Out on the ragged edge...

Stuart and I have had a busy couple of days, hence the radio silence. On Thursday we finished our groundschool classes (Turbo and Engines, Weight and Balance, and Cargo/Tie Down). Then yesterday it was time to go and fly.

Here is Stuart's 206 just starting up outside the MAF hangar, and I followed him shortly afterwards. We each flew for around 2 hours, the main object of the exercise being familiarity with the T206 and as my instructor put it 'being at peace with the aircraft'.

When it was my turn, I took off from Nampa and headed south towards the Owyhee mountains and climbed to around 6000ft. (These are not pronounced 'Oh-yee' as an English Town crier might, but 'Ow-are-hee' so they sound like they are in Hawaii).

Anyway back to the flying. We practiced some gentle turns at 100 and then 80 knots, then some steeper turns at 80. A couple of stalls (very docile for the pilots reading this) and then slow flight, back to around 45kts with 40 flap. Then I was asked to trickle the speed back even further towards 40kts. The stall speed with full flaps is around 46kts at gross weight, and we were several hundred pounds under gross, so I was able to get the aircaft back to around 42kts before it got really mushy and got into pre-stall. It was fun hanging out on the ragged edge, where this aircraft will just about still fly, but we are doing this primarily IN ORDER TO AVOID GETTING THERE IN REAL LIFE. Test pilots do this all the time but us mere mortals are usually found nearer the middle of the flight operating envelope, rather than working at its dark and mysterious corners. MAF takes safety extremely seriously and this training is intended to help us get the most out of the aircraft, but with a clear understanding of its limits.

Talking of stalls, unusual flight and limits, have you ever seen a dog fly? Here is a short flying video that makes me laugh every time I watch it. I wonder what was going through the dog's mind? I just wish I'd have thought of doing this. Anyone want to lend me their pet for a couple of hours?