Route: 40I, Local
Weather: Clear, 47 degrees, wind 100 degrees at 10 knots
I was going to title this post "spring has sprung" but a) I've done that before and b) the lack of winter seems more noteworthy following past few frigid months. Semantics aside, it was a great day to hop in the Cub. Gina was working this morning so I went up solo to get my air legs back.
The field was quite soft following a bunch of rain so the western 500' or so at the top of the hill were unusable. The grass was mushy and you have to watch while turning onto the runway to keep moving and not cut it too tight and dig in. Typical spring procedures at Stewart!
Standing water in the fields along the Little Miami River
My first order of business was to fly north of town. Friends of ours live up that way and they had texted me earlier this morning asking if I was up flying - they saw a Cub overhead. I replied that I would be shortly. So I circled over their house, took a couple photos, then did a steep spiral down to pattern altitude and headed back to the airport.
Fields along US-42 just east of downtown Waynesville
You can certainly tell we got a few inches of rain this week
The winds were a solid 10 knots and slightly gusty and variable all the way down to the ground. I think there may have been slight wind shear a few hundred feet up as well - you could feel the winds shift a little on final and I got kicked around a bit. Definitely good weather to get back in shape and keep me on my toes - literally... it's a taildragger, after all!
I spent quite a bit of time in the pattern today
Another guy was flying the other Cub and we followed each other around the pattern for a while. Every takeoff and landing was of the soft field variety (per the conditions I mentioned earlier) but I did change things up here and there. I made a couple with extra power in, at least one simulated engine-out, and two power-off 180s.
Turning base-to-final for Runway 8
Lined up for landing on Runway 8 at Stewart
All told, I'd rate it as a good day of flying with a thoroughly average performance on the landings. I had one with a good bounce, a few just-decent ones, and two or three total greasers. Pretty much the whole gamut to go along with the winds and field conditions. Great workout!
Flight Track: Google Earth KMZ File
Today's Flight: 1.1 hours
Total Time: 303.1 hours
Posts
It's like riding a bike...... :)
ReplyDeleteWe are finally starting to dry up out here but heavy rain in the forecast for Tuesday. I agree, spring has sprung is just to PC.....Kick the winter &^%$# out and lets all have some fun flying!
Yep. There haven't been a ton of great flying days down here just yet thanks to rain, soggy fields, and/or high winds. But we've nearly turned the corner!
DeleteYour title reminds me of making a statistical inference. It's demonstrably not winter, but you can't necessarily prove that it's spring. :-) Glad you got to stretch your legs (or your toes, as the case might be).
ReplyDeleteUs technical folks, eh?
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