FS2004.org

Okay, pal; nudge the throttle a bit and see if you can find the runway centerline...Close enough! Now push that thing all the way to the stops and let’s go! Yeah! As ground speed increases, we quickly discover two things: One, this is a powerful little creature. Two, tail-wheels don’t act quite the same as nose-wheels. But you’re forgiven the minor wobbling, and at 40 knots or so the tail comes up anyway. At 60, you pull back on the yoke, and we leave the earth. We make a nice, leisurely 80-knot climb, and reduce manifold pressure once we’re clear of all obstacles. Hey…you’ve done this before, haven’t you? Up we go…2,000 feet, 3,000, 4,000, and we level off at 5,000 feet. Time to play! We do some lazy-eights, a few 2-minute turns, some steep banks, a little uncoordinated work with the rudder to see how she slips, some power-on and power-off stalls. I’m a bit chagrined at the sudden way that left wing disappeared during power-on stalls, but recovery only cost us a few hundred feet, so I forgive you once again. Yes, I see that that you have to trim the ailerons frequently to keep the left wing up during straight & level flight…No, the left wing isn’t heavier than the right one, it’s because of engine torque. Okay, let’s go back to Planet Earth. By the way, you’ve landed floatplanes before, right? NO? Ohmigosh! But I had no reason to worry; this little Beaver lands as sweetly as it flies! Short of risking life and limb, we abuse the little gal something awful and break every rule during for a variety of water landings: Loaded and unloaded, we do step-landings at stall speed, full-flap landings, landings at 80 knots, takeoffs on one pontoon…this little aircraft was designed for pilots like us! We did a bunch of runway T&G’s strictly by the numbers, and she performed beautifully. I advise keeping that tail up for as long as possible on a solid runway, though.