First time up!

[Guest Crash Lander]

Well, just got back from going flying. Plane was a little Gazelle. Much

 

smaller than I thought once I got up close.barely enough room inide for 2

 

people, but once strapped in, and settled, plenty really. Space in the back

 

for up to 10kg of stuff. Total fuel capacity was 20 litres in each wing.

 

Sky was fairly overcast, but no rain. Cloud base was 2500 feet.

 

Never having been in such a small craft before, (smallest ever for me was an

 

MD80 from Paris to Copenhagen!), I was concerned I would either be scared of

 

the height with such little to hold me in, or that I would feel sick. As we

 

taxiied and took off, I was surprised that I felt absolutely no fear at all.

 

We flew round the training area and then did some circling over the house

 

where the wife and kids were waiting whilst we were up. My pilot (a First

 

Officer for Cathay Pacific) got me handling the controls a lot of the time!

 

He did the pedals, and I did the rest. Great stuff. Then we did a bit more

 

general flying around the training area, followed by a couple more circles

 

over the house. The second lot of circles were what got me. I got dizzy, and

 

started to feel sick!

 

We got up to 2500feet, which was just at the bottom of the clouds.

 

Next he asked if I wanted to do some touch and go's. "Sure!" I said.

 

He then said "I'll do the first one to se what the surface winds are doing,

 

and you can do the next one!"

 

"Holy shit!" I thought to myself.

 

He does one, and around we go again. He gets me to turn onto the crosswind,

 

then downwind, then base, and finally onto final. I brought it around quite

 

nicely, but then started over correcting as we got closer to the threshold.

 

I also got a little low, so he put the power back on, and we went around

 

again. The next time round, he did it again, and whilst we were on finals,

 

there was one aircraft that had just done his touch and go, then a second

 

a/c that was just touching down and was about to put the power back on, when

 

he lost all power, and was forced to make a decision to abort the take off,

 

and landed on the brakes and made a sharp right hand turn. He flipped the

 

little Jabiru straight up onto it's nose, then hard back down on it's

 

wheels, smacking the tail on the ground. We were about to do the touch part

 

of our touch and go at the time, and had to abort at the last minute as a

 

result! We saw the pilot get out of the craft as we flew over, so he was

 

unhurt. By the time we completed the next circuit, he had pushed his plane

 

off the runway, and had a crowd of helpers to inspect the damage. We did our

 

touch and go, (my pilot did it, not me), and did one more quick jaunt around

 

the training area, before landing. was an excellent experience, and has

 

confirmed my desire to begin flight training.

 

The Jabiru that crashed had a badly damaged propellor, a crinkled wing,

 

damaged nose wheel, and I'd imagine, structural damage to the tail section.

 

The engine appeared to be pushed a few inches to one side too. The owner

 

guessed at around AUS$15,000 repair bill.

 

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Crash Lander

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Fantastic!

 

Perhaps the pilot of the jabiru better register here and take your name :?

 

Just wondering if the Gazelle is bigger or smaller than a Jabiru?

 

What airfield was this at and was it a TIF?

 

 

[Guest Crash Lander]

The Gazelle is smaller than the Jabiru.

 

Flight was from Barwon Heads.

 

Wasn't a TIF, just a mate who flies for Cathay took me up for a flight.

 

 

[sixtiesrelic]

Yes aren't those little critters TWITCHY.

 

I had a go of a Skyfox once and had to kick my shoes off and tweek the rudder pedals with my toes.

 

It eas the same day I'd done a heap of 737 simulator where we had to give it a bootfull on the engine failures.

 

I certainly took some time converting to the micro movements required.

 

GO flyin! it's fun