Hello All,

I while back I crashed my trainer. I was really good at flying it. What happened was my wing fell off. Since then I finished my Cessnna 182 from Great Planes. I finally had one of the instructors at my club take it up. He said it flew great. I tried to take it up and I was used to my trainer, so after 20 ft I pulled up and the thing tip stalled and did a cartwheel into the ground. There was very minimal damage to the plane, but my pride was hurt. The guys at the field informed my that the plane requires lots of ground speed prior to pulling up as well as to keep right rudder. Oh well you live and learn. My question to you folks, do you think I should put this plane on the shelf until I am a better pilot and get a Sig 4 Star or something like that or do you think I should give it another shot with the Cessna?

Thanks,

Ryan

The way you described, I would say you need some more stick time. Apparently you stalled on take off, which I think is because you didnt really realized it was going to stall. You must be able to notice when a plane is about to stall and the only way to lear that is by flying and flying. Another thing, although planes tend to go left when you add power, you should feel confortable enough to correct that tendency with rudder on take off and do it naturally. When I teach studends how to fly, if the nose gear is not exactly straight, Ill have them taxing and taking off to get used to use the rudder in the groung. Once you move to a tail dragges, youll need these skills even more.
So, my advise is to you either get a trainer or a stick or buddy cord a little more with your GP cessna so it wont break.

My 2 cents worth

Try the cessn again! Try for a more "scale like" take off, long ground run and shallow climb out. humm You chould alway ask an instructor to buddy box with you for the first few flights to get the feel of the plane.

IMHO I think that unless you really want to buy and build another plane, just go ahead and try the Cessna again. It is not a super snappy plane like a CAP or Extra, so I think you should be able to handle it. Just ask the people at your field if they know of any unusual tendencies the plane has, besides getting more ground speed. And if you are still uncomfortable buddy box it a few flights until you get the hang of it.

I would ask you one question first. Do you know how to use the rudder? Have you used it, at least once in awhile, to coordinate turns with your trainer, or for crosswind landings?

If you answer yes to these questions, then I'd say go for it with the Cessna. If not, at least get some buddy box help with it.
Dennis-

Ryan,

Fly the 182 on the buddy box until you are comfortable and get some stick time. In the meantime, if you have your eye on the next plane start working on it.

The 4 Star is a nice plane and even if you master the 182 you will still enjoy it because it will fly very different.

cessnas are easy planes to fly. high wing, flat botom airfoil, not too heavy, etc. however, trainers are designed to fly with a lot less airspeed than cessnas. one reason being deadsticks. when you are a new pilot, you won't be nearly as efficient at bringing it back. a good pointer for any new plane, if you have somebody else fly it first, watch them. second of all, with any new plane, you want to get it up to a higher speed than you may think is necessary to take off, without hiting the end of the runway. that means that you bring it to the back of the runway, slowly advance the throttle, and you should be at full throttle with the plane going pretty fast by 3/4 through the runway, and you should then pull it up into a shallow climb to make sure it lifts of okay, and then keep applying up till you get to about a 45 degree angle. that is a good climb rate, but your plane shouldn't be so underpowered it can't make that climb. you shouldn't have any trims to do if somebody else flew it first. with that set up, in the event that you have a deadstick or any other problem at the end of the runway, yuo have both altitude and speed. it is something you just need to learn to do. asking somebody is the best way to know, because hurt pride is not a good thing, and a lack of confidence is derasticly worse.