> > > >>Do your high-speed taxi training after your plane has flown with a > "genius" pilot. > > > > > Mark; > Very thoughtful response. Thanks. I am an A&P and a commercial pilot, so > this question comes up every time we do a repair or modification on an > aircraft...who should test-fly the plane? Who is paying me to take another > risk in another beater Cessna 150? Which reminds me of a story...
> When I was young and inexperienced in flying, I found myself in a gyrocopter > at the end of a country airstrip, planning a high-speed taxi run to "get the > feel" of my new ship. I had been running up and down the strip with partial > throttle, learning to power up the rotor by gradually feeding in pitch as I > advanced the throttle bit by bit. It was clear to me that I had good > directional control, and I could feel the kinetic energy being stored in the > rotor, so the next step was to gradually transfer weight from the wheels to > the rotor with a little back pressure on the stick. What I didn't know, was > what the very-brave and very-human pilot would do when the plane rocketed > upwards at very low groundspeed with a fully spooled rotor. What a view as I > lifted off! What an unforgettable experience! What an expensive, valuable > lesson! I never did find my glasses or shoe ( wear laced shoes, not loafers, > oh! and a helmet, not a baseball cap). Learn from other's, or relearn on your > own...I was very lucky. Will you be? > Good Story Peter. I had an identical situation with an identical machine. The end result was that I paid to rebuild a gyrocopter and lost about an inch in stature with 5 fractures in my lower back. I survived thanks to a stout 5 point harness and good helmet. I wasn't going to comment on this thread, but will anyway. Just my opinion here. After about 3 runs down the runway with partial throttle, the airplane has already told you everything it's going to tell you. It sounds like we have lots of folks on here to want to learn to fly by doing repeated crow hops on the runway. If that's the case, you may want to seriously consider finding a test pilot for your aircraft and developing your skills a bit further with an aircraft with better known qualities. The repeated crow hops are more about developing pilot skills than learning the aircraft itself. Here's where reality sets in. I suspect a lot of people on this list simply can't afford to get time in a similar handling plane with a similar configuration, or access to a similar plane simply may not be available. So you may have to learn your plane somewhat on the ground while you work up the courage to fly it. That's not the best method, but sometimes may be the only method available. Ask yourselves this question. During WWII when the military was doing minimal training of pilots with Stearmans, T-6's, and at around 200 hours, putting them into a single seat fighter planes, how many fast taxi crow hops did the new pilots do with these fighters before they flew them? I think you'll find the answer was -0-. They spent time in a much simpler slower plane of similar configuration, then some serious time studying the Tech Orders (flight and operations manuals), then went out and flew the planes. I have test flown a fair number of aircraft. I don't think I've ever done more than 3 fast taxi runs. My goal for those runs was to learn when the controls come to life, when the instruments come to life, perhaps where the pitch trim needs to be set and how the plane handles up on it 's mains. With that accomplished, it's time to fly. I have never had a "flawless" first flight. But of all the things that have cropped up as problems during a test flight, none would have, or could have shown themselves by running around on the ground. -Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM
