Some cheetah training time under the belt - done

[Rudix]

Yeah we must make a plan Rudi. We actually flew over Rhino this morning.

Yes, will be great !

BTW, I think I was responsible for Andy loosing his last few hairs

Chat sometime,
Fly safe and have fun,
Rudi

[MADALA]

Stephan,i have to compliment you on your sincere and honest feedback with your progress.

It is this type of attitude that make all the differnce in the world and you actually has given

me a better view of my own skills(suspect) and performance when flying.I has gone solo with

very low hours on the cheetah and now know it was the very wrong thing to do.

Regards

[Stephan van Tonder]

It's very Humbling to know that people actually follow what I was writing. At some point I was going to stop. But I'm glad if it helps other poeple. I understand the race for going solo and wanting to fly alone but for me it wasn't at all in the equation at any point. I want to be the safest and best that I can be and in all honesty not until about the 40th hour (48.8 currently) would I have been totally comfortable to go it completely alone. Around 42 hours things just suddenly came together and I really started to relax and being able to control the direction and tilt on landing to my liking. Before that it was still a semi shoot in the dark affair more hoping you have it right than actually KNOWING and there was no way I was going to endanger my life and somebody else's 400k airplane to say - Hey I'm flying alone. The fact that Andy was there even if he was hands off was a great comfort and at least I knew he would say or help if I was doing something really stupid. The other thing I feel is that you start teaching yourself bad manners if left alone from early and by sitting more hours next to an instructor than what is needed you imprint yourself with the good manners a bit better. All in all I've enjoyed it so far and will continue enjoying this for a while. I think I'll be bored if there is nobody to talk to. We discuss all kinds of stuff while flying together. But it also requires a special kind of instructor and I don't think there are many like Andy. I honestly feel that probably 70% of how much you enjoy your flying instruction is dependent on your interaction and getting along with the guy you are flying with. If you have personality clashes you ain't going to enjoy it at all. Some people also want to be left alone early but I though to myself - hey I'm paying for it - might as well make the most of it
Tomorrow another longish (prepared this time) Nav and andy has promised me some surprises. Let's see what he comes up with.

[Stephan van Tonder]

WOW. I don't know how else to describe this morning. THAT is why I learnt to fly. Clear and smooth as glass flight for 1.5 hours. Absolutely incredible. Saw such beautifull areas other side of Heidelburg. Took lots of piccies and will post them soon.

[Stephan van Tonder]

Ok Paperwork handed into CAA for licence issue this afternoon. Should be ready tomorrow

[Stephan van Tonder]

Ah lovely morning - quick flip to Tedderfield for a couple of touch and go's - then decided we want to go visit the vaal dam wall. At the wall we came across a couple of other cheetahs out for a morning prowl. From there straight line back to petit. 2.3 hours of lovely flying. Then decided I'll take the day off. Went and fetched my licence at CAA - whoo hoo. All that I need now is an airplane. Eish....

[Stephan van Tonder]

WOW morning again this morning. Quick flip(1.9 hours) to Loskop dam and back. Beautifull sights en-route. Have taken pics - will post some of them here just now.

[johnsa]

blue skies, fly safe and enjoy!

WHOOOO HOOOO ! drilled it - hit it for a six - one time. No worries. Nailed the engine out emercency landing(which was my worry) and the rest of it. Comment made just to do instrument checks a bit slower but no worries otherwise. I'm a happy camper. Licence in the bag and got given my wings

Some comments on the savannah.
1) Lot 'cosier' in the cabin than a cheetah. It's quite tight for a boy like me but not too bad. Could live with that.
2) Climbs like a 'poep in 'n bad' once the airspeed hits 50 mph.
3) it's a LOT more sensitive to the roll controls than the cheetah and requires a lot less work on the rudder.
4) It doesn't really stall. Just mushes around - no buffet or anything just sort of start going negative on the VSI.
5) It's a lot slower than the cheetah in the circuit - speed resctricted to 60 mph with 1 notch of flap. Cheetah is limited to 80 with 1 notch of flap.
6) It's slower clean as well. Barely gets to 85 mph although I didn't have much opportunity to let her run freely trimmed on straight and level.
7) speed over the fence a lot slower so landing a lot slower. Does only need rudder to correct for wind - not much aileron control - unlike the cheetah.
landings are a non-event. Pretty easy to just hold her off slowly and she settles without much pitch correction needed. Cheetah takes a bit more time to bleed the speed off and need constant pitch correction.

All in all not a bad aerie - easy to fly - very easy to land - requires a lot less work to keep the ball centred. But she is quite a bit slower than the cheetah and the visibilty out of the cabin above and to the side is a lot more restrictive. The cheetah has a see through cabin roof so you have to do a bit more work to keep sight of traffic. Would I buy one if the opportunity presents itself at the right price? ......... Yes.

[syvertsonj]

Stephan,

I wandered upon this thread and thought it was interesting enough to link to it and feature it on the front page.

Ok with you?

I'll pull it if you don't want it there.

Here is what it looks like on the site.

stephan.jpg

Regards,

Jon

http://www.mwsportaviation.com

[Stephan van Tonder]

No Worries - Ok with me.

[syvertsonj]

I just put up some pictures on our website from the 100th cheetah gathering that was hosted by rainbow aircraft (pty) ltd.

Midwest Sport Aviation, LLC

http://www.mwsportaviation.com

[Stephan van Tonder]

If you want other cheetah pictures - I have a couple and can mail to you. Just pm me an e-mail address.
Currently I have 70 hours on this cheetah and I love her more every time I fly.