As most of you know, we've built the "Kiwi" (See it he
http://alexisparkinn.com/the_kiwi_is_born.htm) at our inn -- a
full-sized flight simulator -- as a prototype for several sims we're
planning to install at the Iowa Children's Museum, as part of a
permanent aviation exhibit.

Naturally, we've been flying it a LOT, these last couple of months, as
guest after guest (and visitors of all kinds, on "Movie Tuesday"
nights) has taken 'er for a spin. Much of this time is spent
"instructing" -- but a lot of people want me to demo fly it, so, of
course -- I do. (It's hell, but SOMEONE has to do it. I really,
REALLY have been having a hard time getting any honest work done,
lately.... ;-)

As the weather has worsened in the Midwest, and the holidays have
approached, we have flown Atlas (our Cherokee 235) less and less. This
is normal for this time of year, but is often frustrating. In the
past, both Mary and I have noticed a slight-but-noticeable degradation
in the quality of our landings, as we went from flying twice a week, to
once a week, to twice a month...

Not this December! I have "flown" the Kiwi so frequently that my stick
skills have remained razor sharp, perhaps even improving over the last
30 days. Mary hasn't flown the Kiwi as often as I have, but she has
still done quite a few demos, and both of us were pleased to pull off
absolutely picture-perfect "greaser" landings today -- the kind where
you simply have a hard time telling when the flying stops, and the
taxiing starts.

Personally, I find it harder to land the Kiwi, due to the more limited
visual cues (even with a 104-inch screen, you don't have an unlimited
field of vision), so you end up doing a lot more "by feel". This
practice has apparently translated into a better "touch" when feeling
for the ground in real life flying.

I find this experience to be convincing evidence that our Kiwi --
besides being a helluva lot of fun -- is a valuable flight-training
tool.

Blue skies -- and Merry Christmas, all!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"