Flight #2

The second flight was almost a carbon copy of the first...without all the fanfare. The goal was to validate everything from the first flight and get a little more run time on the engine. Again, I set up an oval orbit about 500' above pattern altitude running WOT and 2500 rpm.

 

I vividly remember my first solo, as I think most pilots do. It was very unique and an amazing experience to fly an airplane for the first time...alone. Not to take anything away from that experience, but my second solo flight was actually more fun. I was more relaxed since it didn't have the "first solo" pressure attached to it.

 

It was the same deal with my second flight in Wablosa. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, for different reasons. I was completely alone, the sun was just coming up in the east, not a cloud in the sky, the air was crisp and the wind sock was limp. Aaaah, music to a pilot's ears...

 

 

I fired up my GoPro2 and recorded the entire flight. I had technical difficulties with the camera on the first flight, so this was my first time using it in the plane. It really is a neat little gadget. Here are some screenshots I pulled from the video, the first one being the takeoff roll.

 

The Rockies on the horizon...the air was as smooth as glass.

The winter terrain surrounding Rocky Mountain Metro Airport (KBJC)

 

And of course, a nice shot as I turn final for runway 29R. I would post a video, but I'm learning that this blog hosting site doesn't do well with big video files. I'll see if I can get that worked out for future posts.

 

I will tell you, at this point, my landings are not too pretty. I keep flaring too high and I believe chopping the power too soon. When you pull the power on this puppy, it drops faster than I am used to--and backfires/pops a little bit which I've read is pretty normal. I think it sounds cool since the Pitts also does this. I may try and carry some power longer and see if that helps me transition into ground effect better. For now, I am dropping right through it! We'll get there...I also had a tendency to do this during my transition training.

 

All in all, the second flight went very well. I ran it hard for about an hour and called it a day. Nothing new came up in the way of squawks, although I still didn't have airspeed. I'll talk more about this in my next post. After this flight, it started to sink in that I actually had an airplane that I could fly any time I wanted...that's pretty surreal to this guy, and way cool.