Early next morning I met Bob Jones at the Idaho Falls airport. Our first flight would be a short hop over to Afton Wyoming to visit the Aviat factory. There was a small problem with the rigging of my Husky, and Aviat had offered to straighten things out.
The Aviat Aircraft Factory – a new Husky being built
Crossing over a 9,500 foot ridge from Idaho Falls, the town of Afton Wyoming lies in a valley at 6,200 feet elevation. The Aviat Aircraft factory builds certified aircraft, including the Husky and the Pitts aerobatic biplane. Aviat will also re-cover, repair or refurbish older Pitts or Huskies. I was given a tour of the factory, including the hangar where damaged or tired Huskies and Pits were being rebuilt to new specs. I met the factory pilot, Mark Heiner, who showed me the Husky prototype, now a test-bed with a new wing. The 2006 Husky has redesigned ailerons, and no spades on the wings. This is an improvement, since this new Husky will have fewer things hanging off the wings. It also makes the Husky more responsive in roll and the new flaps allow a much steeper descent rate.
Mark gave me a set of rubber bumpers to cover the flap hinges on my aircraft. I usually remember to warn people about those hinges, but I was embarrassed when someone at Rockliffe hurt himself looking at my airplane. I now call these rubber bumpers “Chris Hobbs Head Protectors”.
It was noon when Bob Jones and I left Afton. Jonesy had me practice canyon turns and stalls at 9,500 feet. This looked different to me, since we were only 1,000 ft AGL. We flew over to Rainbow Ranch and did several stop ‘n goes at Bob Hoff’s grass strip. I learned that I had not been aggressive enough with my Husky; I was used to flying nice square circuits in Ottawa, and I was flying the speeds recommended in the POH – speeds that Jonesy assured me were too high for landing a Husky without drama. Instead of using 1.3 VSO, Jonesy had me find the actual stall speed and then use 1.1 of that stall speed on final. The Husky looks like a Super Cub, but it is much cleaner and does not lose speed like a Cub. Too much speed in the flare means that the Husky will float the entire length of a short strip – not a good thing at one-way strips in the mountains.
Rainbow Ranch - Bob Hoff's Grass Strip
After putting a few divots in Bob Hoff’s beautiful grass strip, we flew back to Idaho Falls for more circuits. It was 95’ Fahrenheit and Idaho Falls airport density altitude was over 10,000 feet. Since I normally fly from an airport that is basically at sea-level, I was pretty tired and falling behind the airplane. I was very humble by the time we called it quits and went out for dinner with Bob Hoff.
The next morning, Bob Jones and I met at 0700 and went for a short flight in the cool morning air. What was different? Everything! The airplane responded the way I remembered it should. The landings were nice, three pointers or wheelies with no bounces. No grumbles from Jonesy in the back seat. It was time to quit while everything was working. We talked over what I had learnt during the previous days. I had managed to learn the right way to fly the Husky and corrected several bad habits.
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