The crack was less than one inch long and non-structural. The landing gear did fine (Tri-Pacers landing gear have bungee cords which can take amazing loads), but I cracked the left rear window right by the air vent. On the third landing “attempt,” my instructor let me drop it in from about six feet. On this day, I was stalling the Tri-Pacer at three to five feet and dropping it in like a ton of bricks. One gray late spring day in 1975 back with my original instructor, we were out attempting landings on Runway 32 at KITH. At the time I owned one-third of a 1952 Piper Tri-Pacer and really thought I might never learn to land and actually considered the necessity of having to sell it.
I was ready to solo, but I couldn’t get signed off, because I couldn’t land. I went through three different instructors (including a couple of senior people at the FBO where I learned) as well as a couple of the “good sticks” to try to figure it out.
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