So, Noblesville. We woke up pretty early Monday morning and went out to Kokomo, where Steve Tummers and I took the T-6 and flew down to Noblesville for their pancake breakfast. The turnout was actually pretty good, and it stayed busy and active for most of the day. The P-51 stopped in for awhile, which was great. They had probably 25 airplanes come in, and more people who drove in. They raised over $500 in donations, and everyone had a good time. It was hot, but we had shade and water and a seat. For awhile Steve played an Oshkosh arrival video on his phone that had the audio of the FISK arrival from 2019. So the non-stop radio chatter blended in perfectly with the day. They had two seminars that were pretty well attended. Steve S. couldn't go because he was back at Kokomo waiting to pick up our NOSH t-shirts, which was a bummer. He missed out on day one. I stayed until about 3 pm before heading back to Kokomo.
This whole time we were talking back and forth with Doug R (Rozy) about when he was going to get to Kokomo to do my check flight. It was all changing, constantly, back and forth, all day. Plan A through Plan X, approximately. Which was just fine with us, because it was at his grace that we were doing it at all. When he did arrive, it was with three other folks on board, all three of whom weren't super happy to be there. They were hot, tired, and two of them had just groundlooped and damaged their plane nearby and were getting help from Doug and so were unhappy to begin with, let alone to be there at Kokomo waiting around.
I was in trouble on the oral part of it. I spent a lot of time studying, but the majority of what he asked me were mechanical/maintenance/systems questions. He didn't want to just know the prop failures, he wanted me to be able to draw the diagram of the electrical components of it, and of the oil system, and the prop, and the electrical system, etc., and I am SO BAD at that. I can't retain it, I cannot. Can. Not. So the oral was a struggle and I was flustered and felt my face getting hot when he'd ask a basic simple question too about something and I blanked because I was flustered. It takes a lot to fluster me, but oral exam questions on maintenance will do it every time. What circuit does what to what pressure switch to...CRAP. I was grateful when he also did a few things I could actually answer, like the fuel system, the gear, etc. All in all, that did not go well, but we went flying, and now I'm trying really hard to let go of my embarrassment and fluster so that I can fly the plane clear-headed and smooth. It all started off fine. We did steep turns--nailed it, needle never moved. Slow flight--nailed it, didn't lose a bit of altitude. Power off stall--nailed it, no problem. Then he wanted a power on turning stall. I hadn't done those in there, but I'd done power on, and it was fine. Well, in a turn, even coordinated, the wing breaks pretty hard, and over it went, which was kinda fun. I got the rudder in, got the nose down, but I needed the nose down even more. I'd been trying not to over-correct, and under-corrected. So he wanted to see another of those. Did one to the left this time, and that time we ended up almost in a spin entry. It snapped over to the left hard, and I'm pretty sure were were about 90 degrees to the horizon. I fixed that one great, no sweat. We did an engine out drill and I did it but not super fast. We did an engine out in the pattern and I ended up with a sloppy pattern because I got distracted by him, which he may have done on purpose, and I ended up high on final. I was getting a little flustered again and tried to shake that off. Did a go-around sort of poorly. Made three or four decent landings. Got done, and I did not feel great about that flight either. This time I commented as we were taxiing in, that I wasn't real happy with a couple things. He said it was nothing he was concerned about at all. That nothing goes perfectly. But I'm usually better than that, so it bothered me. A lot.
But at the end, he signed me off as PIC in the airplane. And from here on out things got much better. :)
A few photos from Noblesville:
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