The Door man's lighter

fly. The cockpit becomes amazingly com- fortable in flight, however, and while all unnecessary movement is restricted, I am left with complete freedom for all essential motion. I am ready to do a cockpit check. Starting on the extreme left and work- ing my way across the left console, left subpanel, main panel, right subpanel, and right console, I determine the condi- tion or position of every control, switch, knob, and circuit breaker. All is well. I am ready to start up. The battery switch snaps on and fed lights flash into brillance; gyros whine into rotating motion; needles flick or creep into place; gear-position indicators proclaim that the wheels are down and locked. I press another switch and the boost JANUARY 1975 I THE AOPA PILOT 45 T·34 continued pump kicks in with a throaty growl. The fuel-pressure needle marches over into the green arc. Forward with the mixture control; press the starter switch. A couple of revolutions of the prop, then turn on the magnetos. The engine roars into action. Oil pressure is up, boost pump off; check fuel flow on the other tank. Turn on the inverter, which operates the head- ing and attitude indicators, and the high-pitched whir of the gyros is added to the rising level of sound emanating from the awakening machine. Turn on the radios; check on the electrical sys- tem. Everything is working well. Before I can go, there are still more things to do. Exercise the prop; check the mags, controls, flaps, trim; set the flight instruments and radios. I leave the canopy open. I'll close it when I get up where the air is cooler. While I await my turn for takeoff, I have time to take another look around this small space I'm getting to know so well. This plane has features I've never seen on civilian planes-wonderful, use- ful things, handy and well marked. Why aren't they on civilian planes? Because they would give the impression of vul- nerability-of fragility-which might scare potential buyers away from buy- ing, potential airplane drivers away from learning to fly. Nonpilots look with dismay at signs saying Fire Access Door or Emergency Canopy Release Handle. The fact that the emergency features are there does not mean they are more likely to be necessary. It's like the chute. I have no intention of ever using it. Vital switches have safety covers to prevent inadvertent operation. The con- trol lock cannot be misplaced. Every- thing is within easy reach and sight. The transmitter and intercom switches are in the throttle. There are no cign- rette lighters or ashtrays. The stick, with its slanted grip, feels so much more natural than a wheel. I feel perfectly at home in this cockpit. This is a pilot's airplane. W heels up, trim set, turn out of traffic. The manual calls for full power and full high rpm for climb. Nice sharp, snappy rolls, precise rollouts, straight flight in between. No sloppy meander- ings around the sky. Head up, flying by sight and sound and feel, looking for other planes. I climb to an altitude of at least 5,000 feet agl to do aerobatics. The T-34 climbs to these altitudes easily and op- erates efficiently there. By the time I have reached an acceptable practice area, off airways, over open country, I will be at altitude and will have had time to set the craft up in "acrobatic 46 THE AOPA PILOT I JANUARY 1975 cruise." This is the configuration in which all aerobatic maneuvers except spins are done: full throttle, 2,400 rpm, rich mixture, boost pump on, heading indicator caged, and canopy closed. I snug down the shoulder harness and lock the inertia reel. Iam not a stunt pilot trying to show off. I do aerobatics for my own enjoyment. Long, lazy rolls;_ big, grace- ful loops; precise cloverleafs-these epitomize the freedom of flight. Nothing seems an unusual attitude any more. The sky is below me; the earth is poised momentarily above, before plunging down in a blur of green and brown. I am at home in a whirling, kaleidoscopic world where there is no up or down, where weight means nothing. The simple wingover makes an excel- lent clearing turn. Visibility from this cockpit is tremendous. I have 360-degree vision out of the Plexiglas canopy. The cowling slopes sharply away, giving ex- cellent forward visibility, but causing pilots not familiar with it to fly in a nose-high attitude. From the rear seat, more than half- way back in the airplane, the perspec- tive is radically different. On f1areout, from the back seat, almost total loss of ground visibility occurs. The front seat is far enough forward to provide excel- lent vision ahead of the wing. There is even a really useful rear-view mirror. \Vingovers are not a good maneuver to do with nonpilot passengers, since they include all the things that disturb people most about flight: steep banks, steep nose-up and nose-down pitch atti- tudes, and weightlessness. After ascertaining that the area is clear, I pick a point on the horizon ahead, bring the nose up slightly above it, and execute an' aileron roll. The roll is quick, and little airspeed is lost. I can string a series of these rolls together with very little altitude loss. My airplane is a T-34A, the Air Force version. (The T-34B, used by the Navy, is not certificated for aerobatic flight by the FAA, but can be modified to re- ceive such certification.) My first attempt at a simple loop told me dramatically that this plane was go- ing to be a lot different from the clipped- wing Cub I learned aerobatics in. In the Cub, I hauled firmly back on the stick to enter a loop and held full elevator throughout, as the tiny kite- like craft seemed to strain with every ounce of power to pull itself over the top. In the T-34, the same technique re- sulted in a high-airspeed stall with the nose pointed straight up. The recovery was incredibly easy. A fraction of an inch of forward motion on the sensitive stick and the stall was broken. With what seemed like a huge excess of speed and power, I was able to continue the loop. In a well-performed loop, elevator pressure is not heavy, and G-loading is well within comfortable limits. The pull- out can be varied depending upon what one plans to do next. Excessive back pressure can increase the G-loading to the "gray-out" stage, but a slight lessen- ing of stick pressure relieves the G-forces and reverses the gray-out immediately. When I fly solo, with the rear seat cushions removed and the baggage com- partment empty, the plane teeters on the forward edge of its center-of-gravity limits. \Vith a passenger in the rear seat, the CG is moved several inches back, and the plane is in nearly perfect aero- dynamic balance. Aerobatic maneuvers are much easier with the rear seat oc- cupied. You can do many maneuvers, includ- ing snap and negative-G maneuvers, but the plane is not built for sustained in- verted flight. It is time to return to the humdrum . life on earth. I descend to traffic pat- tern altitude. With wheels up, this is a slippery airplane, and descent must be started miles out. In the pattern, with wheels down, I can stay behind the slowest airplane. The T-34 has excellent slow-flight handling. Half flaps allow better forward vision at slow traffic- pattern speeds. Like other Beechcraft, the T-34 is very easy to land. I use a landing-approach speed, with full flaps, of 65 to 75 knots, depending on wind and turbulence. It depends on how the plane "feels." On a calm day, the control feel at 65 knots is very solid, and there is little floating during the flareout. The Air Force manual advises a post- flight runup. This excellent suggestion has saved me occasional frustration that would have resulted from discovering discrepancies only after taxiing out for takeoff. It is a lot nicer to get the repair work done when you are not planning on flying, rather than when you are. I have gone through my shutdown checklist, secured the plane, packed away my parachute, and departed with one last fond look at my plane. I have been totally immersed in the flying en- vironment, employing all my skill to do a professional job. I have felt as if I were a part of the plane, and have come to know every nuance of its character. My every conscious effort has been bent toward getting the utmost performance from it. I am driving down a wide, divided boulevard, cars passing on either side of me. I realize with a start that I am craning my neck from side to side, look- ing to see if my wings are clearing Jhe other vehicles. I am still flying! With all my checklists, my efforts at perfection, my complete involvement in my flying, I have forgotten one thing. I have forgotten to switch my mental gyros back to "Ground." 0 I.. t.- IIII IIIII IIII• I