Today marked my return to working on my tailwheel endorsement. My last three scheduled dates for training were all canceled because of poor weather (IFR, storms, and lastly wind). I hadn't flown it (or any other aircraft) since the third week in September. Today was admittedly a bit gusty, but we went for it anyway.
An important aviation principle is remaining current, meaning that pilots must fly within a certain time frame and complete certain requirements in order to legally fly. These requirements are put in place to ensure safe flying. Most of the pilots I admire and listen to recommend flying as much as possible and much more often than legal currency requires in order to retain a feeling of comfort and confidence; this comfort and confidence includes getting to know your airplane, practicing for emergencies, and just plain practice flying in general (takeoffs, landings, navigation, radios - just to itemize a few skills). Life can get in the way of this, including things like work, family obligations, weather, illness, and even distance from the airport. Mr. Aviatrix is very good about maintaining currency, and will make sure to fly with a CFI sometimes even if he is legally current but feels like it's been a few weeks and it would be better to go up with a teaching expert to wake up his skills. And you read that right - a few weeks. Practicing your flying skills to keep them sharp can be hard enough to accomplish in a plane you fly in all the time, but it's also important when learning to fly an unfamiliar aircraft. I'm glad I was able to refresh my currency in the Super Cub today. Even the act of climbing up into it today was a challenge, similar to the first time I did it - something that had become a bit easier by my last lesson but that I was rusty on after an approximately four-week break.
It was my first time flying while wearing layers (thermal shirt, sweatshirt, leather jacket) this season. The mental and physical work of learning the stick and rudder skills to successfully track the Super Cub on the ground and to land it smoothly with as few bounces as possible (and hopefully none when I go back out) made it so that the layers - and the cabin heat - made it a bit hot in the plane. Despite that, once I peeled off a layer or two and remembered my sight picture and the way the Cub flew, things really took off.
I was able to do twelve landings today, with ten of them at the little grass strip near the flight school called Trinca (13N) and two at Andover Aeroflex itself (12N), which has a paved runway as well as its own little grass strip. Some of them were even good, although not as many as I would have liked. I'll just say that when I did my first few landings today after an unexpected break in tailwheel training, I bounced so much that I made sure to tighten my seatbelt, reminiscent of that famous Bette Davis line from the film All About Eve: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" Hitting the grass felt like Disney's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. But at least I worked my rudders to track straight once I rolled onto the ground.
In addition to returning to tailwheel training ASAP in order to regain the skills I had learned in September, I was so grateful for the break from reality that an hour or two off the planet affords. I can never recommend this enough. Whatever is bothering you or stressing you out will disappear, even if only temporarily. When I fly I literally cannot think about anything else but flying, which is as it should be.
