General Yeager and I checked out a new tail dragger for a friend. What fun!
The pilot who owned it flew down from Idaho/Montana area. He was quite keen to meet General Yeager. His father had worked on some of the planes Gen Yeager had flown at Edwards.
First we had a bite to eat together and chatted about history. Then Gen Yeager checked the plane out, asked a few questions, and was satisfied.
Gen Yeager insisted I fly the front seat, with the airplane owner, our new friend, in the back. He put in the stick in the back just in case :-). The plane had seriously big tundra tires – I mean I literally had to climb in like a MAC truck. While the pilot made a personal pit stop, I studied the gauges
We started up and I taxied to the hold area. We did our run-up, waited for the plane on base/final to land. After he landed, we took the runway.
Other plane exited, and it was our turn to take off. The pilot started to talk me thru it – I gently pushed the throttle forward.
Pilot: Raise the tail-
I raised it a little – but he wanted it more.
Pilot: Take –
We lifted off before he expected – but just right. It’s hard to coach someone – by the time you say it and the person reacts – it might be too late.
So we headed up – and then headed north a little. I wanted to do what Gen Yeager normally does to check out a plane – stall it….at altitude.
We did some steep turns and then I asked the pilot to stall it first. He did. Took some doing to get it to stall. It didn’t give a huge a warning before it dipped, but enough and a small dip even without adding power brought it right out of the stall – not much altitude lost.
We headed back. Beautiful day. I had to lose 4ooo feet. We did a slow descent and by downwind we were at about 800 feet above the runway. At base I was going 50 mph. Slow. But fast enough. We were sinking a bit faster than I liked so I put on a little power.
The pilot coaxed me a little: Just head straight for the numbers. Yeah, keep a little power on.
We got over the threshold, I flared, kept her flying and did a darn good 3 point landing.
We taxied around and back up to the holding area. We switched seats. Pilot took off, stayed in the pattern, and showed me the plane all trimmed up – about 5-10 feet before landing, he took his hands off the stick, and the plane landed perfectly. Wow.
Of course his hands were ready if an issue had come up.
We taxied in to where Gen Yeager was with our other 2 friends. They looked at us and started laughing. After we got out, the pilot said – yeah, she hit my ear with her foot as we were switching places.
Gen Y asked the pilot: Did Victoria do that first landing?
Pilot: Yes. Without any help from me. (gracious of him 
Gen Y: I thought so. She heads straight for the numbers, then flares just in time.
Our friend on the ground said: Yeah, after your perfect 3 point landing, Gen Yeager said: That’s Victoria!
Glad I did a good one!
Gen Yeager was pretty happy. So was I.
c. GCYI