Tiger Club Headcorn - Tiger Moth Flight

Take Off Runway 03

I received the DVD of my Tiger Moth flight this week and it was great to watch the flight and re-live the moment so to speak. I was pleased with the packaging and the quality of the DVD and like I've said I would recommend the experience to anybody - not just those with an interest in aviation. The Tiger Club who run this lovely aircraft also offer other experiences and are really friendly and helpful. In fact I went down there last week and signed up as a member (which I'll explain why below).

Climbing out from Headcorn

Of course this true classic of the skies looked and flew beautifully and felt really responsive. Her prop goes anti-clockwise as viewed from the pilots seat which in my experience is unusual as most light GA planes are clockwise. The difference this makes in controlling the airplane is more application of left rudder as opposed to the usual right. This I mean in respect to the effect the helix (corkscrew) of air has going around the fuselage and hitting the fin. With an anti-clockwise prop its hitting the fin on the right hand side wanting to push the tail to the left, and the nose of the aircraft to the right. For this reason more left rudder is required to counter that and keep the plane stable in its yaw. 

Starting an Inside Loop ('Loop the Loop')

I mentioned before we did some aerobatics and this picture here above is at the beginning of an inside loop (as most people would know as a 'loop the loop'). Below we are upside down at the top. Love it!

Upside down

Finally the last picture is us coming in on final approach to land ('over the hedge' as people term it). It appears to be quite fast over ground watching it on the DVD but I guess that's because of the visual effect of the grass background whizzing past me being the point of focus. 

Coming in to land 'Over The Hedge'

So like I said previously, last week I signed up as a member of The Tiger Club and I have booked myself on a tail wheel course. This is to learn the handling differences in an aircraft that has a tail wheel as opposed to what most people learn on, which is a nose wheel aircraft. The aircraft I will be learning on is a Piper SuperCub and the club have a page showing it here. It is a lot different to what I'm used to so should be a great challenge. So far in asking around I've only heard great things about it as an aircraft to learn in. 

My first lesson is scheduled for tomorrow morning!