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 It had been a few weeks since Sting 7272 stuck its nose out
of the hangar. Bill popped the cowling and hooked up the
battery charger while I ran down the preflight checklist.
Rotating the prop by hand through four compression cycles
to check for hydrolock is becoming second nature now, which
is why the preflight always starts by insuring both
ignition switches are off.
A vital part of the preflight, for me, entails easing the
seat back forward and slipping a 2" thick closed cell foam
spacer behind it. It's amazing how much better 7272 flies
with my feet on the pedals and my fingers on the switches.
Every time I do this I remember my teenaged, assertive,
vertically-challenged (5'-0'' in her tennis shoes) daughter
reading her uncle the riot act when he advised her not to
try to follow him into a naval aviation career. "Just
because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't land on an aircraft
carrier," she challenged. "No," he responded, "but if your
feet don't reach the pedals it's hard to fly the plane."
7272 followed me out of the hangar with a tug on the prop.
We added fuel, pilot, copilot and did the prestart, which
included a little prayer for sufficient amperage, and were
disappointed when the starter motor delivered about the
same amount of energy I feel when I sit down to do my
taxes. But the Rotax caught and we were quickly ready to
taxi. The morning was mild and overcast at 2,500, wind at
8 to 10 knots from 080, and runway 5 beckoned. We hit the
center line, applied power, checked the EIS at 4000 rpm,
added full power and a little extra right rudder to
compensate for wind direction, then we were airborne.
Overcast is your friend when you fly in a bubble. I
considered removing my cap to see if cloud-filtered
sunlight would stimulate hair re-growth as we headed east
from North Little Rock (KORK), our home field, to nearby
Country Air Estates (1AR9), an airpark in Lonoke, Arkansas,
just 30 miles away, with two well-maintained grass runways.
The flight would be brief but it was a joy to be in the
air, flying over the pattern of woods, creek bottoms, hay
fields, rice paddies, fish farms, towns, roads, bean and
cotton fields that spread eastward toward the Mississippi
River. Meanwhile, attempting to stay out of trouble in the
airspace around Little Rock National Airport (KLIT) and the
Little Rock Air Force Base (KLRF) made me appreciate the
capabilities of the Garmin GPSMAP. It's a great aid to
finding where you are and where you're headed, but I find
it particularly helpful day-to-day in avoiding airspace
blunders.
 Country Air Estates is the home of EAA Ultralight Chapter
122, also called "Central Arkansas Sport Flyers,." The
chapter's shoulder patch features a StingSport, the very
airplane we were flying to their monthly breakfast. Because
we delayed our take off to charge the battery we were
running late, but still in time for biscuits, sausage
gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, sliced sausages, buttermilk
pancakes, juice and coffee. Not bad for $5.00 but it made
me suspect we should recheck weight and balance before we
tried to take off again.
The Sting always attracts a crowd at these fly-ins. There
was no shortage of interesting airplanes in shiny metal and
painted fabric, but 7272's sleek composite shape and bubble
canopy stood out. I worried about getting the prop stopped
before the crowd arrived and we were peppered with
questions as we climbed out.
We had the leisure, coming back, to fly out of our way and
noodle around a bit. At 2000' I practiced Dutch rolls and
picking out emergency landing sites. Bill likes roads, but
I worry about powerlines and mailboxes, not to mention
traffic. I like fields, but the considerations include
fences, soft ground noseovers and trees at the end of the
pasture. He only has about 300 times as many PIC hours as
I do. Maybe I should listen to him. We shot a couple of
trial approaches just to help crystallize the issues
involved in both scenarios. One thing I noticed, it's
easier to see a clear path through hay bales in a freshly
mown field from 2000' than it is to pick the appropriate
line on short final.
At Searcy (KSRC) we did a series of touch-and-goes and it's
clear I can use the practice. I'm getting comfortable with
with cutting power to idle opposite the numbers and holding
60 knots and a 15º bank all the way to final, and I'm
getting the feel of holding the nose wheel off the ground
until it won't stay up on a full stop landing, but I need
work on the transition from anding to takeoff in a touch-
and-go. With flaps still set full and nose wheel still held
high from the landing, applying full power can op the
airplane up out of ground effect before you know it, and
before your airspeed is ready for it. I'll be spending some
time visualizing that transition while waiting for the next
opportunity to fly.
Ten minutes from home the fuel gauge crept toward the red
zone. I thought something must be wrong with the gauge, but
when we checked the EIS after landing we discovered we'd
flown an hour and 46 minutes since departing Country Air.
On a nice day in a StingSport, time flies with you.
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