When someone better than you suggests something, you had better listen. I spent last night looking over the intermediate sequence for next year. I want to fly it! I want to get in there and kill the sequence! It is a tall order. My need to do this was gaining momentum last night and I was starting to imagine my speeds and pulls throughout the routine. I was going to be a badass.
Tonight, on a whim, I decided to go see if anyone had left comments on any posts. There was one from a month ago that I had somehow missed. I posted about flying the intermediate in the D. “Adam” responded with this:
“The Decathlon CAN fly intermediate level sequences...but that doesn't mean you should. Even though the POH states that the plane can handle +6/-5G and snap rolls, plenty of people have found these stresses can seriously damage the aircraft wings and fuel tanks.__Read this poor guys tale of flying the SD in Intermediate:_http://iac35.aerobaticsweb.org/news/Hammerhead-Fall-04.pdf__Try and keep to under +5/-3.5G (ie Sportsman), and be wary of snap rolls!”
If you read the story that Adam provided you will see a tale of someone…again…better than I am that experienced some heavy maintenance issues as a result of flying his D at the intermediate level. I have no interest in doing that to my beloved Decathlon.
I admit, I had envisioned myself showing up at contest and flying the D through the sequence and scoring poorly, but I had figured that maybe I would win some respect points from trying it. The funny thing about flying is that oftentimes you are giving more pats on the back for the flights that you DON’T take. The classic line: the superior pilot uses their superior judgement to avoid having to use their superior skill. Maybe I would have won some points, but imagine the embarrassment when I harm the airplane trying to be a badass? Not worth it. Not worth the harm to the airplane and not worth losing the respect of people that I look up to. I may attempt some of the figures in practice but “Adam” is right. The D is a Sportsman airplane. Now I guess I just have to go win Sportsman.
I am guessing I know who Adam is (Extra 300 out of MD?). If I’m right, I’ll buy the first round next time I see you. Thanks for looking out for this newbie. I appreciate the guidance and support.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment