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I woz told years ago that complaisentcy usualy sets in on the average pilot at bout 400/500 hours.Maybe I'm just slow,but my first "comlpaisentcy" incident nearly happened a couple o days ago, at bout 2500 hours.[:0]My neibour on the south side had just taken possesion of a brand new 100hp 912 powered Rosco machine and he asked if I could test it for him,coz he don't fly yet.I didn't know wot he wanted me to test,but I wasn't go'n to say no.[
]At the first oppotunity I gave meself a day off and RAFed down there to checkout this new bird.[
]After set'n up the 26' AKs and fire'n up the 912 everything looked and sounded sweet[
].But I woz git'n hungry so decided to take it for a blap after I'd bumbed a feed.To cut it short the machine/blade combination was excelent and performed flawlessly in the hot gusty conditions.Plenty of power,lift,blade inertia and,after tak'n the windscreen off,control[}].Shane woz pretty happy that I woz pretty happy and never said I couldn't fly some more so I started play'n round withit a bit.Know'n it had more power and 'stiffer,new feel' to it than me trusty ferel I took it easy .After bout 10 mins I reckoned Shane might be git'n upset bout my burn'n his fuel so decided to put it away.The trouble is,his new strip is on the leeward side of a row of 60' gums,make'n a excelent wind break.I woz 'hovering' over the updraft that was cum'n off these trees at bout 200' when I chopped power,planing to do a 360# dive,load the blades and let the wind drift me back far enough for a spot flare in frount of his brand new hanger/shed.The plan was go'n perfectly till I got below the tree line,head'n toward the hanger,not much AS but plenty of inertia in the blades,and no out gate.My judgement hadn't taken into account the lack of a headwind when I got below the trees ,and the loaded blades seem to be take'n for ever to wind down as I slowly drifted towards his shiney new shed,with his 'expensive' new machine.I woz way past the last 'out gate' and only 40' from contact with the shed,2' off the ground and no wind to stop me,and experiance was tell'n me that if I didn't do something quick,there was go'n to be a big,expencive and very embarrasing mess.[B)][
!]The only thing left to do was flare,hard and short,and to my releif and somewhat supprise,it only ballooned bout 10' and then settled under inertia with only a slight bounce,10' short of disaster.I never told Shane how close I woz to landing his new bird IN his new hanger,but no dout he'll find out one day.A moment of bad judgment in a machine I'v never flown before scared the cr#p outa me,and hopefuly now will be a little less complaicent[!].NB.without try'n to stir sh#t or be cheeky[}],if I woz fly'n the ferel,it'd never have cum so close coz bad judgment in my STABLESS ferel in this situation can be safly countered with a hard ,held bachstick.This will cause the disc to tip back,the machine will follow with out 'ballooning' and the stab try'n to hold it level ,and a disc at 90# to the ground/air flow makes a very effective air break,head wind or no head wind.[^]That is not a sugestion for anyone to remove their stabs.[B)]More like another reason why I don't fly a stab on the ferel.[
]Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.
]At the first oppotunity I gave meself a day off and RAFed down there to checkout this new bird.[]After set'n up the 26' AKs and fire'n up the 912 everything looked and sounded sweet[].But I woz git'n hungry so decided to take it for a blap after I'd bumbed a feed.To cut it short the machine/blade combination was excelent and performed flawlessly in the hot gusty conditions.Plenty of power,lift,blade inertia and,after tak'n the windscreen off,control[}].Shane woz pretty happy that I woz pretty happy and never said I couldn't fly some more so I started play'n round withit a bit.Know'n it had more power and 'stiffer,new feel' to it than me trusty ferel I took it easy .After bout 10 mins I reckoned Shane might be git'n upset bout my burn'n his fuel so decided to put it away.The trouble is,his new strip is on the leeward side of a row of 60' gums,make'n a excelent wind break.I woz 'hovering' over the updraft that was cum'n off these trees at bout 200' when I chopped power,planing to do a 360# dive,load the blades and let the wind drift me back far enough for a spot flare in frount of his brand new hanger/shed.The plan was go'n perfectly till I got below the tree line,head'n toward the hanger,not much AS but plenty of inertia in the blades,and no out gate.My judgement hadn't taken into account the lack of a headwind when I got below the trees ,and the loaded blades seem to be take'n for ever to wind down as I slowly drifted towards his shiney new shed,with his 'expensive' new machine.I woz way past the last 'out gate' and only 40' from contact with the shed,2' off the ground and no wind to stop me,and experiance was tell'n me that if I didn't do something quick,there was go'n to be a big,expencive and very embarrasing mess.[B)][!]The only thing left to do was flare,hard and short,and to my releif and somewhat supprise,it only ballooned bout 10' and then settled under inertia with only a slight bounce,10' short of disaster.I never told Shane how close I woz to landing his new bird IN his new hanger,but no dout he'll find out one day.A moment of bad judgment in a machine I'v never flown before scared the cr#p outa me,and hopefuly now will be a little less complaicent[!].NB.without try'n to stir sh#t or be cheeky[}],if I woz fly'n the ferel,it'd never have cum so close coz bad judgment in my STABLESS ferel in this situation can be safly countered with a hard ,held bachstick.This will cause the disc to tip back,the machine will follow with out 'ballooning' and the stab try'n to hold it level ,and a disc at 90# to the ground/air flow makes a very effective air break,head wind or no head wind.[^]That is not a sugestion for anyone to remove their stabs.[B)]More like another reason why I don't fly a stab on the ferel.[]Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.
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