Goodbye Mathis!

OK, just one more flight for the month. I did four more practice landings at Mathis Airfield using the Champ. I think I finally figured out the secret. Even when I skimmed low over the trees and then tried to drop down over the lake at the last minute, I ended up having a hard time getting the plane to land. When I'd pull back to flare, she'd just float over the runway, which isn't long enough for you to do much of that.

By my ninth total landing attempt at this airfield, I had figured out a few things. 1 - The Champ's altimeter is none too accurate, and not adjustable like the fancier ones on larger planes. I was assuming it was accurate, when it was reading a little high. 2 - The stall speed of the Champ is just under 40 knots (38, I think), and I've been trying to land at a comfortable 55-60 knots, but on a short field like this, I had to trim the plane out to land at 50 knots or less, which gives very little margin of error against stalls. When flaring, you'd hit right at 40 knots or so over the runway, which is dicey, but necessary. 3 - Rather than come in low and shallow, flying slower allowed me to come in steeper, with a higher rate of descent, which kept the floating to a minimum and helped me stick the plane to the runway.

Here's final shot of my last landing as I come in over the end of the runway, low and lined up correctly:

After that landing, I turned around, took back off and headed back to Cherokee County Airport to pick up my Tomahawk. Flight was uneventful (it's only 15-20 miles between airports), but as you may recall from an earlier post, there's an oddly large tree right at the end of the Cherokee runway, just to the right of center:

(click to enlarge for a better view)

I've been struggling with still photos to illustrate just how close I have to get to these trees some time, but I think I've found a way. In this photo you can see the large tree to my right and can see that the top of the tree if higher than I am. You can also see the four white landing lights to the left of the runway indicating I'm actually too high in my approach at this point. Any lower and I'd be looking up at the tree!
Here's a second view, same moment in time (replay paused), but from a directly overhead view:
Recall that the Champ's wingspan is only 35', so you can see that at this point, the tree is only about 20' from the nearest wing tip, and as I move forward, I'll pass within maybe 10' at my closest approach. They really need to cut that tree down!

Anyway, once clear of the tree, I shifted over to the right to line up with the runway. Here I am crossing the threshold not too high and centered up nicely (see shadow). I did not land perfectly on the center line, but I was not far off. Definitely better than in previous landings due to the practice I've had at Mathis.