This is only the second time up in the air in a long time, but this time with the chief flying instructor. Scary. He sent me off to pre-flight the Vans RV 12 by myself and once again I was left to wonder at how easy it was to do the pre-flight checks. No climbing up onto the high wings to dip tanks, just check the fuel gauge. No getting covered in aviation fuel checking the drains. And no sucking on the stall warner hoping there’s no bugs flown in there which you’re liable to inhale!
Without further ado, we jumped in and started her up and waited for the oil temperature to slowly creep up. For reference, its the one that’s yellow and sitting at 110°F. I’d personally like to display the temperatures in centigrade, as Fahrenheit makes no sense to me. While we’re waiting for the oil temperature to rise, its really important to keep the rev’s or Tachometer in that very narrow green band. Which means constantly adjusting the throttle as it creeps up all the time. While we’re here, I’d like to draw your attention to the two green dots marked SAFE and CLSD. The canopy being closed is fairly important, as you don’t really want it flying open. But it’s the one marked SAFE that’s really important. Under the green dot it says SPAR P. You see, the wings are held in by two spar pins to allow the wings to be removed so the aircraft can be put onto a trailer. The manufactures say it can be done in a few minutes. You want to make sure that the little green dot isn’t red!
Anyway, off we went and this time we went over the lakes at Colliford. We did a lot of slow flight and stall practice and then we did some 45° turns and some steep turns at 60°. This is where I discovered another difference between the Cessna 152 and the RV 12 and that’s rudder control. I’ve never really got the whole coordinated turn thing as it’s not obvious in the C152, certainly not unless you’re staring at the ball. However, it’s much more obvious in the RV 12 and a little rudder in the direction of the turn absolutely makes all the difference.
We returned to the airfield just as the rain started to come in which was enough time for a couple of circuits, my first being a little on the large side.
Then came the paying and the debrief. Again, the CFI confirmed what I’d been told already. I should be good to go with five hours of training. Brilliant!
Neil's flying space 