Understanding for him. I be the same way myself.

Tough trying new things?

Yes

fantastic furry

I recall a story about a guy whom had problems timing the flare just right and just could not nail it no matter how much he tried. Turned out he was wearing bifocals, so it was throwing his depth perception off when he was looking down and to the side to estimate the flare point.

I can certainly see that happening, especially if the curve of the windshield adds to it.

O_o That... looks freaky. I imagine it's like planting your rollerblades in some dirt before hitting the sidewalk from a jump and getting kicked back up... HARD.. when the wheels hit the edge of said sidewalk.

Now sure how hard that would be on an aircraft, but I'm guessing a hard enough kick like that could snap a wheel off.

Hope this little set back doesn't ride on Chucky's confidence too much?

That's a good analogy. Most trainers are pretty tough. As for Chucky's confidence, the looks on his face aren't too promising.

Learning to land, so much more nerve wrecking then learning to fly. Least we got a nice crotch shot of Chucky at the end. ;)

I was wondering it someone would mention that.

You did frame his crotch pretty well, it would only be more obvious if you put action lines pointing to it. heh

Ha ha ha, I wanted to see who would see it without being directed to it.

Had no idea you used to fly! Wow!!

Chucky shouldn't be so upset...but I'm sorry...seeing Ian's expressions in panels 5 & 6 is hilarious!!

I still do fly. He cought Ian quite a bit off guard.

Chucky is wearing shoes!

Yes! They're not allowed to fly barefoot.

Poor Chucky has a case of "premature landing"....

He certainly does!

Yeah, landings were always my weak point, too. Fortunately, Cessna 152s are tough critters.

'Course, one should not practice flaps-up landings when there are road cones at the far end of the runway...still, the prop didn't seem to mind much. Interestingly enough, the other half of the cone didn't land until I'd shut the engine down and gotten out to have a looksee at the prop.

I learned in a 152 as well, yes they are tough little bastards. Sounds like a short runway you were at.

Not really SHORT short, 4,120 feet. Not particularly LONG, either, mind. ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteman_Airport

This was back when they were repaving the turnoff at the far end of Runway 12.

Of all the flying I did in Southern California, I never flew into Whiteman. It's amazing how short a runway can feel when you're learning to fly.

lol at panel 4 "Boing Boing" kinda looks like the front landing gear would have broken off at that angle, lol

and then in panel 10, instead of SOB, I bet he was thinking more like S.O.B. (Son of a Bitch!) Lol

man, that's kind of how I felt yesterday when working at the restaurant, and i'm still fairly new, and Saturday got so busy, I kept messing up orders and having to take them back

I overexagerrated that nose angle some, yeah that probably would have damaged the nose gear in reality.

O I C

And thus the saying "Practice Makes Perfect" has turned into a philosophy

That's very true, now he needs to learn the patience of practice.

I've seen that happen plenty of times at my local airport, only one of those landings was with a B-24 bomber called the Witchcraft.

Ouch man, that's a bummer.

It could have been worse: it could have been in the winter.

Chucky, landing kangaqroo style. But don't feel bad. You know what they say about landing and walking away on you feet

Nice job on the expression, here

Thanks man. Kangaroo style, I wonder where the pouch is.

Took me forever to get it down when I'm sim-ing too. Even harder when it's IL-2 Sturmovik and you're landing during an active campaign with damage. Always awesome when you can land that P-38J literally missing an engine >3

I bet it did, especially without the depth perception from your peripheral vision.

Without realistic vision, there's little breathing room. Also when you're doing a WWII simulation and you're on the frontlines, there's rarely any air traffic control. You'd better do a few buzzes to make sure no one's gonna be in your way :3

aww its ok chuck

Frustration, hard thing to get around.

been there

Landed short?! I don't believe you!

I shit you not.

I have seen many first time pilots do that one or worse.

Me too.

Ohhh the feeling of underdefinement,,,, Or simply put.. not enough self believing... I know Chucky can land,,,


but does he know it yet?

Good luck !!

He doesn't know it, and unfortunately he's not encouraged at the moment.

Landing is the hardest part of flying, so Chucky shouldn't feel too bad. With taking off and (to a lesser extent) flying, nearly all you have to do it sit back, go straight and let the plane do its thing. Landing, you actually have to aim for the runway,

The drive to do it right can still make one beat themselves up.

Getting up into the air is easy, it's them pesky landings that's hard. As long as he doesn't let the bad ones get him down he'll be fine.

I think he's letting the bad ones get him down.

It could have been worse! like a case of "first you say it...then you DO IT!" ...i imagine those trainers must be light craft but what are they made of like carbon fiber or titainum i mean nothing bent/broke or tore...wow maby its made of the migic "black box" stuff? hahah

Mostly composite material, fiberglass, carbon fiber, lightweight steel for the gear support.

lol oh ok..soo can he get in trouble for a landing like that like grounded or something? idk lol im just askin.

If he busted the plane, yes, but not as much as Ian for letting him do it.

Those can make it seem you can't do it right. Just a few right words to motivate and give confidence will take care of that.

Oh dear; I hope he doesn't take his mistake too hard...

We'll see on the following pages.

Ooo, that doesn't bode well...wonder what'll happen.

Landing is bouncy almost no matter how you do it, and if it fishtailed toward the end, then your center of gravity was probably more aft of the landing gear.

This is one thing were only success will bring a smile to his face.

From "What Goes Up Might Come Down..":

"Take-offs are easy, brute force over ignorance. But landings bite if you get them wrong".

I wonder, do they use VASI (Visual Assist Slope Indicator) at Keene, or at any of your world's airfields? The point of VASI is not only to guide the pilot in at the right approach slope (about 3 degrees), but to also aim them at the right spot on the end of the runway. In fact, wasn't Chucky supposed to "hit" the runway right on the "18"?

Yes, they do use VASI and other vertical landing guidance. I actually drew part of a VASI system in first two panels. VASI are supposed to take you to an aiming point about 1000 feet down the runway. But at this point in his lessons Chucky is just trying to get the airplane on the runway, something he didn't quite do here.

That's really not the way he wants to learn something like that... =>.<=

Though he should be glad he's not learning to land on an aircraft carrier at full speed!

Yeah, that would be a little above his skill level.

Fortunately, I don't think he'll need to do that.

Adam and Dave may have to learn, depending on which branch of the military they'll be flying for.

That is very true.

Say, will we get to see how Adam and Dave fare on their landings?
Or otherwise hear about it some way? =^.~=

You'll find out eventually. I'm trying to keep the comic told as much from Chucky's point of view as I can. So in order to find out about Dave and Adam's landings, he'll have to ask them.

you know.. I seen this reality show about guys from the french military joining to the Aircorps.. to server in the Charles DeGaulle..they were very young...
and they had similar experiences than this heh.

Experiences like this can be pretty common when learning to fly.

i couldnt learn to fly a plane.it would be into bits if i took over

You never know unless you try.

I wonder if he has problems with concentration cause of Nimsha. Remember her last sentence...IF he would be a squirrel she WOULD KISS him and go steady with him... I guess that can be kind of distracting

No, that's actually the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. It's just all about learning something totally new and foreign. Adapting mental and physical skills to something he's never done before.

True.

In my business, any landing that doesn't leave a huge smoking crater is a good landing.

The business of being a space pig? I guess that's the truth, there's no such thing as just a bumpy landing.

I lol'd. I've done the short landing and "crash and go around" in my time. The early days before the long cross country were the best days.....

Good times! Cute icon BTW.

Thankee, my icon was drawn by OnnO, but he's not a member at FA.

More flight school mirth: A certain otter was once cleared short final to a runway at a strange airport, and then proceeded to attempt to land on the taxiway....but in my defense, the taxiway was wider and longer than the active runway at my rural GA flight school. My flight instructor was a saint!

Ah, you are certainly not the first to do that. It's not as uncommon a mistake as one would think.