Warbird Information Exchange

For the first time in over a week.
Winds have been way above the rating for the Warrior every day I was scheduled to fly. Had to fly the simulator on Wednesday. Hate that freakin' thing. I can fly the Warrior better than I can the simulator. How can you fly something tat gives you no physical feedback? Got to do some cross country plotting when I finished with the simulator. Seemed pretty easy once I learned about VOR's and TACAN's and such.

Today I had to do turns around a point. I REALLY sucked at that. Did pretty good on the S turns though. Also had to do side slips and forward slips. Pretty much sucked there, too. Of course I had to some of the old stuff. Power on and off stalls. No problemo there. P-A-R-E, right?
Ascending and descending turns. Once I know what's gonna' happen and how it's gonna' feel, I've got no qualms about doing the maneuver. Did some "go arounds" without any trouble. I can do the pattern pretty well but my approach on final needs a LOT of work. I still seem to be afraid of the ground and won't let the airplane settle the way I should. I'll give myself a D- on that, with a notation "NEEDS IMPROVEMENT!"

Mudge the struggling

ps Did I mention that I HATE that freakin' simulator?

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Land of the free because of the brave

As for X-C planning, vor & tacan should be way down the line. First learn the BASICS. Pilotage simply means loooking at objects on a map that lead to your destination and then looking out the window to follow them as you fly. It might not be a straight route, but it is like if you driving a car or walking in a mall or campus. It is always a Good Backup, should be sort of a 2nd sense even if using an advanced method. Next is Dead (deduced) Reckoning, which is either the primary method or my backup when I fly. Draw a line on the chart, Measure it with a plotter, correct for mag varition, guesstimate the wind correction, and calculate the distance and how long it will take at your Groundspeed, then how much fuel you need, allowing for Safe( not just legal) fuel reserve. Then fly that course, and as you see your checkpoints, compare them with your time so that all goes as planned. If not, most likely you made a mistake or the wind has changed. Get back on course, don't just fly on and get lost. If you have to, land and figure it out. VORs can be and are out of service, and may be out of the way for a staight course, especially out West. It is easy to make a mistake with fancy tecno gadgets, and they can also go out. And Mudge, when you are a solo X-C pilot, there are only 2 kinds of weather, Good VRF; and Don't Fly. Navigating in blue skies is not hard.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

As for the simulator, simple ones may not have any "feel" and are harder than an airplane. They save you money as they are cheaper than the plane and don't depend on weather. Because of the lack of feel, you fly a sim by the instruments and it is a GREAT trainer for that. Plan what you want to do, say a climbing turn; then on the Attitude Indicator raise the nose 5 degrees and bank 30, with a little rudder, then check the DG, altimeter etc. till you get where you want, then back to level on the Att Ind. It is the best way to learn Vor nav. Sophisticated, expensive ones do have feel and feedback. Frasca sims are some of the best, Rudy Frasca is a major Warbird owner, Wildcat, P-40, Spitfire, and it is a family business for them. Its great to hear your progress reports.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

"A good landing in the simulator is like kissing your sister."

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Didn't mean to imply that "I can do X-C now, 'cause I looked at a chart." Simply meant that it doesn't seem as difficult as it sounds at first.

Also meant to mention that it was bumpy as he!!. Not one of my favorite conditions.

Warrior is going in for scheduled maintenance this weekend so I get to fly the Cherokee Cruiser on Monday. Only difference in the two is that the Cruiser has shorter wings. Somebody want to 'splain how that's gonna' effect handling so I'll kinda' know what to expect?

Mudge the anticipatory

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Land of the free because of the brave

Well, depending on how much shorter the wings are, the wing loading will be higher (albeit slightly), which should make your bumpy day a little less uncomfortable.

Gary

Mustang Driver: you wrote the sim landing was like kissing your sister. Careful there, except is some part of Kaintucky, etc. I think that sort of thing is illegal and defintely frowned on. But then, I haven't met your sister.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Ha HA! Yeah certain parts of the world are O.K. with that.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Reminds me of the divorce court here in WV.
"Judge, when I divorce my wife, will she still be my sister?"

Mudge the happily married

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Land of the free because of the brave

THe point is that it is not exciting in the least, same as the sim.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager