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*** Well, nobody seems to mind my blow-by-blow, so I guess I'll continue to
subject you to it. I seem to want to talk about my adventures, and my wife
is pointedly "Not Interested". I had some doubts about whether the lesson would happen this morning. Conditions were definitely not VFR( Ceiling 500 feet, fog, visibility 1 mile ). But I couldn't catch the instructor at home to ask, so I went down to Palo Alto airport. He was there, and suggested a session of taxi practice. The same IMC that made our planned flight impossible had also rendered the usually busy airport nearly deserted. So I preflighted the airplane - myself! We sat down, started the engine, he called the tower. They gave us a blanket clearance to taxi around the airport as much as we wanted, just tell them when we're through. Nice! I pretty well got the knack of steering with my feet, and keeping the engine power under control, and keeping the pace to a healthy walk. He showed me how to do a quick 180 by tapping one brake - "Whee, this is fun!" Then we went to the helipad to practice going round & round. That I didn't get at all. I was supposed to keep the outer wheel on the helipad circle, and it seemed to want to go everywhere but. Then we proceeded to the active runway for some high-speed taxi. That took another call to the tower. He said "OK, Jerry, you do the rudder pedals, I'll do the throttle. Keep the centerline between your legs". Then he pushed the throttle in. I don't know how far, I was too busy concentrating on that line! We went faster, and faster, and faster. About halfway down the runway, the airplane started to get away from me and he took it. We did - I don't know - five or six of those. It's true what they say about taildraggers being unstable in high-speed taxi! Damnit, this was the most unstable ground vehicle I've ever driven. The faster we went, the more sensitive that rudder got...only to be expected. Biggest problem was overcorrecting - I need to work on correcting less than I want to, and stopping the correction as soon as it starts to take effect. The tower not only gave us clearance to taxi back & forth on the runway, they called us toward the end of each run - "You're cleared to go back the other way". Nice people. I guess my weaving entertained them :-). Well, we had to get off once to let someone take off - then we had to get off again to let him come back! His door had popped open in flight. - Jerry "4.0 hours" Kaidor
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