Private Pilot Resources - Aviation Blog

I obtained my private pilot license in 2006. This site is dedicated to capturing little gems of knowlege I collected during training. Periodically I add items I find during research so that others might benefit from them. Please review the disclaimer at the bottom of this page.

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Location: San Jose, CA, United States

In 1999 a friend invited me to go flying and I was hooked. I live in the Bay Area about an hour south of San Francisco and fly out of Reid Hillview (KRHV). Please do get in touch and lets go fly!!

Saturday, December 05, 2009

3 point landings

Got 1.1 hours in N5032G this afternoon. Once again had a blast. we got in 10 touch and go and my taildragger landings are definitely improving. 32G has toe brakes and I much prefer those to heel brakes. It also flies much tighter. I feel like I'm finally starting to fly by the seat of my pants. When I glance at the turn indicator it see the ball less and less off center. 172s sure were forgiving and flying taildraggers finally forces me to shape up. One vexing problem remains that I think we finally worked out. I tend to work the ailerons in the flare to stay over the center line, which on occasion brings down one of the wings just slighty at the moment of touchdown. Bad idea. It basically pivots the plane on one front and the back wheel and requires quick, strong aileron correction combined with rudder inputs to get me back on centerline. Taildraggers require a perfectly straight ahead touch down, so next time out that's what we'll try. I'll probably accept being slightly off center line for a while in favor of a full three point contact on touchdown. On the upside, we had several landings today that were just sweet. There is nothing like ever so gently kissing the ground, rolling, applying full power, lifting tail and rotating softly again. It's just an awesome feeling.