Well, just as I thought I was getting the hang of flying again...after a 2-3 yr hiatus mind you I JUST about put my Avistar in the dirt today. I was practicing touch and goes because I feel my "pattern" flying is fair. I can USUALLY 3 point land this thing with no bounce but can always use practice. Now, at the moment, where Im flying there is cornfields on both sides of the runway. They act like a good wind break once you get into ground effect but until then there's a about a 6-8ft corridor until you get up to the wind blast when you get atop the height of the corn. That said I was coming down on final, wind probably "steady" at 4-5 mph gusting 8-10 MAYBE at a 45ish degrees to the runway. I get it down probably 6-8 ft off the ground and all of a sudden she's starting to get a bit squirrely on me. Out of now where my LH wing dips so I can see almost the whole underside of the plane...and my thumb was already on the left stick to correct for a little up draft right before that! Needless to say I pucker up and DUMB THUMB it...LEFT! Now its almost 3/4 inverted and loosing altitude fast. I then proceed to very quickly flip the right stick and somehow get it right side up and gun it out of there. Don't ask me how. Pretty sure one of my main gear kissed the grass once it got righted and I pulled up for the GA. Holy Crap boys and girls! This is a first for me. I don't know if I got a freak gust of wind and at the height (same as the corn beside me) made a vorticity type action but all I know is...actually I dont know...how I recovered from that one. I guess I just reacted but man my heart sunk and thought for sure I was going to pick up pieces. From start to finish it couldnt have been more than a few seconds but looking back it seems like it was much longer than that!

The Avistar is a fun bird, but it still gets a lot of lift. Any wind gust and it grabs the wings like crazy! I know I wasn't stalling, as I usually come in fairly hot. I think I was about 1/4 throttle. Anyway, one for the books. Need a little more "seat time" before I'm ready to maiden my Decathlon I'm in the process of building.

Sorry for the pointless post...just wanted to share. I will say though, you couldnt wipe the smile of my face right after when I was safely in the air at a safe altitude, flying right side up!