Dawn Patrol commenced about 0700...well I got to the hangar, had a cup of hot joe with Neil and fixed a rub on my flap actuator rod....As we were firing up, Bob in his Taylorcraft was overhead entering the pattern . I tried to catch him on the radio before he landed, but he was rolling out, when I broadcast "Breakfast at Three Forks". He spun around, back taxi'd and launched before I got my across the ramp. Bob harnessed as many of those 65horses as he could find and pointed her south.
Neil and I went south for a few minutes then east to check for undesirables over the river. We caught Bob a few minutes later and I throttled back to 100kts, but still blew past him like he was backing up. We turned to check the Western flank and do a high speed run so Neil could check out my preceived twitchiness of N155BK. I pushed Aurora up to 24.5" 2400rpm and was rewarded with 180KTAS. He said things felt solid and what I was feeling was normal turbulence when doing almost 210mph. WELL OKAY then, lets go eat!
I had called ahead to meet up with my friend Cody of Headwaters Flying Service (http://www.headwatersfs.com/) so we could discuss the Big Sky Air Race which we are hosting. What a excellent morning to be alive!
Taildraggers just belong in the grass
The four of us went to the Iron Horse Cafe and topped off our tanks(I recommend the spanish omelette). Then checked out Cody's spray plane and beautiful Maule. Unfortunately I needed to actually go to work...DAM job anyway.
On the way home I let Neil fly. He built an excellent RV-4 in 1993, but sold it in 2007 when he went Light Sport. He is also an ex-Navy fighter jock. I built a Rans S-6 with Neil in 2006, he (and his RV-4) was instrumental in my picking the RV as my plane of choice. He hasn't flown much lately do to his wife's cancer battle and death. So said he was pretty rusty.... I wish I was that rusty!
I'm a lowtimer and haven't spent much time exploring the flight envelope. He put the plane through her paces to check it out. He was incredibly smooth as we did steep 3 g turns, wing overs, etc. He said the plane is really solid and RV all the way. Elevator is heavier than the -4, but roll feel was close. He over ruddered it at first and was surprised how little was needed on the -7. Absolutely glorious day!
Keep pounding them rivets. Life is good.
