T-6 Day One

Well, what (else) made our anniversary so much fun for me was a little extra special flying. Nathan got to pick up a T-6 yesterday, on loan from a friend, and he and Jamie and myself and Kaylee went to pick it up in the Baron. When we left there, I had the kids in the back of the Baron and he flew the T-6, and we went over to Glenndale in formation. I always love that, it puts a perma-grin on my face every time. I announced that I was coming by at Glenndale, so they knew I was there, but they didn't know Nathan was behind me. So I went by (a little higher than normal because I had the kids kind of distracting me), and then from around the corner on a sneak attack came the T-6 roaring by. It took everybody but Steve by surprise, since he knew we were coming. I circled around and Nathan joined back up on my right side, and we headed back to Kokomo. That was probably the most fun I'd had in ages, just traveling around central Indiana with a T-6 off my wing, coming down Glenndale, etc. It was funny-the kids in the back were playing Jamie's Nintendo DS, until I turned around and said "HEY GUYS! Look Left!" Their jaws just dropped as they had no idea he was out there. Pretty soon though they were back to playing the game and ignoring the airplane off their wingtip. *sigh* Kids-they have no idea. lol

After lunch, Nathan threw me in the back and we took off and just flew it around a little, checking out the sights, saying 'hello' to a couple of areas where family/friends were, and letting me get a feel for it. We came back in and he let me do three takeoffs and landings myself from the back there. The first takeoff was a little wobbly as I was trying to decide between watching my manifold pressure go up to the appropriate number, staying straight on the runway, and figuring out when to bring up the tail and how far; and the first landing I leveled off a little high and bounced once, though not go-aroundinglly bad, but the other two weren't bad once I got the sight picture down from the first one. While there was plenty to work on (consistent pattern, taxi operations, letting the tail down more slowly at the end), nothing needed rescued at least, no more bounces, and man it was a lot of fun. I had a *blast*.

As soon as we landed, that's when I had to run over to Glenndale and go fly the C-172 with a student while they were learning takeoffs and landings. Kind of funny...I went from student of landings to teacher of landings in 20 minutes. ;) It was quite an anniversary day though. I smiled pretty much the entire time. Am still smiling, actually...