I'll answer your direct questions first and then give a general rundown....>>What type did you fly in? How was the forward visibility on takeoff and landing? <<
An Aeronca Champ - Excellent vis even when sitting on the tail wheel - can look right over the nose and see the ground about 10 feet in front of the airplane. At altitude and straight and level the vis is as good as teh XAir ultralight....looks like the nose is actually about 10 degrees below the horizon....
>>Did you have your lesson on grass or asphalt? <<
On grass - more on this later....
The first lesson was scheduled for Monday and I arrived promptly at 0845 for an 0900 schedule. We rolled the champ out of the hanger, did a preflight and the owner/CFI gave me the 'cooks tour' of the cabin. It needs to be hand proped so he had me belt in and we went through the 'throttle closed - switch on' routine and he pulled the prop through and again...and again...and again....and - long story short - wouldn't start. We removed the cowl and pulled the plugs - looked OK but couldn't get a spark from one mag. Gave up and called the mechanic.
Got a call that night and he had gone out to the airfield after lunch and it started on the second pull - no repairs made - total mystery - rescheduled for today.
Airplane started on second pull - and the sound was sweet as music... he said - taxi on down to the end of the runway and turn aroung and we'll run back and forth a couple of times til you get used to the steering. On the way to the end of the strip, he says "Looks like you've done this before...why don't we just take off?" Stopped and did a runup and took the runway. Poured the coal to it and started down the runway -- this first one looked like I was practicing "S" turns on the ground but the airplane forgave me and took off before I oscellated off the side of the runway.... Landing was relatively uneventful except - this is the first airplane I've flown without flaps - so I had to do my first ever slip to lose altitude.
Second take off was much better and the third one, I was actually able to make it in one straight line before leaving the ground.
On the sixth landing - I was a little long and used the final 1/4 of the runway before getting slowed enough to turn off. BAD MOVE - that end of the runway was extremely soft (wet and muddy) and we got stuck. Couldn't push it by hand, CFI got his van stuck trying to pull the plane out - I got my car stuck trying to pull his van out. An hour later, with judicious use of jacks and long boards, we finally got everything back on hard surface and now only have to repair the runway 
Great fun and we will schedule another session when the runway gets a bit dryer...and plan to travel to a paved strip to give me some experience on that surface. I feel pretty confident in handling "Plum Krazee" on grass right now but want to get a bit smoother and also get the hard surface experience....Don't want to break my airplane
Thanks for your interest....
***Reality - the refuge of those who can't handle simulation***
Cheers, Jerry (N94)
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