September 14, 2008 - Transition Training
|
|
I saw on the forums that EAA Chapter
486 had arranged for Mike Seager to fly out to Oswego, NY to conduct
transition training and had some extra slots. So I signed up for a
slot on Saturday and Sunday. Oswego is a good six and one half hour
drive from Maryland, but I figured it beat flying out to the Left Coast
and back.
I got up early Saturday morning and drove up. Weather was cruddy
most of the way -- low overcast. I was worried I wouldn't get
to fly. But Mike Seager made a herculean effort to get all the
flights out and he did. In fact, it was no picnic for him just
getting from Oregon to New York in the RV.
Here's the RV-7 we did the training in. It's one of the Vans
Aircraft Company planes and I have sat dreaming in it before at
Oshkosh (or Sun 'N Fun, who knows?). These pictures were
taken Sunday which was a much better day weather-wise than Saturday.
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Seager getting ready to take a
trainee
out.
|
|
|
|
|
Transition training wasn't the only thing going on. EAA Chapter
486 was puting on a "Northeast Aircraft Builders Forum/Fly-In"
Saturday and one of their monthly pancake breakfasts Sunday.
Unfortunately the horrible weather Saturday morning kept planes from
flying in. But there was pretty good attendance for all the forums
that occured through Saturday. I missed most of them but they had
forums on painting, welding, fabric covering, riveting, etc. I wish
I could have sat in on them.
There were a few planes owned by locals or the Chapter itself.
That's a Cub and Taylorcraft on the left, and an RV-9 on the right.
|
|
|
|
|
There was a Sky Ranger and a Kolb
ultralight.
|
|
|
|
| EAA Chapter 486
has these facilties in a corner of the airport. They have a big
hangar on the left and a clubhouse including kitchen on the right.
When I first got to the airport, the main section was dead. No FBO
and a boarded up restaurant. The EAA Chapter is where all the action
is at this airport. |
|
|
|
| When I pulled up
Sunday morning, this parking lot was completely full -- all the locals
come for the monthly pancake breakfast. |
|
|
|
|
The hangar was
packed for the pancake breakfast. |
|
|
|
|
My flight Sunday
wasn't until 2:30PM so I drove
over to Fort Ontario which is in Oswego.
|
|
|
|
|
Looking out over Lake Ontario.
|
|
|
|
|
I'm kind of a
history buff. During the war of 1812, the British captured the fort
by seaborne assault. |
|
|
|
|
This map was kind of
interesting. You can see why the Erie Canal is where it is and why
it is important to New York
City.
|
|
|
|
| Both American and
British soldiers are buried here. |
|
|
|
| Part of the outer
wall. |
|
|
|
|
The fort's
interior. |
|
|
|
|
That's the Oswego river straight
ahead. Lake Ontario is to the
right.
Too bad those ugly smoke stakes spoil
the
view.
|
|
|
|
|
Guys at work were
raving about the salmon fishing here on the Oswego River, so I went and
had a look. I parked in a little parking lot by the river, and found
this river walk. This picture is looking south. I followed the
river walk south since that seemed to be where the action
was. |
|
|
|
|
Looking north. A few people
were fishing here but didn't seem to be catching
anything.
|
|
|
|
| I walked as far as
I could which was this damn. Lot of activity here. |
|
|
|
| Fishing
hard. |
|
|
|
| |
|
This kid walked
right up among the men -- but he knew what he was doing. He had a
fish on the line in less than five minutes. See how his rod is
bent. |
|
|
|
|
After he fought the fish for a while,
the guy next to him helped him carry it
out.
|
|
|
|
|
That's a pretty
big fish! I wouldn't mind eating at his house tonight, I'll
bet. |
|
|
|
| I ended up doing a
1.1 hour hop on Saturday and another 1.1 on Sunday. We started each
flight with some turns, slow flight, power-off stalls and power-on
stalls. Then we spent the rest of the time in the pattern. I
ended up making 12 landings. I feel pretty confident I can
safely fly the RV-7. The most challenging part for me was the flare
right before touchdown. The RV
is so pitch-sensitive, it's easy to pull the stick back too far and
balloon up. But if you let the RV touch down to
soon, it will bounce back into the air. I'm sure once I'm flying
the RV regularly, I'll nail it consistently. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|