Putting the Fargo to Shame

"Nose wheel pilots squat to pee." That's what my friend's father says. He's never said it to me, especially since I squat to pee no matter the plane I fly (sorry, a little potty humor there), but my friend has repeated the quote several times to me. Especially when he discusses the maule he will buy in comparison to the 150. I usually smile and shake my head, because I have no experience flying a taildragger, but I'm sure it is much more complicated and I am excited for my chance to get one. And then his father took me in his plane.

I can't even describe the difference between that airplane (an experimental Falcon with a Lycoming 0-320, low wing, tail dragger) and the 150. Yes, I've always known the Fargo was slow and gutless, but my goodness did I not realize what 50 hp can do. That is a fast, wicked-cool machine. His approach speed is 90mph, he's at circuit height and at 120mph while still over the runway, and not even the speed, but you can feel the power of the engine, the speed of the plane, and it is just super cool.

You walk on the wing to climb in through the hatched ceiling. Then you pull on your military-style shoulder harnesses (which, I was informed, increases your chances of surviving a botched/bad/crash landing by 70%, unless you're in that plane whose approach speeds are high enough to make the survival rate pretty much moot). He put in the "stick" for me so I could feel the controls, and I rested my feet on the rudder pedals. At first, being a homebuilt, I thought, perhaps a little low on luxury but it was definitely cool. Then he began his taxi and the plane seemed to bump and clunk over ever seam and crack in the runway, and I thought, ooh, this is a little rough. But then he took off.

I cannot describe the difference. The Fargo putts along the runway and eventually makes it to 50mph to rotate, and still only climbs at about 70mph. The Falcon was streaming down the runway at 120mph well before the Fargo rotated (I know this because my friend had gone up in the Fargo just moments before). And not only that, but taking off in the Fargo is a simple case of putting it to full power and keeping it down the centerline until rotation. I lost track of the steps to take to get that Falcon airborne, but either way, it was definitely more complicated.

My friend's father let me take the controls once in the air. Well, he basically said, here, try it. So there I was, with my 45 hours flight hours (in a fargo no less) trying to keep this Falcon in the circuit, with a stick and a tailwheel, and speeds the Fargo is incapable of reaching unless in a steep descent. And then I learned what flying was all about. Until this point, technically, I was flying an airplane. But not really. I was driving a gocart around the kind of track where no drivers licence is required. Flying a circuit in the Falcon was like driving nascar at Talladega. In the first case, you're only required to steer as nothing can really go wrong, there's not much skill involved. In the latter, there's only skill. You are actually required to fly, to really keep that plane in the air and on track. You use your feet, and actually have to hold on to the controls and use them with, I thought, a significant level of strength. There's no putting your fingers on the controls and leisurely looking about on a Sunday afternoon, unless you've flown that thing for many, many hours. That is what flying's about, and that's the kind that I want to do. Although, I have no idea how I'm ever going to get to that point, but at least now I know what I'm working towards.