolling off the bottom of a loop which was fun, and I managed this both ways. Max strain today was 5G although as its only transitory, its no problem at all. Makes me grin a lot though! During flight number 2 I felt something drop onto my left hand - rather worryingly it was the canopy shoot bolt! I knew that there was another part to the bolt somewhere in the cockpit so using very gentle manoeuvres I descended and brought KI in for a landing on 01. Fortunately I located the other part and satisfied myself that there were no other loose articles in the cockpit. After fitting a new stiffnut KI was good to go, so I did! On the last flight I introduced a new manoeuver, the wingover, which went well both left and right, so I did a 4-loop sequence from one of them. Very satisfying! That was it really; a great start to the New Year and I'm definitely improving (although I'm very aware that I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve!). Next time, I'd like to try spinning and then rolling off the top of the loop. Should be fun!!