Today I went up for a flight to gather data for Airball. 3 landings total.
I tried to figure out whether to go South or East, and decided on East based on clouds near the Monterey bay.
I rigged up Airball, a laptop and an accelerometer and off we went.
I departed to Calaveras and did some stalls and slow flight while remaining near zero lateral acceleration. I then proceeded to Byron for some landing practice.
Enroute to Byron, I passed under a large cloud and ended up getting some pretty massive lift and sink (later analysis revealed I went to -0.2g, not quite zero-g but close, and in the other direction I had some 2g updrafts).
Now thorougly scared out my wits, I observed some folks were landing on Rwy 23 and some on Rwy 30. It looked like the winds favored 30 so I took that.
Meanwhile of course "Elevator" (the parachute jump ship) was doing weird patterns and I had to worry about them. It's always like this at Byron -- it's bumpy and hard flying, and meanwhile people are trying to get me to think about their Very Special [tm] traffic pattern. Oh well. I think in this case Elevator just settled in behind me.
I did an okay landing -- good 3-point -- but meanwhile the wind had changed by the time I got near the ground and I was having a really strong left crosswind, so I ended up being blown across a bit. Nothing disastrous, but something to watch for the future.
I stopped and used the bathroom.
I took off again with the hopes of doing some takeoff and landing practice. Again Rwy 30 seemed favored. I came in for a landing with massive bumps, and then realized omg the wind has changed and it's favoring Rwy 23. I decided to get out of there and just go home. I'd had enough excitement for one day.
On the way back, of course I had to pass under the massive scary cloud, leading to some more fun and games and excitement, but again that went fine.
I did 2 landings at KRHV. Both were okay, decent flares, not much crosswind.
For some reason my tailwheel shimmies when I land, so I need to figure out why this is an issue.
I tried to figure out whether to go South or East, and decided on East based on clouds near the Monterey bay.
I rigged up Airball, a laptop and an accelerometer and off we went.
I departed to Calaveras and did some stalls and slow flight while remaining near zero lateral acceleration. I then proceeded to Byron for some landing practice.
Enroute to Byron, I passed under a large cloud and ended up getting some pretty massive lift and sink (later analysis revealed I went to -0.2g, not quite zero-g but close, and in the other direction I had some 2g updrafts).
Now thorougly scared out my wits, I observed some folks were landing on Rwy 23 and some on Rwy 30. It looked like the winds favored 30 so I took that.
Meanwhile of course "Elevator" (the parachute jump ship) was doing weird patterns and I had to worry about them. It's always like this at Byron -- it's bumpy and hard flying, and meanwhile people are trying to get me to think about their Very Special [tm] traffic pattern. Oh well. I think in this case Elevator just settled in behind me.
I did an okay landing -- good 3-point -- but meanwhile the wind had changed by the time I got near the ground and I was having a really strong left crosswind, so I ended up being blown across a bit. Nothing disastrous, but something to watch for the future.
I stopped and used the bathroom.
I took off again with the hopes of doing some takeoff and landing practice. Again Rwy 30 seemed favored. I came in for a landing with massive bumps, and then realized omg the wind has changed and it's favoring Rwy 23. I decided to get out of there and just go home. I'd had enough excitement for one day.
On the way back, of course I had to pass under the massive scary cloud, leading to some more fun and games and excitement, but again that went fine.
I did 2 landings at KRHV. Both were okay, decent flares, not much crosswind.
For some reason my tailwheel shimmies when I land, so I need to figure out why this is an issue.
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