The L-16 requires that you "hand-prop" to get her started. This is a task that (I personally feel) every pilot should experience/learn at least once. Between myself and Naomi, after a couple turns, we were able to get the bird started with medium effort.
Hand-Prop Safety/How-To
From here, I did one pattern & full-stop landing @ D52 (Geneseo.) Then, we ventured to Perry-Warsaw Airport (01G) for some concrete-runway landing practice. The L-16 is a "tail-dragger," which brings with it the unique quirk of wanting to ground-loop. When landing on a grass-strip, such as Geneseo, one must be conscious to avoid ground-looping. However, on concrete runways, the risk is much greater. Everything on concrete happens faster, and the key is staying not 1, but 2 steps ahead of the airplane. Prior to today, I had not flown into many concrete-runway'd airports int he L-16. This is why I wanted the practice.
L-16 Re-Current Flight - 4/29/16
At 01G, I made 3 full-stop landings on the concrete runway, and was very pleased with the results. I was diligent with the controls, and kept everything smooth and slow. Once we were done @ 01G, we took off and headed back home to D52. One more full-stop landing here, and we were done. What a fun time! It's great to be back flying the L-16, building experience to those fine WWII fighters.
Back in the Saddle
Thanks again, to all the great volunteers of the National Warplane Museum. Without you all, I would not be where I am today. Also, thanks to Naomi for serving as a safety pilot, once again. Until next time, "Keep 'Em Flying," and "Never, Never, Never Give Up."
FAA Instrument Rating Checkride = TBA
4/29 Flight Time Logged = 1.0
Total Flight Time = 210.2 Hrs
Total Flight Time to Commercial License = 39.8 Hrs
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