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Trip Report: Andover Flight Academy

Marc Olson

GONE WEST
Seattle, WA
Two weeks ago I did a two day 'Advanced Bush Flying' course at Andover Flight Academy. Damien Delgaizo was my host and instructor. Their web site is http://www.andoverflight.com. They are also a sponsor on this site.

The flying was amazing. The more time that passes the more I think the learning will set me down a new path for a while with my flying.

Getting there was a hassle as the roads through Newark were under construction and largely devoid of street signs. That combined with my GPS ?losing? the maps I?d loaded meant that I had to rely on a route I emailed to myself along with some vague help from the GPS. The airport is way out in the country; I chose to stay at a local motel. Colorful. The first non-smoking room that they put me in featured an ashtray. The second was better, with only a faint smell of mold and funk that you get from a 40 year old drive up motel.

The airport (Aeroflex-Andover) we flew from is perched between two lakes, with both ends approaching over water. The flight school is the only business on the airport, built in the 50?s by a local land baron. It even featured a small tower, more for effect than actual ?control?. Apparently it was designed to look like an aircraft carrier.

Damien showed up right on time (he?s the owner of the school) and we spent an hour reviewing concepts and talking about my experience before firing up the plane. The plane we flew is a 160 HP PA-18 with 29" Goodyears, VGs , no other mods (though it was recently rebuilt/recovered, so it looks new). The panel layout was different than mine, more like the J-3 I'd flown with mixture on the left, mag controls in the side panel along with trim and cabin heat. No key, just two mag switches and a ?start? button on the panel. I guess this is the standard -18 layout as well. We didn?t use radios or transponder (or strobes). There?s not much traffic in this area on a weekday, though apparently on weekends it?s a zoo.

After takeoff I was hammered immediately for sloppy use of the rudder. It was a bit puzzling, as I?m normally very conscientious about keeping coordinated. Could also be just the differences between the planes; I?ll know more once I can fly again in my -12. We spent a bunch of time on basic flight maneuvers refining my rudder control to his satisfaction, did stalls, slow flight, etc.

Then it was off to a local grass strip with a 100 ft wall of trees at the approach end. The first few landings were really rough?this -18 required a much faster approach speed (I?ve been using 45 mph, we were flying at 60), and that combined with a different view over the nose (more nose down) made me feel like I was falling downhill towards the runway *way* too fast. But, it turned out that with a bigger prop the plane just dropped like a rock once slow, so there was a quick transition from flying to landing, much more pronounced than in my plane (with all the mods on mine, not surprising).

He taught me a cool short field takeoff technique, one I?d never seen. You park on the left side of the strip, at right angles to the runway. One notch of flaps, full right stick, full back, brakes on. Power up, ease the brakes, relax the backpressure on the stick (but keep it full right). The right stick causes the left aileron to match the flaps, creating a long, extended ?high lift? wing. The L allows you to be rolling before you?re aligned with the runway, which gets your speed up quicker. Hold that position down the runway until the left wing starts to lift, then pull full flaps and back stick at the same time. POP?you?re airborne.

We did a number of ?stall down? landings where we powered off at tree height, cut power, leveled off and then pitched up slightly and waited for the plane to start to drop like a rock. Then we practiced the same, but added a slip at the trees to bring it down even quicker. It all happened so fast it was difficult to tease apart the various elements of the landing, but those got easier.

After that we practiced seaplane landings, where we slowed our approach over the trees, cut power and leveled off, and then pitched up about 5 degrees and waited for the bottom to drop out. Just before we started a rapid descent, power back in, just enough to slow the descent to about 100 fpm. And then we waited?and waited?the goal being to just fly it on under power, then cut power and brake. I sucked at this, adding too much power or getting anxious about running out of runway. Eventually it got better, but I still wasn?t comfortable.

After lunch and a break we went back out and started working on landings without obstacles. The approach was similar to the above, except we created an ?obstacle? to clear, essentially, by picking a spot on the lake about 300 feet from the threshold of the runway. The goal was to fly to that spot, be 10 feet above the runway (not the water, which was 2-4 feet lower), cut power and level off and let the plane settle into ground effect. A slight pitch up of the nose to further bleed off speed in ground effect, and then slight power to carry the plane just to the threshold for a wheel landing (with power on). I sucked at these, too, pumping the stick instead of just being patient, giving too much power to avoid (IMO) getting wet in the lake. Still managed to get a few good landings before I ran out of gas and started doing stupid things. Damien wisely terminated our lesson at that point. 4 hours of solid flying for the day.

The next morning we continued the lesson from the evening before, and after a night?s sleep and being better acquainted with the plane things went much better. Consistent wheel landings, stopped in under 300 feet (and that without using any aggressive braking). We took a short break from that and flew over to a nearby short strip that he setup by having me fly down in a riverbed, below treeline, following the bends in the river. Then we powered up suddenly, went over the trees and on the other side was a strip RIGHT THERE. He pulled power and said ?land it.? Not much time to think, but he?d done his job well and I got it down and landed easily.

Then, back to the home strip to do the same basic approach, but instead of wheel landings we did three point. Contrary to prior experience, I found the 3-point landings to be much easier and was able to land even shorter. Did a bunch of these, then broke for lunch.

After lunch and a discussion about landing on steep strips and mountain flying, we headed out for the last session before I left for DC. First we flew to a strip located on a hill in the middle of farmland, a strip owned by a crop duster. The steepness of the slope wasn?t apparent when we flew by on downwind, but as we got closer it was apparent that there was a significant rise to the slope, making my home strip on Stuart Island look flat. We flew a stable approach to the threshold, then matched the slope of the slope, added power, and waited, just like in a seaplane landing, for the wheels to touch. Pretty cool.

Then we went out to the Delaware Water Gap and practiced canyon turns (low power, full flap). Beautiful scenery, though the rock climbers that we buzzed at 100 feet above while we flew 10 feet from the canyon wall might have been a bit surprised.

Back to the barn and then off to Newark.

Some pictures of the area (taken not by me, but by a photographer mentioned frequently on this site, Jezzica):
http://jezzica.com/pilotgetaways/andover/index.htm

After returning to Seattle I've only had one chance to fly due to weather. Flying in my -12 again after the -18 was interesting. The biggest area of improvement for me was in using a slip to get down fast. I'd been holding my nose too high in a hard slip, which consistently resulted in a float. Damien worked me through 'lower the nose' in the slip, which turned my plane to an express elevator down. I was only comfortable with the increased sensation of crashing having done it a bunch with him and realizing that I had been uncomfortable going 'fast' towards the ground.

I went over to a strip on Whidbey Island (Langley), and with a south wind finally got the hang of clearing those super tall trees to the North and still get down in half the strip. The key was to stabilize level over the trees, and then cut power and aggressively forward slip to a point well ahead of the threshold. Because there's a hill that slopes up towards the trees away from the approach end, you can't fully utilize the displaced threshold/ground effect technique. Still, it was dramatically better than before.

If you're in the area (and even if you're not), I'd highly recommend a visit to Andover Flight Academy and some instruction with Damien. With winter approaching, it's important to note that they also offer ski training (conditions permitting).

Next instructional trip will likely be to Alaska!

Marc
 
All told, the flight time and instruction (including ground instruction and a BFR signoff, negotiated as part of the 'course') the tab was $1000.

That doesn't include travel costs (I was going to the East coast on business anyway) or hotel/meal costs while I was there.

The instructional rates for the various planes in the fleet are posted on the site.

Marc
 
I too would someday like to learn what I was doing. I have heard good things about Andover (yes good things other than they help keep this site running) and am interested in learning some of Damian's tricks!

I'll have to get more vacation time...

GREAT report, Marc! Thanks!

sj
 
I guess one question is how can they advertise this as an "advanced bush flying" course if they don't land off airport? Or did I miss something?

It sounds like a great introductory course in precision flying to me, but not an "advanced" course of any kind.

That said, virtually all pilots would likely benefit from this type course, so I don't mean to belittle it or minimize the importance something like this can have on your flying: It is an important component of off airport flying.

It is important to note, however, that if you are going to move to the off airport environment, there is an entirely different, and equally important skill set that you MUST develop: Site evaluation.

I'd recommend attending this course, because it sounds like it will definitely improve your piloting skills, which is an essential step to flying in the off airport environment.

Once that is under your belt, though, if you really are going off airport, find someone to spend some time with you who can show you how to evaluate landing surfaces.

Just some thoughts.

MTV
 
Great feedback, Mike.

Damien is very clear (at least in our discussions) that it's 'technique' not 'operations'. We landed on grass strips, but nothing unimproved.

That's why my next instruction will be in a location better suited to actual operational considerations--how to evaluate site conditions, length, obstacles, etc.

For me, this was the perfect next step in my formal training.

Marc
 
mvivion said:
I guess one question is how can they advertise this as an "advanced bush flying" course if they don't land off airport? Or did I miss something?

Mike, I think the official name of the class is "Advanced Tailwheel", not "Advanced Bush Flying". As I posted a while back here, as a student I would characterize Damian's course as Bushflying I. As previously said, Damian teaches the techniques (building blocks). Damian is really great for this, I think of him not just as an instructor, but a personal coach ironing out bugs in my stick & rudder flying skills that need to be in top condition if you do go into places where there is little or no margin for error.

For actual operations in the bush, go to Jay Baldwin in Palmer, who concentrates on the operational side (Bushflying II). I took his course this past summer, and loved it (will be back again). We did all actual off-field work, including the 5-pass site evaluation method (4 passes usually in summer). I was amazed at how long it took me to pick a "strip" and land if we were landing in a really marginal area with lots of "issues" and obstacles all over.

I do think that Damian's class should be a prerequisite for Jay's. Many of the short-field, rough-field, etc techniques I learned from Damian were key to really getting the most out of Jay's class. Instead of staying on large, 1000-foot gravel bars in the Knik River all day long we quickly got out to the really short, challenging stuff (for me anyway) in the mountains and elsewhere because I already had the tools in my toolbox.
 
Christina,

You are right, you MUST learn to fly the airplane very precisely before you can function in the off airport environment, and it sounds like that is what Andover is striving to do. More power to them, these are stick and rudder skills which most of our newer pilots simply aren't introduced to during flight training.

Anyway, it sounds like a very good program, just a little different than I had imagined. Sounds like a very good first step.

MTV
 
mvivion said:
Anyway, it sounds like a very good program, just a little different than I had imagined. Sounds like a very good first step.

Mike, I'm not sure what your previous expectations of Andover's program were, but in both of your posts you seem to make a basic assumption that bushflying consists of only off-airport landings. Is this true? Is flying to backcountry airstrips in places like Idaho or Maine bushflying or not? If not, then Alaska is probably the only place in the world that really has bushflying, with a few exceptions.

I also want to point out that much of what Damian teaches in the class are not just advanced stick and rudder skills, but also specialized techniques such as L- and J- takeoffs, which you wouldn't typically do in a defined airstrip environment.
 
Super writeup, Marc. Exciting and entertaining. Makes me want to jump into my -18A and fly down there just to meet this guy. I did check out his website but didn't see any PA-18's. Maybe he sold it since you were there.

Nick
 
Bush Pilot Training

The Airstrip Trailhead Preservation Task Force says that landing and taking off at the more demanding bush airstrips in Idaho are the most demanding individual task in aviation. Sure, some of these airstrips are challenging but they are no where close to the refined skills and techniques needed for bush flying in Alaska. I do not consider landing at designated and improved airstrips true bush flying; this type of aviation should be called backcountry flying. Bush flying is landing on unimproved and non-designated landing areas in remote country lacking infrastructure such as roads. Bush flying is also landing in places where no airplane has ever landed previously. The latter takes enormous skills learned over many years of flying. The tailwheel flight training offered by Andover Flight Academy and Jay Baldwin's Bush Flying training offer techniques and skills that will help a pilot get oriented in the right direction for flying bush operations. However, I don't think most pilots have the full understanding of what makes a bush pilot or how can I become a bush pilot. The first thing that I learned was that the good bush pilots took the 'bull by the horns' and put the responsibility on their backs and went out and learned to fly their aircraft in bush conditions. Self trained and self taught. Full confidence, always thinking, and making good decisions are three things a bush pilot must have. Sure you talk to the old pilots for learning new techniques but in the end you do it your way. You are the PIC and you have to feel comfortable with what you do. Bush flying really is a very personal style of flying built on many years of learning flying skills. By pushing the envelop only a small amount at a time, over many years, the skills are tremendously refined so that you become capable of doing extraordinary flying operations. These highly skilled techniques are at the aircraft's edge-of-performance operation. The latter is what it is all about.


Cub Special Driver
 
Palmer is where people live in developments in which the neighborhood restrictive covenants require you to have at least one junk vehicle rusting next to your woodpile and after you cover the exterior of your house with Tyvek you are not allowed to put real siding on it for at least 3 years. It is about 1 hour north of Anchorage!
 
Andover airplanes

Does Damian still have the Husky? His planes when I was there were the Husky and an L-4, which he used for taildragger checkouts. He said at that time (spring 2003) that he planned to get floats for the Husky, with training to be done in PA because you can't land on water in NJ!

I just now posted on my Andover experience in the thread on Husky flight characteristics.
 
Sorry to report that Damian just sold his Husky. It just sat there most of the time after he got the newly-restored Super Cub, most people wanted to fly that instead. The people who bought it are going to continue to keep it at Aeroflex, so you'll still see it on the flightline.

I don't think the floats thing could have worked out, it would have eaten up flight time having to fly back and forth to lakes in Pennsylvania.

To replace the Husky he just bought a Stearman - taking delivery tomorrow! Since Stearmans were some of the first bush planes (wasn't it Joe Crosson who first landed on Mt. McKinley in one), it will fit right in!

I think that he got the Stearman idea when he saw one of his regulars flying down to Van Sant to take lessons in one! :oops:
 
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