Selene
Copyright© 2022 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 24
Mr. Examiner said, “I see ... you learned to fly on one of these.” He was pointing at any one of a multitude of home built Airdrome replicas.
“Yup.”
“Without an instructor?”
“Yep.”
“That can be dangerous.”
“I took about 18 hours in a simulator ... and a few hours in one of the ultra light two seaters.”
“Licensed instructor?”
“Absolutely not. The ultralight aircraft is not regulated. If one is willing to chance it ... just buy or build one and take off.”
“Ah ... Darwin in action.”
“Yup ... stick around. If you wait long enough, you’ll find out Darwin doesn’t work.”
“Doesn’t work?”
“Nope ... some of these pilots don’t understand ‘switch off.’”
“You mean?”
“Yeah. Don’t volunteer to flip a prop.”
“Ouch.”
“Right.”
He spent a few minutes familiarizing himself with the controls. They seemed straight forward but one never knows. French throttles are the opposite of British or American.
One improvement besides metal constriction? Electric start. 6.7 to 1 is low compression. Verner engines are easy to start by hand and easier with a starter motor.
I was in his ear, “Down hill ... across the river ... over the gravel pits ... these thing are airborn in less than 200 feet. Landing, come across the river and land up hill... 300 foot roll. Less if we haven’t mowed.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.