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- Oct 12, 2014
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Did my BFR yesterday in the FBO’s J-3, first time I’ve flown another plane since buying my Hatz two years ago. Now my total Cub time is around six hours spread over the past 44 years so unfamiliarity with the plane and its sight picture is doubtless a large part of it, but man (is this sacrilege?), what a dog a Cub is compared to my Hatz. Everybody says, “A Hatz flies just like a Cub,” and I’ve repeated that, but no. Perhaps a Hatz is as easy to fly (and land) as a Cub, compared to hotter biplanes, but it doesn’t fly anything like a Cub.
I felt like I was wallowing all around the sky while trying not to wear myself out with the heavy elevator forces. In my Hatz, I trim for cruise and asked for fuel burn, and leave the trim alone thereafter, but in the Cub, a much lighter airplane, I had to trim for every phase of flight. Obviously C.G. Taylor learned something between designing the original Taylor Cub and the T-Craft I owned, because the T-Craft didn’t have anything like the stick forces of the Cub.
Granted, by the end of the hour I was getting more comfortable with the plane, but still… eww. As soon as he signed my logbook (despite my flying being in my eyes anything but acceptable) I jumped back in my own plane and flew around for awhile and did some landings just to remind myself that I really do know how to fly.
I felt like I was wallowing all around the sky while trying not to wear myself out with the heavy elevator forces. In my Hatz, I trim for cruise and asked for fuel burn, and leave the trim alone thereafter, but in the Cub, a much lighter airplane, I had to trim for every phase of flight. Obviously C.G. Taylor learned something between designing the original Taylor Cub and the T-Craft I owned, because the T-Craft didn’t have anything like the stick forces of the Cub.
Granted, by the end of the hour I was getting more comfortable with the plane, but still… eww. As soon as he signed my logbook (despite my flying being in my eyes anything but acceptable) I jumped back in my own plane and flew around for awhile and did some landings just to remind myself that I really do know how to fly.