AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2016 - 68

airplanes, and they recognize the skill and dedication that
goes into flying them. You don't have to be a pilot to get it."
WIGGLE YOUR TOES

A no-nonsense pilot briefing on the morning of the Saturday
event set a common-sense tone for the STOL competition.
Jimmy Gist, a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Reno racer,
and native Texan, stood atop an ATV in a bright yellow Air
Boss T-shirt, leather boots, and dusty cowboy hat.
"If you have an emergency, aviate, navigate, and then communicate," he shouted to the pilots around him, some sitting
on hay bales. "Fly the airplane first. Talk when you can."
For simplicity's sake, there would be one and only one
radio frequency for all competitors, and pilots
were to monitor it but remain mostly silent.
AIRPLANE WRANGLER
"I don't want a bunch of talking," Gist said.
Jimmy Gist (top left)
lays down the law for
"I want lots of listening."
STOL pilots with a
Pilots were told to fly their patterns at least
no-nonsense morning
500 feet agl, avoid overflying nearby homes, and
briefing. Husky pilot
Chip Ferguson (right)
keep it tight. Three airplanes would fly at a time,
makes a practice
and ideally, takeoffs and landings would be less
approach to the grass
than one minute apart.
runway at Llano that's
lined with competitors.
"Be as expeditious as you are comfortable-
and don't drag things out," he said.
With 87 competitors making at least two
takeoffs and landings each, and every one of them being measured and recorded, there was little time to waste. And there
would be no tolerance for showoffs.
"There will be no steep climbs and no hot-dogging," Gist
said. Organizers had the number for the local NTSB office
but very much wanted not to dial it.
"If you've got a new technique that you haven't practiced,
don't try it for the first time here," Gist said. "I don't want to
see anybody do anything today that they haven't practiced
many times recently."
He ended the 15-minute briefing with an admonishment
to relax, fly well, and enjoy the experience. "Take a deep
breath when you get in the airplane," Gist said. "Wiggle your
fingers and toes. Think about what you're going to do. Watch
and listen. Say something if you have to. Now let's go flying!"
AIRPLANE WRANGLER

Once propellers started turning, Gist became an airplane wrangler. He'd stand at the chalk start line and wave
one pilot at a time forward. He'd look forward and back
to make sure the runway and final approach path were
clear, and then emphatically point an index finger forward
68 | AOPA PILOT October 2016

Partial flaps and a three-point attitude win
In real-world flying, fancy tricks just get in the way
Valdez-style STOL competitions, sandbar takeoffs and
landings, and made-for-YouTube mountain plunges
attract enthusiastic web audiences. But when it comes
to real-world flying, most of the short-field takeoff
tricks favored by tailwheel pilots not only don't help-
they actually can hinder performance by needlessly
extending ground roll.
AOPA recently performed a series of short-field
takeoffs in a camera-equipped Cessna 185 Skywagon
to test a variety of techniques. On a grass strip near
sea level, the shortest ground rolls consistently came
from the simplest method: half flaps (20 degrees) and
lifting off from a three-point attitude.
Raising the tail, horsing the airplane off the ground
with sudden up-elevator application, or "popping" the
manual flaps with a quick extension during the takeoff
roll all added to takeoff distances.
"A pilot who sets the flaps for max lift, adds full

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2016