Back to Classic 1

[billvon 2,410]

So it was back to the classic 1 this weekend, since the fine people at Birdman have my S3 back to make some changes. The difference was remarkable. I had forgotten how much different the classic is from the S3. Pull was so much more straightforward; I can see why learning on an S3 would be a bad idea compared to learning on a classic or GTI. I was also suprised that backflying was so much _tougher_ on the classic. On the S3 I had a lot of control over fallrate, drive, and direction while flying on my back, but on the classic I had to keep my legs bent pretty hard, and my arms locked out, to avoid a transition to a head-down.

My average fallrates weren't that much different (65 vs 55) but I could really tell the difference in forward speed. I had to fly a much tighter pattern to make sure I'd make it back from the long spots we were getting. RW wasn't too much different, although it was a little tougher to stay in formation since I was close to maxed out the whole time to stay with Andy in his S3.