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What a delightful close to the afternoon! I finished up by doing pattern work at N40. Wind calm. Started by (I was briefly the only plane in pattern) reversing it so we didn't have to stare at the sun on final. Ahhhh. One of our ATP old-timers pointed out that we were real dummies for not doing that in the evening. He was right. 10,000 hours brings wisdom. Grow some balls and reverse the pattern, so you can SEE while you practice! Everyone else was happy to follow along, never mind that when the wind, died, the wind-sock favored 25. It DIED folks! Don't go blind. Don't be such sheep! It was kind of funny watching the transients. We have high-tension lines at the departure end of 07. Far away. Normal departure, you clear them by several hundred feet. And can turn crosswind inside of them. But most transients make a short-field obstacle-clearance departure none the less. Humans aren't very good 3-dimensional creatures. Then along came a Soccata to join me. Lo and behold, it was flown by a pilot who didn't think you needed to fly out to Timbuktu at a little country airport! We started working the pattern, tighter and tighter, occasionally making room for an arrival or departure. Downwind 1/4 or 1/3 of mile, tight base, short final, all right in proportion. Felt good. You don't need more than 12 seconds to make a good final, anyway. :-) Plenty of time! He was making them short. I was making them shorter. N99387 were getting along well today, and before long, I was making the 500' turn-off every time. Even at 80MPH on final. He never did. Came close, but never did. Damned good for a Soccata, though. He would have made a 600' turn-off. Everything seemed so slow. Even that 12-second final. Time was elongated. It was all slow-motion. Am I actually learning to fly the plane? Might be. I've done a 300' landing in a 12-knot headwind. But never a 500' one in zero wind. Now I was hitting one after another. Soft, easy ones, too. Well within the safety margins. At that point, I was working him 2-for-1, because he'd still be taxiing back when I turned off rolled back a few hundred feet and took off again. I joked on 122.8 'you gotta make that first turn-off.' He said he'd try. He never succeeded but his attempts were just magnificent, beautiful landings, watched by me from the downwind. Pretty soon we had a little crowd gathered at mid-field, shooting stills and videos. By then the altimeter and airspeed were starting to become irrelevant. Oh, I looked at them for a cross-check, but never saw any surprises. It was all feel and look out the window and listen to the sounds. When he terminated I hit the radio and told him I enjoyed sharing the pattern with someone who REALLY knew how to fly one. He said, 'thanks for the pointers, YOU were showing ME how it's done!' Then he asked if I worked for 'Pathfinder' (I do!). Turns out he is buddies with my boss. Good. I want to swap rides. What fun. Just two guys, right in synch with their flying machines, doing the ordinary extraordinarily well. Tomorrow, we may suck. Today, Chuck Yeager had nothing on us. Geezus, I like flying. Not to mention flying Ercoupes. Well, tomorrow I'm enlisted as safety-pilot for some IFR practice and right-seat practice for a budding CFI in his Archer 3. Man, nice plane. So smooth and strong. Quiet. Real different from an Ercoupe. Especially from an Ercoupe with the canopy open on a 40-degree day. He's an pediatric anesthesiologist and wants to be a CFI in his copius 'spare' time. Geezus, I like pilots. Greg ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiLm.aVzvvT Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
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