96 SA Flyer
advice, but I could still do with
more practice juggling all the
control inputs such as closing
power, raising flaps, standing
on the brakes and holding the
control column back – all in rapid
succession. It’s great to have
someone flying with you whose
flying skills drive you to strive
even harder for perfection.
The day shot by. We moved
on to low level tear drop returns
to the runway. Take-off to
landing took just 30 seconds.
As soon as you hit 80 kt, roll
right and watch as the tree-tops
whizz by beneath the wing. 90
degrees from the runway, roll left
with equal bank in the opposite
direction and hope the runway
appears on the nose. Sure
enough, it jumps out at you and
within seconds you’re raising the
nose and closing power to touch
down.
Then it was mountain flying.
This could be a whole course on
its own. Unfortunately we didn’t
have time to do this in depth,
but now we were able to put into
practice the minimum radius
turns we had done to escape
being trapped in a 'box canyon'
when the rock face looms over
the windscreen.
Finishing the day with a
simulated forced landing was an
exceptional end to a weekend of
thrilling flying. In flight reviews,
these are done to about 100
ft above a field and then you
happily go around. It looks like
you will make it, you think you
will make it, but you can’t know
for sure.
At about 1,500 AGL we cut
power and used the grass strip
as the ‘emergency field’. The
focus was not on remembering
all the emergency checks, but
rather to see if you could get
the plane safely on the ground
without any power and stopped
within 300 m – the length of a
golf course fairway and one of
the few options you are likely to
have in gliding distance around
Jo’burg.
Successfully executing a
forced landing does wonders for
your confidence. Now you just
have to keep your eyes peeled
for those golf courses.
We wrapped up the
weekend’s flying with a ‘flight
test’. It cements what you have
learned over the past two days,
but most of all makes you realise
the feel you have developed
for the plane. To drive the point
home, the final circuit was flown
with the ASI covered. With
trepidation I once again applied
full power and bounded down
the runway for one last circuit.
Remarkably, with the exception
of one brief comment from CC
in the right hand seat, I lifted-off,
accelerated, lined-up to land,
nailed the numbers and hit the
Bush Flying
Pre-flight included an investigation of OFH's rigging.
40 litres
of ballast
were used
to correctly
balance OFH's
C of G.
Excited and
ready for
advanced
bush flying.
Slower approaches require
precision. Getting behind the drag
curve can land you in trouble with
obstacles on the approach.
