Another pipistrel in town !

Another friend just got a pipistrel in town, so he gave me a call to see if I could coach him a bit on his landings.


His plane is an Alpha Trainer, basically the same cockpit of a Sinus but simpler to fly (no spoilers) with smaller wings and a heftier landing gear.  It really is a nice training aircraft, easy to fly and very gentle on a beginner student.

This has nothing to do with our Andes crossing project, but I just could not skip mentioning about it.

This slovenian guys build really nice planes!

Getting to know you

This week we made several local flights to learn more about the plane. I flew with Tati and Gerardo showing them the nuances of "glider mode" landing. It takes a bit for a power pilot to understand the final phase of landing a glider. 

Tati having flown gliders before felt right at home, Gerardo who normally flies an Airbus took a bit more time to get it ;) 

I guess the natural instinct of a power pilot is to go for the throttle instead of using the spoilers to manage the energy of the aircraft. 

As for me, I found a bit weird the position of the spoilers and the operation of the flaps. Nothing terrible.. just awkward.

Also, we tried to get a nice air to air video of the plane in flight.. but even full flaps and slowing down to 50kts, none of the other ultralights could keep up with us!!  ;)

So far, total time in type :  8 hours and counting

Stay Tuned!