Two up – Sunday 30th October – Hello to the house

Post the round island flight it was time to add some weight …

The cable ties that have been securing the main straps of the front harness were cut away and the lap straps retrieved from inside the hanger and clipped into place …..

Will had duly arrived in his full flying suit and hat and was busy running around the pre take off checks along with me. We soon found that the intercom switch I had fitted – which had worked – seemed to have packed in – maybe a bad connection .. so we decided on a series of stick shakes and his acknowledgemet by hand as a means of communicating – along with shouting !

Take off with his 11+ stone on the front was virtually identical to lifting off with just me .. the only thing I would add was that with the now slightly gusting 18kt+ the whole thing felt more stable with the gusts having less effect.

Handling equally was great two up and Will flew some gentle (although unbalanced) turns

This is definitely an aircraft that teaches you co-ordinated use of aileron and rudder .. Howards voice ringing in my ears .. get the ball in the middle !

You can ‘feel’ she is out of balance before you look at the ball … but a quick glance down to confirm and then get it sorted … it will take a bit of time to be as instant on this as I would like ..

We went into a normal right hand circuit which involves flying just offshore around the southern cliff edges and then right back over Corbiere lighthouse to land . we opted for a touch and go – tailwheel all the way down.. speed uder control then up and away again.

The tower had asked if we could go into the left hand vs right hand circuit as there was parachute dropping in progress south of the centreline. This gave us an opportunity to ‘say hello’ to the house and neighbours who had been asking to see the plane