I had another first today - I got me some tail..

tailwheel time, that is.

I went to the Sunday coffee at the airport as I do most Sundays, but since no one was home, and I wasn't eager to get back home to start working, I loitered at the airport for a while.

My loitering included chatting with Keoki Gray for a while, which is always pleasant, and then driving over to the club hangar to put a fuel receipt in the log book.  When I got there, Patrick was just finishing up the debrief from a lesson with one of the club members.  After Ray left, Patrick and I started chatting, and next thing I knew, Patrick was asking if I'd like to go with him to Herlong to get some fuel.

Well, he didn't have to twist my arm much to take a ride in his beautiful orange and white Citabria (technically a Bellanca 7ECA).  The photo below isn't his aircraft, but it gives you an idea...

The flight over was beautiful.  The air was smooth as glass, the sky clear blue, and the visibility was great.  It was fun riding with Patrick, as he has lived here his whole life, and has been flying around here for almost thirty years.  It was really cool seeing all the landmarks he pointed out.  It was my first time flying in to Herlong, which appears to be a nice airport.

I tried to let Patrick allow me to pay for part of the gas, but he said that the Citabria burns so little fuel (six gallons per hour) and he saved so much by only having to pay the $3.30 a gallon at Herlong vs. the $4.75 at Fernandina, that in his mind, the flight had paid for itself.

The big surprise came when Patrick asked if I wanted to fly back.  I reminded him that I had never flown a tailwheel aircraft, but he was confident that I could do it, and I was confident in his instructional abilities, as I had flown with him before and found him to be a great instructor.  So, I climbed into the front seat, and off we went.

I found using a stick to  be very intuitive.  As I had read, the aircraft demanded more rudder work than a high wing Cessna does, but it wasn't problematic.  I was a bit nervous about the landing, as there was a bit of a cross wind, but it turned out to be a decent landing.  I think I actually like the landing attitude of a tail dragger better than a nose wheel aircraft.

To say that I was on cloud nine after the flight, would be a massive understatement.  It probably took at least two hours for me to return to earth after the landing.

As if that wasn't enough flying for the day, I ended up going back to the airport this evening to fly the club plane so I could do some night flying and get back to being night current.  The weather was still beautiful, and I actually remembered to take some time to just fly a bit and enjoy the night time scenery, rather than just racing through my three full stop landings.  As if the day wasn't great enough, my last landing was a real greaser.

And, all this was on top of flying Jeanie and Jamie to McRae the day before Christmas Eve to visit Jeanie's parents and then flying back on Christmas Eve.

It was really nice getting to see Jeanie's parents, although I didn't get to spend that much time with them as  I ended up having to work almost from the time we touched down until we went to bed on Tuesday.  I did get to spend a little time with them on Wednesday before we left.

I was glad that it was cool on Tuesday and Wednesday, as between Jeanie, Jamie, the dogs, overnight bags and some presents, we were right at the top of the weight and balance envelope when we took off.

Even though it would have been much cheaper to drive, the airplane really did show its value, as what would have been a boring round trip of seven hours of driving instead was an enjoyable three hours of flying.  Jamie even took a hand at the yoke on the way up to Georgia.  She seemed to enjoy it, although I didn't get the impression that she will be begging to take flying lessons in the future.

You'd think after having flown about four hours in the last five days, that I'd have had my fill for a while, but I am still so psyched about my flying today that I am seriously trying to figure out a way to be able to fly a CAP transport mission on Tuesday - if work will allow.