The other day I was visiting with a pilot friend who is
renewing his flying skills for his new motor glider. While discussing some of
the subtleties of landing, we got onto the subject of slips. They are so useful as a means of losing
altitude quickly on a short final. It has been quite a while since my J-3,
Pa-18 flying days, when I was prone to slip a bit. The former, just after getting
my private pilot’s license, the latter when I did some glider towing in the
Ithaca, NY area. Anyway, I always
remember entering a slip by simultaneously applying aileron one way and rudder
the other to compensate. It always felt pretty smooth and a bit uncoordinated
but fun. It could at times have you hanging a bit on your seat belt too, all ok
though. I also remember letting the nose
drop a bit to keep the airspeed above stall. My pilot friend told me his
instructor told him to apply rudder first rather than simultaneously. Not sure
as to what benefit this may have. I
tried looking this up today, but didn’t get any support for that. There are
many ways to “skin a cat” says it all I guess.
While on a subject dear to tail draggers, I want to remind
new J-3 pilots or others who hand prop to start the engine, to tie the tail
down first. This is to prevent the plane from taking off or careening wildly
out of control, while the pilot watches in horror. This happens from time to
time and has severely injuredand even killed both pilots and innocent bystanders or passengers. Just chocking the wheels may not be enough, so please heed this
advice.
So, with that I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday
season.
