Guys,
Ya know the feeling don't you? I went to the airport yesterday
knowing it was about 45 left cross at 5 to 10, but you know this landing
a KR is old hat now. I had done some work on oil leaks and wanted to get
some run time to check it out. Warm up and takeoff was uneventful and I
was just going around the pattern. For some reason that I still have not
figures out I could not get trimmed up right and kept loosing speed.
Still stuck with it and followed thru to finial. There was more wind
aloft and I had to hold a crab on finial and still struggling with the
speed getting to slow and sink rate was all over the place. ( I should
have gone around then) I had to add power to make the runway and that
screwed up the rudder. So we bounced her in and managed to keep it
between the ditches. That wasn't to bad so I decided that I could get
better than that. This time I flew out of the pattern and got the trim
and speed situation under control. That being done and everything feeling
normal I entered the pattern and had everything fine until over the tree
line and everything went to crap again. The plane got bounced and pushed
and I got way behind real fast. I did stay with it and kept the inputs
minimal as she seemed to straighten her self out some. We bounced down
the runway a second time with some side loading and using all 40 feet of
width. Put it away while it was still useable.
Went back tonight and the wind was 5 to 10 maybe 15 deg from the
right. A beautiful clear night and an hour and 20 min of fun flying only
to return to a right 90 deg. cross at 10 to 15 and still a little bouncy
at almost sun set. This time speed and trim and sink were fine but I just
could not hold center line down finial and when we went over the tree
line I got pushed even further off. This time I gave it up quickly and
went around. The thing that I was not prepared for was the sudden
increase in power from the 3100 corvair and the amount of rudder input
that was already being held. This turned me almost sideways to the runway
and took a second to get corrected and under control. Pulled up the flaps
and climb out was fine. I had a few minutes to plan a little more and
decide to use more speed on finial and get the crab angle kicked out
sooner. This worked pretty well and I flew down at 75 to 80. Still got
pretty beat up over the tree line but it settled down over the runway. I
was still a little fast and touched down on the right main. I let the
nose wheel drop on and was able to keep it straight for a fair roll out.
All and all I was pretty happy to be on the ground and have it still
useable.
In hind sight I think that I just went out to complacent
yesterday and was taught a lesson for it. Today was a jump in the
learning curve as it has been a long time since i had a strong cross on
finial. I hope that it all adds up to new and better skills and
judgement.
Joe Horton, Coopersburg, Pa.
joe.kr2s.buil...@juno.com
