Hans Cathcart’s Homepage

Today, Fiid was brave enough to climb into the cockpit with me. We took the Diamond Star (N504DS) out for a Bay Tour sight-seeing trip. We left San Carlos and flew over to the coast. After crossing over to Half Moon Bay we flew along the coastline, staying 2000 feet above the nature preserve and then ducking under SFO’s Class B shelf. After getting buzzed by a 747 (it wasn’t that close) we flew over the Golden Gate, circled Alcatraz and Angel Island a few times, then got cleared by NorCal Approach to fly straight back to San Carlos.

Flying from Alcatraz to San Carlos takes you right over San Francisco airport, so you have to get clearance from NorCal Approach to fly through the Class B airspace. Because they don’t want you mixing it up with the big boys, the tell you to stay below 1,500 feet and West of the Bayshore Freeway (Hwy 101). We got lucky because they didn’t have to give us a Class B transition, it’s totally optional given what ATC wants. They’re usually pretty nice though.

Once I heard the magic words “cleared into Class Bravo” I turned on course and flew us at about 1,200 feet over the city, safely past the highrise buildings and then just west of the 101. Fiid got some great shots of the city and our flightpath took us right over his house. Seeing your home from the air is always the coolest thing about being able to take someone flying.

As we passed SFO, the tower informed us of another aircraft slightly ahead of us. It turned out to be a Cessna 150 and at least initially it was a good distance ahead of us. In the aviation community there are a lot of jokes about how slow 150s fly, but I’d never experienced quite how slow they crawl through the sky. I was cruising along at a decent 100 knots, but it quickly became apparent that we were gaining on the bugger. I slowed the plane down to 80 knots, which without the flaps extended is essentially slow flight in a Diamond Star. But we were still gaining on the guy. After the tower switched us both back to NorCal Approach I passed him on the right, just shortly before San Carlos.

After that we had a nice safe landing, to which Fiid commented it was the smoothest landing he ever had in an airplane. Very kind words indeed… that is of course all skill

Fiid tooks some great pictures of our trip. I think he liked it!

What a thrill! I’m almost speechless. Earlier today I flew my first aerobatic training flight. Bill Hightower, my instructor, and I went out in West Valley Flying Club’s Super Decathalon (N65SE) and he showed me aerobatic flight. First he would do a maneuvre, then he’d talk me through how he did it, then I would try. We practiced a few barrel rolls, loops, hammerhead turns, and to finish it off Bill turned the plane upside down and we flew inverted for half a minute.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the actual flight, I was too busy keeping the plane and my stomach, well… under control. I do, however, have a shot of the G-meter showing that we pulled about 3 positive Gs during the loop, and -1 G during inverted flight. Oh yeah, the FAA recommends we wear parachutes!

Also, before the aerobatic flight I did take-offs and landings in Citabria (N374DM) and I finally got the hang of tail-dragger wheel landings. Bill signed my tail-wheel endorsement, but I still need more practice before I start flying airshows. Not a bad way to start the new year.

After some more tail-wheel training with Bill down in Palo Alto this morning, I drove up to San Carlos and picked up the Diamond Star (N504DS) for my flight to Santa Rosa. I had beautiful weather and a picture perfect flight. First, I crossed over to Half Moon Bay, because I didn’t want to have an in-flight emergency right over San Francisco. Your emergency landing options are pretty bleak over the city, but if you’re over the ocean you can at least turn to the coastline and land on a beach. Flying along the coast was beautiful, as the sun was just starting to fall on the horizon and the entire Northern California coastline was glowing in the sun.

After staying under the SFO Class Bravo airspace I set myself up for an entry to the Bay over the Golden Gate. The picture speaks for itself, but it was spectacular. Being able to fly over that majestic structure is truly one of general aviation’s best selling points. I had to recall the pictures my grandfather had taken of the bridge on his visits to California.

After flying past Alcatraz, I turned north and on my way to Santa Rosa’s airport (KSTS) and the one closest to Sebastopol, where Joan, Dan and Hanna live. Since I was listening to ATC and receiving VFR traffic advisories I heard that there was another pilot, who had also left San Carlos’ airport (KSQL), who was on his way to Santa Rosa. Popular destination! The weather was absolutely perfect and after less than an hour of leisurely flying up north I contacted the tower and was cleared to enter the downwind to runway 14. I hadn’t intended to do this, but as I turned onto base, I rounded out both my turns to a perfect half-circle to final. That’s really not a good thing to do, even at a tower-controlled airport, because you don’t get that extra bit of time to scan for unannounced traffic on final, but it must have looked super elegant to the folks watching on the ground.

After I landed I taxied towards the APEX FBO. Since it had already gotten a bit dark the FBO had sent out a cart to guide me to the tie-down. I could already seen Joan, Hanna and Dan watching me from the side of the tarmac. No sooner had I shut-down my engine and opened my canopy, that I saw Hanna running towards me. Without any hesitation she climbled up onto the wing and crawled into the cockpit behind me as I was still sitting in the front seat. She wiggled her way to the back seats and started exploring the aircraft.

After I got out, she jumped into the front seat, and without any que she grabbed my headset and put it on her head. I don’t think she had even seen me take it off, she just knew that’s what pilots did. Then she pulled down the mic and started talking to ATC, well, that’s what her uncle would like to think anyway.

Hanna was still a little frightened of the plane and didn’t want to go flying quite yet, but Joan was all gung-ho. We hopped in, I went through the pre-flight and we taxied out. After take-off we flew over the town of Sebastopol, over Joan’s house and then out to Bodega Bay. The sun had already set, so it was getting dark and by the time we returned to Santa Rosa it was already night. Joan had a really good time and even mentioned the next day that she was still high from the experience.

I too had a wonderful trip and it was a real joy playing with Hanna and seeing Joan and Dan in Sebastopol again.

I started my tail-wheel training today. The title of the post says it all. Let’s just say I managed not to ground-loop.

For those of you unfamiliar with tail-wheel airplanes, let me explain. When you learn to fly a typical airplane, you know the ones that look like really tiny versions of a 737, they have what’s known as a tricycle gear. That means there’s one wheel under the nose of the airplane, and one wheel under each wing. The two under the wing are called the mains and they have larger tyres than the nose-wheel. To take off the pilots lifts the nose-wheel off first and then the mains. On landing, the mains touch down first, followed by the nose wheel.

In a tail-wheel airplane, like the DC-3 or almost any classic aircraft, the mains are still under the wings, but the plane has a tail-wheel instead of a nose-wheel. For all intents and purposes the airplane still flies like a normal airplane, all aerodynamic laws still apply, and the cabin service is just as lousy. What’s different is that the plane handles differently when on the ground.

During taxi operations there’s actually a bit of an advantage because the plane can be spun around on a dime, but take-offs and landings are much harder. You’re probably wondering why. If the pilot knows what he’s doing, the center of gravity in the airplane is always between either the nose-wheel and the mains or between the mains and the tail-wheel. In a nose-wheel aircraft this means that the center of gravity is in front of the mains, and this has the positive characteristic that the weight of the aircraft helps keep it rolling straight down the runway centerline. (The nose-wheel and proper steering help too.)

In a tail-wheel aircraft, however, the center of gravity is behind the mains, so as the airplane begins to drift from the centerline one direction or the other, the weight of the aircraft will help exacerbate the problem and push the plane even futher in the direction of drift. If not corrected, the plane will start to turn so far that it spins around on the runway. This wouldn’t be too bad a problem if it didn’t lead to the outside wing striking the ground. Therefore, a tail-wheel pilot needs to be very quick in his or her application of the rudder to correct for any deviation from the centerline.

So, there I was sitting at the end of Palo Alto’s runway 31 (KPAO) in one of West Valley Flying Club’s Citabria’s (N75SE) with my instructor Bill Hightower. The tower cleared us and I started accelerating down the runway. First the plane swung to the left, then more to the left, I applied right rudder (or was it Bill), then the plane swung to the right, I applied left rudder, and so on. It’s a good thing this particular Citabria had 160hp because we took off before I had a chance to give myself a heart attack.

Bill told me later that it’s that way on every tail-wheel pilot’s first attempt, making me wonder why any instructor would ever want to put themselves through that kind of ‘learning experience.’

A couple of touch-and-gos later and I started to get the hang of it. There are very few things you can do after you get your private pilot license, no matter how many hours you have as a tricycle gear aviator, that really show you how incompetent a pilot you are than trying your first tail-wheel take-off.

But it sure is fun!