swinger_006
Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2008
- Messages
- 17
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Well, my instructor recovered his sprained ankle and we went up for an intro flight in Sunrise Aviation's Cub today. Since this was my first flight with them I sat up front, though he said that I we will swap for the remainder of the lessons.
We took off from John Wayne and headed inland towards the abandoned El Toro AFB. He had to help me keep her lined up on takeoff, but I was surprised how fast she leapt into the air. From there he just let me have about 30 mins of free time to get a feel for the Cub, and after about 2 mins I felt right at home swinging through some turns and bumping around in the air above the Saddleback mountains. He walked me through the initial approach, took over on the downwind, and set us down after a couple unexpected gusts buffeted us around on final.
Flying the Cub was even more fun than I expected it to be, and it was a world of difference from a 172. Maybe some of it is just my own imagination, but I can feel the feedback from the control surfaces in my hands/feet more directly than I could in the 172. The result was I felt more in control and I had less trouble lining up turns, etc. because I had better feel for what was going on. In general, it's a feeling of really flying through the air- whereas in the 172 it felt more like driving.
Next up on the syllabus is a couple hours of ground, then we start working in the air regularly. That means I won't be up in the cub for another couple weeks...I'm already in withdrawl!
We took off from John Wayne and headed inland towards the abandoned El Toro AFB. He had to help me keep her lined up on takeoff, but I was surprised how fast she leapt into the air. From there he just let me have about 30 mins of free time to get a feel for the Cub, and after about 2 mins I felt right at home swinging through some turns and bumping around in the air above the Saddleback mountains. He walked me through the initial approach, took over on the downwind, and set us down after a couple unexpected gusts buffeted us around on final.
Flying the Cub was even more fun than I expected it to be, and it was a world of difference from a 172. Maybe some of it is just my own imagination, but I can feel the feedback from the control surfaces in my hands/feet more directly than I could in the 172. The result was I felt more in control and I had less trouble lining up turns, etc. because I had better feel for what was going on. In general, it's a feeling of really flying through the air- whereas in the 172 it felt more like driving.
Next up on the syllabus is a couple hours of ground, then we start working in the air regularly. That means I won't be up in the cub for another couple weeks...I'm already in withdrawl!
