TexasTailwheel
Tailwheel CFI
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2010
- Messages
- 274
- Reaction score
- 16
Well, I don't know how long this will last, or if it will even be a long-lived attempt, but I though I would share some of the experience of training a Sport Pilot customer in our Cub.
First off, this is the Cub we're using. It's on the rental line at 5C1...
I'll catch up on earlier flights later, or let him do so if he decides to.
Today's flight was squeezed into the schedule between two other customer flights, so we didn't have a whole lot of time. We started working on precise control of the aircraft right above the ground. I skimmed the runway with a few very gentle "skips" of the tires on the pavement for about 3000', then executed the go-around. Had him do this a few times and he really seemed to be getting the hang of it.
At this point I decided he really was doing well enough to attempt a few wheel landings.
I again demonstrated a wheel landing - in this case a power off-approach so he would see that the landing is more about energy management rather than always "driving" the plane down with power. He then got to try a wheel landing and he touched down pretty nicely and soft enough to make his instructor quite happy (though I don't usually let students know that I'm too happy so they keep trying harder
). After that we were basically doing stop and goes on the runway and on one of the "goes" I had him keep the plane straight while we did an aborted takeoff maneuver and that seemed fairly helpful for him to realize he had to keep his feet ready to move at any time.
He had a big smile on his face afterwards, so I think the lesson was a success...
Hopefully we'll have an opportunity to do some ground reference maneuvers soon. It takes some effort to get to the practice area in the Cub, but it's worth it.
Ryan
First off, this is the Cub we're using. It's on the rental line at 5C1...
I'll catch up on earlier flights later, or let him do so if he decides to.
Today's flight was squeezed into the schedule between two other customer flights, so we didn't have a whole lot of time. We started working on precise control of the aircraft right above the ground. I skimmed the runway with a few very gentle "skips" of the tires on the pavement for about 3000', then executed the go-around. Had him do this a few times and he really seemed to be getting the hang of it.
At this point I decided he really was doing well enough to attempt a few wheel landings.
I again demonstrated a wheel landing - in this case a power off-approach so he would see that the landing is more about energy management rather than always "driving" the plane down with power. He then got to try a wheel landing and he touched down pretty nicely and soft enough to make his instructor quite happy (though I don't usually let students know that I'm too happy so they keep trying harder
). After that we were basically doing stop and goes on the runway and on one of the "goes" I had him keep the plane straight while we did an aborted takeoff maneuver and that seemed fairly helpful for him to realize he had to keep his feet ready to move at any time.He had a big smile on his face afterwards, so I think the lesson was a success...
Hopefully we'll have an opportunity to do some ground reference maneuvers soon. It takes some effort to get to the practice area in the Cub, but it's worth it.
Ryan
