Hello.
Thought I would do my bit and try re-dressing the imbalance between needle followers and drivers that require oxygen to fly and we ally cat pilots…………… ONLY joking Euroga has found its niche and until I can find another forum, I am here to stay. Hahahaha
Flew the DH82 today or better known as the Tiger Moth. I have flown in the front seat of the Spirit of Pashley many times but have never done the landing or take off. Piccie below. It is the only aircraft I have thrown up in and even this I did in style and used the pilot’s neck scarf to contain the vomit. The look on his face was priceless when I presented the present after landing. Better contained than all over the aircraft. Hahahaha
Anyhow, today I got the back seat and my first loggable Moth time. What a delight to fly. Certainly gets your airmanship derusted very quickly and hones the lazy feet and so forth. I did my first wingovers today and the tummy loved them and my first wheel on landing. I was never taught to do those. I forgot to put the goggles on so my face took a battering and I have not been so tired after a flight in a loooong time but a good tired. I think I shall progress it to sign off as I had so much fun. For anyone looking for something different in their flying and have not flown a Moth, give it a whirl. The Tiger Club has a jolly nice one to fly as does the Shoreham based flying Club that has the Spirit of Pashley.
Thanks for reading. 
Thank you for a great post, Bloomer
I too would like to see a lot more “VFR” content on EuroGA. After all, that is what the majority of GA pilots do.
So keep them coming – all of you!
I am sure you and I have passed each other many times, without actually meeting…
Finally a proper post between all the ‘Help me spend over 50k on my next avionics upgrade’ and ‘IFR routing question’ posts! (*)
I fly this one from time to time. Tigers are good fun although I don’t think they handle all that well. The controls are a bit too heavy and slow for my taste. But they are great fun to just fly around on a summer’s evening. There’s a certain sense of occasion to push the button to flood the carb, pull the prop through a couple of times and hand swing the engine into life. Congratulations on your first time in command of the Tiger!
’(*) That was a joke.
The photos are really wonderful. At my base we are more-or-less inundated with Jungmanns (my wife thinks Jungmänner is incorrect!) but have no local Tiger Moths (and also no Stampes)… they are nice to see. I agree that flying around gently in the evening is great, a kind of therapy after hand swinging the engine to get going. It just feels right. A friend of mine used the term ‘airport plane’, meaning a plane to fly around the airport, and always had one along with hardware to go places. I enjoy fiddling with them too.
it flies, that is a fine looking Moth but it’s cheating to have a tail wheel and brakes! Half the fun to me in flying one of these machines is the ground handling.
Yes, I agree it’s cheating but EHLE has no grass anymore. I’m glad it’s fitted with brakes and a tailwheel!
At my base we are more-or-less inundated with Jungmanns
That’s great, the Jungmann is a lovely aeroplane. Open cockpit aeros in the Jungmann are a real joy. I hope to fly a Stampe SV-4C fairly soon to sample the difference.
Are the main wheels moved forward when the tailwheel and brakes are fitted?
I read in “Pilot Magazine” years ago a humorous article about the difference between an “Aviator” and a “Pilot”. Are you an Aviator or a Pilot? I think the name of the article was.
The ultimate dream of a “Pilot” was cruising high and fast on autopilot in a cockpit filled with navigational instruments, and doing things “the right way”.
The ultimate dream of an “Aviator” was the smell of oil and gasoline early in the morning, in an aircraft pictured above. Or landing at sunset in a Cub some place far into the mountains, building your own aircraft etc etc.
The “morale” of the story was that we are all part “Pilot”, part “Aviator” to a larger or greater extent, often both. I’m definitely much higher on the “aviator scale” than the “pilot scale”, and it is really nice to see some “real” aircraft here for a change (the red hot Lancair of jojo is of course something as well, whether you are a “pilot” or an “aviator”)
Ah, the smell of Mogas and grass in the morning. I love all types of flying, but I really feel at home here
[image link fixed – had two HTTPs, and you need the URL to the actual .jpg or .png file – see Posting Tips]
Grass is not always available, but one can struggle on anyway
(A guy I know, plane flown weekly and in the family since 1970. Very interesting story about how they bought it from the Swiss)
