ORIGINAL: CGRetired
ORIGINAL: yetti831
.... This morning I stood in the middle of the field and did circles around myself with just the rudder and elevator.....
Let me just point out one quick thing, for safety purposes. Keep the plane in front of you, don't let it get behind you as 'stood in the middle and did circles around myself'. This is bad for one reason, and perhaps others.. but if you fly at a club, this would imply that you are flying over the pits and this is pretty much verboten at many fields.... and you tend to lose orientation with the field centerline after a while.
Another problem with this is that you are more than likely going to be crossing the sun as you fly your circle. Crossing the sun is a good way to lose your plane. As you look into the suns your eyes have to adjust and during that time it's quite easy to loose sight of your plane. In the second or two it takes to get your vision back your plane can very well become a nice pile of kindling. You really should avoid doing this as this is the kind of flying that leads to accidents at the field.
Ken