Challenger Training
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On Wednesday, May 5, 2004, Dale and I made a short trip to Monticello for some training in an ultralight aircraft.  Warren Smith, the instructor, has a Challenger at Sky Ranch, a turf strip that sits a few miles from Atlanta Class B airspace.  We arrived there to find somewhat gusty winds (10-15 knots), but with evening approaching, figured the wind would die down rather quickly.  Nice field, although quite narrow, with about 10 or 12 hangars and a good mix of aircraft.  Thanks to Dale Hall for the pics and the videos listed at the bottom of the page.

Warren Smith's Challenger in its hangar at Sky Ranch		Note the plexiglass mounted on the horizontal stabs.  Warren says it reduces the yaw when the doors are on.
		Preflight
Looking west at Sky Ranch	The Challenger has a tail wheel installed to help moving it in and out of the hangar	Getting in and out of a Challenger is a..... challenge!
	The front settles down with the weight of a pilot.
	The wind was gusty for much of the afternoon.	Dale took an orientation ride before we left for the evening.
	The Challenger is a great little aircraft, once you get used to the lack of heavyweight  momentum and the high RPMs of a two-stroke Rotax.

Dale took some videos and made them into .mpg format for me so they could be posted here.   Unfortunately, I'm running out of web space, so I've got to make some adjustments before I can post the videos.  The first landing was an emulation of a drunken goose and Warren had to give me a hand about 50 feet off the ground.  I overcontrolled all the way down on final, got hit with a couple of gusts, and was drifting all over the narrow runway.  On the second attempt, Warren set me up on final and I made a tolerable setdown.  All in all, it was a most enjoyable experience.  I hope the Falcon will fly as well as the Challenger.  I'm looking forward to that experience.