James, I can tell you this plane is the best Aquilla I've flown so far. Much better than the Dark Blue Princess.
Do you remember how long our take off roll was in the old plane?....You can shed about 50m off that now.
No "slipping" in the turns and she holds in ground effect forever. Needs a bit of time to stretch and settle (wingsail) and only then will we consider moving the hangpoint forward. Currently she is cruising a little slow at 43mph IAS, GPS has confirmed this as correct.
This NC prop is AMAZING! Our RPM in the cruise is 400-500 lower than before. Getting the right throttle setting has been a challenge
You just touch the rev's and that VSI goes crazy. I used to climb out on full taps...now I have to bring the revs down a bit otherwise the nose just wants to climb heavily... Stef and I are both very chuffed with the overall performance so far.
These Braai's are an inevitable consequence of me being at the airfield again
every weekend
What can I say?.....when the flying's done I like to "socialise"
I get what you are saying WRT the hanger's but to be honest I think we will stay where we are. (I quite like the fact that I dont have to push out another trike to go fly now.
. The other day I had to move 5!!!
Bug War and the gang are at least not so far away from us anymore.
What has suffered the most after 4 months off was not the physical ability to control the plane....it's other things like situational awareness, RT
and procedures which I must admit are a little "rusty". Working hard on these to get them right and the confidence is returning quickly. Like Merv said to me...."you just need some time in the air"
Big thanks to Merv and Fanie, they have done a lot to get me (and Stef) back on track. Didnt even charge me for my "dual check"!