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New CT In The Skies Over CT (as in Connecticut)


AGLyme

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Thanks Gary,  good stuff.  I wish I could wake up to FL flying weather every day...; )

So, if weren't for an App I put on my iphone a while back, I wouldn't have been able to fly today.  The app's name is "Windy".  It is free.

I got up early hoping that last eve's weather report was going to improve and I would be able to go on my first "real" solo trip from start to finish.  The general weather report looked bleak, especially the wind speed/direction.  I pulled up the Windy app which reviewed my airport in CT and it revealed "calm".  Cool.  There is another "Windy" screen that reveals the general area around, I am guessing, about a 100 miles radius, that showed that my airport was a hole in a doughnut of calm, 3-6 knots winds for at least 2 hours.  The doughnut wind was gusty up to 25 knots.  Off I went.

Ok, so here is the learning section.  I made a bunch of mistakes. 

Lesson #1, CHECK LIST First...  Figuring I would start the engine first -- so as to not wear the battery -- and then go into the "before engine start" checklist ... bad idea.  The engine wouldn't start.  Dammit.

Ok... I had neglected to put the red-directly-in-front-of-my-face-can't-miss-it... gas valve into the "on" position.  Once on, the engine started right up.  Suffice, I will never do that again, no matter how cold it is out.  The good news, is that the engine won't start if the gas valve isn't on... good job FD engineering team.

Lesson #2:  On takeoff,  my plane was magically being pushed to the left of the skinny runway?  I wonder why?  "Because you moron (I started talking to myself in the airplane now) you forgot to plan for the direct 5 knot cross wind pushing your plane to the left"   Next time, and for every time for the rest of my flying career, and no matter how excited I am, I will see that sock and rest the stick to the opposite side until liftoff and after liftoff.  

Lesson #3: On landing today, the wind was squirrely, i.e. the sock was left, right, around... it was a heavy, moisture laden wind, but "only" about 5 knots... my setup was passable, I came over the #'s a bit fast, but I didn't dial in (my brain) the cross correctly, the plane started over to the left again... my bank/rudder combo was quite bad.  I landed without a lot of runway left.  Moral to this story... I should have gone around for sure and dialed in the experience I just had into landing #2.  The key I believe is the dialing things into my brain BEFORE I land... meaning, anticipating my every move based on speed, height, wind, etc... as I look down the runway.

Fortunately, there were very few people at the airport to see my C-level display of airmanship...; )... my best airport friend happened to be picking up something from his hangar and he saw me take off and he was amazed at the CT's climb performance... I asked him if he saw me moving to the left and he said he did not as he was to the side...  As I was taxiing to the hangar I saw the sock and in fact the wind came (was most likely) from behind me.  A first.  10 minutes later a plane landed on the opposite runway.

Anyway, so much for closing the thread but I like to share my learning experiences if it helps someone out there... Andrew

 

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Andrew-

thanks for the Windy app info.

i think we are in the same boat.  Learning from mistakes in an attempt to not duplicate them.  

My understanding is that the overwhelming majority of aviation fatalities result from a series of mistakes or poor judgement calls.  I focus on learning from each mistake so as to eliminate them from future flights.

i have made a series of them myself.  Seems like a different one each flight.  

Good news is not the same one twice (since being on my own).  Bad news is there are lots of them I can yet make. 

I had a go around on Sunday at a shorter runway airport I was visiting.  While the approach was not textbook, I don’t really consider the go around a mistake, but rather a good judgement call (the benefit of learning from a prior mistake).  Sure I would have liked to have stuck it the first time, but I’d rather look bad then regret than commit to the bad approach and regret it.

The prior day I tried to land on an approach that was too high.  Carried too much speed and ended up ballooning.  Got a little squirrelly.  Ended OK, but wish I had gone around.  BTW, that was at a pancake breakfast fly in.  So there were plenty of spectators. 

On another day, I forgot to retract flaps (15) after take off and didn’t realize it until I leveled.  Realized it when I wasn’t picking up speed.  Duh!

Anyway, lots of mistakes.  I just keep learning while doing my best to stay alive.  

Gave up on vanity a while back, so the sideways looks don’t really bother me too much. 

I believe us newbies sharing our mistakes is beneficial to each other.  Let’s keep it going until we have less to write about.

Gary

 

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Gary, thanks for sharing... 

Today was a different story... again, using the Windy app, I saw a (reasonably calm) hole and waited for it.  The hole was about an hour late which was ok... I idled in a quiet area trying to learn the Dynon... figuring if the wind stayed cross and high, I would just put it back into the hangar.  But the wind did die down, however, I had a definite cross.  Back in the saddle... I performed 2 A+ (ok, perhaps a strong B+) cross wind landings... I left the airport, flew about 10 miles away and flew back... and nailed the third and final landing.  An excellent eve of flying.  I stuck with the checklist, I talked through the checklist and I mentally "practiced" the cross wind landings BEFORE I made it to the runway.  The one thing I forgot to do was to put the cabin heat on... and at 28 degrees it was little wonder I was a bit cold... but my excitement kept me warm enough.

Really glad I got back on the saddle... What a great way to spend an hour.  Andrew

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  • 3 months later...

An update... for any new CT fliers interested in my new pilot / new CT learning curve... I have about 20 hours in the type now.

Just returned from "X-wind class"... flew 5 circuits alone in my home airport pattern which is known for wacky shear as it sits up on an exposed hill with lots of small hills around and the hangar positioning adds an element of interesting winds, you get the point .  7-9 kts direct cross winds,... dancing sock, lots of gusts.  Had to pull the band aid off at some point, today was the day.  The results were better than expected.  The key, as many have mentioned on this site before, is the Consistent pattern set up and a slow landing.  I landed with 15 degrees of flaps and concentrated on where the plane was pointing as opposed to landing at 0 degrees flaps and adding speed...  On my second circuit, as I was taking off and only about 400 feet up.. the Dynon yelled "Traffic".  There was a Cessna coming literally right at me... I called out on the radio and abruptly asked him his intentions.  He was on an IFR practice approach without announcing himself.  Thank you Dynon !!

I crabbed on Final right until touch down and tried to consciously keep my downwind wheel off the runway... I don't know if accomplished that, but, I landed straight at all times.  Maybe the downwind wheel was up until the last second?  Not sure. I was pleased with the results today.  My arms and feet are developing the muscle memory required and I am getting better at creating runway aiming points and keeping the flairs low(er) to the ground.  I am keeping the nose wheel off the runway for a spell for the first time ever... I watched a fellow CT owner/pilot land recently and he kept it off the ground for a long roll out.  Makes sense to do so.

Earlier in the week, I tried a 30 degrees landing solo for the first time at a short airport.  Awesome results.   When the 30 degrees flaps are deployed it is like hitting a brick wall (in a good way) and when forward stick pressure is simultaneously applied, the speed gets very low, the angle of the plane while landing is natural and the resulting roll out is very short.

Bought Foreflight and an iPad.  Had some technical issues with installation as each Dynon requires a WiFi dongle.  Will install as soon as I get the dongles from Dynon and report back.  Looking forward to updating Flight Plans as I start to make trips.  My longest thus far was only about 90 miles... it felt like a real accomplishment however. 

If I am to make OSH this summer, I have a LOT to learn before I go.

This plane is a blast to fly... be safe out there.

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I was invited to go out with the airport "guys" for my first $100 hamburger lunch in the plane, ... 1 Bonanza, 2 Arrows., 1 Navion... and me in the CT. a total of 7 people.  I flew alone, I left early to practice some t's and l's at home base (Chester, CT - KSNC) and then I turned the autopilot on and flew the 77 mile trip to the Mansfield airport in MA (1B9).  Today's trip was a long trip for me and I didn't want the folks to wait. 

We all parked on the tarmac and as one guy said "nice toy".  Meanwhile, I get a text out of the blue from my instructor:

"if you are planning on flying today, wait until the end of the day, it's really really sporty"   I texted back, too late, I flew to Mansfield.  All at lunch mentioned how bumpy the ride it was.  Our home airport is infamous for crazy winds and shear.  Today didn't disappoint.  Glad to hear at lunch that I wasn't the only one being tossed around during the trip to Mansfield.  I do note that when the flaps are set at -6 degrees, the ride became smoother.  The ride was indeed bumpy, but not "bad" honestly.  I was bummed when the 43 minutes trip ended, I was having a blast.

I left Mansfield first as I had the slower plane, the other guys followed.  The Bonanza made it back to Chester first.  The Bonanza guy mentioned on the radio that the landing was a little crazy... and the Cessna in front of me went around.  This isn't going to be fun at all... I got into the pattern and the plane started getting tossed around but still in good control and I landed without a problem.  The other planes came in.  One of my pals called me and mentioned that he was impressed how the "Light Sport" handled in the shear and crosswind... and that I was welcome to go on any of their trips.  I was invited to fly with the group to First Flight in North Carolina in May.  Going over JFK is daunting, but... need to rip that bandaid off soon.

Bottom line, the CT is a great performer.  Anyone who is looking to buy/rent or learn in one, don't let the small size fool you... it is a good handling and comfortable airplane.  

 

 

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Another milestone... attended a California Power Systems Rotax seminar lead by Roger Lee and Bryan Toepfer this past weekend in Tucson.  Learned a ton about the Rotax 912.  The box with the wires and tubes under the cowling is no longer a mystery, or something to be feared.  As I and a few other guys at the seminar felt, the seminar boosted our confidence in the Rotax engine and its amazing technology.

Roger and Bryan have lengthy field experience and their knowledge-base overlay onto the Rotax factory best practices made all the difference.  My classmates were great guys and passionate about flying and their planes.  There were a couple of CT owners there too... 

Strongly recommend that any one who flies behind a Rotax, attend this seminar. 

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  • 5 months later...
On 1/4/2019 at 8:55 PM, UCFKnight1039 said:

AGLyme-

was just reading your post from a while back regarding your thoughts on your new CT.   I recently purchased a CTLS and went through transition with John Hurst in Lake Placid FL.  I have to say, I couldn’t agree with you more.  After about 10 hours and a ton of ugly landings,  I think I have finally had that AH-HA moment and it happened the first time flying the plane alone.  

John, was amazingly patient with me and did an excellent job.  However, it took me being alone and focusing on approach airspeed  to get a pretty Lansing.  Just so happens, it was at about 10 hours 😄.

Coming from multi year lay-off and prior Cessnas and pipers, my assessments (while by no means qualified) are very similar to yours. 

I have enjoyed this post.  And love my CTLS.

Gary

Thank you Gary - was great flying with you!

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