THREE "SLAM" LANDINGS WITH AN INSTRUCTOR
Thinking it would be a good idea to have some flight instruction in my (then) newly acquired Cub, I made arrangements with what I later determined to be a rather old and cranky flight instructor. I suppose it is ok to be that way if one is good but I soon came to believe he was not a very good pilot. With him in the front seat and me in the rear, we took flight from Danbury's runway 26 for some landing practice. It took a while to make one circuit of DXR's pattern in a J-3 that would only go seventy five miles an hour flat out, in level flight.
Nonetheless, without any input from the instructor, verbal or otherwise, we arrived back over the runway and just as I was about to initiate a flare, the instructor suddenly and without warning, pulled the stick back and stalled the plane some four to six feet off the ground. N31101 hit the ground with a resounding "SLAM". "What the heck was that all about?", I wondered. Two more "SLAM" landings occurred and with the instructor causing this abuse to my Cub, I suspected there was something very wrong with the man's flying ability. To protect my plane, I had no recourse but to tell him, "I've had enough."
After paying the instructor and returning alone to the parked Cub, I turned on the mags, propped the engine and climbed in. During my fifteen hours (7 of them solo) in a Cessna 150, I never had a problem placing an aircraft gently upon a runway so I knew I could touch the Cub down nicely. That was not a concern to me. My concern lay in keeping the plane tracking straight following touchdown. After all, it was a taildragger and one does hear stories, you know.
As it turned out, I had no problem landing the J-3 and/or keeping the rollout as it should be. My next solo experience in the Cub required landing on runway 35 with a slight crosswind from the left. This did require more attentiveness from me. Initially, my rudder inputs following touchdown were rather large but extremely brief. This helped me build confidence in the plane and myself, knowing I had the ability to stop unwanted tail movement in an instant. Over a relatively short period of time the large rudder inputs lessened and became barely perceptible. It would seem that a nineteen year old flier was beginning to develop a bit of finesse with his "dream". At the time, however, little did this flier know just how much he needed to learn.
Note: Readers of my experiences in N31101 will undoubtedly encounter things written that my induce some head shaking and possibly wondering how I ever survived. Ignorance led me into some situations and a good working knowledge of flying models got me out more than once. I am not ashamed of anything I have ever done with an airplane, including making some very poor choices which you may read about in future posts. To the very few who may learn from my mistakes, I say, "Please do!"
John Whiting
Thinking it would be a good idea to have some flight instruction in my (then) newly acquired Cub, I made arrangements with what I later determined to be a rather old and cranky flight instructor. I suppose it is ok to be that way if one is good but I soon came to believe he was not a very good pilot. With him in the front seat and me in the rear, we took flight from Danbury's runway 26 for some landing practice. It took a while to make one circuit of DXR's pattern in a J-3 that would only go seventy five miles an hour flat out, in level flight.
Nonetheless, without any input from the instructor, verbal or otherwise, we arrived back over the runway and just as I was about to initiate a flare, the instructor suddenly and without warning, pulled the stick back and stalled the plane some four to six feet off the ground. N31101 hit the ground with a resounding "SLAM". "What the heck was that all about?", I wondered. Two more "SLAM" landings occurred and with the instructor causing this abuse to my Cub, I suspected there was something very wrong with the man's flying ability. To protect my plane, I had no recourse but to tell him, "I've had enough."
After paying the instructor and returning alone to the parked Cub, I turned on the mags, propped the engine and climbed in. During my fifteen hours (7 of them solo) in a Cessna 150, I never had a problem placing an aircraft gently upon a runway so I knew I could touch the Cub down nicely. That was not a concern to me. My concern lay in keeping the plane tracking straight following touchdown. After all, it was a taildragger and one does hear stories, you know.
As it turned out, I had no problem landing the J-3 and/or keeping the rollout as it should be. My next solo experience in the Cub required landing on runway 35 with a slight crosswind from the left. This did require more attentiveness from me. Initially, my rudder inputs following touchdown were rather large but extremely brief. This helped me build confidence in the plane and myself, knowing I had the ability to stop unwanted tail movement in an instant. Over a relatively short period of time the large rudder inputs lessened and became barely perceptible. It would seem that a nineteen year old flier was beginning to develop a bit of finesse with his "dream". At the time, however, little did this flier know just how much he needed to learn.
Note: Readers of my experiences in N31101 will undoubtedly encounter things written that my induce some head shaking and possibly wondering how I ever survived. Ignorance led me into some situations and a good working knowledge of flying models got me out more than once. I am not ashamed of anything I have ever done with an airplane, including making some very poor choices which you may read about in future posts. To the very few who may learn from my mistakes, I say, "Please do!"
John Whiting
