Officially started primary instruction today and it feels good. I've been putting this off for way too long, and at some point you can't keep making excuses for yourself to not...try a little harder in life. That's what I'm telling myself, at least. It hasn't been an easy year.
After searching around, I ended up joining Aerodynamic Aviation, a club based at KRHV that instructs in tailwheel airplanes. Tailwheel instruction is surprisingly harder to find in the Bay Area than one would expect! Anyway, Aerodynamic has a few Citabrias, a Champ, and a C170. Sweet.
My instructor, Batelle, is a badass. She served in the Israeli Air Force and trained around the DC area before she came to California. After introducing ourselves to each other in person for the first time, we checked out N9091L (a Citabria painted in SJ Sharks colors!) and chatted a bit. About loving classic planes, camping in the Western United States, going to OshKosh, and loving the 49ers. Her heart's in the right place, and I'm looking forward to training with her.
The pre-flight walkaround: We checked the oil level (5 qts) and fuel level (~1/2 full in each wing, total capacity of 35 gallons), and inspected the engine. No visible issues, no nesting animals, and the alternator belt was tight. We then walked around the perimeter of the aircraft counterclockwise and checked: 1) the wheels/tires (for tight bolts, tire pressure, treads, pad thickness, and cotter pins in place); 2) gear strut tightness and wing strut tightness; 3) inspection panels in place and secure (wood and fabric FTW); 4) aileron couplings; 5) rudder couplings and cable tightness; 6) no cables rubbing on the fabric of the aircraft; and 7) elevator movement and trim tab. Check, check, and check.
The rest of the pre-flight: Old instruments and no Garmin! Kind of refreshing, actually. Just a whisky compass, a VSI, an Altimeter, an analog clock, an airspeed Indicator, a turn coordinator, a G-force indicator (the Citabria is an aerobatic airplane), a tachometer, oil temperature and pressure gages, an ammeter, and Hobbs meter. + Radios. Throttle and carb heat knobs on the left, heel brakes with the rudder pedals, and...the best part: the control stick! I know I'm going to have a lot of fun in these :D
Batelle had me start the plane. It's a fun startup procedure. You bicep curl the stick with your right arm to keep the elevator up and control the throttle with your right hand, so you can push the starter with your left hand. 3-7 pumps of primer, flip the master and mags switches, yell CLEAR PROP, and up to 7 seconds on the starter. Baby started right up. Thanks for not making me look dumb, 9091L!
I then taxi-ed out while she made the radio calls performed the run-up, and we took off. I have to say that practicing taxi-ing in a C172 and a C180 has paid off a bit. Taxi-ing in 9091L wasn't easy, but I was able to get the hang of it. There's no direct coupling between the rudder and the gears, so you rely on the rudder to steer and dance on the pedals to keep things straight. It took a bit to get used to the heel brakes, but then again, you shouldn't have to use much of the brakes while taxi-ing anyway.
"November niner zero niner one lema ready runway one three left for a departure to the south east". A bit of a mouthful. Lights (beacon and strobe), camera (transponder to ALT), action (mixture full rich and throttle), and we were off!
We flew over toward Lake Anderson, climbed to 3500 ft, practiced straight and level flight, and practiced steep left and right 360s. Then we did a few power-off stalls and recoveries. It was my first time experiencing a stall - feels a bit like cresting the first drop of a roller coaster!
After what felt like a short flight, Batelle had me set up the approach to 31R. Last minute call from the radio told us to switch to 31L (a Pitts was taking off on 31R). Readjusted the approach, and Batelle had me follow along on the landing. There was a lot of stick movement to control for a right crosswind to keep the wings level, and once we touched down, there was dancing on the rudder pedals to keep the plane going where we wanted her to.
Overall, I had a great experience during the first lesson. I now have a whopping 0.8 official hours logged, and I really like my instructor. I told her not to be afraid to yell at me because I want to become GOOD, and she said not to worry about that :)
I'm really looking forward to my next lessons.
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