At Oshkosh 2021, Decathlon LLC will take delivery of a brand new Super D. The new airplane, N16DV, will have a number of new features (compared to N878AC). It will have a 1,950 lbs. max takeoff weight in normal category, which means that it will be possible to leave with more fuel, as long as the weight is down to 1,800 lbs. before doing aerobatics. We can’t wait to pick the airplane up at Oshkosh and here two weeks before Oshkosh, the status of the airplane is as can be seen in the gallery below.

The airplane will have a baggage door and combined with the higher takeoff weight, this will allow for a cross-country flight with two people and baggage. While the airplane will not (at least initially) be IFR certified, it will have Garmin touch-screen IFR certified instruments, which allow for IFR training and logging of hood time. A planned upgrade will be to add a Garmin GFC-700 autopilot, and while an aerobatic airplane does not really need an autopilot, the autopilot will in the eyes of the FAA, make the airplane a Technical Advanced Aircraft (TAA). A TAA can be used for commercial pilot training! Also, N16DV will have a Hartzell Trailblazer prop, improving climb performance.

It’s springtime, which provides an opportunity to get out and land on grass again. It is much more forgiving to land on grass and a lot of fun. Just remember that some fields are private and the owner’s permission can be required to land. Grass fields can be short, so brush up on your short-field takeoff and landings!

You may have noticed that N878AC has not been flying for a while. A leak in the fuel tank in the right wing is the reason. Leaks like this are not unheard of in Super Decathlons and might be caused by snap rolls, which is the reason we don’t do those in N878AC. We decided to replace the tank rather than having it repaired.

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During the tank replacement process, we decided to completely recover the wing with new fabric, rather than just patching the hole which was cut out to replace the tank. As always, things turned out to be more complicated than anticipated and this work took longer than expected. The new full tank is in and other work on the wing has been completed. The wing still needs to be covered with new fabric and painted, but we should have the airplane back flying again in a couple of weeks.

The student pilot in this video was 13 years old at the time the video was recorded. If a 13-year-old can do loops and rolls, so can you! To make loops look great, the stick needs to be relaxed at the top to make a perfect circle. There are different kinds of rolls, and this is the most basic one: The aileron roll. Enjoy…

And, since he had already shown proficiency in normal and x-wind landings and go-arounds, Billy had (more than) fulfilled the requirements for receiving a tailwheel endorsement.  

 Billy recently earned his private pilot certificate and is only a few days away from his instrument check ride, but still, in parallel with all that, he decided to sharpen his piloting skills with a tailwheel endorsement. Nothing sharpens your skills like flying a tailwheel airplane without flaps. 

Next step will be spin training and commercial maneuvers.

Congratulations,

Jorgen Valkaer, CFI, CFII, MEI

Thomas Washington is a test pilot with Aurora Flight Sciences and spends most of his time test flying twins. In the Air Force he also flew a twin – the A10.

When Thomas decided to add the “Airplane Single Engine Land (ASEL)” rating to his civilian Pilot Certificate, he decided to do it in a fun airplane – the Super Decathlon. Having already earned a Commercial Pilot Certificate in a complex (flaps and retract) twin airplane, there is no need for that stuff when adding a single engine rating, so the Super Decathlon is a perfect airplane for this task.

Thomas is btw. not new to flying single engine airplanes. In the Air Force he also did some flying in a single – the F16.

As expected, Thomas aced the check ride with examiner Jerry Knouff.

Congratulations,

Jorgen Valkaer, CFI (tailwheel and more)

N878AC had to be taken off-line for maintenance this last week of December. The reason was a small leak in a fuel line. You might remember that the Decathlon has a small 3rd fuel tank located under the instrument panel. This is the header tank used for inverted flight (2 minutes of fuel). There is a fuel line going out from that tank just above the left rudder pedal (see picture on the left). Maintenance believe that the leak might have been caused by somebody accidentally kicking or resting a foot on the fuel line while getting in or out of the front seat. Hopefully we’ll get the parts for the repair soon and have N878AC back for you to fly. Thanks for flying N878AC.

On a cold Sunday morning, December 21, 2014, Dave Kottra headed to Leesburg to start working on the last phase of his Super Decathlon Tailwheel Endorsement – Wheel Landings. In previous lessons, he had gone through the required normal and cross-wind landings including go-around procedures (and more). In this Sunday’s lesson, Dave discovered that not only are wheel landings not as difficult as you might think, they are also fun. After demonstrating at Winchester Airport that he also mastered this part of the tailwheel universe, a few celebrating loops were performed on the way back to Leesburg where his logbook received the endorsement that “he is proficient in the operation of a tailwheel airplane”. Even after not flying for 10 years, Dave completed his Tailwheel Endorsement in the minimum of time normally set aside for this accomplishment!

Congratulations and Happy Holidays,

Jorgen Valkaer, CFI